Phoenix Contact on data protection

We are delighted that you are interested in our company, products, and services and would like to provide you with some key information regarding our approach to protecting your personal data.

Protecting personal data is crucial, particularly in tomorrow’s Internet-based business models and when developing Internet-based economies. With this declaration on data protection, we therefore want to emphasize our dedication to protecting your privacy.

Our staff and the appointed service providers are through to confidentiality and to comply with the provisions of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the German Federal Data Protection Act (FDPA) and other relevant data protection regulations required.

We take the protection of your personal data seriously and strictly adhere to the rules of the data protection laws.

For explanation: “Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (data subject), for instance, name, physical address, contact data, user ID, IP address, photo and video recordings, location data, etc.

The following declaration offers you an overview of how we intend to protect your data.

Use and circulation of personal data

Any personal data, which you provide us with via our website or among other channels, will solely be used for correspondence with you and is exclusively collected, processed, and saved for the purpose you intended when submitting the data. In addition, we will use this data to update our database and send you, to the extent permitted by law, occasional offers and inform you about new products, services, and other items that might be of interest to you. You may at any time revoke your consent regarding this use of your personal data by simply contacting us at info@phoenixcontact.de,

If required, information from Phoenix Contact will also be passed on to companies in the Phoenix Contact Group, service providers or other third parties. This may be necessary to perform a service or transaction requested by yourself, such as order processing, event and seminar registrations, for customer service purposes or to provide you with information regarding services or products. When passing on personal data to third parties, we shall limit this to the information necessary to provide our respective services.

The respective third party must only use this personal data to perform the service required or the transaction needed, which is commissioned in our order. In doing so, the service providers are obliged in writing to adhere to the applicable Data Protection Act, usually by an agreement for data processing according to art. 28 GDPR.

We shall never share, sell or otherwise provide your personal data collected by us to third parties for marketing purposes.

Data processing on our web pages

For security and technical reasons, Phoenix Contact automatically processes information transmitted by your browser to its system protocols. This potentially includes:

• Browser type/version
• Operating system used
• Requested URLs (website) on our systems
• Referrer URL (the website that referred to our website)
• Host name and full IP address of the computer accessing the site
• Date and time of call
• Data volumes and file types called.

This data will not be consolidated with other data sources, and we do not carry out personalized statistical evaluations on the basis of this data.

Notes regarding IP addresses:
IP addresses are essential for the transmission of websites and data from our servers to your browser. They are the “addresses” for information you request from our web servers. However, IP addresses are regarded as personal data and are therefore processed by us in unabridged form only to the extent technically required.

Registration for our web portal

Our website contains services to support the business relationship with you, for example, permanent saving of favorites lists and product comparisons or requesting and viewing quotes, which can only be used having previously registered your personal details. As a bare minimum, your name, a valid e-mail address and your country are required for registration purposes.

You also have the option of providing additional data about yourself (title, company, if relevant: your Phoenix Contact customer number, postal address, phone number). Some of this data is essential for extended services on our web portal, such as for ordering online, tracking your orders, generating individual price lists or a comfortable returns processing. However, to activate these services, we will always contact you in advance.

The data optionally provided during the registration process is used to contact you personally following registration in the web portal as well as for Phoenix Contact’s own advertising purposes. This includes updating our customer master database or providing you with information on our products and services to the extent permitted by law.

You may revoke your consent to us saving your data and using it to send promotional materials at any time by sending a corresponding e-mail to info@phoenixcontact.de.

You can also contact this e-mail address should you wish to completely delete your account.

Information on the processing of your personal data during registration in our web portal can be found here.

Newsletter

We require a valid e-mail address in order for you to receive a copy of the newsletter displayed on our website. You also have the option of providing additional data about yourself (title, name, company, postal address). Following registration, you will receive an e-mail from us containing a link. This link is used to confirm that you wish to receive the newsletter (“double opt-in”). This is a means of verifying the e-mail address you provided and ensuring that no third parties have ordered the newsletter using your e-mail address.

The data provided optionally during the newsletter registration is used to personally address the newsletter to you as well as for Phoenix Contact’s own advertising purposes. This includes updating our customer master database or providing you with information on our products and services in addition to the newsletter.

You may revoke your consent to us saving your data and using it to send the newsletter or promotional materials at any time. To unsubscribe from the newsletter please use the unsubscribe function in any newsletter or advertisement received from us. Furthermore, you can also send an e-mail to info@phoenixcontact.de stating that you wish to unsubscribe.

If you have given us your explicit consent to create a user profile when registering for the newsletter, we will evaluate which topics you click on in the newsletter so that we can subsequently send you information that is better tailored to your interests. This usage profile is linked to your e-mail address, as otherwise we would not be able to send you this tailored information by e-mail.

We rely on a German service provider to distribute the newsletter. They are obliged in writing to observe the applicable Data Protection Act and we thereby ensure that your data is never passed on to third parties or used for purposes other than sending Phoenix Contact news. Your data is stored exclusively in European data centers.

Our e-mail newsletter may contain links to special Phoenix Contact websites or websites of third parties.

Information on the processing of your personal data within the dispatch of the newsletter can be found here.

Contacting us

Your personal data, which you make available to us when making general contact, e.g. by calling or faxing our head office, sending an e-mail to our info@ e-mail addresses or using the various contact forms on our website, will be used to process your specific request to us.

Information on the processing of your contact data in this context can be found here.

Seminar or event registration

Your personal data, which you provide to us when registering for a seminar or an event, will be used to organize and conduct the seminars booked.

Information on the processing of your data regarding seminars can be found here.

Event management (eUNIQUE/VENTARI)

Your personal data, which you provide to us when registering for an event, will be processed exclusively to organize and conduct this event.

Information on the processing of your data regarding events can be found here.

Use of PROFICLOUD

To register in our PROFICLOUD, a freely selectable login name and a valid e-mail address as well as a password is required. This data is applied for using PROFICLOUD.

Our PLCnext community, which you can also use after registration, includes functions such as the possibility to participate in our forum by creating and commenting on posts.

You can delete your user account yourself via the function "remove”. When you remove your user account your e-mail-address is being deleted and only the username remains to ensure traceability in the customer account. Additionally your contributions that you posted in the community will be kept so as not to lose the context of a discussion.

Information on the processing of your personal data within the registration in PROFICLOUD can be found here.

Use of our knowledge base (Empolis)

Data that we analyze when using the knowledge base is anonymized. For example, we count in summary form which search paths and documents are used and downloaded. It is not possible to assign this data to the respective user. Likewise, your optional comments on our documents cannot be assigned to you.

Information on the processing of your personal data when using the knowledge base can be found here.

Participation in surveys

Your personal data, which you provide to us when participating in a survey, will be used to carry out the survey.

Information on the processing of your personal data when participating in a web based survey can be found here.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Information on the processing of your personal data, which you provide to us when contacting us as a customer (eg personally, at trade fairs, in surveys, by phone, etc.), can be found here.

Request for quotation/order processing

Your personal data, which you provide to us within the request for quotation, order processing, sample order, license processing, configuration, etc, will be used to processes the relevant business transactions with you.

Information on the processing of your data within the processing of these business transactions can be found here.

Supplier management/Purchase order processing

Your personal data, which you provide to us when registering in the supplier portal or within the processing of purchase orders, will be used to process the relevant business transactions with you.

Information on the processing of your data within the supplier management and the processing of these business transactions can be found here.

Application data

Your personal data, which you provide to us as part of your application and/or registration on the Application Portal, will be collected, processed and stored to communicate with you and only as part and for the purpose of our recruitment process. Your application will be automatically deleted 6 months after the end of the application process.

Information on the processing of your personal data within the application process can be found here.

Use of our blogs

Our blogs contain comment functions for blog entries that you can only use if you provide a freely selectable name as well as a valid e-mail address.

Your personal data, which you provide to us within the comment function, will be stored and used exclusively for presentation in the blog. You can revoke your consent regarding the use of your data by simply sending an e-mail to blog@phoenixcontact.com. However, when removing your personal data your comments will be retained so as not to lose the context of a discussion.

Information on the processing of your personal data within the blog use can be found here.

Cookies

Our Internet pages use cookies in several locations. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and are saved by your browser. They are used to make our Internet pages more user-friendly, effective, and secure. As such, they enable the technical implementation of a user session in Phoenix Contact’s online catalog. At the same time, these cookies provide information which enables us to optimize our websites in line with user requirements, e.g., direct link to localized websites by entering the www.phoenixcontact.com address.

Some of the cookies used by us are session cookies. These are automatically deleted once you exit our website. Some cookies are used which are saved for a longer period of time. The maximum storage period of a cookie can be up to one year, for example, when saving your preferred language on our website.

All cookies on our websites contain purely technical information in a pseudonymized or anonymized format, with no personal data.

If you want to prevent cookies from being saved, in your browser settings select “Do not accept cookies”. If cookies are not accepted by the browser, the scope of functions of our websites may be severely limited. A number of functions are no longer available. This may also be the case if you visit our website in the so-called “Private Mode” of your browser.

We ourselves do not store any information in the LSO (Local Shared Objects) area of your computer, so we do not use so-called “Flash Cookies”. However, other services we may link to, such as YouTube, use this function for own purposes where applicable.

We use the following cookies:

Social Media / Social Networks / External Links

On our website, we do not use any automatically activated plug-ins (eg iFrames) of the social networks. Our buttons for social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Xing, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram etc. are mere links that refer to the respective sites of the provider. If you click on these links, you will be redirected to the pages of the respective social network. The instructions on data protection given there will then be applicable. This also applies to links to other third party websites.

In addition, we ourselves also have online presences in some of these social networks and platforms to inform interested parties/users about our products and services and to communicate with them. On some of these platforms, user data is processed outside the European Union (EU), even in countries where no data protection level comparable to that of the EU can be guaranteed. Your data is often used for the platform's own purposes, e.g. for market research and advertising purposes or to analyze your user behavior for the creation of user profiles. For these purposes, cookies from these platforms are usually stored on the user's computer, which can be used to store or assign user profiles.

Although Phoenix Contact does not have access to the profile data processed by the platforms, Phoenix Contact may be jointly responsible under data protection law for the use of these platforms. The personal data of the users is processed on the basis of our legitimate interests in simple information and communication with the users pursuant to art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR.

If you have any questions regarding the processing of your personal data when using these social networks, please contact the respective platform directly, as we do not have access to your data there.

For detailed information on the processing of your personal data and the opt-out options, we refer you to the following linked details of the social media platforms:

Facebook
Facebook Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland
on the basis of an joint controller agreement of personal data according to art. 26 GDPR.
Privacy policy at: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy,
Opt-out at: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads.

Instagram
Facebook Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland
Privacy policy at: http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/
Opt-out at: http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/ (point VI.).

YouTube / Google (Maps)
Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
Privacy policy at: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/,
Opt-out at: https://adssettings.google.com/.

Twitter
Twitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
Privacy policy at: https://twitter.com/de/privacy,
Opt-out at: https://twitter.com/personalization.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Irland
Privacy policy at: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy,
Opt-out at: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/.

XING
XING SE, Dammtorstr. 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany
Privacy policy at: https://privacy.xing.com/de/
Opt-out at: https://privacy.xing.com/de/datenschutzerklaerung.

walls.io
Privacy policy at: https://walls.io/privacy.
Opt-out at: https://walls.io/privacy.

Web analyses

Information on the processing of your personal data within the web analysis can be found here.

wiredminds

Our website uses the tracking pixel technology of wiredminds GmbH to analyze visitor behavior. Cookies and pixel tags are used for this purpose (“tracking pixel technology”). Pixel tags are small, invisible characters that are contained within a website. Collecting and analyzing the data transmitted enables Phoenix Contact to illustrate the behavior of visitors to the Phoenix Contact websites. The illustration particularly highlights the various areas of interest through use of the respective Phoenix Contact websites and the geographical location of visitors.

The data obtained is processed for Phoenix Contact’s use and is not passed on to any third parties outside the Phoenix Contact Group. Similarly, this data is under no circumstances used for other purposes or resold. The data obtained will not be used to determine the personal identity of the website visitor or merged with personal data pertaining to the bearer of the pseudonym unless agreed to separately by the person concerned. If IP addresses were recorded, these are immediately anonymized by means of deleting the last set of numbers following acquisition.

If you do not agree in the pseudonymized evaluation of your behavioral data, please click here or use the function at www.phoenixcontact.com/corporate_gdpr. Please note that this is done by setting a cookie, in which information is stored, which is preventing the collection of your pseudonymized user data. If you delete your browser cookies or use a different browser on your next visit, you will need to click the link again.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a service of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland ("Google") for web analysis and range measurement. Google uses cookies. The information generated by the cookie about users' visits to our website is generally transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

However, Google Analytics is used by us exclusively with activated IP anonymization (so-called IP masking). This means that the IP address of users is shortened by Google. Only in exceptional cases, e.g. if technical failures occur in Europe, the full IP address is transferred to a Google server in the USA and then shortened there. To the best of our knowledge, the IP address transmitted by the user's browser will not be merged with other data of the user held by Google.

Google uses the transmitted data on our behalf and on the basis of a data processing agreement, to evaluate the use of our website, to create reports on the activities within our online offering and to provide us with other services associated with the use of the website. With the help of these analysis results we can, for example, identify particularly popular areas of our website and the preferences of users and use the knowledge gained in this way to further improve our offer and make it more targeted and interesting for you as a user.

With the processing of the data we pursue our legitimate interests in an analysis and statistical evaluation of the use of our website, in the optimization of our online offer and in the provision of content that is as relevant to your interests as possible. We have carefully balanced these legitimate interests with your interests and fundamental rights and freedoms as a user and have come to the conclusion that no consent is required but that data processing is allowed on the basis of our legitimate interests, Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

The determining reason for the use of Google Analytics is the fact that there is no equally suitable web analysis tool for our specific purposes. Google Analytics is not only the most widespread tool in the international context and is therefore particularly suitable for websites of internationally active groups of companies. Due to its wide distribution, Google Analytics - unlike other web analysis tools - also has standard interfaces to other software systems that we use. Furthermore, in your interest we implemented Google Analytics as data protection friendly as possible (in addition to IP masking, e.g. by not processing the user ID for cross-device analysis of visitor flows, by reducing the standard storage period, etc.).

The acceptance of cookies when using our website is not mandatory; if you do not wish cookies to be stored on your device, you can deactivate the corresponding option in the system settings of your browser. Additionally, you can delete saved cookies at any time in the system settings of your browser. If you do not accept cookies, however, this may lead to functional limitations. In addition, you can deactivate the use of Google Analytics cookies using a browser add-on if you do not wish the website analysis. You can download this add-on here:

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

You can use the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on to prevent Google Analytics from using your information. To disable Google Analytics, download and install your web browser add-on. The Google Analytics opt-out add-on is compatible with all common browsers. For the add-on to work, it must be loaded and run correctly in your browser. To learn more about how to disable Google Analytics and correctly install the browser add-on, click here:

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/181881?hl=en

As an alternative to the browser add-on, for example for mobile devices, you can also prevent Google Analytics from capturing data by clicking on the following link Link. An "opt-out cookie" will then be set to prevent your data from being collected in the future. The opt-out cookie applies only to the specific browser used when you set it and only to our website and is stored on your device. If you delete the cookies in your browser, you must set the opt-out cookie again.

The common browsers also offer a "Do-Not-Track-Function". If this function is activated, your device informs the web analysis tool that you do not want to be tracked.

Please also note the following: From the point of view of the European Union, there is no "adequate level of protection" for the processing of personal data in the USA that corresponds to EU standards. However, this level of protection can be replaced or established for individual companies by certification according to the so-called "EU-U.S. Privacy Shield". Google has submitted to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and hereby guarantees to comply with the European data protection law.

The data processed by Google Analytics is automatically deleted after a period of 14 months. Data whose retention period has been reached is automatically deleted once a month.

You can find out more about Google's use of data, setting and withdrawal options in Google's privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Supplementary notes regarding use and circulation of personal data

Phoenix Contact may be forced to disclose your data and corresponding details by order of a judicial or regulatory action. We also reserve the right to use your data to assert a claim or to defend against legal claims. In compliance with applicable law, we reserve the right to save and pass on personal data and any other data in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, and violations of Phoenix Contact’s terms and conditions of use.

Secure Internet communication

We make every effort to ensure that your personal data is transmitted and saved utilizing technical and organizational measures, in such a way that it is not accessible to third parties.

As a general rule, the Internet is regarded as an insecure medium. In contrast to a telephone line, for instance, transmission of data on the Internet can be more easily wiretapped, recorded or even modified by unauthorized third parties. To ensure the confidentiality of communications with you, we use an AES 256bit SSL/TLS encryption of our website. The encryption used by Phoenix Contact is regarded as secure, based on the latest technological advancements. Operating systems and browsers from earlier versions also achieve this security level. If necessary, you should update the operating system and the browser on your PC to enable use of this high-grade encryption.

When communicating via e‑mail in an unencrypted manner, complete data security cannot be guaranteed, so we recommend using the postal service for confidential information.

Update to this Privacy Policy

If Phoenix Contact launches new services, alters its Internet procedures or if the legal requirements or the Internet and IT security technology is further developed, this will be updated in the data protection statement. We therefore reserve the right to alter or modify this statement as required. The current version will be published here.

Right to obtain information / changing and deleting personal data Information in accordance with Article 13 or 14 GDPR

Should you have any questions that have not been addressed by this data protection statement or you require more detailed information regarding a specific point, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you do not agree to your personal data being saved or this data becomes inaccurate, we will ensure, upon your request, that your data is corrected, blocked or deleted under the statutory provisions. Upon request, we will send you a list of all your personal data that we have stored. To do so, please contact:

Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG
Flachsmarktstraße 8
32825 Blomberg
Germany
Tel. +49 5235 3-00
Fax +49 5235 3-41200
info@phoenixcontact.com.

Please appreciate that we require proof of identification to handle any requests regarding your personal data.

Information required by law where your personal data is collected (in accordance with Article 13 or 14 GDPR) can be found above related to the context within this web privacy statement or summarized here.

Data Protection Officer

For general questions regarding the collection, processing or use of personal data by Phoenix Contact, as well as for general information regarding your data or the correction, blocking or de-leting of your personal data, please contact us at:

Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG
– Data Protection Officer –
Flachsmarktstraße 8
32825 Blomberg
Germany

Controller within the meaning of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the Federal Data Protection Act (FDPA)

German sales subsidiary:

PHOENIX CONTACT Deutschland GmbH
Flachsmarktstraße 8
32825 Blomberg
Germany
Tel. +49 5235 3-12000
Fax +49 5235 3-12999
info@phoenixcontact.de.

Corporate Headquarters:

Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG
Flachsmarktstraße 8
32825 Blomberg
Germany
Tel. +49 5235 3-00
Fax +49 5235 3-41200
info@phoenixcontact.com.

Updated: June 2019