Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Effective Date: August 10, 2023

This privacy policy applies to www.velcro.com which is owned and operated by Velcro USA Inc. or any of its affiliates (collectively, “Velcro Companies”, “We”, “Us”, “Our”). We respect your privacy rights and value your trust. This privacy policy describes how we collect, receive, use, store, share, transfer, and process your personal information, as well as your rights in determining what we do with the information that we collect or hold about you.

Velcro USA is responsible for the processing of your personal information when you interact with our website. You may contact us at any time via the methods described in this privacy policy.

We use this information to:

• Assess the needs of your business to determine suitable products
• Send you requested product or service information
• Respond to customer service requests
• Send you a newsletter
• Send you marketing communications
• Respond to your questions and concerns
• Improve our Web site and marketing efforts
• Conduct research and analysis
• Display content based upon your interests

We will share your personal information with third parties only in the ways that are described in this privacy policy. We do not sell, rent or otherwise distribute your personal information to third parties.

Service Providers
We may provide your personal information to companies that provide services to help us with our business activities such sending you emails. These companies are authorized to use your personal information only as necessary to provide these services to us and are contractually obligated to keep your information confidential.

Legal Disclaimer
We may also disclose your personal information:

• As required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or similar legal process
• When we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

If Velcro USA is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our Web site of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information, to any other third party with your prior consent to do so.

Under applicable state laws, including California privacy laws, and international laws such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation, you may have certain rights pertaining to your personal information.

• You may have the right to request information about the personal information we have collected about you and for what purpose, how we process your personal information and a copy of your personal information.
• You may have the right to be provided your personal information in a readily useable format.
• You may have the right to request that we correct, complete, amend or delete the personal information you have collected about you.

To make these requests or otherwise exercise the rights you may have, email our Customer Support here or contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below. We will respond to your request within 30 days. We will retain your information for as long as needed to provide you services and as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

If you wish to limit the use of your personal information as described in Section 1 above or the disclosure of your personal data to our service providers as described in Section 2 above, you may email our Customer Support here or contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below.

Opt-out Preferences
If you wish to subscribe to our newsletter(s), we will use your name and email address to send the newsletter to you.  Out of respect for your privacy, you may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails, accessing the email preferences in your account settings page or you can contact us here.

Non-discrimination
We will not discriminate against you for exercising your consumer privacy rights.

Velcro USA complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Velcro USA has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) under the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

Velcro USA is responsible for the processing of personal data it receives, under the DPF, and subsequently transfers to a third party acting as an agent on its behalf. Velcro USA complies with the DPF Principles for all onward transfers of personal data from the EU and the UK, including the onward transfer liability provisions.

The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over Velcro USA’s compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. In certain situations, Velcro USA may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, Velcro USA commits to refer unresolved complaints concerning our handling of personal data received in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF to TRUSTe, an alternative dispute resolution provider based in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your DPF Principles-related complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your DPF Principles-related complaint to your satisfaction, please visit https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request for more information or to file a complaint. These dispute resolution services are provided at no cost to you.
For complaints regarding DPF compliance not resolved by any of the other DPF mechanisms, you have the possibility, under certain conditions, to invoke binding arbitration. Further information can be found on the official DPF website.

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies or similar technologies on this site. However, we do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site.

We use session ID cookies and/or persistent cookies.  A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser.  A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time.  Our cookies help us determine which content on our site is most effective.  You can remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser’s “help” directory.  If you reject cookies, you may still use our site, but your ability to use some areas of our site will be limited.

Analytics / Log Files
As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files.  This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data.  We use this information, which does not identify individual users, to analyze trends, to administer the site, to track users’ movements around the site and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We do not link this automatically-collected data to personally identifiable information.

3rd Party Tracking
The use of cookies or similar tracking technologies by our service providers, technology partners or other 3rd party assets (such as social media) on the site is not covered by our privacy policy.  These 3rd parties may use cookies, clear gifs, images, and scripts to help them better manage their content on our site.   We do not tie the information gathered to our Customers’ or Users’ personally identifiable information.

Behavioral Targeting / Re-Targeting
We partner with a third party ad network to manage our advertising on other sites. Our ad network partner uses cookies, Web beacons and other tracking technologies to collect non-personally identifiable information about your activities on this and other Web sites to provide you targeted advertising based upon your interests. If you wish to not have this information used for the purpose of serving you targeted ads, you may opt out of interest-based advertising by clicking here. Please note you will continue to receive generic ads.

The security of your personal information is important to us.  We follow generally accepted standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it.  No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. If you have any questions about the security of your personal information, you can contact us at legal@velcro.com.

Scam Emails
Here are a few ways to identify scam emails:

• Confirm the sender’s identity before replying to email requests and opening attachments or clicking on links, even if they appear to come from a legitimate source. All emails from Velcro Companies’ will be from @velcro.com address.
• Consult with your Information Technology department about any phishing attempts.
• Call Velcro Companies to validate communications originating from us on 1-800-225-0180, Option 3.

Links to 3rd Party Sites
Our Site includes links to other Web sites whose privacy practices may differ from those of Velcro Companies. If you submit personal information to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy policies. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any Web site you visit.

Blog / Forum
Our Website offers a publicly accessible blog and community forum. You should be aware that any information you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others who access them. To request removal of your personal information from our blog or community forum, contact us here. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.

Social Media Widgets
Our Web site includes Social Media Features, such as the Facebook Like button and Widgets, such as the Share this button or interactive mini-programs that run on our site. These Features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the Feature to function properly. Social Media Features and Widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Site. Your interactions with these Features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

Changes To This Policy
We may update this privacy policy to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes we will notify you by email or by means of a notice on this Site prior to the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.