PRIVACY & COOKIE

1. WHAT IS COVERED BY THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND DO OTHER POLICIES APPLY TO YOU?

This privacy policy covers situations where we, Biancoferro, access, collect, store process, use, disclose or transfer your personal information in paper or electronic form. It also covers situations where approved partners use your personal information on our behalf. 

In some cases, other policies apply to you. It may be the case when you use certain products or services, and in this event: 

  • You will be notified of these other policies while using the products or services they apply to
  • Such policies will supersede this privacy policy unless they expressly refer to it

This privacy policy does not cover products or services you might use as provided by other companies acting on their own account.

Our privacy policy does not extend to services provided by other companies acting on their own account, such as franchisees and licensees or when you share information through social media (WeChat, WhatsApp, Baidu, Kakao Talk, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), or other online platforms owned and managed by other companies (Rakuten Advertising). These other companies have their own privacy policies in place, so remember that the way they use any personal information you give them will be subject to their rules and not ours.

2. WHAT SPECIFIC TERMS APPLY TO YOU DEPENDING ON YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE?

The protection of your personal information is an essential part of our activities. To provide you with a personalized experience, we will apply the data protection laws of your country of residence. This approach would also be consistent with consumer laws of the country of your habitual residence and would hence allow us to better meet your expectations regarding the protection of your personal information.

3. WHO COLLECTS & USES YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We, Biancoferro, act as the “data controller”, which means that we determine “why” and “how” your personal information is collected and used. To be able to deliver our products and services to you, we need to share your personal information with approved partners who generally act as our “data processors”. All are bound by an obligation to implement appropriate security measures to protect personal data in their possession and are bound by a strict confidentiality agreement and specific contractual terms on “how” and “when” they are allowed to use your personal information on our behalf. 

Please be aware that certain approved partners, such as our franchisees and licensees or social media, could also determine “why” and “how” your personal information is used. They have their own privacy and cookies policies, so remember that the personal information you give them will be subject to their rules and not ours.

Your local legislation may not refer to the terms “data controller” or “data processor”, but respectively to terms such as “data user”, “owner”, “business”, “responsible party”, etc., and as “data intermediary”, “operator”, etc. To understand our role, please note that we, Biancoferro, are the entity who decides on the methods and purposes of the processing of your personal information by determining “why” and “how” your personal information is collected and used. Our “data processors” are entities who use your personal information on our behalf by receiving instructions from us on “how” and “when” they are allowed to use it. 

4. WHY DO WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Biancoferro will collect, record, hold, organize, structure, store, update, adapt, combine, consult, use, transfer and disclose your personal information for the purposes described in this section. Your personal information will not be further used for purposes incompatible or inconsistent with the purposes for which it was collected, unless permitted by the applicable legislation. Purposes are: 

  • To provide you with the products and services you have purchased or otherwise requested  
  • To manage your Biancoferro profile  
  • To provide you with tailored customer service and assistance  
  • To enable you to receive relevant information and tailored marketing content.
  • To send you non-marketing communications.  
  • To manage our social networks  
  • To conduct our business securely and protect our activities and personnel
  • To assess and better understand our business
  • To optimize and manage our website and other means of communication

5. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

When you interact with us or our approved partners, you may provide us with the following categories of personal information (that may include sensitive information in accordance with applicable legislation). 

  • Identifiers & Biancoferro profile information
  • Transaction information & commercial information (including audio)
  • Personal life information and inferences 
  • User-generated content 
  • Technical, electronic & localization information

6. WHEN DO WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

When you interact with us, either online or in person, you may share with us your personal information when:

  • You buy a product or subscribe to a service
  • You create a Biancoferro profile, join our loyalty scheme, participate in a contest, join a reward program or link your social media account to your Biancoferro profile
  • You subscribe to our newsletter
  • You interact with us or seek advice and share personal information through our websites, our social media pages, our sales associates in a store or via chat, phone or video calls, at a trade show, at events or through our customer services also through phone calls, or you book a table at one of our restaurants or an appointment via our website
  • You use your device to browse activity across different websites
  • A personal shopper, or any other agent acting on your behalf interacts with us in particular to buy a product or subscribe to a service for you
  • Your information is shared with us by our approved partners, with your prior consent where required

7. HOW DO WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We mainly obtain information directly from you and process them by automated means when you interact with us. When you interact with us, either online or in person, we collect your personal information through:

  • Our sales associates (in stores or via chat, phone or video call) or our customer services (for example by phone or chat) when you share personal information with us
  • Our websites or our applications, whether you are registered or not, by completing surveys, registration processes or forms. We may also use cookies or other online advertising technologies for this purpose
  • Any means we make available to you – for example, when you buy a product, we may collect certain personal information relating to your payment such as the purchase price and date and product reference (we do not keep any of your personal banking information for longer than necessary to complete the transaction)
  • From third-party sources such as social media.
  • More broadly, we collect your personal information through any means you may use to interact with our sales associates, whether in our stores or through our customer services via phone, email, chat or text message. Our sales associates or customer services may use various means to collect your personal information during or after the interaction

In addition, we may obtain personal information from services provided by other companies to update or supplement your personal information, for example when you link your social media profile with your Biancoferro profile. These companies have their own privacy and cookies policies in place, so remember that the personal information you give them will be subject to their rules and not ours. 

8. WHO ARE OUR THIRD-PARTY SOURCES?

We mainly obtain information directly from you. From time to time, we may also obtain information on you from third-party sources. 

We will only gather such information when the third parties either have obtained your consent or are otherwise legally allowed to share such information. In certain limited circumstances, some third parties may be required to disclose your personal information to us.

Our third-party source categories could include:

  • Our retailers and distributors, as they can collect your personal information when you interact with them
  • Our affiliates and subsidiaries
  • Our event partners, as you can share certain personal information when you interact with them
  • Social media in accordance with their own privacy policies
  • Our technology partners and market research organizations
  • Our business and approved partners
  • Vendors who provide services on our behalf
  • From your devices, such as when you visit our websites
  • Your family or friends, such as when they provide us with your contact information, so we can send information that may interest you
  • Online advertising companies
  • Consumer reporting agencies
  • Consumer data resellers (for example, in connection with online advertising)
  • Enforcement or judicial authorities or any other public authority
  • Government entities

9. SHOULD YOU ALWAYS SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH US?

You may not always be required to provide us with the personal information that we are asking you for: any personal information that is required is clearly marked as mandatory.

When you do not wish to share certain personal information with us, you may simply not provide it to us, or opt-out of the processing of your personal information when this option is offered to you.

However, if you choose not to provide certain personal information, you may not be able to benefit from some of our services for which the provision of such personal information is necessary.  

We may ask you to provide us with personal information to meet certain legal requirements. In such cases, we will notify you in due time and advise you as to whether your personal information is mandatory or not (as well as of the possible consequences if you do not provide your personal information).

10. FOR HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Our general approach is to retain your personal information only for as long as it is needed. 

  • When you have a Biancoferro profile, a potential customer profile or subscribe to our newsletters, we generally retain your personal information for 5 years from the last interaction you initiated with us.
  • When you interact with our customer services, we generally retain the recordings of the calls for 45 days (unless a longer retention period is required by law), and the other personal information you have shared with us (including personal information shared by mail, chat or text message or when our interaction is transcribed) for 5 years from the last interaction you initiated with us

We may retain personal information for a shorter or longer time, for instance, where we are obliged to do so in accordance with relevant legal, tax and accounting requirements.

Last interaction shall be defined as the last contact you initiated which is traceable by our systems or by a sales associate. Last contact could be the last time a call, sales email, or meeting was proposed to you and to which you responded favorably. For instance, clicking on a link included in an email (except for a link to unsubscribe from receiving marketing content), having a chat on our website or attending an appointment in one of our stores are considered a last contact. Conversely, opening an email or visiting our website without logging in would not qualify as last contact.  Before deleting your personal information from your Biancoferro or potential customer profile, we will contact you to inform you of such deletion and you may ask us to keep your personal information. By not answering you agree to the deletion of any personal information that we are not legally obliged to keep for longer in accordance with legal, tax and accounting requirements. We will destroy your personal information without delay once it is no longer necessary (e.g., if the purposes of collection/use of the personal information have been accomplished, if the statutory retention period expires) in a way that prevents such personal information from being restored or recovered. If printed on paper, the personal information will be destroyed by shredding, incinerating, or some other similar method and, if saved in electronic form, the personal information will be destroyed by technical methods which ensure that the personal information cannot be restored or recovered thereafter.

In specific circumstances we may also retain your personal information for longer according to the applicable statute of limitations so that we have an accurate record of your dealings with us in the event of any complaints or challenges.

11. HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We, Biancoferro, are strongly committed to keeping your personal information safe. 

To do so, we design our services with your safety in mind.  However, you should be aware that no service can be completely secure, and you play a key role in keeping your personal information safe. For the best possible protection of your personal information outside the limits of our control, your devices should be protected (e.g. by updated antivirus software) and your internet service providers should take appropriate measures for the security of personal information transmission over the network (e.g. with firewalls and anti-spam filtering). You accept the inherent security implications of interacting over the Internet and will not hold us or our partners responsible for any security incident or breach of personal information unless it is due to our negligence.

12. WHERE DO WE TRANSFER & STORE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We operate globally and may transfer your personal information to other companies within Biancoferro or to approved partners in locations around the world. We want you to have the best service and customer experience, whether online or in person all over the world. For this purpose, we may have to share your personal information outside the country where you have first shared it with us. When we do so, it will always be for the purposes described in this privacy policy and where we are satisfied with the levels of protection and security implemented in compliance with applicable privacy legislation. This sharing of your personal information is necessary to enable us to perform the contracts we have with you or take steps at your request, prior to entering into a contract, in order to offer you a global customer experience. 

In most cases, the personal information we collect from you will be stored in servers located in the European Union or Switzerland. However, this may vary depending on the country in which the information is collected or applicable legislation.

13. WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We may share and disclose your personal information for business purposes with the categories of recipients listed below. We may also receive personal information about you from some of them as our third-party sources.

  • Approved partners acting as service providers  
  • Approved partners acting also on their own account    
  • Actual or potential buyers as part of a business transfer  
  • Law enforcement body, regulatory body, government agency, court, lawyers to comply with laws and defend our rights and interests
  • At your request or for our legitimate interest or compliance with laws and regulations  

14. HOW DO WE ADDRESS THE PRIVACY OF CHILDREN?

Protecting the safety and privacy of children is very important to us. 

By creating your Biancoferro profile, or by registering through any means, or by placing an order, you confirm that you have reached the age of consent in your country of residence (or, if you are under the age of consent, that your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) also agree(s) to such registration or order when they can give you such authorization under the law of your country of residence).

If we become aware (including through a request from your parent(s) or legal guardian(s)) that we have inadvertently received personal information in contradiction to the above, we will delete such personal information from our records.

15. WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Subject to your applicable privacy legislation, you may be entitled to one or more of the following rights and exercise them on your own or via a legal representative acting on your behalf. We, Biancoferro, are committed to protecting your rights and allowing you to exercise them. You will never be discriminated against when you exercise your right in good faith under any applicable privacy law. 

If you need any further information regarding your rights, how to exercise any of your rights, or if you have any complaints or questions regarding our privacy practices, please contact us at mail@biancoferro.com.

16. CAN THE PRIVACY POLICY CHANGE?

We may occasionally make changes to this privacy policy, for example to comply with new requirements imposed by applicable laws or technical requirements. We will post the updated privacy policy on our website. We therefore encourage you to review this page every so often.

We may also notify you in case of material changes and, where required by applicable law, we will seek your consent to those changes. 

If we wish to process your personal information for a new purpose not described in this privacy policy, where necessary we will inform you and where required we will seek your consent. 

17. DO WE USE COOKIES OR OTHER ONLINE ADVERTISING TECHNOLOGIES?

We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic data. We also share information on your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners.

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information using your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be personal information about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Our website uses several types of cookies which have different durations:

  • Session cookies, which only last for the duration of a browsing session and facilitate your experience on our website
  • Persistent cookies, which last for more than one visit and memorize your preferred settings regarding our website

These cookies can also be categorized as follows, depending on who sets them on our website:

  • First party cookies, which are supplied by the publisher of the website you are visiting, so that it functions properly
  • Third party cookies, which are set on the website by third parties, and are intended to collect data in different ways and for several purposes, for example: collection of analytics data and information on social interactions and behaviors and also for promotional activities

The types of cookies used on our website serve different purposes and can fall into one of the categories below:

  • Strictly necessary cookies 
  • Performance & analytics cookies
  • Functionality cookies
  • Profiling and targeting cookies
  • Social cookies

Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and to change our default settings.  However, blocking some types of cookies may affect your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

If you use multiple browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, etc.), you must repeat this procedure for each one, and if you connect to the web from multiple devices (e.g. from work and at home), then you will need to set your preferences on each browser on each device.

18. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US?

If you have any questions regarding our privacy practices or how we handle your information, please contact us by sending an email to mail@biancoferro.com.