Data Protection Statement and Legal Notice
Area of application
This data protection declaration and legal notice applies to this website and domains. It also applies to all websites and domains owned by ZEISS, unless other data protection declarations and legal notices apply to websites and domains for ZEISS companies located outside of Germany, e.g. due to national laws, changed data protection statements and legal notices. Therefore, please note the respective data protection declarations and legal notices of all ZEISS websites you visit or programs you use.
In some cases, ZEISS websites also contain links to the websites of third party, non-ZEISS companies, to which these data protection statement and legal notices do not apply.
General data protection standard
ZEISS is a corporation operating on a global scale which has cross-border legally independent companies, business processes, management structures and technical systems.
On your visit to our website, data may be collected which may, in some cases, be of a personal nature. In this declaration, we point out what personal information ZEISS companies collect during your visit to our websites, and how we handle this data.
We take the protection of your personal information very seriously. Our processing of your personal information collected during your visit to our website is carried out fully in accordance with the relevant legal stipulations. In addition, our approach to dealing with personal information is based on the EU data protection principles which provide for the greatest possible degree of transparency, observance of the right to choose, access rights and the transmission and lawful processing of personal information.
Every ZEISS company abides by the applicable data protection laws relevant to its principle location, e.g. ZEISS companies and subsidiaries located in Germany follow the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). In addition, the handling of personal information is stipulated as a company directive for all ZEISS companies within the Group. This ZEISS company directive serves to ensure that your data is processed properly and in compliance with the applicable laws at the ZEISS companies which handle personal information. At the same time, we have instructed our employees to refer to and comply with our data protection rules wherever personal information is requested on any website.
Gathering, processing and transfer of personal information
ZEISS wants to give you as much control as possible over your personal information. Normally, you can access ZEISS websites without providing any personal information.
However, in certain areas of the ZEISS websites, you are requested to provide us with personal information in order to help us enhance the site and keep in contact with you. Any personal information you submit is treated as confidential and is saved and processed exclusively within the scope of the relationship between you and ZEISS.
Your personal information is not forwarded, published or otherwise made available to third parties for marketing purposes without your prior approval.
This website is not intended for use by children under the age of thirteen. ZEISS does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of thirteen on this site or any other ZEISS site, and if ZEISS becomes aware that it has inadvertently received personal information from a visitor under the age of thirteen, such information will be deleted from our records.
However, as part of the provision of our services, your information may under certain circumstances be transferred to third parties who we have included in order processing, e.g. business partners or IT service providers. In the transfer of personal information to these third parties, we restrict ourselves to the information which is necessary for the provision of the service in question and we ensure that this transfer is carried out in compliance with the required data security. ZEISS companies will only forward your personal information to third parties who have committed themselves to data protection and the processing of your data in compliance with the applicable laws.
California Civil Code Section § 1798.83 permits users of our Website that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an e-mail to dataprivacy@zeiss.com.
In addition, ZEISS may be forced to disclose your information and associated data in order to comply with a legal or official decree. Likewise, we reserve the right to use your information for the assertion of or defense against legal claims.
The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where ZEISS has given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. ZEISS ask you not to share your password with anyone. [ZEISS urges you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Website like message boards. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of the Website.]
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. ZEISS is not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.
In the event of a takeover or merger with another company, it may be necessary to disclose or transfer your data to potential or actual buyers. In this case, ZEISS will aspire to the highest possible level of data protection and will comply with the legal stipulations.
Information on data security
ZEISS understands the importance of the protection and discreet handling of the information which you transfer to us via the internet. We give data security on our websites top priority. We have therefore made great efforts to ensure that our online security measures are effective. For instance, ZEISS shop sites use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology for encryption. Websites that ask you to enter commercially relevant details such as a credit card number also transfer this data encrypted with SSL technology. ZEISS endeavors to update its encryption technology on a continuous basis in line with technical progress, in order to guarantee the confidential handling of the information you send us over the Internet.
ZEISS uses cookies if technically required (e.g. authentication) and for analytical purposes. Cookies are small files that are temporarily stored on your hard drive. The information stored in cookies is used for example to facilitate navigation, and in some cases it can help make websites more user-friendly. Most browsers are now set by default to accept cookies automatically. However, you may set your browser to decline cookies or to display warnings about the cookies it receives.
IP addresses are recorded during visits to our websites. IP addresses are used for the analysis of malfunctions, for the administration of the website and for the attainment of demographic information. Furthermore, we use IP addresses and as necessary other information which you have made available to us on this website or by other means to find out which of our websites are being visited and what topics interest our visitors. We only collect data anonymously and we will not connect it with the profile of a registered user unless the user's prior consent has been obtained.
Web analysis
ZEISS uses the Urchin and Google Analytics statistics and evaluation programs to statistically evaluate the accessing of the ZEISS websites.
The data which has been generated through the use of the ZEISS websites and saved in the server logfiles is evaluated using Urchin. The data is mode anonymous so that it cannot be allocated to a specific person. This saved information is used exclusively for the compilation of reports on the use of the website. Such reports help us to analyze and continually improve the offering of our websites.
During the web analysis with Urchin, data accrued is analyzed for trends and statistics only, then deleted.
Google Analytics uses cookies which enable an analysis of your use of the website. As a rule, the information about your use of this website obtained by the cookie is transmitted to a Google server in the USA, where it is saved. Your IP address will however be shortened by Google – if IP anonymization is activated on the website. This applies within the EU member states or in other signatory states of the preceding agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transferred to a Google server in the USA and shortened. Contracted to do so by the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on the website activities and to provide the website operator with other services relating to website use and internet use. Google will not merge with other data the IP address transmitted by your browser within the scope of Google Analytics. You may prevent the saving of cookies by setting your browser software accordingly. However, if you choose to do so, please note that you might not be able to fully utilize all functions of this website. In addition, you may prevent Google's capture and processing of the data generated by the cookies and related to your use of the website (incl. your IP address) by downloading and installing the browser plugin available via the following link http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.
Using social plug-ins
Some ZEISS websites contain the following buttons:
These buttons, if displayed on the website, do not establish any contact with the Facebook, Google+ or Twitter servers. For a connection to be activated, and for communication with Facebook, Google+ and Twitter to be established, you must firstly grant your approval – by clicking on the buttons. The activated buttons can be recognized by the following image:
Your recommendation is transmitted when you click a second time. If you are already logged into a social network of your choice, this is carried out without another window being opened. As this transfer occurs directly, we do not obtain any knowledge of the data transferred. What is transferred is the fact that you have launched the respective site. & If you are logged into Facebook or similar at the same time, this information is transferred to your social media account and is thus linked with you as an individual.
For information on the further use and saving of your personal data by Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, it is advisable to contact these social media channels directly. It is also possible to block social plugins through your browser using add-ons.
