Global Privacy Policy (website)
1. General information and contact details
Aebi Schmidt Holding AG, having its registered office in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, together with its affiliated companies belonging to the Aebi Schmidt Group (hereinafter referred to as ‘Aebi Schmidt’, ‘us’, or ‘we’), agrees to protect and respect your privacy. Aebi Schmidt takes the protection of your data very seriously. In the following, we set out which data we collect and how we use it.
2. Data Controller
The data controller for the data processing is:
Aebi Schmidt Holding AG
Schulstrasse 4
8500 Frauenfeld
Switzerland
3. General information
Aebi Schmidt would like you to feel safe when using our website and to be informed about when, for what purposes, and which of your personal data is processed.
Aebi Schmidt reserves the right to amend this privacy policy from time to time. You should therefore read these data protection provisions regularly. You can find the date of the version currently in force (valid from) at the start of this privacy notice.
Our data protection practices may vary between the different countries in which we operate in order to take account of local customs and legal requirements.
3.1 What is personal data?
Personal data is all information relating to a specific or identifiable natural person (e.g. name, address, telephone number, date of birth or email address). In general, you can use our website without providing any personal data. The use of the website may require personal data to be provided. Personal data will therefore not be processed as a matter of course but rather only in certain circumstances and for certain purposes.
3.2 When is personal data processed?
In order to provide and operate the website, we or third parties process personal data within the scope of:
- Websites (incl. blogs): Personal data is processed via log files, cookies, analysis tools, social media plug-ins and other technical aids that are necessary for the operation of the website.
- Contact forms: Personal data such as contact details are processed via contact forms for feedback, enquiries or other services that may be handled using our website.
- Newsletter: Personal data such as contact details are processed in connection with your registration for the newsletter.
3.3 For what purposes is personal data processed?
Aebi Schmidt processes personal data for the following purposes:
- Provision of the website for users
- Website optimisation (e.g. statistical evaluation, trend analysis, website improvement)
- Personalisation of the website for users
- Ad management, ad performance analytics, ad matching and retargeting (targeted online advertising where communications are targeted to users based on their past behaviour)
- Sending of the newsletter
- Data security for users
- Processing of all types of enquiries (users, suppliers, etc.)
3.4 What is the legal basis for the data processing?
Where we obtain your consent to the processing of personal data, this serves as the legal basis for processing (e.g. newsletter, personalisation of the website through cookie settings).
We also process your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest. This includes processing for the purpose of providing and optimising the website.
Where personal data is processed on the basis of a legal obligation, this serves as the legal basis. For example, this may be the case for transfer of personal data to third parties, storage times or retention periods.
4. Transfer of personal data to third parties
4.1 Is personal data transferred to third parties?
In general, we only pass your personal data on to third parties if you have given us your consent, where we have a legitimate interest, or if it is necessary in order to process your enquiry.
In addition, your data may be passed to third parties where we are required to do so because of legal provisions or are ordered to do so by the authorities or by a court of law.
4.2 Are third-party service providers also used?
We also use external service providers for data processing. Service providers are generally involved as ‘processors’ who are permitted to process the personal data of the users of our website only in accordance with our instructions.
4.3 Is personal data passed on to recipients in third countries?
We also make personal data available to third parties or processors who are not based in the EU/EEA or Switzerland. In this case, we either ensure before the transfer that the recipient guarantees an adequate level of data protection (e.g. on the basis of an adequacy decision for the country concerned or the application of the European Union’s standard contractual clauses) or that you, as the user, have given your consent.
If it is necessary in order to respond to your enquiry, we pass your data on to the relevant Aebi Schmidt representative or to third parties. The data protection provisions of the relevant country apply. Of course, we strive to process your data as far as possible in line with the European data protection provisions but this cannot be guaranteed in every case. By giving your consent, you accept the risks associated with the transfer of your data to the respective third-party company, insofar as this is necessary to respond to your enquiry. If you do not provide your consent, this may mean that we are unable to respond to your enquiry. In this case, please feel free to contact us by telephone.
5. Duration of the storage and retention periods
We store your personal data for as long as is necessary to provide our website services or for as long as we have a legitimate interest in continuing to store it. In all other cases, we delete your personal data, with the exception of data that we are required to retain in order to comply with legal obligations (e.g. retention requirements).
In a situation where data is stored in cookies or as local storage (applies to data used when browsing the website), the duration of the storage and retention periods is set by the service provider (third-party cookies) or, in the case of first-party cookies, the expiration date of data is closely related to the imperative of providing the right quality of service operation. Removal of data stored in cookies or local storage is feasible by the user and technically depends on the version and type of browser and device.
6. Website
6.1 Detailed information
6.1.1 Log files
When accessing our website, certain data is automatically transferred by your internet browser and stored by us in so-called log files:
- IP address
- Date and time of server request
- Browser settings, browser type and version
- Content of the request (specific page)
- Access status/HTTP status code
- Information transferred about operating system
- Name of the retrieved file
- Time difference to Greenwich Mean Time
This usage data forms part of the basis for statistical, anonymous evaluations for the purposes of trend recognition, which Aebi Schmidt may use to improve its website accordingly.
6.1.2 Purpose of the log files
Personal data is stored for security reasons or for the investigation of errors. It is stored for up to six months and then erased. Log files are excepted from the requirement to erase if it is necessary to continue retaining them for evidential purposes until such time as the respective incident is finally resolved, and may in individual cases be disclosed to investigatory authorities.
6.2 Cookies
6.2.1 What are cookies?
Cookies are small data files (text (cookies) or image files (pixels)) that are sent when visiting a website and stored in the user's browser. If the relevant website is accessed again, the user’s browser sends the content of the cookies back and thereby enables the user to be recognised.
6.2.2 How long are cookies stored in the browser?
Certain cookies are deleted automatically when the browser session finishes (known as session cookies). Others are stored for a certain time or for a longer period in the user’s browser and are deleted automatically afterwards (known as temporary or permanent cookies).
6.2.3 Preventing the use of cookies or deleting cookies?
You can use the following link to see the activation status regarding the cookies of different providers and to object to the collection and/or evaluation of your data through such cookies: youronlinechoices.com
The following link takes you to a central point for opting out of various cookies, especially those of providers in the USA: optout.networkadvertising.org
6.2.4 Which cookies do we use and for what purpose?
We use cookies to make our website more user-friendly and (where desired) personalised, as well as to measure and evaluate the use of our services. Some elements of our website require the browser accessing it to be identifiable even after changing pages. In addition, we use cookies on our website which enable us to analyse user browsing behaviour. In addition to cookies used for analytics and website management and the quality of information provided, we use cookies necessary to conduct marketing activities.
6.2.5 Mandatory cookies
Certain cookies are necessary for us to be able to provide our website. The cookies that fall into this category are those which:
- allow us to identify or authenticate users
- temporarily store certain user input (e.g. content of a contact form, newsletter form)
- save certain user preferences (e.g. language settings)
- allow videos and sound recordings to be played (e.g. blog posts)
6.2.6 Analysis cookies
We use analysis cookies in order to be able to assess the behaviour of our users in statistical form (e.g. which pages are visited, search terms entered).
6.2.7 Tracking cookies in connection with social plug-ins and systems for managing and analyzing online marketing activities
The integration of social plug-ins results in the storage of cookies by the plug-in provider. In addition, cookies that allow the analysis of marketing activities, used to verify the effectiveness of traffic generated by advertisements and to mark you, the user, for possible serving of advertisements related to retargeting activities.
6.3 Web analysis tool
We use statistical information about the use of our website in order to be able to make it more user-friendly, analyse trends and otherwise manage and improve the website.
The user profiles created by the tool using analysis cookies, or through evaluation of the log files, are not linked to personal data.
We use the following systems:
- Matomo
The tool either does not use the IP addresses of users at all or, if it does, it truncates them immediately after collection. We use open-source software from the web analysis provider Matomo and only store your personal data on our own server. Your personal data is not passed on to the web analysis provider Matomo. Third Party Information: ePrivacy Holding GmbH, Große Bleichen 21 20354 Hamburg, Germany. More information on contacting the solution provider: matomo.org/matomo-cloud-privacy-policy - Google Analytics
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited (below for short “Google”). The purpose of using Google Analytics is to analyse and regularly improve the use of our website. We can use the statistics obtained to improve our offer and make it more interesting for you as a user. We also receive information about the functionality of our site (e.g. to identify navigation problems). In accordance with the recommendations resulting from Schrems II, the website uses Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which includes the ability to configure to the highest possible extent exclude the collection of personal data The GA4 service does also not log IP addresses and is configured to limit the collection of granular data (like location or device). Third Party Information: Google Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd., Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, Fax: +353 (1) 436 1001. For the exceptional cases in which personal data is transferred to the USA, Google has concluded standard contractual clauses in accordance with Article 46 GDPR.
When using opt-out cookies, it must be ensured that the opt-out function relates to a device or a browser and, in general, applies only to the end device or browser currently being used. In addition, you can prevent the creation of user profiles completely by disabling the use of cookies on a general basis. If you have activated cookies and subsequently wish to opt out of the collection or evaluation of your data by this tool, you can adjust your settings here:
6.4 Marketing tools (Google Ads)
This website is prepared for use as part of Google Ads campaigns and the use of Conversion Linker.
- Google Ads is an advertising service used to control campaigns, personalize and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.
- Conversion Linker are tags used to collect data about campaign clicks, thanks to which conversions are effectively measured in different domains.
Please note that this service may transfer data to a country without the required data protection standards. If data is transferred to the US, there is a risk that it may be processed by US authorities for control and supervision purposes, possibly without recourse. For more information on security, please refer to Google Privacy Help Center
When using opt-out cookies, it must be ensured that the opt-out function relates to a device or a browser and, in general, applies only to the end device or browser currently being used. In addition, you can prevent the creation of user profiles completely by disabling the use of cookies on a general basis. If you have activated cookies and subsequently wish to opt out of the collection or evaluation of your data by this tool, you can adjust your settings here.
The use of mechanisms related to Google Ads results directly from three scenarios:
- User has consented to the use of tracking mechanisms and such cookies
- User clicked on a paid link in the Google browser. We are talking about a link in organic results that has been marked as sponsored, and the use of the search engine itself had to be associated with accepting information related to the use of the above-mentioned search engine (within the google.com website or at the level of accepting the rules related to the use of the Chrome browser).
- User clicked on an image ad on a Google partner site.
6.5 Social plug-ins
6.5.1 What are social plug-ins?
Plug-ins can be used to integrate social media into our website for the benefit of our users by using a plug-in.
By default, the plug-in’s functions are deactivated in order to prevent the automatic transfer of user data to the providers. The plug-in is only activated, and data is only transferred, once the user clicks on the plug-in. Log files (including IP addresses) are then sent by your internet browser directly to a server belonging to the relevant plug-in provider and may be stored there. This server may be located outside of the EU or the EEA (e.g. in the USA).
6.5.2 Preventing the activation of plug-ins?
If you do not want any data to be exchanged with social media, you should log out of social media before using our website. You should also activate private mode in your browser settings.
It also helps to deactivate or restrict cookies in your browser settings. This prevents third parties from being able to trace your user behaviour. In general, you can also completely prevent plug-ins from loading by using add-ons for your browser (known as script blockers).
6.5.3 Does Aebi Schmidt have control over the scope of the data processing through plug-ins?
Plug-ins are independent extensions belonging to the plug-in provider. Aebi Schmidt therefore has no control over the scope of the data that is collected and stored by the provider of the plug-in. If one of the specified plug-in providers has placed cookies on your device, it may generally record your surfing habits and use tracking data to create detailed user profiles.
You can find further information about the purpose and scope of collection and the further processing and use of your data by plug-in providers, as well as your rights and configuration options to protect your data, in the privacy policy of the relevant plug-in provider. In the course of using our website, we use a plug-in from the following provider:
- YouTube plug-ins: YouTube is operated by YouTube Inc., 300 Sand Hill Rd, BLDG Suite 180, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA, more: policies.google.com/privacy We use the privacy friendly ‘youtube-nocookie’ version here to play videos on our website (e.g. blog) (YouTube Help).
- Google plug-ins: We offer a directions service on our website that uses Google Maps (hereinafter referred to as ’Google’). This redirects you to the Google Maps website. Please note that Google provides this map service to you under its own responsibility. We are not responsible for data processing by Google. This is a service of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 USA. If you access integrated services on our website, Google stores a cookie on your end device via your internet browser. In order to show the locations and create directions, your user settings and user data are processed. Through the connection established with Google, Google can detect which website your enquiry has been sent from and to which IP address the directions are to be sent. If you do not agree to this processing, you have the option to prevent the installation of cookies through the relevant settings in your internet browser. You can find Google’s privacy policy notice at: policies.google.com/privacy
6.6 Contact forms
You can use contact forms to contact us directly, ask us questions, share feedback or generally use the services that we provide on our website.
In general, the mandatory details we collect in order to process your enquiry or request are your title, first name, surname, email address and country. Mandatory details are always identified with an asterisk (*). If it is necessary for the processing of the enquiry, we may collect other data as mandatory data.
You can find out what data is collected, including the mandatory fields, directly in the relevant contact form on our website. Alternatively, you can get in touch with us via the email address provided. In that case, the personal details sent with your email will be stored. The personal data will only be used for the purposes indicated and, if necessary, transferred to the appropriate Aebi Schmidt company to deal with your request. The data processed for the communication is not transferred to third parties outside of Aebi Schmidt unless this is strictly necessary in order to be able to respond to your enquiry (see section 4) and you have given your consent to this. We delete data that you send us via contact forms as soon as it is no longer necessary for us to store it.
6.7 Newsletter form
You can register for our newsletter via the newsletter form. By registering, you are consenting to the necessary processing of your personal data. The mandatory details in order to register are your email address, country and language. Mandatory details are always identified with an asterisk (*). You can also add optional information such as your first name and surname or your interests.
You can find out what data is collected, including the mandatory fields, directly in the newsletter form on our website. Your personal data will only be used for the purposes indicated. The newsletter is sent by an external service provider based in the EU. No data is transferred to third countries unless you are in a third country yourself and have agreed to this transmission of data by consenting to the newsletter. Your data will be deleted immediately if you withdraw your consent for the newsletter.
7. Your rights
7.1 Right to information
Users have the right at any time to request information from the data controller responsible for the processing about their personal data which is processed and to receive a copy of this information. Users also have the right to find out whether personal data has been transferred to a third country.
7.2 Right to rectification
Users have the right to require the data controller to rectify any of their personal data which is incorrect or incomplete.
7.3 Right to erasure
Users have the right to require the data controller to erase their personal data immediately if such data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it has been collected or processed. The same applies if users withdraw their consent or object to processing and there is no overriding legitimate interest for the processing or the personal data has been processed unlawfully. In addition, users may assert this right if the data controller is subject to a legal requirement to erase the data or the personal data has been collected in relation to information society services.
7.4 Right to restriction of processing
Users have the right to require the data controller to restrict the processing of their personal data.
7.5 Right to data portability
Users have the right to receive the personal data provided by them to a data controller in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transfer this data to another data controller without being prevented from doing so by the data controller to which the personal data was provided.
7.6 Right to withdraw consent
Users have the right to withdraw their consent to the processing of their personal data at any time. Such withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out on the basis of their consent up until the date of withdrawal.
7.7 Right to object
Users have the right to object to the processing of their personal data at any time if the processing takes place on the basis of a legitimate interest of the data controller/third party or is necessary to perform a task that is in the public interest. You may object at any time if the personal data is processed for the purposes of direct marketing.
7.8 How can you exercise your rights?
In order to exercise your rights, please contact dpo@aebi-schmidt.com or your local HR department.
In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority. You can find the details of the data protection authority for your (EU) country here: edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en
For Switzerland, please contact:
Eidgenössischer Datenschutz- und Öffentlichkeitsbeauftragter
Feldeggweg 1
3003 Bern
Switzerland
Tel: +41 58 462 43 95
8. Data protection contact
For information and feedback on the topic of data protection, please contact our data protection officer:
Aebi Schmidt Holding AG
Group Data Protection Officer
Schulstrasse 4
8500 Frauenfeld
Switzerland
Tel: +41 44 308 58 00
Email: dpo@aebi-schmidt.com
Aebi Schmidt Deutschland GmbH
Data Protection Officer
Albtalstrasse 36
79837 St. Blasien
Germany
Tel: +49 7672 412 0
Email: dpo@aebi-schmidt.com
Last updated: May 2023