Privacy policy

SGS Group is committed to managing and protecting your personal data responsibly. We have created this statement to provide you with clear and understandable information about our privacy practices when you access, register for or purchase services from onlineservices.sgs.com so that you can make informed choices about SGS's use of your personal data.

When this statement refers to “SGS”, “we” or “us”, it means that the SGS subsidiary is the controller of your data, with whom you have had, have or will have a business relationship and who may process your personal data for this purpose. You can access the list of SGS subsidiaries by visiting the SGS Global Office Directory . It also means SGS Digital SA which operates this website and processes your data in accordance with this statement.

This website may link to other SGS websites for the purchase of specific digital services. These websites may contain privacy statements that differ from this one and/or contain additional information. Please review the privacy statements on the sites you visit to understand how they collect and process your personal data.

SGS reserves the right to update this statement from time to time by publishing a new version online. This statement was created in October 2018.

What personal data do we collect and for what purpose?

SGS collects personal data that you provide to us directly when:

When you create such an account, we collect your personal data such as name; email address; password; Country and language preference is determined by the extended URL of the SGS page you create your account on. If you have decided to create an account with your social media account, we may receive the social media profile details that you choose to share with us or that we will automatically collect, such as your contact details and job title. In addition, if you register as a professional (e.g. corporate customer, supplier and/or business partner), we may also collect the following additional information: company name, company address, company telephone number, organization type, job title/specialty, customer account number. We use this personal data to create and maintain your SGS account and to enable us to perform our contractual obligations to which you are a party.

  1. You create an account to benefit from our services and our online shopping experience.

    When you purchase SGS services from our online store, we collect the following personal information: Invoice address; Phone number; Invoice history, which includes an overview of the SGS services purchased; Details of conversations you may have with customer service departments around your purchase questions or online experience questions; Details of your registered service, such as service type, purchase date and proof of purchase. If you log in to your SGS account, your purchase and registration details will be added to your SGS account. If you purchase SGS products/services as a “guest” we will use your purchase and registration details to complete your purchase, but we will not add the information to your SGS account. We use this personal data to create and maintain your SGS account and to enable us to perform our contractual obligations to which you are a party.

  2. You buy our services online

    When you sign up for marketing and promotional communications, we collect the following personal data: email address; title, your SGS account details (if you already have one), your interaction with SGS pages, the emails you have clicked and opened and the presence of events. We will use your personal data based on your consent to send you, as a registered user and customer, promotional communications – based on your preferences and behaviour – regarding SGS services, events and promotions relating to the services you have purchased. SGS group companies may contact you with promotional communications via email, SMS and other digital channels, such as mobile applications and social media. To be able to tailor communications to your preferences and behaviour and to offer you the best personalised experience, we may analyse and combine all information associated with your account data and data regarding your interactions with SGS. We also use this information to create segments of our audience showing which of our products and/or services users are interested in and to track the success of our marketing efforts. SGS will provide you with the opportunity to withdraw your consent at any time via the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each promotional communication email you may receive from us. Where SGS processes your personal data on the basis of consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of the processing based on consent before you withdrew your consent. To do so, please complete our online privacy request form indicating that your request relates to a service purchased online. The promotional communications you receive may originate from the subsidiary with which you have had a contractual relationship with SGS Digital SA or with it.

  3. When you sign up for marketing and promotional communications

    SGS also automatically collects personal data when you visit our website. This may include: Device information such as IP address, referring website, the SGS pages your device visited and the time your device visited our website; Internet log information and details, collected by our third parties such as Google Analytics, which do not specifically identify you; Information collected by cookies. We use this personal data based on our legitimate interest to improve our Services and enhance your user experience by sending advertisements tailored to your interests. We also do this in order to have an overview of the category of audience that is interested in any of our Services. You can delete cookies; while some cookies are necessary for viewing and navigating our website, most features will still be accessible without cookies. For more information on the use of cookies or other similar technologies used and your choices regarding cookies, please read our Cookie Notice.

    Who do we share your personal data with?

    SGS shares and transfers your personal data as described here and only in accordance with all privacy practices and local privacy requirements. Here are the parties with whom we may share personal information and why:

  4. When you browse our website

    • To other SGS Group companies and companies in which SGS owns more than 50% where it is necessary to achieve the purpose for which you have submitted your personal data and in particular where necessary for the provision of services, account administration, sales, marketing and support. We take steps to ensure that SGS subsidiaries, including those located outside the European Economic Area, comply with our global data protection policy, this privacy statement and applicable local law when processing personal data. When you interact with SGS as a customer, supplier or business partner, SGS may disclose personal data available in reports and other documents provided by you and/or your company under an engagement with another business partner and/or supplier.

    • Occasionally to third party contractors and vendors who perform certain functions on behalf of SGS, such as collecting and delivering samples, fulfilling inspection orders, sending emails, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data and processing credit card payments, direct marketing services, and cloud hosting services. These parties have access only to the information necessary to perform their functions and may not use it for any purpose other than providing services to us.

    • SGS may also use and disclose your personal data as we believe it is necessary or appropriate to do so, including to (i) comply with any applicable laws, regulations or governmental or legal requests for such information; (ii) in the event of a merger, sale, restructuring or acquisition; (iii) to enforce our terms and conditions; and (iv) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our subsidiaries or affiliates, you or others.

      How is personal data protected?

      SGS follows strict security procedures in the storage and disclosure of information you have given us in order to prevent unauthorized access, loss or destruction of your personal data. These may include:

      SGS does not seek to collect sensitive personal data (also known as special categories of data). If we do, we always collect the data in accordance with local data privacy requirements. If you choose to provide us with unsolicited sensitive personal data, you will be asked to consent to our processing of that data on a case-by-case basis using a specific express consent form.

      SGS does not knowingly collect or solicit personal data from anyone under the age of 16. If you are under 16, please speak to your parent/guardian to obtain their permission before providing any personal information to SGS, as without their consent you are not permitted to provide us with your personal data. If we become aware that we have collected data from a person under the age of 16, we reserve the right to delete that data without prior notice or consent.

      SGS will retain your personal data for the period necessary to fulfill the original purposes for which it was collected. Please keep in mind that in some cases, a longer retention period may be required or permitted by law or to allow SGS to pursue its business interests, conduct audits, comply with our legal obligations, enforce our agreements or resolve any disputes.

      The criteria used to determine our retention periods include: (i) How long is the data necessary to provide you with our products or services or to operate our business? (ii) Do you have an account with us? If so, we will retain your data for as long as your account is active or as long as necessary to provide you with the services; (iii) Are we subject to a legal, contractual or similar obligation to retain your data? Examples include mandatory data retention laws in the applicable jurisdiction, governmental orders to preserve data relevant to an investigation, or data that must be retained for the purposes of contracts or litigation.

      How to access and control your personal data

      We are committed to ensuring that you can exercise your right of access and control your data.

      If you have registered for an account on onlineservices.sgs.com and/or its local equivalents, you can directly and autonomously access your online profile and other personal information and update, modify, if legally possible, add or delete data concerning you by logging into the applicable website or service with your account credentials.  

      Otherwise, and in accordance with our internal procedures, we respond to the following requests as described below. All requests should be made via our online privacy request form or by contacting us in writing as described in the “Contact Us” section:

      • Physical safeguards, with locked doors and filing cabinets, controlled access to our facilities and secure destruction of media containing your personal data
      • Technological safeguards, such as the use of anti-virus and endpoint protection software, and monitoring of our systems and data centers to ensure compliance with our security policies
      • Organizational safeguards, such as security and privacy training and awareness programs, to ensure that employees understand the importance of and the means by which they must protect your personal data

        How can you contact us?

        If you have any questions or concerns regarding your privacy, please write to us:

        • Access to personal information:  You have the right to request what personal data we hold about you, subject to our right to verify identity. If you request a copy of your data, we may charge you a fee, except where this is not permitted under local law.
        • Correction  and deletion: In some jurisdictions, including in the EU (in accordance with data protection laws for data subjects in the EU), you have the right to correct or amend your personal data if it is inaccurate or needs to be updated. You may also have the right to request that we delete your personal information, but this may not always be possible due to legal requirements and other obligations to retain such data. If we are asked to delete your data, we may retain some minimal information about you to be able to demonstrate that we have fulfilled our obligations.
        • Filing a complaint:  All complaints about our compliance with the practices described in the Statement will be handled as described here. In certain jurisdictions, including under EU data protection laws for complaints made by subjects in the EU, you have the right to lodge a formal complaint with a data protection authority.
        • Opting out of marketing communications:  SGS may send you regular marketing communications about our services, via various channels such as email, telephone, SMS, postal mailings and third party social media, in accordance with applicable marketing laws. At any time when you receive such communications, you will be able to unsubscribe from receiving such communications via the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each promotional communication email you may receive from us. In such cases, we will retain minimal personal data to note that you have opted out in order to avoid contacting you again. Please note that even if you do not receive marketing communications, we will still provide you with administrative communications, such as technical updates for our products or services, order confirmations, notifications about your account activities and other important notices.