Privacy Notice

1. Introduction      

This Supplier Privacy Notice ("Notice") applies to the ABB Group of companies, which means ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd, Switzerland, and each entity in which ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd, Switzerland, directly or indirectly, has a majority holding or owns or controls the majority of voting rights. The ABB company that is communicating with you or to which you are providing goods or services (referred to as "ABB"), is responsible for the processing of your personal data and controls how it is used, in accordance with this Notice.

At ABB, respecting your data protection rights is a top priority. This Notice explains how we use personal data about you and what rights you have regarding your personal data.   

2. Who is responsible for the processing of your personal data? 

ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd and its subsidiary companies ((add hyperlink)) are responsible for your personal data. For applicable privacy and data protection laws, the primary controller of your data is the ABB subsidiary company, which is communicating with you or to which you are providing goods or services. Other subsidiary companies of ABB may also receive and process your personal data, either in the capacity of controller or processor and this Notice applies equally to them. 

In your case, ABB AG, Kallstadter Straße 1, 68309 Mannheim, Germany, or any respective company affiliated with ABB AG pursuant to §§ 15 ff. of the German Stock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz - AktG), having a business relationship with you, decides as "controller" within the meaning of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz - BDSG) how and for which purpose your personal data will be used in accordance with this Notice (hereinafter: “ABB”, "we" or "us").

You can contact our data protection officer as follows: 

ABB AG 
Konzerndatenschutzbeauftragter 
Kallstadter Str. 1 
68309 Mannheim 
privacy@abb.com 

3. Which of your personal data do we collect and use? 

We collect and use personal data that concerns you and we receive from you in the course of or in connection with the agreements with our suppliers or an existing business relationship with you or your company (hereinafter: “you”). We may also process personal data that we receive from you either because of your contact enquiry, specific pre-contractual enquiry or registration for a specific event via our websites, by e-mail or telephone or at a trade fair, roadshow or other event. In addition, and to the extent necessary for the purposes mentioned in this Notice, we process personal data which we may obtain from publicly accessible sources or which are legitimately transmitted by other third parties (e.g. a credit agency) such as commercial register data, creditworthiness data. 

We may collect the following categories of personal data: 

  • Identification data and business contact information, you share with us such as first name, last name, job/position/title, nationality, business email address, business address, telephone number, mobile telephone number, telefax number, private telephone number, gender, date of birth. 

  • Additional information you provide to us in the course of our business relations such as data concerning the fulfilment of our contractual obligations and pre-contractual measures including correspondence data, offers, tenders, resume/CV, conditions, contract and order data, invoices, payments, business partner history, records relating to queries/questions/complaints/orders. To a certain extend this information might also cover your interests in ABB products, marketing preferences and registration information provided at trainings, events or fairs, etc. 

  • Electronic identification data and information collected by the communications systems, IT applications and website browser (where supplier has access or is affected by such systems or applications and in accordance with the applicable law) such as information technology usage (system access, IT and internet usage), device identifier (mobile device ID, PC ID), registration and login credentials, IP address, login data and log files, Analytics ID, time and url, searches, website registration and cookie data, sound recordings (e.g. voice mail/phone recordings, Skype recordings). 

The below mentioned types of personal data are only collected and processed, if at all, in accordance with applicable local laws in your country of residence and where relevant depending on the agreements with our suppliers. 

  • Data about criminal convictions and offences such as criminal background information and sanction list information to the extent required for the purposes of criminal background screening, due diligence and Anti Money Laundering (“AML”) obligations. 

In case you would like to be provided with information about a specific personal data processing activity, you can request that by submitting a request at www.abb.com/privacy. 

4. Why do we need and use your personal data? 

We primarily process your personal data to fulfil and perform our business and contractual relationship with you. As part of this business and contractual relationship between you and us, we need to process your personal data which is required by us to commence, complete or terminate agreements with our suppliers or to perform the contractual and legal obligations associated therewith, or which we are required by law to collect and process (e.g. tax laws). 

We may use your personal data as described above in particular for the following purposes: 

  • supplier and service provider management throughout the supply chain including contact interaction including tendering, engagement, processing orders, process and fulfilment of purchases, administration and management of suppliers, vendors, contractors, advisers and other professional experts; 

  • paying debts, supplier invoice and payment management, purchasing of direct and indirect services; 

  • reporting and analytics including market intelligence and development and improvement of services or products through assessment and analysis of the information; 

  • management of process quality; 

  • references on documents, such as tenders, purchase orders, invoices, reports;  

  • contract lifecycle management; 

  • payment collection and insolvency processes; 

  • training suppliers; 

  • finance and shared accounting services, providing record to report and purchase to pay services; 

  • reorganization, acquisition and sale of activities, business units and companies; 

  • monitoring and auditing compliance with ABB’s corporate policies, contractual obligations and legal requirements including Conflict Minerals; 

  • carrying out audits, reviews and regulatory checks to meet obligations to regulators; 

  • governance, risk and compliance, including due diligence and Anti Money Laundering (“AML”) obligations, customs and global trade compliance and sanctioned party list screening, security, including prevention, detection of crime and fraud; 

  • maintain and protect the security of products, facilities, services, systems, networks, computers and information, preventing and detecting security threats, and fraud or other criminal or malicious activities; and 

  • manage IT resources, including infrastructure management including data back-up, information systems’ support and service operations for application management, end user support, testing, maintenance, security (incident response, risk, vulnerability, breach response), user accounts management, software licenses assignment, security and performance testing and business continuity. 

We collect only the personal data from you that we need for the purposes described above. For statistical purposes, improvement of our services and testing of our IT systems we use as much as reasonably possible anonymized data. This means that these data can no longer (in)directly identify you or single you out as an individual. 

5. What happens if you do not provide us with the personal data we had asked you for or if you ask us to stop processing your information? 

Where it concerns processing operations related to the agreements with our suppliers (as described above), ABB will not be able to adequately establish, conduct or terminate a business relationship with you or your company and generally perform the purposes described above without certain personal data. Although we cannot obligate you to share your personal data with us, please note that this then may have consequences which could affect the business relationship in a negative manner, such as not being able to take requested pre-contractual or contractual measures to enter into or perform a contract with you or to establish and continue the business relationship you have asked for. 

6. On which legal basis do we rely process your personal data? 

We use your personal data for the purposes described in this Notice in accordance with the provisions of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG), in particular on the following legal bases, as applicable:  

  • We may process your personal data for the fulfilment of contractual obligations resulting from contracts with you or your company, or as part of pre-contractual measures we take, Art. 6 (1) b) GDPR. 

  • In some cases, we process your personal data on the basis of legal obligations and statutory requirements, Art. 6 (1) c) GDPR, for example, on the basis of tax or reporting obligations, cooperation obligations with authorities, statutory retention periods or the disclosure of personal data within the scope of official or judicial measures required for the purposes of taking evidence, prosecution or enforcement of civil law claims. 

  • Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR, if processing within our business relationship is necessary in order to protect the legitimate interests of us or third parties. This requires a weighing of interests pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) DSGVO, according to which a processing of personal data is permissible if it is necessary to safeguard the legitimate interests and does not outweigh the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require the protection of personal data. We rely on our legitimate interests to process your personal data insofar as this is not overridden by your own privacy interests, which may include: 

    • conduct, management, development and furtherance of our business in the broadest sense possible including supply of products and services, performance of agreements and order management with suppliers, process and fulfilment of purchases, process quality management and improvement of products or services, analytics and market intelligence, reduction of default risks in our procurement processes and reorganization, acquisition and sale of activities, business divisions and companies; 

    • monitor, investigate and ensure compliance with legal, regulatory, standard and ABB internal requirements and policies; 

    • prevent fraud and criminal activity including investigations of such activity, misuse of ABB assets, products and services, and as strictly necessary and proportionate for ensuring network and information security;  

    • if otherwise necessary for establishment, exercise and defense of legal claims of and against ABB related to your performance of contracts with us; and 

    • transmitting personal data within the ABB group for internal administrative purposes as necessary for example to provide centralized services. 

You may obtain a copy of our assessment regarding our legitimate interest to process your personal data, including a documented balancing of interests, by submitting a request at www.abb.com/privacy. 

  • If and to the extent we process your personal data in exceptional cases for purposes not covered by the aforementioned legal bases (e.g. photos, marketing materials and events), we may require your consent as legal basis for such data processing, Art. 6 (1) a) GDPR. You may of course withdraw such consent at any time in accordance with Art. 7 (3) GDPR with effect for the future. If and to the extent we send you marketing information by electronic mail, we may also require your consent according to § 7 (2) No. 3 Competition Act (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb - UWG). 

With regard to personal data concerning criminal convictions and offences, we will only process such data where such processing is permitted by applicable (local) law. 

7. Which parties do we share your personal data with (in and outside the EU and EEA)? 

As part of a global group, we have business relationships with ABB Group companies and external service providers, both within and outside the European Economic Area (EEA), which we may also use to process your personal data as necessary for the purposes described in this Notice. We only share your personal data with other ABB affiliates or third parties as necessary for the purposes described in the table below. In addition, when processing your personal data for these purposes using external service providers as data processors (e.g. computer centers, software companies, etc.) these data processors are engaged within the framework of an existing contractual relationship, bound by instructions, and receive your personal data only to the extent and for the period required for the provision of the service. 

Where we share your personal data with an affiliate or third party so that it is transferred to or becomes accessible from outside the European Union (“EU”) and the European Economic Area ("EEA") or outside the country where the ABB company that controls your data is located, we always put adequate safeguards in place to protect your personal data. Examples of these safeguards are an adequacy decision of the European Commission (read more here), Standard Contractual Clauses (read more here), Privacy Shield certification (read more here), and the Binding Corporate Rules that some of our suppliers have adopted (read more here). We have taken additional measures for the transfer of data from within to outside the EU, EEA and outside the country where the ABB company that controls your data is located to protect your personal data. If you would like an overview of the safeguards which are in place, please submit a request at www.abb.com/privacy. 

Recipient category  

Recipient location 

Purpose 

ABB affiliates and subsidiaries 

See the list of ABB subsidiaries 

The purposes described in this privacy notice 

ABB business partners, distributors, and agents 

EU/EEA and non-EU/EEA (global) 

The purposes described in this privacy notice 

Service providers such as IT services, independent agents, payment processors, rating and assessment services, professional and advisory services including accountants, auditors, lawyers, insurers, bankers, recruiters, travel agents and other advisors or service providers working on ABB’s behalf 

EU/EEA and non-EU/EEA (global) 

The purposes described in this privacy notice 

Insolvency administrators or creditors  

EU/EEA and non-EU/EEA (global) 

For default and insolvency management 

Potential or actual acquirers of ABB businesses or assets 

EU/EEA and non-EU/EEA (global) 

For the evaluation of the business or assets in question or for the purposes described in this privacy notice 

Recipients as required by applicable law or legal process, to law enforcement or government authorities, etc. 

EU/EEA and non-EU/EEA (global) 

Where required by applicable law or a legitimate request by government authorities, or a valid legal requirement 

You may obtain a copy of the safeguards which we use to protect your personal data by submitting a request at www.abb.com/privacy.  

8. How long do we process and keep your personal data? 

In principle, we process and store your personal data only as long as this is necessary for the processing purposes mentioned in this Notice, until you withdraw your consent (Art. 6 (1) a) GDPR) or until you object to the use of your personal data in case of a legitimate interest being the legal basis for processing (Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR).  

However, based on mandatory legislation, ABB must keep certain personal data for a minimum period of time. In general, personal data is kept for the duration of the contractual relationship and for a minimum period (typically between 5-10 years after the termination of the contract) or for longer period if required by local laws and regulatory requirements.    

At the same time, applicable data protection laws require that we do not keep and process your personal data in an identifiable form for any longer than is necessary for the purpose for which the personal data has been collected and to perform regular reviews in this respect. Through the setting of IT applications and policies we ensure that our keeping of your personal data is deleted when we no longer need it.  

9. Which data privacy rights do you have with regards to your personal data? 

Depending on the jurisdiction in which you are located and in which your personal data is processed, you may have the following rights:  

Data privacy rights 

What it means 

The right to access your data 

You are entitled to ask ABB for an overview of or to obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you. 

The right to have your data corrected 

You may request immediate correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.  

The right to have your data erased 

You may request that personal data be erased when it is no longer needed, where applicable law obliges us to delete the data or the processing of it is unlawful.  

The right to restrict data processing 

You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data in specific circumstances.  

The right to data portability 

You have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, machine-readable format for your own purposes, or to request us to transfer it to a third party.  

The right to object to data processing 

You have the right to object at any time, for reasons arising from your particular situation, to our processing of your personal data based on the legitimate interests. 

Please note that the rights described above are not absolute, and that your request cannot always be met entirely. If you want to know more about your data protection rights as well as the conditions and restrictions under which they are available to you, you may want to refer to the Annex to this Notice. 

You may request to enforce your data privacy rights at www.abb.com/privacy.  

10. Remedies, contact and further information 

If you want to access your personal data, make use of any of your other rights mentioned above or if you have any questions or concerns about how ABB processes your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer at privacy@abb.com, or submit your complaint at www.abb.com/privacy. 

Should you not be satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data against the law, you have the right to file a complaint in accordance with Art. 77 GDPR with the competent Data Protection Authority in your country of residence or work, or seek a remedy through the courts where you believe an infringement of data protection laws (and your rights) may have taken place. 

Date of publication: November 28, 2019 

Annex to the Data Protection Notice: Your rights as a data subject 

1. Right of access 

You have the right to receive from us at any time upon request (text form) information about your personal data processed by us within the scope of Art. 15 GDPR.  

This right is limited by the statutory exceptions of § 34 BDSG, according to which the right of access is excluded, in particular if the data is stored on the basis statutory retention and documentation periods or for the purposes of data security and data protection control, the provision of information would require a disproportionate effort and a misuse of the data processing is prevented by suitable technical and organizational measures. 

2. Right to rectification 

You have the right, pursuant to Art. 16 GDPR, to obtain from us the immediate rectification of personal data concerning you, should it be incorrect. 

3. Right to erasure

You have the right to obtain from us, under the conditions set out in Art. 17 GDPR, the deletion of any personal data relating to you.  

These conditions apply in particular if a) the respective processing purpose has been achieved or otherwise ceases to apply, b) we have unlawfully processed your personal data, c) you have withdrawn your consent without another legal basis applying to the data processing, d) you have successfully objected to the data processing or e) in cases where there is an obligation to delete personal data on the basis of EU law or the law of an EU member state to which we are subject.  

This right is limited by the statutory exceptions of § 35 BDSG, according to which the right to erasure may in particular be excluded if, in case of non-automated data processing, there is a disproportionately high expenditure for the deletion and your interest in the deletion is to be regarded as low. 

4. Right to restriction of processing 

In accordance with Art. 18 GDPR, you can request us to process your personal data only to a restricted extent.

This right exists in particular if a) the correctness of your personal data is disputed, b) you request limited processing instead of deletion under the conditions of a justified right of erasure, c) the data is no longer required for the purposes pursued by us, but you need the data to assert, exercise or defend legal claims or d) the success of an objection is still disputed. 

5. Right to data portability 

In accordance with Art. 20 GDPR, you have the right to receive from us personal data concerning you, which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, as well as the right to request us to forward this personal data to another controller. 

6. Right to object 

In accordance with Art. 21 GDPR, you have the right to object at any time, for reasons arising from your particular situation, to the processing of your personal data, which is either based on a public interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) e) GDPR or a legitimate interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR.  

Upon receipt of your objection notice, we will then cease processing your personal data unless we can prove that there are compelling legitimate reasons for the processing which outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. If you object to the processing of your personal data for marketing purposes, we will cease such processing in any case.