Privacy Statement

Automation Power Solutions

Privacy is very important to Automation. We want to inform our (potential) customers, suppliers and business partners as much as possible, and give control over what happens with their data. Below you will find our policy on the collection, storage, use, and disclosure of your personal data.

Automation would like to stress that it will at any time try to act in accordance with the EU Council Regulation of 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC.

Scope of application

This Privacy Statement (hereinafter referred to as “Privacy Statement) shall apply to all visits to and use of the website (www.automation.be) as well as on all (commercial) relationships (and the possible subsequent exchange of information) between Automation and its (potential) customers, suppliers and/or business partners.

Identity of the controller

Automation nv (hereafter referred to as “Automation”), with registered office at 1500 Halle, Dassenveld zone 4A, Zinkstraat 2 and registered with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises under number 0403.101.811 is responsible for the processing of your personal data. The controller is the one who determines the objective and the means (the ‘what’, the ‘how’ and the ‘why’) of the processing of personal data.

Automation can be contacted by way of regular mail, telephone +32 (0)2 358 35 75, e-mail privacy@automation.be or a contact form on the website.

Specifically, with regard to the Privacy Statement, instead of the above contact details, the following persons can also be contacted:
Sir Kestemont Patrick (CFO) patrick.kestemont@automation.be

What Personal Data does Automation collect?

Personal data means all data which makes it possible to identify someone. This includes, but not exclusively, information such as name, address, user name, company name, e-mail address and telephone number, but also other information such as IP address, information about the business sector, and so on.

The kind of data we collect is dependent on the context of your interactions with us, the method of contact and the information provided by you.

Following personal data may be processed by us:

  • Data provided by you when placing an order, when obtaining a quote, by filling in the contact form on the website, when registering for the newsletter, when visiting our offices or exhibition stand, when exchanging business cards or any other form of contact (e.g. by telephone, e-mail, mail, visit, LinkedIn):
    • Personal and electronical identification data

      • Name
      • First name
      • E-mail address
      • Telephone number (landline/mobile)
      • Fax number
      • Residential address
      • Company address
      • Function and capacity
      • Company name
      • License plate
      • Nationality
      • Sex

      OBJECTIVE AND LEGAL BASIS

      These data is collected with a view to prospects, customers, and supplier management, providing qualitative services, the processing of orders and deliveries, including the preparation of a quote, delivery or order form, and with a view to accountancy and invoicing. This information may also be used for marketing purposes or for safety purposes.

      The legal basis for the processing of this personal data is the (potential) performance of a contract. Providing Automation with the abovementioned personal data is a necessary condition to contact Automation and, where appropriate, to conclude an contract. When you do not provide this information, it is impossible for Automation to contact you and thus to enter into a contract.

      When the data is used solely to communicate with the employees of Automation or an affiliated company, the legal basis for this process is the legitimate interest to create high quality customer service and product support.

      When the personal data may also be used for marketing purposes the legal basis is either the legitimate interest of Automation to inform the existing customers of similar products, or consent given by you to receive marketing information.

  • Data received via a job application:
      • Personal identification data (including contact data and family data)
      • Academic curriculum
      • Professional experience
      • Publications and/or portfolio, personal characteristics, behavioural data
      • Membership of/participation in professional organisations
      • Professional Competence

      OBJECTIVE AND LEGAL BASIS

      In order to be able to process your application, it is imperative that you provide the above information. Failure to provide this information will result in Automation not being able to deal with your application.

      The legal basis for the processing of this personal data is the performance of a contract as well as the legitimate interest of Automation to check the skills and personal characteristics of the person concerned in function of the vacancy.

      When the information provided would contain special categories of personal information (such as nationality, health data, criminal data, national register number, information on the sexual life, political opinions, membership of a trade union…) then the legal basis for the processing is permission from you to process this information.

  • Data that is automatically collected when visiting the Website (Cookies):
      • IP-address
      • Browser
      • Operating System
      • Domain name
      • Time of connection and of the visit of the pages on www.automation.be
      • External website that refers to Automation
      • Pages on www.automation.be that you have visited
      • see Cookie Policy

      OBJECTIVE AND LEGAL BASIS

      The use of Cookies serves to give easy access to the website and to improve the quality of the service.

      The legal basis of this processing is based on consent. For more information please consult our Cookie Policy.

Means of collecting Personal Data

These personal data are collected with, respectively in the framework of:

  • The placing of an order
  • Asking an offer
  • The completion of the contact form on the website
  • The registration for the newsletter
  • The exchange of business cards
  • Any other form of correspondence or taking contact (i.e. by phone, e-mail, mail, LinkdIn)
  • A visit to the website (through Cookies)
  • A collaboration with a commercial partner (agents, distributors, …)

Objectives of the processing of Personal Data

The above personal data will be processed by us for following purposes:

  • Prospects, customer and supplier management (drafting lists of (potential) clients, partners and suppliers
  • Communication with the data subject
  • Processing of orders and deliveries
  • The drafting of an offer, delivery note or order form, administration
  • Accountancy and invoicing
  • After sales service
  • Easy access to the website and improve the quality of the service
  • Safety
  • Marketing purposes, including direct marketing
  • Recruitment and selection

In the event that Automation uses your personal data for direct marketing purposes, you always have the right to oppose against this processing via a simple request (possibility to ‘opt out’).

For each objective, the legal basis for the processing can be one of the following:

  • Your free consent for the processing
  • The performance of a contract
  • Compliance with legal obligations
  • A legitimate interest on the part of Automation, in which case we seek a balance between that interest and respect for your privacy

When the legal basis for the processing is based on your free consent, you always have the right to withdraw this consent at any time. This can be done through a simple request to Automation, using the contact information described in this Privacy Statement under ‘Identity of the controller’.

We collect and use your personal data only for the abovementioned purposes, unless we receive your unambiguous and free consent to use your personal data for other purposes or unless the processing is necessary in order to comply with an obligation imposed by a regulation, a law, a decree or a decision.

Retention period

Unless a longer retention period is required or justified (i) to comply with a term of limitation or expiry provided for by the law or (ii) to comply with another legal obligation, your data will not be stored longer than necessary for the purposes for which the data were collected, as described in this Privacy Statement under ‘Objectives of the processing’.

Categories of recipients of the Personal Data

The processed personal data are in accordance with this Privacy Statement only given to the following recipients:

  • Controller
  • Data Subject
  • Processors, who are appealed to, with a view to a specific mandate (e.g. a marketing campaign, IT service providers, transporters), or who act as commercial partners (commercial agent, distributor, …)

The above-mentioned Processors act exclusively under instructions from and on behalf of Automation. Automation guarantees the following with regard to the processing of data by these Processors:

  • Automation shall close an agreement with these Processors in which provisions are stipulated concerning the quality of processing of the personal data in accordance with the obligations imposed by the relevant privacy legislation;
  • The processors can exclusively use the data for the purposes as determined by Automation and in accordance with this Privacy Statement;

Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is possible that Automation must make your personal information public:

  • to the competent authorities (i) when Automation is obliged to do so on the basis of the law or in the context of judicial proceedings and (ii) in order to protect and defend the rights of Automation;
  • When Automation or nearly all its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case your personal data will be one of the transferred assets.

Rights of data subjects

As data subject you have a number of rights which you can enforce against Automation. If you want to exercise one of these rights, please contact us using the contact information described in this Privacy Statement under ‘Identity of the controller’.

The rights you have are the following:

  • right of access at the latest one month after receipt of the request: you have the right to verify which of your personal data Automation processes and for what purposes Automation uses your processed data;
  • right to rectification of incorrect data: you can ask for incorrect data to be corrected or for incomplete data to be completed
  • right to object if you do not agree with the way in which Automation processes your Personal Data
  • right to data portability: under specific conditions you have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and transmit them to third parties
  • right to erasure: under certain conditions you have the right to ask for the removal of personal data. This request may be refused.
  • right to restriction of processing

You can exercise these rights in principle free of charge. For this you must send a request with a copy of your identity card to us, in order to prevent any unauthorised disclosure of your personal information.

When your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, we may charge a reasonable fee for the administrative costs associated with your request or we can refuse your request. Furthermore, you can only exercise these rights once every six months.

In any case, we will always notify you at the latest within a period of one month of the action taken on your request.

Transfers to third countries

Any transfer of personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to a recipient who has his domicile or registered office in a country which is not covered by an adequacy decision, issued by the European Commission, will be governed by the provisions of a transfer agreement, which (i) will contain standard contractual clauses as set out in the ‘Decision of the European Commission of 5 February 2010 (Decision 2010/87/EC)’, or (ii) is based on any other mechanism on the basis of the privacy legislation or any other legislation concerning the processing of personal data.

In the case of Automation, it is possible that a transfer to third countries is done. If you so desire, you can always get more information about the country to which the transfer of your personal data takes place and the appropriate measures that have been taken. Please contact us using the contact information described in this Privacy Statement under ‘Identity of the controller’.

Children

We ask that individuals under the age of 16 years do not communicate personal information to Automation, unless they have the approval of parent(s) or guardian(s). If we notice that we have collected the personal information of a person younger than 16 years, we will delete this information as soon as possible.

Complaints

If you do not agree with the way Automation collects, uses and/or processes your personal data, you can of course contact us using the contact information described in this Privacy Statement under ‘Identity of the controller’.

Automation will take all reasonable efforts to provide you with an answer.

In addition, you have the possibility to complain to the supervisory authority, which you can contact via the details below:

Data protection authority

Drukpersstraat 35 1000 BRUSSELS
Tel: +32 (0)2 274 48 00
Fax: +32 (0)2 274 48 35
E-mail: contact@apd-gba.be

Stay informed of changes

Automation may change this Privacy Statement from time to time, for example in response to market trends, new processing activities and reactions from data subjects. We invite you to always consult the latest version of this Privacy Statement on our website. Of course, we will inform you beforehand through our website or other current communication channels of any changes of the content and we ask, when required to do so by law, your prior consent for our (new) processing activities.