PRIVACY POLICY

BTC is pleased about your visit to our website and your interest in our company.

The topic of data protection has the highest priority at BTC. Therefore, we would like to inform you in detail about it in the following:

A.         Who is responsible for data processing and who is our data protection officer?
B.         What data do we process, for what purposes, for how long and on what legal basis?
C.        Are you obliged to provide us with this data?
D.        To whom do we pass on your personal data?
E.         How do we safeguard your personal data?
F.         What rights do you have?
G.        Where can you complain?
H.        Data protection for minors
I.          Direct Marketing
J.         Live Chat and Chat Bot Features

A.   Who is responsible for data processing and who is our data protection officer?

You can find the person responsible for data processing at here.
Our data protection officer is:

Flavio Sacchetti
BTC Europe Data Protection Officer
40789 Monheim am Rhein
Tel: +49 2173 3347 0

E-Mail: flavio.sacchetti(at)btc-europe.com

B. What data do we process, for what purposes, for how long and on what legal basis?

In the following, we inform you about the data processing on our site (a), its purposes and legal basis (b) as well as the respective storage period and, if applicable, specific objection and removal options (c).

1. log files

a.   Data processing

If you visit our website for information purposes only, i.e. if you do not register or transmit data in any other way (e.g. via a contact form), the following information is automatically transmitted from your browser to our server:

• IP address of your device  
• Information about your browser
• Name of the website from which you visit us
• Name of the visited page (URL) or the opened file
• Date and time of your visit
• Status information such as error messages
• Transferred data volume and the access status (file transferred, file not found, etc.)
• Operating system and version of your computer's operating system and the name of your access provider

b.   Purposes and legal basis

When you visit the BTC web site, we use the IP address and other information automatically transmitted to our server by your browser under B. 1. a. to
      (i)    provide you with the requested content
      (ii)    ensure the security and stability of our website and to trace unauthorized use
      (iii)   enable a comfortable use of our website.
The legal basis for the data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR. Our legitimate interest follows from the above listed purposes for data processing. Under no circumstances do we use the collected data for the purpose of drawing conclusions about your person.

c.   Storage period

The data will be deleted as soon as they are no longer necessary for the purpose for which they were collected. In the case of the collection of data for the provision of the website, this is the case when the respective session is ended. In the case of storage of the data in log files, this is the case after seven days at the latest. Storage beyond this period is possible. In this case, the IP addresses are anonymized by deleting the last eight bits, so that an identification of you is no longer possible.

2. Cookies

a.   Data processing and respective legal basis

We use cookies on our website. These are text information that can be stored in the browser on the device of the viewer to a visited website (web server, server). The cookie is either sent from the web server to the browser or generated in the browser by a script (JavaScript). The web server can read this cookie information directly from the server when the user visits this page again or transfer the cookie information to the server via a script of the website. Cookies do not cause any damage to your device, do not contain viruses, trojans or other malware.
Information is stored in the cookie that is related to the specific device used. This does not mean, however, that we obtain direct knowledge of your identity.

We generally use the following cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies
  These cookies are necessary for the functioning of the website. In general, these cookies are only set in response to actions you take in response to a service request, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in, or filling out forms. You can set your browser to block these cookies or to notify you about these cookies. However, some areas of the website may not function properly.
  The legal basis for the processing of these cookies is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR. Our legitimate interest follows from the data processing purposes listed under B.1.b.

• Performance cookies
  These cookies enable us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our website. They help us answering questions about which pages are most popular, which are least used and how visitors move around the site. All information collected by these cookies is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we cannot know when you visited our website.
  The legal basis for the processing of these cookies is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR, which you have given us by making your selection in the cookie banner or in our Privacy Preference Center.
  You have the right to revoke your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent until revocation. To do so, please change the settings in the Privacy Preference Center.

• Functional cookies
  These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third parties whose services we use on our pages. If you do not allow these cookies, some or all of these services may not function properly.
  The legal basis for the processing of these cookies is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR, which you have given us by making your selection in the cookie banner or in our Privacy Preference Center.
  You have the right to revoke your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent until revocation. To do so, please change the settings in the Privacy Preference Center.

• Cookies for marketing purposes
  These cookies can be set via our website. They may be used by our marketing partners to profile your interests and show you relevant ads on other websites. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
  The legal basis for the processing of these cookies is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR, which you have given us by making your selection in the cookie banner or in our Privacy Preference Center.

You have the right to revoke your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent until revocation. To do so, please change the settings in the Privacy Preference Center.

b.   Specific use of cookies, purposes and storage period

Specifically, we use the following cookies, depending on the cookie preferences you set in the Privacy Preference Center. Only the strictly necessary cookies are activated by default. If you do not want this either, you have the option of generally rejecting cookies in your browser. In this case, the functionality of the visited website may be impaired.

5. Social media hyperlink

We have included hyperlinks to the following social media services on our website: LinkedIn and Facebook.
These hyperlinks are designed in the form of the corresponding logos and are stored on our own server. This means that when our website is loaded for the first time, no data about you as a user are transferred to the respective provider. You will be directed to the respective website only if you click on the logos. Further data about you may be processed on this website.
We have no influence on this data processing on the respective linked websites.

C.   Are you obliged to provide us with this data?

When you visit our website, the information specified in section B. 1. a. as well as the information from the cookies classified as strictly necessary is processed automatically. The transfer of this information is voluntary. Without the provision of this personal data, we cannot display the requested page.
If you...

• ...allow us to use cookies that are not classified as strictly necessary,
• ...want to contact us and send us an e-mail or use our contact form (including the necessary reCAPTCHA query) or
• ...want to see embedded YouTube videos

...the transfer of the information is voluntary.
If you contact us, we cannot answer your inquiry in the chosen way without the provision of the personal data required in the individual case. As far as cookies are concerned, the lack of consent can lead to a restriction of the functionality of the website or parts of it. Embedded videos cannot be played without your consent.

D.   To whom do we pass on your personal data?

Within our company, only persons and departments are granted access to your personal data as far as they need it to fulfil the abovementioned purposes.
We also involve service providers. These service providers will only act on our instructions and are contractually obliged to comply with the applicable data protection requirements.
Otherwise, we will only pass on your data to third parties if:

• you have given your express consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR,
• the disclosure pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR is necessary for the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims and there is no reason to assume that you have an overriding interest worthy of protection in not disclosing your data,
• there is a legal obligation for us to pass on the data in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. c GDPR, or
• this is legally permissible and, in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b GDPR, is necessary for the fulfilment of contractual relationships with you.

A transfer of your personal data to service providers in a third country will only take place if the special requirements of Art. 44 ff. GDPR are fulfilled.

E.   How do we secure your personal data?

BTC uses technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data from accidental or intentional manipulation, loss, destruction or access by unauthorized persons. Our security measures are continuously revised in line with technological developments.

F.   What rights do you have?

You have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation including the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, if you request it from us in writing:

• Right to access: the right to obtain access to your information (if we’re processing it), and certain other information (like that provided in this Privacy Policy);
• Right to correct: if your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete you have the right to have your personal information rectified;
• Right to erasure: this is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’ and, in simple terms, enables you to request the deletion or removal of your information where there’s no compelling reason for us to keep using it. This is not a general right to erasure; there are exceptions. For example, we have the right to continue using your personal data if such use is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations or for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims;
• Right to restriction of processing: the right to suspend the usage of your personal information or limit the way in which we can process it. Please note that this right is limited in certain situations: When we are processing your personal information that we collected from you with your consent you can only request restriction on the basis of: (a) inaccuracy of data; (b) where our processing is unlawful and you don’t want your personal information erased; (c) you need it for a legal claim; or (d) if we no longer need to use the data for the purposes for which we hold it. When processing is restricted, we can still store your information, but may not use it further. We keep lists of people who have asked for restriction of the use of their personal information to make sure the restriction is respected in future;
• Right to data portability: the right to request that we move, copy or transfer (where technically feasible) your personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, for your own purposes across different services;
• Right to object: the right to object to our processing of your personal information including where we process it for our legitimate interests, direct marketing;
• Right to withdraw consent: if you have given your consent to anything we do with your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time (although if you do so, it does not mean that anything we have done with your personal information with your consent up to that point is unlawful).

Exercising these rights is free of charge. However, you are required to prove your identity by means of a two-factor-authentication. We will engage reasonable efforts consistent with our legal duty to supply, correct or delete personal information about you.
To exercise your rights, please contact us, for example by e-mail or by post. You will find the contact details in section A.

G.  Where can you complain?

You have the right to lodge a complaint with our data protection officer (for contact details see Section A) or with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement.
In either case, you can contact our Lead Data Protection Authority:

Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen
Kavalleriestr. 2-4
40213 Düsseldorf
https://www.ldi.nrw.de/

H.   Data protection for minors

This website is intended for persons who are at least 18 years old. If a minor submits personal data via this website, we will delete this data and not process it further as soon as we become aware of this fact.

I. Direct marketing

If you have given us your consent to do so, we will process your personal data to provide you with personalized information on BASF products, events, web seminars and services we consider relevant for you and to conduct customer surveys via the communication channels you have selected.

In order to determine your professional needs and interests, we combine and analyse the personal data that we have collected about you in the course of your relationship with BASF as a customer or user of BASF products and services (in particular your contract and master data, the products you have purchased, samples, demos, brochures or whitepapers that you have requested or downloaded, webinars for which you have registered, surveys that you have completed, etc.).

The legal basis for the processing of your personal data for the above-mentioned purposes is your consent.

Due to the global nature of BASF’s marketing teams, BASF will share your personal data with the relevant BASF entities and therefore transmit your personal data to the following BASF companies being the regional Marketing Headquarters:

• BTC Europe GmbH; Rheinpromenade 1; 40789 Monheim am Rhein; Deutschland
• BASF A/S; Kalvebod Brygge 45, 2. sal.; DK-1560 Copenhagen V; Denmark
• BASF Espanola S.L.; Can Ràbia 3; 08017 Barcelona; Spain
• BASF France S.A.S.; 49, avenue Georges Pompidou; 92593 Levallois-Perret Cedex; France
• BASF plc; 4th and 5th Floors, 2 Stockport Exchange, Railway Road, Stockport SK1 3GG
• BASF Italia S.p.A.; Via Marconato n. 8, 20811 Cesano Maderno (MB), Italia
• BASF Slovensko spol. s.r.o.; Digital Park, Einsteinova 23, 851 01 Bratislava, Slovakia
• W. Rosenstein Ltd.; 13 Zarhin Street (Bldg. B-1 floor), Ra’anana 4366241, P.O.BOX 4351, Israel
• BASF SE, Carl-Bosch-Straße 38, 67063 Ludwigshafen am Rhein
• BASF Personal Care and Nutrition GmbH, Rheinpromenade 1, 40789 Monheim
• BASF AB, Sven Hultins Plats 5, 41258, Göteborg, Sweden 
• BASF AS, Lilleakerveien 2B, 0283, Oslo, Norway 
• BASF Belgium Coordination Center CommV, Drève Richelle 161 E boîte 43, 1410, Waterloo, Belgium 
• BASF Coatings GmbH, Glasuritstrasse 1, 48165 Muenster, Germany
• BASF Coatings Services B.V., Industrieweg 12, 3606 AS Maarssen, Netherlands
• BASF Coatings Services GmbH, Minister-Stein-Allee 6, 44339 Dortmund, Germany
• BASF Coatings Services SA, Rijksweg 14, 2880 Bornem, Belgium
• BASF Construction Additives GmbH, Dr.-Albert-Frank-Strasse 32, 83308, Trostberg, Germany 
• BASF Corporation, 100 Park Avenue, 7932 Florham Park, New Jersey, USA 
• BASF Corporation, 11501 Steele Creek Road, 28273 Charlotte, USA
• BASF Corporation, 26701 Telegraph Road, 48033-2442 Southfield, US
• BASF Digital Farming GmbH, Im Zollhafen 24, 50678, Cologne, Germany 
• BASF Oy, Tammasaarenkatu 3, 00180, Helsinki, Finland 
• BASF Polyurethanes GmbH, Elastogranstraße 60, 49448, Lemförde, Germany 
• BASF S.R.L., Soseaua Pipera Nr.43, Cladirea A, Etaj 1, Sector 2, 14254, Bukarest, Romania 
• BASF South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., 852 Sixteenth Road, 1685, Midrand, South Africa 

In addition, BASF will share your personal data between those BASF companies which are responsible for you as a (prospective) business partner. Both of the aforementioned transfers serve the purpose of administration of customer data across the BASF Group and preparation of global marketing campaigns and sales-related activities.

The legal basis for this data sharing is our legitimate interest in maintaining your personal data in our company group.

We will share your personal data with other affiliated companies of the BASF Group if they provide IT services for us or if this is necessary for operational reasons, such as follow ups from sales managers or developing personalized marketing materials and content. Furthermore, we will pass on your personal data to the technical IT service providers we use from whom we obtain services. Our IT service providers are carefully selected and regularly checked by us. They process personal data only on our behalf and strictly in accordance with our instructions on the basis of corresponding contracts for order processing. 

We store your personal data collected within the scope of your consent for the above-mentioned purposes until your consent is revoked. 

You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future by notifying us of your revocation under our consent preference center. Each marketing mail we will send to you based on this consent, will contain a separate link to revoke your consent. 

You are at liberty to grant or withhold consent. This has no effect on your visit of this website and platform. 

If you revoke your consent, we will no longer use your personal data for marketing purposes unless we have another legal basis for this. The revocation of your consent does not affect the legality of the data processing that has taken place up to that point.

J. Live Chat and Bot Features

Data processing and purposes

We have integrated a live chat function as well as a chatbot on our website. This is a service provided by TEXT SA, ul. Zwycięska 47, 53-033 Wroclaw, Poland. The live chat chatbot and the associated data processing will only be started if you have previously either clicked on the "Accept all cookies" button in the cookie banner or activated "Functional cookies" in the Privacy Preference Center. By default, chat or bot will not be loaded and therefore no personal data will be collected from you.

If you reject the use of cookies in the cookie banner or have only activated "strictly necessary cookies" in the Privacy Preference Center, we will show you a preview image of cookies on our website. If you interact with the thumbnail to launch the chatbot, we will check whether you have consented to the use of "functional cookies". If this is not the case, we will ask for your consent to the use of "functional" cookies, as chat and bot will only work if "functional cookies" are allowed to be used. 

We use cookies to make it easier for you to use our website. These cookies are used to store information, including visitors' preferences and the pages of the website that the visitor has accessed or visited. The information is used to optimize the user experience by customizing the content of our website based on visitors' browser type and/or other information. Cookies can be rejected by you, and if you do not accept cookies, this may result in a reduction in functionality.

Cookies used:

• __lc_cid (customerId): Verifies the identity of a customer created in LiveChat.
• __lc_cst (customerSecureToken): Verifies the customer's token.
• __statisticsData: Stores information about how many times the customer browsed through your page and how many greetings they have seen.
• __customerName: Stores the customer's name, provided either by the pre-chat survey feature or via JavaScript API.

Storage period: 2 years

Our chat and bot support you around the clock with general questions about our products and their applications. 

Participation in a chat is voluntary and possible without registration. You alone decide which personal data you disclose about yourself during the consultation chat. You don't have to provide your name. The data provided by you will be processed exclusively for the purpose of providing advice and ensuring its quality. To carry out the chat, only data that is necessary for the consultation service or to deal with the request of the chat participant will be used. This data will not be processed by other than the above-mentioned service providers and us.

The transmission of the data is encrypted. Technical and organizational security measures are used to protect the data from intentional or accidental manipulation, access by unauthorized persons, modifications, loss and destruction. 

In the event that you have enabled geolocation in your browser, please note that we may have access to your geolocation data because we collect and process the IP address of all devices that use our services. The collection and processing of your geolocation data applies to both mobile devices and computers.

Legal bases

The legal basis for the processing of the data voluntarily provided to us by you in the chat course is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a GDPR. You give us this consent by accepting the necessary cookies.

Insofar as the chat is related to a potential application to BASF, the legal basis for the processing is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. b) GDPR. We will only use your personal data to answer your questions. The chat history is not linked to a specific application. 

In addition, we use the entries for quality assurance. As far as possible, we will anonymize your submissions. If this cannot be done, we process your personal data on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 1 lit. f) GDPR. The continuous improvement of our service within the framework of the chat also constitutes our legitimate interest in the processing of the data collected.

Storage period

The chat history and the associated metadata will be deleted or blocked as soon as the purpose for which it was stored no longer applies. In addition, storage may take place if this has been provided for by the European or national legislator in EU regulations, laws or other regulations to which the controller is subject. The data will also be blocked or deleted if a storage period prescribed by the aforementioned standards expires, unless there is a need for further storage of the data for the conclusion or fulfilment of a contract.
In the case of consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent before its withdrawal. Please let your contact person know about this.

Terms

BTC Europe GmbH (hereinafter referred to as "BTC" or "We") provides you with a chat on www.btc-europe.com. The offer is provided jointly by the companies LiveChat, Inc. on behalf of BTC Europe.
The chat only takes place on two sides, other users cannot read the conversation. Apart from the cost of an internet connection, there are no fees.

The following terms and conditions apply to the use of chats, i.e. online advice with the help of chatbots or live chats. All rights to or from the platform belong to BTC.

Please read the following terms of use before starting a chat.

Posting or otherwise making available any content that is unlawful, punishable, abusive, obscene, vulgar, defamatory, hateful, threatening, offensive, harmful to minors, discriminatory, racist, glorifies violence, sexually oriented, pornographic, or otherwise infringes the rights of any other person, including, but not limited to, infringements of copyright or other intellectual property rights that undermine the reputation of BTC, BASF or the BASF Group companies or their respective representatives, or which violate applicable law, in the context of a chat is prohibited.
BTC is entitled to terminate a recruiting chat or discontinue the offer at any time. There is no legal entitlement to a consultation chat. 

Liability
The online consultation with the help of a chat is provided by BTC with reasonable care and in an existing form. BTC makes no guarantees, representations, warranties or other representations whatsoever with respect to the validity, accuracy, reliability and completeness of the BTC Content or the content of any advice or dialogue or with regard to the availability or accessibility of the advice offered.
BTC is generally liable for damages in accordance with the statutory provisions. However, in the event of a simple negligent breach of essential contractual obligations, BTC's liability is limited to compensation for typically foreseeable damages. In the event of a simple negligent breach of non-essential contractual obligations, BTC assumes no liability. The above limitations of liability do not apply in the event of injury to life, limb or health.

Changes
BTC may amend these Terms of Use at any time without notice. The amended terms will come into force upon posting. The continued use of the Site by the User indicates his continued acceptance of the amended Terms. BTC may, at its sole discretion and without incurring any liability, modify and/or discontinue the operation of this Site, in whole or in part, at any time without notice, and is under no obligation to update the Site.
 
Applicable law
These Terms of Use and any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to its conflict of law rules. The exclusive place of jurisdiction is Ludwigshafen/Rhein, Germany.