ANDREAS STIHL AG & Co. KG (‘STIHL’) and its related bodies corporate, including STIHL Pty Ltd (we, our, us) are committed to protecting your privacy and personal information.
We recognise the trust you are placing in us through your dealings with us. We do everything we can to maintain that trust. Our staff are employed on the basis that they will protect personal information about you. Your rights to privacy are also protected by the Australian Privacy Principles in force under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). These privacy laws place strict requirements on us to treat certain information collected as confidential, to store your information securely and to allow you easy access to check and correct your information. This statement explains how we protect your privacy.
What is your personal information?
When used in this privacy policy, the term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act.
In general terms, it is any information that can be used to personally identify you. This may include your name, address, telephone number, email address and profession or occupation. If the information we collect personally identifies you, or you are reasonably identifiable from it, the information will be considered personal information.
What information do we collect?
We may collect the following information from you:
- your name and contact details, such as your physical address, email address, phone number;
- your gender, age, date of birth;
- your company name (if applicable) and associated contact details including physical address and phone number;
- your equipment service history;
- information about your shopping preferences/selections and product reservations;
- information about your subscription to our newsletters, and your interaction with our newsletters, such as when you read our newsletter, which links you clicked on and our assessment of your personal interests from such information;
- details of the products and services you have purchased from a STIHL Dealership or which you have enquired about, together with any additional information necessary to deliver those products and services and to respond to your enquiries;
- any additional information relating to you that you provide to us directly through our websites or indirectly through use of our websites or online presence, through our representatives or otherwise; and
- information you provide to us through our service centre, customer surveys or visits to our STIHL Dealers from time to time.
We may also collect some information that is not personal information because it does not identify you or anyone else. For example, we may collect anonymous answers to surveys or aggregated information about how users use our website.
The main ways we collect personal information?
When we collect Personal Information we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it. We may collect personal information from you in the following circumstances:
- if you purchase any products from a STIHL Dealer
- if you visit our website(s) we may collect the name of the operating system, the name of the domain from which you access the internet; the internet browser used to access our website, the internet address of your device, the name of your access provider, the date and time you access our site; the pages accessed and the documents downloaded; and the internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site.
- If you receive our online newsletter and you open the newsletter or click on any of its links.
- if you complete any questionnaires and surveys
- if you sign up to any of our mailing lists
- if you create an online account
- if you reserve a product online
- if you participate in a competition or promotion
- if you submit a contact us form
- if you interact with STIHL Australia or STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® via social networks
- if you contact our customer service team
- during conversations between you and our representatives, including our dealers; or customer service team
- when you register your purchase with our STHIL Dealers
Where reasonable and practicable to do so, we will collect your Personal Information only from you. However, in some circumstances we may be provided with information by third parties. For example, we may collect personal information about you from our STIHL Dealers.
We will not actively identify users or their browsing activities, except where we are required to do so by law, a warrant or a court order.
Cookies
In some cases we may also collect various information on our website, including your personal information, through the use of cookies.
A cookie is a small software message sent to your web browser by our web server. Your browser stores the message in a file and the message is then sent back to our servers each time your browser requests a page from our servers. Some of the cookies we use are deleted after the end of the browser session, i.e. after closing your browser (also called session cookies). Other cookies remain on your terminal device and enable us or our partner companies to recognise your browser the next time you visit us (also called long-term cookies). Cookies may not necessarily include your personal information.
Our website uses cookies to enable the use of certain functions (eg newsletter subscription), to protect the website (eg to protect against “bots” or automated entries from posting on our web forms), to gain statistics and information about use of our website, and to support certain marketing and online advertisement purposes. We also use cookies to improve your experience of our websites. For example, cookies allow us to recognise whether or not you are returning to our websites. In addition, certain functions of our website are provided by third parties who use cookies. Note that not all cookies are or contain personal information. You can find out about the cookies used on our website at the cookie information link.
Most Internet browsers are set up to accept cookies. If you do not wish to receive cookies, you will need to adjust the settings of your browser to refuse all cookies or to notify you each time a cookie is sent to your computer.
Our website may include a feature to allow you to opt out of receiving certain cookies. You can also manually delete any stored cookies using the settings of your internet browser. Please note that some of the functions and online services on our website may not function if your browser does not accept cookies.
Specific information relating to "Oracle Maxymiser" cookies
Purposes of processing and associated legal basis(s)
The Site uses "Oracle Maxymiser" cookies, a site usage analysis service provided by the German company Oracle Deutschland B.V., located at Riesstr. 25, 80992 Munich, Germany (hereinafter "Oracle").
This tool allows us to:
- To analyse your use of our Site;
- To optimise the functionality and general usability of our site based on the statistics obtained.
This tool uses cookies to collect this information. When you log on and browse the Site, the information generated by the cookies is transmitted to an Oracle server. For this purpose, Oracle obtains your browsing data on the Site, which is then pseudonymised or anonymised.
The legal basis for the processing of personal data is Article 6, paragraph 1 a) of the GDPR, namely your consent. Although not enforced under Australian privacy laws, STIHL as an international business observes GDPR and Cookie regulations as applicable in this case.
Retention period(s)
Subject to the extent of your consent, your personal data processed through the Oracle tool cookies is retained for the duration of your connection to the Site up to 3 years from the date of collection. At the end of this period, it will either be deleted or rendered irretrievably anonymous.
Additional information
You can find more information about the protection of your personal data in relation to the use of the Oracle tool by consulting the Oracle privacy policy. In addition, you will find further information on the use of cookies in the article “cookies”.
Web analytics and tracking
Our website utilises a number of web analytic and tracking services provided by third parties. These services employ various technologies, including cookies, to enable analysis of the use of our website. As part of the services, the third parties may collect various anonymous information about the use of our website, and provide analytics and reports to us or our overseas related bodies corporate. Some of the information is transmitted directly to the third party computer server rather than through our servers. We use the web analytic and tracking services to better understand how our website is used, to improve and optimise the design, performance and layout of our website and to consider what functionalities and features to include in our website.
Our online newsletter system implements web beacon technologies which will allow us to know when and how you open and interact with our newsletters. We analyse this information so that we can better tailor our newsletters to your individual interests. The collected information and the analysis are associated with the email address that you use to subscribe to our newsletter.
We use Google Analytics Advertising Features to promote our products and services. Google and other third parties collect data about traffic to our website via advertising cookies and identifiers. This enables Google to display ads on other sites that are relevant to you, based on your previous visits to our website. We do not control the use of data collected by Google and other third parties. If you would like to prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics, please click here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
What happens if we can’t collect your personal information?
If you do not provide us with the personal information described above, some or all of the following may happen:
- we or our STIHL Dealers may not be able to provide the requested products or services to you, either to the same standard or at all;
- we may not be able to register your warranty with us;
- we or our STIHL Dealers may not be able to provide you with information about products and services that you may want, including information about discounts, sales or special promotions;
- certain features of our website may not function properly; or
- we may be unable to tailor the content of our websites to your preferences and your experience of our websites may not be as enjoyable or useful.
Why do we collect personal information?
We collect, use and disclose your personal information to assist us in performing our business activities and functions as set out below.
- to promote our products and services that may be of interest to you (including direct marketing);
- to determine your product, service preferences and preferred STIHL Dealership;
- to manage your requests for products or services, including online reservations, entry in to competitions and discount coupons;
- to communicate with you about equipment servicing reminders, your warranty registration or equipment recalls;
- monitor sales activity;
- to assess the performance of the website and to improve the operation of the website;
- to assess the performance of our newsletters and to improve the content of our newsletters and tailor the content to your interests;
- for the administrative, marketing, planning, product or service development, quality control and research purposes of us, our related bodies corporate, contractors or service providers;
- to provide marketing and remarketing through our websites, social media channels and other marketing mediums;
- to update our records and keep your contact details up to date; and
- to process and respond to any complaint made by you.
We will carry out direct marketing in accordance with all applicable laws. You may opt-out of receiving direct marketing from us through the unsubscribe link function that will be made available to you with each direct marketing communication from us.
Please note that STIHL Dealers are separate legal entities and businesses and they may utilise their individual customer database and direct marketing systems. We are not responsible or liable for any direct marketing communications that may be sent directly by a STIHL Dealer to you. If you receive direct marketing communications from a STIHL Dealer and no longer wish to receive these communications from that STIHL Dealer, you must opt-out of the STIHL Dealer communication by using the unsubscribe facility of that STIHL Dealer.
Security
We understand the importance of your personal information and have taken reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification, interference or disclosure. We may hold your information in either electronic or hard copy form. Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when no longer needed.
As our website is linked to the internet, and the internet is inherently insecure, we cannot provide any assurance regarding the security of transmission of information you communicate to us online. We also cannot guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the internet. Accordingly, any personal information or other information which you transmit to us online is transmitted at your own risk.
Accessing links
Our website may contain links to other websites. If you access any third party website from our website, personal information about you may be collected by that third party’s website. We are not responsible for ensuring the protection of any of your information collected from any such third party website. We encourage you to be aware of when you leave our website and to read the privacy policies for every third party website that you access.
Disclosure of Personal Information
We may store and disclose your personal information to our associated entities located overseas, including the parent company of STIHL in Germany. Some of the information collected from our website may be collected directly by these overseas entities.
Sometimes we use third party platforms and services to store and analyse data and information, send marketing messages, or to otherwise provide services to us in relation to the purpose for which the information was collected. Some of these services are hosted and managed by organisations other than ourselves. We use products and services maintained in Australia, United States, Germany and Poland.
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipients of your personal information do not breach the privacy obligations relating to your personal information.
We may disclose your personal information to:
- our employees, related bodies corporate, contractors or service providers for the purposes of operation of our website or our business, fulfilling requests by you, and to otherwise provide products and services to you including, without limitation, web hosting providers, IT systems administrators, mailing houses, couriers, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, customer research agencies, database management providers, debt collectors, and professional advisors such as accountants, solicitors, business advisors and consultants; and
- suppliers, STIHL Dealers and other third parties with whom we have commercial relationships, for business, marketing, and related purposes.
We will not sell or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes, but we may share personal information with our STIHL Dealers for the purpose of facilitating an in-store product collection for customer on behalf of STIHL Pty Ltd.
We may combine or share any information that we collect from you with information collected by any of our related bodies corporate.
Access to your Personal Information
You may access your information at any time by contacting us. If you would like to know what information we hold about you please contact our Privacy Officer. There may be instances where we cannot grant you access to the personal information we hold. For example, we may need to refuse access if granting access would interfere with the privacy of others or if it would result in a breach of confidentiality. If that happens, we will give you written reasons for any refusal.
If you discover that there is an error or information is missing, you may send an amendment request to our Privacy Officer and we will review your request for amendment. Where we decide not to make a requested amendment and you disagree, you may request a note of your requested correction to be added to your personal information that explains your correction request.
Privacy Complaints Process and Enquiries
If you believe that your privacy has been breached, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information below.
We request that complaints about breaches of privacy be made in writing, so we can be sure about the details of the complaint. We will attempt to confirm as appropriate and necessary with you, your understanding of the conduct relevant to the complaint and what you expect as an outcome. We will inform you whether we will conduct an investigation. If we determine an investigation is required, we will provide the name, title, and contact details of the investigating officer and the estimated completion date for the investigation process.
After we have completed our enquiries, we will contact you, usually in writing, to advise the outcome and invite a response to our conclusions about the complaint. If we receive a response from you, we will assess it and advise if we have changed our view.
If you are not satisfied with the way your privacy-related complaint is handled by us, you may refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Details of how to lodge a complaint with the OAIC may be found at www.oaic.gov.au or by calling 1300 363 992.
Contacting us:
Please contact our Privacy Officer at:
Privacy Officer
STIHL Pty Ltd
Post: 5 Kingston Park Court, Knoxfield VIC 3185
Email: privacy@stihl.com.au
Telephone: (03) 9215 6666
We will try to satisfy any questions that you have and correct any errors on our part.
Policy Updates
This Policy may change from time to time and is available on our website.
This privacy policy was last updated on January 21, 2022.
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