Privacy Notice
What personal information do we collect?
Our reason for collecting your personal information is to provide and improve the service, products and experiences that you and our customers expect from us.
Personal information is defined slightly differently across the world. To guarantee your privacy and the protection of your information, we define it as any information that could be used to identify you or another individual.
We collect personal information about you in a number of different ways. In this section, we explain the different ways we collect personal information about you and the ways in which that information will be used. For more detail on how we use your personal information, please see the section titled “How do we use your personal information?”
Information you share with us
We collect personal information that you share with us when you contact us or interact with us through our website, apps, email, phone, in person at our company premises, stands and events, or otherwise.
For example, you will provide information to us when you contact our Customer Service Team, place an order, register your warranty, update your preferences and account information, connect through one of our products on our website.
Through these interactions you may share with us: your name, address, e-mail address, contact number and payment information. In some circumstances, we will need that information to be able to provide you with a product or service that you have asked for; for example, we need your payment information when you buy a product, and your address to deliver it to you.
All of that information is optional, which means that you can choose whether or not to provide it; you can also ask us to delete it at any time by contacting our BKW Customer Service Team or by e-mailing our Privacy Team at GDPR@bkwinstruments.co.uk
Information from your online interactions
We collect and store limited personal information and some anonymous, aggregate statistics from all visitors to our website, whether you actively provide us with that information or merely browse our website. The information we collect includes the internet protocol (IP) address of the device you are using, the browser software you use, your operating system, the date and time of access, the internet address of the website from which you link through to our website and information on how you use our website.
We use this information so that we can see how well our website is working, how they are used and what users look at most.
We also collect and handle information about how you engage with our promotional campaigns and advertising online, outside of our own websites (for example, on social media).
That information is, predominantly, collected through our use of cookies and similar technologies.
Cookies
We use cookies on our website. “Cookies” are small text files that websites save onto your device via your web browser. They’ve been around since the mid-1990’s and are one of the most widely used technologies on the internet.
Some cookies that we use at BKW will collect personal information about you. Any personal information that is collected will be used in accordance with this privacy policy. By continuing to use our website, you accept that cookies will be set on your device.
Email Communications
As a user of our products or services, we will send you support communications by e-mail. As long as you are happy for us to do so, we would also like to keep you posted on anything that’s happening at BKW which we think is relevant to you; whether it’s our latest product and services, or technical information, we want to make sure you’re happy with the communications you receive from us. You can find out how to update or change whether you would like to hear from us, or stop us contacting you, in the section below titled ‘How can you change the way that we contact you?’.
We collect information about how you engage with our e-mails; including whether they are delivered to you, whether you open them, whether you choose to learn more about what’s happening at BKW (for example, by clicking on a link in our e-mail) and if you ask us not to contact you anymore (by clicking on the unsubscribe option included in all our e-mail correspondence).
We use that information by itself and in combination with your customer record (the information you share with us) to make sure that we stop sending you support or marketing communications when you ask us to. We also use it to make our e-mails as interesting as possible by providing you with content and experiences that we think you will be interested in based on how you have engaged with our previous e-mails; you have the right to object to our use of your information for this purpose (see the section below titled ‘Your controls and choices’).
Social Media
If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will not be shared with any other organisations.
These online and social media sites typically have their own privacy policies explaining how they use and share your personal information. You should carefully review those privacy policies before you use these sites to make sure that you are happy with how your personal information is being collected and shared.
Information we collect at our premises, stands and events
You may share personal information with us when you visit us in person at our premises, stands and events; such as your name, contact details and payment information (see the section above titled “Information you share with us”).
We will also collect personal information about you through our use of CCTV, filming and photography. CCTV cameras are primarily used for security purposes; We will film and take photographs at some of our events and exhibitions; we use film and photographs for our business purposes (for example, to post on our social media pages). We will display notices at our premises, stands and events where we use CCTV, or where we intend to film or take photographs, to let you know that we will collect personal information about you.
How do we use your personal information?
Our main reason for collecting and using your personal information is to provide and improve the service, products and experiences that you expect from us.
Information you share with us
We use the personal information you share with us in the following ways:
- To respond to your queries and requests
- To communicate with you
- To provide services and support for our products
- For customer satisfaction surveys to enable us to identify where service and product improvements can be made and to allow us to improve your experience should you need support from one of our experts
- To provide updates to you about any changes to policies, terms and conditions and any other matters which we may need to tell you
- As long as you are happy for us to do so, to tell you about our other products and services
- To provide you with essential service updates about our products
- To customise and improve the way that you purchase with us in the future; for example, by showing you products and offers that we think you might like, both on our websites and certain third party websites (including on social media platforms).
Information from your online interactions
We use the personal information from your online interactions, by itself and in combination with other personal information that we collect about you to identify any part of our website that isn’t working as well as it should be – so that we can fix things and make our website better for you and other users;
We also want to be able to monitor your use of our website, and how you engage with our promotional campaigns and advertising online, so that we can:
Customise and improve the way that you purchase with us in future (for example, by showing you products and services that we think you might like); and
(as long as you are happy for us to do so) send you more relevant and interesting marketing communications.
You have the right to object to our monitoring of your use of our website, and how you engage with our promotional campaigns and advertising online for these purposes. For more information on how to exercise your right to object, see the section below titled ‘Your controls and choices’.
Other potential uses of your personal information
We use your personal information:
To assist in any issues relating to the product or warranty matters;
To detect and prevent fraudulent transactions;
To comply with our legal obligations.; and
For profiling and statistical analysis. As part of this activity we combine different categories of personal information that we collect about you. For example, we combine personal information from your online interactions, information you share with us, for the profiling and statistical analysis of product popularity, of your behaviour when you use our website. You have the right to object to the processing of personal information in this way. For more information on how to exercise your right to object, see the section below titled ‘Your controls and choices’.
What is our justification for handling your personal information in this way?
Data protection and privacy laws require us to have what’s called a “legal basis” or “lawful ground” for handling personal information. Broadly, that means that we have to have a legal justification for handling your personal information. For the most part, we need to handle your personal information to be able to:
- Provide you with the products or services that you have asked for
- For our products and website to be able to work properly and to do all the things that you expect them to.
Sometimes, our use of your personal information is not strictly necessary for us to be able to provide you with our products and services, or for them to work properly. In those circumstances, we have what’s called a “legitimate interest” in handling your personal information; our “legitimate interest” may be to:
- Detect and prevent fraud
- Keep our website and IT systems secure
- Ensure that our own processes, procedures and systems are as efficient as possible
- Analyse and enhance the information that we collect;
- Determine the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and advertising
- Customise and improve the way that you engage with us in future.
There will be certain personal information that you share with us which we specify as being optional (for example, when you update your account information). We will explain how we use that information and if you choose to provide it to us, you are agreeing to our use of your information in that way. You can ask us to delete that information at any time by contacting the BKW Customer Service Team or by e-mailing our Privacy Team at GDPR@bkwinstruments.co.uk.
Finally, in some, relatively limited circumstances we will need to handle your personal information in a certain way to be able to comply with our legal obligations; for example, if we are requested to disclose your personal information to regulatory bodies or law enforcement authorities.
Ultimately, the reason we handle your personal information in the way we do is so that we can directly or indirectly, improve our products, services and your overall experience of BKW as a business. Whatever our justification for handling your personal information (whether it is necessary for us to provide you with a certain product, or it is in our “legitimate interests”), we make sure that we take steps to honour our commitment to protect your privacy.
BKW contact promise
We want to keep you posted, whether it’s on our latest products and services, or upcoming events.
We do this in various ways, including e-mail, post, via social media platforms and by phone, but only if you are happy for us to do so. Ultimately, we want to make sure you’re happy with the communications you receive from us.
We therefore promise to:
- Only send you marketing communications when you have told us it is ok to do so
- Never pass your personal information to anyone outside BKW for them to use for their own marketing purposes
- Give you the option to stop receiving support or marketing communications at any time
BKW Support
From time-to-time, we use your personal information to help you with your products. We do this in various ways, including e-mail, post, and phone.
As a user of our products or services, we will send you the following support communications:
- Helpful information about our products and services
- Reminders about how maintenance for optimal product performance
- Alerts for recommended updates or upgrades that we think will improve the performance of your product
- Information about how and where to get expertise support
- Information about your product warranty
- Alerts regarding any important product safety or recall announcements
- Requests for your feedback on how we perform after you have used a product or service.
We will send you support communications unless you change your preferences, or tell us that you want to stop receiving support communications from us. Please see the section below for more information about how to do this.
If your details change, please let us know so that we can continue to stay in touch.
How can you change the way that we contact you about our products, services and support?
We will only send you marketing communications when you have told us that you are happy for us to do so.
If you hadn’t previously asked us to send you marketing communications, you can ask us to start contacting you (sometimes called an “opt-in”) by:
- Contacting the BKW Customer Service Team and stating that you would like to receive communications from us
- Email our Privacy Team at GDPR@bkwinstruments.co.uk
Opt-Out/Stop Contacting Me
If you want to stop receiving marketing or support communications from us (sometimes called “opting out”), you can do so at any time by:
- Contacting the BKW Customer Service Team and stating that you no longer wish to receive such communications
- Using the unsubscribe option included in all our e-mail correspondence (on all marketing and support communications)
- Email our Privacy Team at GDPR@bkwinstruments.co.uk
What personal information does BKW share with third parties?
Most importantly, we never sell your personal information to anyone and only share it as outlined in this privacy policy or when you ask us to.
Third party service providers
We share your personal information with certain third party service providers. They only have access to the personal information they need to perform those services. They are required to keep your personal information confidential and may not use it other than as we ask them to and always in accordance with this privacy policy. Those third party service providers fall into the following categories:
- Certain distributors, who help us to sell our products
- Those helping us to deliver products to you
- Third parties that help us with mailing services, product services and repairs, processing product purchases, financial services, audit services, administrative services, IT technologies (e.g. data storage), security services and insurance claims
- Third parties that help us to provide services and responses to you
We want to make sure that our advertising and marketing is relevant and interesting to you and our other customers. That means that we work with third parties to help us to understand how well our online advertising works, or to reach people who are more interested in our products and services. They do this by setting cookies on our website.
We will also share limited personal information with:
- Social media platforms (such as LinkedIn), who serve our advertising on their platforms
- Third party data providers and analytics companies, who perform data matching and/or data analysis on our behalf.
Other third parties
We share certain personal information with third parties who help us to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions. The information we share with those third parties includes some of the information that you share with us (such as, your contact details and information about the transaction), and some of the information from your online interactions (such as the IP address of your device). That information is used to determine whether a transaction could be fraudulent.
We will also share your personal information if we are required to do so by law, including in response to a legal process, such as a court order, or to comply with other laws.
If you would like more information on how we share your personal information, please email our Privacy Team at GDPR@bkwinstruments.co.uk
How long do we keep your personal information?
We only keep your personal information for as long as we need to, to be able to use it for the reasons given in this privacy policy, and for as long as we are required to keep it by law. The actual period for which we store your personal information will vary depending on the type of personal information and how it is used. For example, when you buy a product from us, we will store information about you and your purchase for at least the term of your warranty or guarantee.
Your controls and choices
Where possible, we give you control over the personal information we collect about you, to ensure it is accurate and reflects your preferences. You have the right to access, update and amend personal information that we hold about you; you can do that in relation to some of your personal information in your account. If you would like to change the way that we contact you, see the section above titled ‘How can you change the way that we contact you about our products, services and support?’
In certain circumstances, you can also:
- Object to our use of your personal information for certain purposes
- Ask us to limit or restrict our use of your personal information
- Ask us to correct, remove or delete personal information about you
- Ask us to provide your personal information to a third party provider of services
Please note that those rights do not always apply and there are certain exceptions to them. We will also need to confirm identity before acting on certain requests.
If you would like to exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal information, please email GDPR@bkwinstruments.co.uk
How do we protect your personal information?
We are committed to protecting your personal information. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures, including encryption, to protect your personal information and privacy, and review those regularly. We protect your personal information using a combination of physical and IT security controls, including access controls that restrict and manage the way in which your personal information and data is processed, managed and handled. We also ensure that our staff are adequately trained in protecting your personal information.
In the unlikely event that we do suffer a security breach which compromises our protection of your personal information and we need to let you know about it, we will do so.
Data transfers, storage and the global handling of your personal information
We will make sure that any transfers of your personal information from one country to another comply with those data protection and privacy laws which apply to us. European data protection laws, in particular, include specific rules on transferring personal information outside the EEA.
When transferring personal information outside the EEA, we will:
- Include standard data protection clauses approved by the European Commission for transferring personal information outside the EEA into our contracts with those third parties (these are the clauses approved under Article 46.2 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Ensure that the country in which your personal information will be handled has been deemed “adequate” by the European Commission under Article 45 of the GDPR.
In any case, our transfer, storage and handling of your personal information will continue to be governed by this privacy policy. If you would like further information about the global handling of your personal information, please contact us at GDPR@bkwinstruments.co.uk
Children
BKW’s website and products are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect any personal information from children.
If you are a child, please do not attempt to become a registered user of our website, apps or products or otherwise provide us with any personal information. If we learn that we have inadvertently obtained personal information from a child, we will delete that information as soon as possible.
If you are aware of a child who has provided their personal information to us, please contact us at GDPR@bkwinstruments.co.uk
BKW careers
Job applicants, current and former employees
If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information please contact us at recruitment@bkwinstruments.co.uk
What will we do with the information you provide to us?
All of the information you provide during the process will only be used for the purpose of progressing your application, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary.
We will not share any of the information you provide during the recruitment process with any third parties for marketing purposes or store any of your information outside of the European Economic Area. The information you provide will be held securely by us and/or our data processors whether the information is in electronic or physical format.
We will use the contact details you provide to us to contact you to progress your application. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for.
What information do we ask for, and why?
We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not retain it for longer than is necessary.
The information we ask for is used to assess your suitability for employment. You don’t have to provide what we ask for but it might affect your application if you don’t.
For more information about how we use your personal information for recruitment please contact us at recruitment@bkwinstruments.co.uk
Changes to this privacy policy
We will review and update this privacy policy at least once a year and will note the date it was last updated below.
If we change our privacy policy, we will post the details of the changes below. If we have your e-mail address, we may also e-mail you with information on those changes. If we need to, we will also ask you to confirm that you are happy with those changes.
This privacy policy was last reviewed and updated in May 2022.
Contact us
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, or would like to make a complaint about how we use the personal information we hold about you, please email, or write to, our Privacy Team.
You can also contact the relevant regulator or authority that is responsible for handling complaints about the use of personal information.
You can contact our Privacy Team by email at GDPR@bkwinstruments.co.uk or in writing at C/O The Privacy Team, BKW Instruments Limited, Weymouth Road, Winton, Eccles, Manchester, M30 8SH. We will get back to you as soon as possible.