Privacy Policy

Privacy Statement for Distrelec Website

Distrelec Limited (“Distrelec”, "we", or "us") is committed to safeguarding your privacy. Please read the following privacy statement to understand how your personal information will be treated when you use or register on a Distrelec Website (the "website"), speak to a member of our customer services or sales teams (for example, at a trade show or pick-up counter), or otherwise interact with Distrelec.

The controller of your personal information is Distrelec Ltd (company number: 10698604) whose registered office is 7th Floor, 2 St Peter's Square, Manchester, M2 3AA, United Kingdom (except where you are located in Germany or Latvia).

Where you are located in Germany, the controller of your personal information is Distrelec Deutschland GmbH (company number: DE327794023) whose registered office is Lise-Meitner-Str. 4 DE-28359 Bremen.

Where you are located in Latvia, the controller of your personal information is Elfa Distrelec SIA (company number: 40003461829) whose registered office is Krišjāņa Valdemāra iela 62, Rīga, LV-1013.

What personal information does Distrelec collect?

Distrelec collects personal information from you when you provide it to us directly, or through your use of our website, for example:

• Information about yourself and the company you work for, when you register for an account with the Distrelec online shop or if you use any "Subscribe" feature of the website. This may include your contact details (including title, first name, surname, email address, postal address, contact number (e.g, phone, mobile and/or fax number)), your company name and company details (including industry), information about your role in the company, and how you heard about the site.
• Transaction, billing information (including bank details, credit card details or other information as to the methods you used to pay at checkout) and delivery information (including contact details and postal address), if you make a purchase with us (whether placing an order using our guest checkout or as a registered customer) or contract for one of our solutions or services.
• Records of your interactions with us, for example, if you send email feedback to our website, ask a technical question, report a problem or otherwise contact us. Please note that if you telephone us, we may record the call for compliance, quality and staff training purposes.
• If you respond to one of our customer surveys or enter into a competition.
• If you interact with one of our sales agents, for example at a trade counter, trade show or customer premises.
• We may also record certain details of how you use our website, such as the website you came from or are going to, your device's unique ID, your IP addresses and operating system, adverts you click on, products you search for, products you purchase, and information you download. Marketing emails we send you may also automatically detect whether you have received or opened the email or clicked on a link in our marketing materials. We use this information for our own performance measurement, but also so that we and our third party partners can tailor our promotional messages and advertising to you.
• Distrelec sometimes also receives information about you from third parties; this includes where we receive details about your role and the company you work for from business databases.

Some of the information above is mandatory for creating accounts and making purchases on our website. Whether information is mandatory is indicated when you sign up or purchase our products or services. If you do not provide it, we may not be able to create an account for you or fulfil your purchases. Unless indicated, all other information is optional but if you choose not to provide it any marketing you receive may be less relevant and your experience won’t be personalised.

How does Distrelec use my personal information and what is the legal basis for this use?

Depending on how you use the website, your interactions with us, and the permissions you give us, we will use your personal information for the following purposes and legal bases:

Where we process personal information on the basis of a legitimate interest, then – as required by data protection law – we have carried out a balancing test to document our interests, to consider what the impact of the processing will be on individuals and to determine whether individuals’ interests outweigh our interests in the processing taking place. You can obtain more information about this balancing test by using the contact details at the end of this statement.

We may carry out statistical analysis on purchases, orders and other sales activities carried out by Distrelec (including, for example, for the creation of business reports at company level). In doing so, information is usually stored anonymously and processed in aggregate form. Therefore, such activities will not generally involve the processing of your personal information. Should your personal information be processed in connection with this analysis, we will implement security measures to protect your personal data (such as, by way of example, pseudonymisation), and the relevant processing will be carried out by us on the basis of our legitimate interests (monitoring our sales activities and improving our website, products and services).

With whom does Distrelec share my personal information?

Distrelec needs to share information with certain selected third parties in order to operate our business:

• RS Group: The Distrelec companies are members of a world-wide group of companies, of which RS Group plc is the parent company. For full details of the RS Group of companies, please visit https://www.rsgroup.com. Distrelec shares personal information with other members of the RS Group as necessary to provide you with our products, support our services and to improve our customer insights. Please be informed that, should you place an order or decide to purchase products or services through the Distrelec online shop, you will enter into a contractual relationship with the seller that is the local legal entity of the RS Group, which will process your personal data mainly in order to manage your order and to provide you with the products and/or services you might have purchased, including IT support services and product delivery.
• Service Providers: We provide information to our service providers acting on our behalf, including:
  • to companies that provide IT and digital marketing services to us, to support and maintain the Distrelec website and online shop including implementing features and tools on the website, product recommendation, statistical analysis, business & operational insight, website optimization;
  • to marketing and advertising agencies, to assist with the promotion of our products and services;
  • to those third parties involved in the delivery chain (for example, freight forwarders, couriers and delivery companies); and
  • on occasion, we also share personal information with our professional and legal advisors.
• Government and regulatory authorities: Where your order is due for delivery in a country other than the country from which you place your order, we may need to share information with customs authorities both in the country in which you place your order and in the country of destination. We may also share personal information with law enforcement or other governmental or regulatory authorities, e.g. to report a fraud or in response to a lawful request.
• Credit & Fraud Checking: We may share information with credit reference agencies and with third parties engaged in fraud prevention and detection.
• Media: From time to time, we may release aggregated and anonymised marketing statistics to business partners, or may use these in press releases, advertising, or published reports. We would only personally identify you in such press releases, advertising, or reports with your prior consent.
• Business or Asset Sale: In the event that we sell any business assets, the personal information of our customers may be disclosed to a potential buyer. In this event, we will make reasonable attempts to ensure the buyer will be bound by the terms of this privacy statement.

Distrelec may also disclose personal information in cases where we believe the disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property or personal safety of Distrelec, our customers, employees or the public, or where we are otherwise legally permitted to do so.

Where does Distrelec store my personal information, and how long for?

Distrelec is part of a global group of companies, and Distrelec also uses service providers based around the world. Consequently, your personal information may be processed in countries within and outside of Europe, including in countries where you may have fewer legal rights in respect of your information than you do under local law. If we transfer personal data outside the country in which you place your order we will, as required by applicable law, ensure that your privacy rights are adequately protected by appropriate safeguards. In particular, where you are located in the EU, the UK, or Switzerland we will ensure the transfer takes place either: on the basis of an adequacy decision issued by the European Commission, the Secretary of State in the UK or the Federal Council in Switzerland; by the adoption of standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission, the Secretary of State in the UK or the Federal Council in Switzerland; and/or upon any other appropriate safeguard provided for by the EU, the UK GDPR or the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection being implemented. Please contact us if you would like more information about these safeguards.

We keep your personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes set out above, and so this period will vary depending on your interactions with us. For example, where you have made a purchase with us, we will keep a record of your purchase for the period necessary for invoicing, tax and warranty purposes. We may also keep a record of correspondence with you (for example, if you have made a complaint about a product) for as long as is necessary to protect us from a legal claim. For more information about the duration of cookies please refer to the cookie policy.

Where we no longer have a need to keep your information, we will delete it. Please note that where you unsubscribe from our marketing communications, we will keep a record of your email address to ensure we do not send you marketing emails in future.

What does Distrelec do to protect my personal information?

Distrelec always aims to deliver the highest level of service and security to our customers and our website has been specifically designed with security in mind.

In order to ensure the security and protection of your personal details whenever you submit any details we use the following security methods:

• The latest technology to encode and protect your data for a safe and secure transaction.
• To the extent possible, when you submit information this will be held in an encrypted format. This means that your information is protected and safe to submit.
• Your Distrelec online account information and Distrelec personal profile are password-protected so that you and only you have access to this personal information. You may edit your Distrelec account information and Distrelec profile by using your Distrelec online username and password.

How does Distrelec use my personal information for marketing?

Unless you opted-out during your account registration and purchase or we requested your consent to marketing and you did not give it, Distrelec may send you emails, call or text you regarding products and services which are available on the Distrelec online shop. In addition, we may occasionally send you direct mail about products that we feel may be of interest to you.

Using the communication methods above, we may also (with your prior consent): (i) invite you to take part in research groups on the Distrelec online shop and promotional campaigns; and (ii) ask you for feedback and invite you to take part in customer surveys (even though they may not strictly be related to a purchase you have made or an order you might have placed).

Some or all of these marketing messages may be tailored to you, based on what we know about you and/or your company, for example from your account information, your previous searches and browsing history on the website and Distrelec online shop, and your purchase activity.

If you no longer want to hear from us, at any time you can:

• Edit your preferences by visiting the preference centre in your account;
• Unsubscribe from communications by clicking on the link in each communication (for example, within the footer of the email); or
• Email us at: serviceemail@distrelec.com

Where applicable, you have a right to opt-out of or withdraw your consent (where we have asked for it) to direct marketing or profiling we carry out for direct marketing purposes (you can exercise this right at any time).

You may also see adverts for Distrelec on third party websites, including on social media. These adverts may be tailored to you using cookies (which track your web activity, to enable us to serve adverts to customers who have visited Distrelec). Where you see an ad on social media, this may because we have engaged the social network to show adverts to our customers, or users who match the demographic profile of our customers. In some cases, this may involve sharing your email address with the social network. If you no longer want to see tailored ads you can change your cookie and privacy settings on your browser and these third party websites.

How can I access, update, correct or delete my personal information?

At any time, while Distrelec is in possession of or processing your personal information, you, as the data subject, have certain rights.

Under data protection law, you have the right to access (including in a machine-readable format), correct, request erasure, object to or restrict our processing, request the transfer (porting) to another company or third party of your personal data, and Distrelec will comply with any requests to exercise these rights in accordance with applicable law. Please be aware, however, that there are a number of limitations to these rights, and there may be circumstances where we are not able to comply with your request.

You can view and edit your personal information and marketing preferences at any time in your account on our website, which you can access anytime through the link in the navigation bar.

If you have forgotten your password, or have any other problems accessing the Distrelec website or your online account, please contact the Distrelec Customer Service Team by email at info@distrelec.com or call 044 944 99 11.

If you have a query regarding your personal information which you cannot resolve via your account or if you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact us using the details below.

Where we rely on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal (see section above with details on how you may withdraw your consent). We may however have other legal grounds for processing your data for other purposes, such as those set out above.

Cookies

Distrelec uses cookies and similar technologies to provide, for example, the functionality of the website, improve the website (including security), and to personalise the website. For more information about cookies, please read our Cookie Policy.

Contact Us

For questions regarding this privacy notice or how we use your personal data, please email info@distrelec.com. If you have unresolved concerns, you have the right to complain to a data protection authority in the country that you reside in or, the country of your place of work or the country where the alleged infringement took place.

Updates to this Privacy Statement

We may change this privacy statement from time to time in order to reflect changes in the law, regulatory guidance or our data privacy practices in compliance with the law. When this happens and where required by law, we will provide you with a new or an updated notice detailing how the use of your personal information is changing and, if necessary, obtain your consent for the further processing.

This Privacy Statement was last updated in December 2023.