Privacy Policy

Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, and Beckhoff Automation Pty Ltd (ACN 119 627 048), Australia (hereinafter referred to as: "We", “Our”, and “Us”) is responsible as the site operator for processing personal information of users of the company website. Should you have any questions relating to the processing of your personal information, Our contact details can be found on Our website, and the contact details of Our Privacy Officer are provided in this Privacy Policy.

Your privacy is important to us

We take the protection of your privacy and personal information very seriously. We collect, store, use, share, disclose and destroy your personal information, as well as detail how you may gain access to your personal information, strictly in compliance with the content of this Privacy Policy and with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) as contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

This Privacy Policy is intended to inform you about the scope and purpose for which personal information is processed in connection with the use of the company website.

Collection of personal information

Personal information means any information, or an opinion, relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, or to a person who is reasonably identifiable regardless of whether the information or opinion is true or is in a material form. This includes all information attributable to your identity, such as your name, e-mail address, or postal address. On the other hand, information that cannot be directly associated with your identity (such as statistics detailing the number of users on the website) is not considered to be personal information.

You can use the main features of Our website without disclosing your identity and without providing your personal information. We therefore only collect general information about your visit to Our website. However, for certain services offered, personal information will be collected from you. In this case, We will only process this personal information for the purpose of using this website, in particular to provide the requested information, for a related secondary purpose or any other purpose you have consented to or which is permitted under law. When collecting personal information, you will only be required to provide information that is absolutely essential. It may be possible to enter additional information, but such information is provided on a voluntary basis. The type of personal information collected will depend on the nature of your details with Us and may include, but is not limited to, your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.

We will always indicate whether the input field is mandatory or optional. We will also provide the specific details in the appropriate section of this Privacy Policy. When using Our website, no automated decisions are made on the basis of your personal information.

Processing and security of personal information

We are committed to ensuring that your personal information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, We have taken all reasonable steps to protect your personal information that We hold from misuse, interference and loss, as well as unauthorised access or disclosure.

Your personal information is stored by Us on specially protected servers in Australia. These servers are subject to technical and organisational measures that protect your personal information from being lost, destroyed, accessed, modified or distributed by unauthorised persons. Only a limited number of authorised persons will have access to your personal information. These authorised persons are responsible for the technical, commercial, or editorial management of the servers. Although regular checks are made, it is not possible to protect your personal information against all risks.

Your personal information is transmitted in encrypted form via the Internet. For data transmission purposes, We use TLS/SSL encryption (Transport Layer Security/Secure Socket Layer).

Transfer of personal information with third parties outside of Australia

We only collect and use your personal information to provide the services requested by you. If We employ external service providers as part of the service provision, they access the personal information solely for the purposes of providing the services. We take technical and organisational measures to ensure compliance with the APPs and require Our external service providers to do the same.

We do not transfer your personal information to any third parties, including affiliates within our group of companies in Germany or for advertising purposes, without your express consent. We will take reasonable steps to ensure any overseas recipient of your personal information complies with the APPs. Your personal information shall only be transferred if you have given your express consent to do so, or if We are entitled or obliged to do so due to legal regulations and/or official or judicial orders. This may be required for law enforcement purposes or for enforcing intellectual property rights.

Deletion, storage period and security for personal information

We will retain your personal information whilst it is required for any of Our business functions, or for any other lawful purpose.

We will take reasonable steps and We will use secure methods to destroy, block or to permanently de-identify your personal information as soon as the reason for storing it no longer applies. Your personal information may remain stored beyond this period if this is provided for due to legal requirements to which We are subject, for example in respect of legal retention or documentation obligations. In such an event, We delete or block your personal information once the requirements no longer apply.

Information about your computer

Every time you visit Our website We collect the following information about your computer regardless of your registration status with us: the IP address of your computer, your browser request, and the time of this request. The status and the transmitted data volume as part of this request is also recorded. We also collect product and version information about the browser used and your computer's operating system. We furthermore record the website from which the website was accessed. Your computer’s IP address is only saved for the period of time in which the website is used and for the following three months. After this time, it is erased or anonymised by abbreviating it. The rest of the data is stored for a limited period of time.

We use this data to operate the website, in particular, we use it to identify and fix errors, to determine the utilisation level of the website, and to make modifications or improvements.

Use of cookies

As with many other websites, Our website also uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are saved on your computer which store certain settings and data for the purposes of exchange with Our website via your browser. A cookie generally contains the name of the domain from which the cookie file was sent as well as information about the age of the cookie and an alphanumeric identifier.

Cookies enable Us to identify your computer and to make any default settings available immediately. Where possible, We use session cookies, which are automatically deleted at the end of the browser session. In limited cases, we may also use cookies with a longer storage duration so that your default settings and preferences can be taken into account the next time you visit Our website.

Most browsers are set to accept cookies automatically. However, you can deactivate the saving of cookies or adjust your browser settings so that it informs you as soon as cookies are sent. It is also possible to erase previously saved cookies manually via your browser settings. Please note that your use of Our website may be blocked or restricted if you do not consent to the storage of cookies or delete required cookies.

Privacy settings

You can edit your settings for privacy and the individual cookies here.

For certain features of Our website, We access third-party services. These services are primarily optional which you will need to explicitly select or use. We have contractual agreements with the relevant providers for the provision or integration of their services and we do everything we can to ensure that the third-party providers give transparent information about the extent to which personal information is processed and ensure they comply with data protection provisions.

Registration

You can register to use Our website under “myBeckhoff.” To do this, you must share the personal information that is requested during the registration process, such as your name, address, and e-mail address. We also record the date and time of your registration and the IP address used. During the registration process, we obtain your consent for the use of your personal information. This gives you the advantage of not having to enter this information every time you use the website or place an order.

The information requested as mandatory fields during the registration process is required for the performance or initiation of a contract with us for specific services. However, you are not under any obligation to register and non-registration does not affect your ability to conclude a contract with Us.

When you register, a customer account is created for you. We store the data in the customer account for as long as an active customer relationship exists. If it is not possible to identify any activity for a period of three years, the status of the customer relationship is set to inactive. You can request that your customer account be erased at any time.

Google Maps

We use Google Maps to generate directions and display the locations of branches on maps. This is a service of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (hereinafter referred to as “Google”).

In order to display the maps and fonts, a connection to the Google server in the United States of America is established when our web pages are accessed.

If you access Google Maps when you visit Our web page, Google saves a cookie on your end device via your browser. Your user data is processed by Google in order to display the location and generate directions. Google may use servers in the United States of America for this purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time which will be effective for the future.

Google can use the data transmitted to Google to identify the website from which your request was sent and the IP address to which the directions are to be transmitted.

If you do not agree to this storage and processing, it is necessary to prevent the installation of cookies by configuring the relevant settings in your browser. In this regard, We refer you in this respect to the information provided on the topic of cookies.

The use of Google Maps is subject to Google's Terms of Service as well as their General Terms and Conditions. The Google Privacy Policy can be found at https://policies.google.com/privacy.

Vimeo

In order to display videos on our website, we use "Vimeo" (Vimeo LLC, 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA, hereinafter referred to as "Vimeo").

In some cases, user data is processed on Vimeo servers in the United States of America

You grant your consent by allowing the integration of external content.

If you grant your consent to the embedding of videos from Vimeo, a connection to the Vimeo servers in the United States of America is established in order to display the video. For this purpose, your IP address is transmitted and processed by Vimeo for technical reasons. In addition, the date and time you visited the relevant page is recorded.

If you are logged in to Vimeo when you visit Our web pages on which a Vimeo video is embedded, Vimeo assigns the collected user data to your personal user account. To preventthis, you must either have to log out of Vimeo before visiting Our websites or configure the account settings on Vimeo accordingly.

Vimeo uses Google Analytics for the purposes of web analytics. Google Analytics stores cookies on your end device via your Internet browser and sends Google information about the use of Our websites, in which a Vimeo video is embedded, Google may store and process the information on servers in the United States of America

If you do not agree to this storage and processing, it is necessary to prevent the installation of cookies by configuring the relevant settings in your browser. In this regard, We refer you to our statements on the subject of cookies.

Further information on the collection, use, and processing of data by Vimeo and on your rights and ways to protect your privacy can be found at http://vimeo.com/privacy.

Matomo

For our website, We use the open source software Matomo (formerly Piwik) to statistically analyse the use of Our website. This is a web analytics service. The data collected by Matomo is stored in a database for the purpose of usage analysis in order to optimise Our web pages. The data collected includes the abbreviated IP address, the time, the web pages accessed, the web page from which you accessed our web page (“referrer”), the browser used, the duration of your visit to Our web pages, and the frequency of access.

The analyses generated with Matomo are fully anonymised and cannot be used to identify individual persons. The data stored by Matomo is not linked with other data sources or shared with third parties.

You are free to withdraw your consent at any time. Any data processing operations that take place prior to revoking your consent are not affected. You can opt out of analysis of your data by Matomo by following this link.

Retargeting or remarketing refers to technologies that show appropriate advertisements to users who have previously visited a certain web page, even after they leave this website. For this purpose, it is necessary to recognise internet users again after they have left the web page, which is why cookies from the appropriate service providers are used; previous usage behaviour is also taken into account. If a user views certain products, for example, they may be shown these or similar products later as advertisements on other web pages. These advertisements are customised to the needs of the individual users. For these customised advertisements, it is not necessary for the user to be identified beyond the initial recognition. This means We do not combine the data used for retargeting or remarketing with any other data.

We use technologies of this type to place advertisements on the Internet . We use third-party providers to place the advertisements. We use Google services, among others, to enable products that are of interest to internet users to be shown automatically. This function is implemented using cookies. As the data may be transmitted to Google in the United States of America, the possibility that security agencies in the United States of America may access it cannot be ruled out. More information on this technology can be found in the Google Privacy Policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy. You can prevent installation of cookies for Google remarketing and Google AdWords conversion tracking by configuring the settings in the relevant browser software by accessing the web page http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads/ and changing the corresponding settings.

You are free to withdraw this consent at any time. Any data processing operations completed before consent is withdrawn are not affected.

Webinars

You have the option to take part in online webinars hosted by Us following various links on our webpages. If you wish to take part in a webinar, We process personal information that you enter in a registration form, particularly your name, e-mail address, and company or organization. We process the personal information transferred via the registration form solely for the purposes of hosting the webinar, contacting you with regard to the event, and sending you further information in relation to the webinar.

The webinar is hosted on the GoToWebinar platform. The controller of this GoToWebinar platform is GoTo Technologies Ireland Unlimited Company, the Reflector, 10 Hanover Quay, Dublin 2, D02R573, Ireland. We have no influence on the processing of data at GoToWebinar. Further information on data processing by GoToWebinar at https://www.goto.com/company/legal and https://www.goto.com/company/legal/privacy.

Amazon Web Services

We use Amazon Web Services to save the data collected by Us. This is a web hosting service of Amazon Web Services, Inc., 410 Terry Avenue North, Seattle WA 98109, USA.

We use this service to save Our data on Amazon servers. If you transmit personal information to us or if personal information is lawfully collected from you, this personal information is stored in the cloud. As the data is stored on servers in the United States of America, the possibility that security agencies in the United States of America may access it cannot be ruled out.

Further information about data processing can be found in the Amazon Privacy Notice at https://aws.amazon.com/privacy/.

You can apply for a job at Our company via the applicant portal. This gives you the opportunity to fill out an applicant survey and submit the information and documents required for the application to Us via document upload. Use of the applicant portal is voluntary; you can also send your application to Us another way, such as by e-mail or post.

When you submit an application via the applicant portal, your documents are sent electronically to the responsible employees at Our company. If you have applied for an advertised position, the documents will be automatically deleted three months after completion of the appointment process, provided deletion does not conflict with any other legitimate business interests. In the case of an application for a position that is not advertised (speculative application), the application will be retained for as long as the application may be of interest. You can request that your application be deleted at any time, including before the scheduled retention periods have elapsed. If your application is successful, the transmitted data will be stored for the purposes of processing the employment relationship, taking account of any legal requirements.

You can contact Us in a number of ways, including via the contact form on our web page. We will also be happy to send you regular information by e-mail in our newsletter.

Contact form

If you wish to contact Our Sales, Technical Support, or Service teams directly, you can use the online contact form. If you wish to use the contact form, we will record the personal information that you enter in the contact form, particularly your name and e-mail address. We also save the IP address and the date and time of the request. We process the data transmitted via the contact form solely for the purposes of responding to your request or concern.

You can choose which information to send via the contact form.

Once We have processed the matter, the personal information will initially be saved in case there are any subsequent queries. You can request that this personal information be deleted at any time. Otherwise, we will delete the personal information once the matter has been fully resolved and there are no legal retention obligations remaining.

Newsletter

If you subscribe to Our newsletter, your email address will be used for Our own advertising purposes until you unsubscribe. You will receive regular information by email in this regard on current topics as well as emails for specific events, such as special promotions. The emails may be personalised and customised based on Our information about you.

Unless you have given Us your consent in writing, We use the double opt-in method for subscriptions to our newsletter, i.e. We will only send you a newsletter by email if you have expressly confirmed that you wish for Us to activate the sending of the newsletter. We will then send you a notification email and ask you to confirm by that you would like to receive Our newsletter by clicking a link in this email. We record the opening of the newsletter and any links that this may contain. We also process the following data in connection with the use of the newsletter: the email program that you are using, your operating system, the time of access, and your abbreviated IP address.

Within the limits of the legal requirements, it is also possible that you may receive Our newsletter from Us without your express consent, because you have ordered goods or services from us, We have received your e-mail in this context, and you have not declined to receive information by email.

If you do not wish to continue receiving newsletters from Us, you can withdraw your consent that you have granted at any time with effect for the future or decline to continue receiving the newsletter without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs at the basic rates. Simply use the unsubscribe link contained in every newsletter or send a message to Us or to Privacy Officer.

Rights of access and correction

You have a large number of rights in relation to the processing of your personal information. Firstly, you have an extensive right of access and can request that your personal information be corrected, deleted, or blocked if necessary. You can also request a restriction of processing and have a right to object. With regard to the data transmitted by Us to you, you also have a right to data portability.

If you wish to exercise one of your rights and/or wish to receive more information in this regard, please contact Our Customer Service Team. Alternatively, you can also contact Privacy Officer.

Revocation of consent and objection

Once you have granted consent, it can be withdrawn freely at any time with effect for the future. The withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of the processing completed on the basis of the consent up to the time of withdrawal. Our Customer Service Team and Our Privacy Officer are the points of contact in this matter. If the processing of your personal information is not based on consent but on another legal basis, you can object to this data processing. Your objection will lead to a review and possibly to a termination of the data processing. You will be informed of the results of the review and in the event that data processing will be continued despite the objection – you will receive more information from Us as to why data processing is permissible.

Privacy Officer and contact

We have appointed a Privacy Officer who provides us with support tin relation to matters under data protection law and who is available for you to contact directly. Our Privacy Officer is available if you have any questions about how we handle personal information or if you require more information about data and privacy issues:

Mr. Hans-Peter Jakobfeuerborn
Phone: + 49 (0) 52 46 / 9 63 - 0
E-mail: datenschutz@beckhoff.de

or

Post: Privacy Officer, Building 4, 163–179 Forster Road, Mount Waverley, VIC 3149, Australia
Phone: 03 9913 5430
E-mail: info@beckhoff.com.au

Complaints

If you believe that the processing of your personal information by Us is not in accordance with this Privacy Policy or the APPs, you have the right to lodge a complaint to a regulatory authority. You can also make a complaint to Our Privacy Officer. The Privacy Officer will then review the matter and inform you of the results of the review.

Data Breaches

In Australia, if We suspect that a data breach has occurred, We will undertake an assessment into the circumstances of the suspected breach within 30 days after the suspected breach has occurred. Where it is ascertained that a breach has actually occurred and where required by law, We will notify the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals as soon as practicable after becoming aware that a data breach has occurred.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites. These links are generally identified as such. We have no influence on the extent to which the linked web pages comply with the applicable data protection provisions. We therefore recommend that you obtain further information from other websites about the relevant privacy policies.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

The status of this Privacy Policy is identified by the date (below). We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time with effect for the future. In particular, a change is made in the event of technical modifications to the website, or in the event of changes to the requirements under the Privacy Act, APPs or data protection laws. The current version of the Privacy Policy is always available to accessed directly via the website. We recommend that you inform yourself regularly of any changes to this Privacy Policy.

Last updated: February 2024