Privacy Policy

Siemens Hearing Instruments, Inc. Commitment to Data Privacy Protection

Protecting the security and privacy of your personal information is important to Siemens Hearing Instruments, therefore, we conduct our business in compliance with applicable laws on data privacy protection and data security. We hope the policy outlined below will help you understand what data Siemens Hearing Instruments may collect, how Siemens Hearing Instruments uses and safeguards that data and with whom we may share it.

Personal Information

Through our Web Sites, Siemens Hearing Instruments will not collect any personal information about you (e.g. your name, address, telephone number or e-mail address), unless you voluntarily choose to provide us with it (e.g. by registration, survey), respectively, provide your consent, or unless otherwise permitted by applicable laws and regulations for the protection of your personal information.

Purpose of Use

When you do provide us with personal information through a Web Site, we usually use it to respond to your inquiry, process your order or provide you access to specific information or offers. Also, to support our customer relationship with you:

• We may store and process personal information and share it with our worldwide affiliates to better understand your business needs and how we can improve our products and services; or
  
• We (or a third party on our behalf) may use personal information to contact you about a Siemens offer in support of your business needs or to conduct online surveys to understand better our customers' needs.
  

If you choose not to have your personal information used to support our customer relationship (especially direct marketing or market research), we will respect your choice. We do not sell or otherwise market your personal information to third parties, except to Siemens affiliates.

Please refer to our Privacy Code for other purposes for which we may use your personal information.

Purpose Limitation

Siemens Hearing Instruments will collect, use or disclose personal information supplied by you online only for the purposes disclosed to you, unless the disclosure:

• is a use of the personal information for any additional purpose that is directly related to the original purpose for which the personal information was collected,
• is necessary to prepare, negotiate and perform a contract with you,
• is required by law or the competent governmental or judicial authorities,
• is necessary to establish or preserve a legal claim or defense,
• is necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activities, such as willful attacks on Siemens information technology systems.

Non-Personal Information Collected Automatically

When you access our Web Sites, we may automatically (i.e., not by registration) collect non-personal information (e.g. type of Internet browser and operating system used, domain name of the Web Site from which you came, number of visits, average time spent on the site, pages viewed). We may use this information and share it with our worldwide affiliates to monitor the attractiveness of our Web Sites and improve their performance or content.

Communications or Utilization Data

Through your use of telecommunications services to access our Web Site, your communications data (e.g. Internet protocol address) or utilization data (e.g. information on the beginning, end and extent of each access, and information on the telecommunications services you accessed) are technically generated and could conceivably relate to personal information. To the extent that there is a compelling necessity, the collection, processing and use of your communications or utilization data will occur and will be performed in accordance with the applicable data privacy protection legal framework.

Cookies

When you access the Siemens Hearing Instruments Web Sites, we may use a browser feature called a 'cookie' to collect information that is not personally identifiable (such as the type of Internet browser and operating system you use, the domain name of the Web Site from which you came, number of visits, average time spent on our Web Site, and pages viewed). A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that identifies your browser, but not you, to our computers each time you visit one of our Web Sites that uses cookies. In addition to the identified purposes described in our Privacy Code, we may use this Web Site information and share it with our affiliates and other organizations with whom we have a commercial relationship to measure the use of our Web Sites and to improve the functionality and content of the Web Sites. If you wish, you can reset your browser either to notify you when you have received a cookie or refuse to accept cookies. However, if you refuse to accept cookies, you may not be able to use some of the features available on our Web Sites.

Online Communications

In order to provide you with a product, service or information, you may voluntarily submit personal information to us for purposes such as registration, queries and correspondence, making a purchase, obtaining a quote or other information, and participating in contests and surveys. If you are known to Siemens Hearing Instruments as a registered user of an online service, we may combine and store personal information about your use of our Web Sites and the online information you have provided with certain other online and offline information we may have collected.

E-Mail Communications

Occasionally, we may send you e-mail communications with information that may be useful to you, including information about the products and services of Siemens Hearing Instruments, its affiliates and other third parties with whom we have a commercial relationship. We will include instructions on how to unsubscribe and inform us of your preferences if you decide you do not want to receive any future marketing or promotional e-mails from Siemens Hearing Instruments. However, if you are a customer, supplier or otherwise have a commercial relationship with Siemens Hearing Instruments, to ensure that you receive important information, you agree that we may send you non-marketing related information when necessary.

Children

Our Web Sites are not, and are not intended to be, used by children nor are they used to knowingly collect information from or market to children. Siemens Hearing Instruments encourages all parents and guardians to instruct children in the safe and responsible use of their personal information while using the Internet.

Links

Our Web Sites may contain links to other Web Sites which are provided to you as a convenience only. You are advised that other third party Web Sites may have different privacy practices than Siemens Hearing Instruments, and Siemens Hearing Instruments has no responsibility for such third party Web Sites.

Security

To protect your personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss or alteration and against unauthorized disclosure or access, Siemens Hearing Instruments uses technical and organizational security measures.

Questions and Comments

Siemens Hearing Instruments will respond to reasonable requests to review your personal information and to correct, amend or delete any inaccuracies. If you have any questions or comments about the Siemens Hearing Instruments Privacy Code (e.g. to review and update your personal information), please contact our Privacy Panel at privacy.panel.ca@siemens.com.

Changes to the Privacy Code

Changes to our Privacy Code will be noted here so that you can be fully informed about our privacy policies and practices.