At Particle Measuring Systems (PMS), we take your privacy seriously. We see it as our duty of care to keep personal data safe and to ensure that all personal data is used and stored appropriately. Our culture of respect means we do not misuse personal data in our possession.
We appreciate the interest you have shown in our company, products and services by visiting our website (www.pmeasuring.com) or any related online communication channels such as our social media pages and blogs (together the ‘Website’).
This Privacy Notice explains what kind of personal data is collected and how it is used by PMS when you interact with us, such as through visiting our Website, your use or purchase of our products or services, your contact with customer support, your subscription to our newsletters, your participation to our webinars or any other interaction with PMS, including without limitation all online and offline collection of personal data.
If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Notice, please e-mail us at info@pmeasuring.com.
Personally Identifiable Information does not include information lawfully obtained from publicly available sources, or from federal, state, or local government records lawfully made available to the general public.
Depending on your use of our website, we may receive more or less of the above Personally Identifiable Information.
Please note that your personally identifiable information will be stored and processed on our computers in the United States. The laws regarding the handling of personal data in the United States may differ from the laws of other countries but, as we explain below, we will hold and transmit your information in a safe, confidential and secure environment. If you access the website or our services from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure that differ from United States laws, please be advised that through your continued use of our website, you are transferring your personal information to the United States and you consent to that transfer and this Privacy Statement. Additionally, you understand that your personal information may be processed in countries (including the United States) where laws regarding processing personal information may be less stringent than in your country.
Who we are
PMS specializes in viable and nonviable particle counters that measure and monitor contamination levels in clean and controlled environments. Since 1972, our knowledgeable and experienced team has been developing innovative technologies to advance the cleanroom monitoring industry. Led by our technology which provides accurate and reliable results and information for our clients, PMS is one of the world’s leading companies and manufacturers for particle counting instruments, and molecular and microbial monitoring. PMS is a subsidiary of Spectris plc. Any personal information provided to or gathered by any of the PMS entities or branches worldwide, will be controlled by PMS.
Types of personal data we may collect
When interacting with PMS, for example when using, enquiring about or purchasing our products, services or solutions, we collect personal data. The personal data we collect depends on the type of interaction, but may include the following:
- Contact details: your name, email address, postal address, phone number(s), and other similar contact details.
- Demographic data, such as your country and preferred language.
- Payment data in order to process any payment you make. Such data may include your credit card details
- Credentials for security, such as your passwords, password hints and similar information which enables us to authenticate you and provide you access to your account
- Transaction history, meaning information concerning your historic interaction with us
- Usage data, for example your use of our website or information related to your online behavior, and your marketing preferences.
By visiting our Website, we may also collect your IP address and cookie ID, as well as your device identifiers. More detailed information about the cookies we use can be found in our Cookie Notice.
Personal data obtained from third parties
We are also working closely with third parties (including, for example, business partners, sub-contractors in technical, payment and delivery services, advertising networks, analytics providers, search information providers) and may receive such personal data about you from them. Such data obtained from third parties will be kept in accordance with the same duty of care as described in this notice, and with any additional restrictions imposed by the third party that shared your personal data.
Use and processing of your personal data
In summary, PMS uses your personal data for:
- the operation of our business: meaning amongst others the processing of your orders and payments, give follow up on your requests and maintain your online account in order to enable you to download software updates and accessing additional content on our Website. This kind of use of your personal data is done on the basis of a contract or to meet your requests. In addition, we administer our relationship with you and keep records of your purchases and enquiries, for example to comply with legal obligations we may have;
- sending communications, including marketing communications, within accordance of local laws. We use personal data (such as email address, first name, company name, location, and type of business) to communicate with you and personalize our communications with you. Communications may be sent to you in view of the operation of our business.
- enhancing our products, services and solutions, including our Website and your experience while using our Website. In carrying out these purposes, we may combine data we collect to give you a more seamless, consistent and personalized experience. For example, we may provide you with personalized recommendations on our Website, based on your use of our Website. We are able to do this through cookies or similar technology we may have implemented on our Website. Details of such cookies and how you can disable them can be found in our Cookie Notice.
We may convert your personal data into statistical or aggregated data in such a way as to ensure that you are not identified or identifiable from that data. We may use this aggregated data to conduct market research and analysis, including to produce statistical research and reports. We may share such anonymous aggregated data with third parties. Aggregated and anonymous personal information does not personally identify you.
We will generally process your personal data only for the purposes set out above. If we use your personal data for other / additional purposes, extra data protection measures will be implemented as required by law. In addition, in some jurisdictions, data protection law requires that the processing of your personal data for some or all of the purposes described above (including the provision of direct marketing to you) must be on the basis of your consent and, therefore, where consent is necessary, our processing of your personal data is on the basis of your consent.
Please note that where your consent is required to process your personal data, you are entitled to refuse to give your consent or revoke it any time. However, by not providing your consent (or revoking it), we may not be able to provide the relevant services to you.
Sharing of your personal data
We may share your personal data with your consent or as necessary to complete or follow up on any transaction with us or to provide any products, service or solution you have requested or authorized. In particular, we may share your personal data with the following recipients:
- our affiliates and subsidiaries, distributors or agents working on our behalf. For example, we may share your personal data with our affiliates if we deem this necessary for offering you a complete solution for the business needs presented by you, or with our agents for servicing the products you purchased;
- our affiliates within Spectris Group so that they can send you information in relation to products, services or solutions that may be of interest to you. Such disclosures will be pursuant to your consent (where required, in accordance with applicable laws). You can read more about this under “Direct Marketing”;
- third parties, if such processing is needed for information risk purposes, including, for example, administration of the Website and protecting and securing our systems and services, or, if such processing is needed for using the cookies you consented to, for example sharing in view of services provided by Google analytics;
- governmental and regulatory bodies and other third parties where required to do so by applicable law, such as to comply with a court order or a request from a regulator or similar legal process or where otherwise necessary to comply with a legal obligation or for the administration of justice; and
- third parties concerned or their professional advisors, in the event of a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of our assets. In the event of such a transaction, the personal data held by us may be among the assets transferred to the buyer.
In some cases, this may involve transferring your personal data to other countries (including the U.K., the U.S., Canada and other countries inside and outside the European Economic Area) where PMS and/or other third parties operate and process your personal data. Please be aware that countries which are outside your jurisdiction, may not offer the same level of data protection as is provided in your jurisdiction. We will however conclude agreements with the relevant third parties involved, limiting the purposes for which your personal data can be used and disclosed, and requiring your personal data to be adequately safeguarded.
Direct marketing
Our range of products, services and solutions is constantly evolving to match the increasingly sophisticated markets in which we operate. Therefore, we may wish to provide you with information about similar or the same products, services, solutions, promotions and offers, to those about which you receive or have enquired about and which may be of interest to you. We may also invite you to take part in market research or request feedback on our products, services and solutions. Such communications may be via e-mail, telephone, post or SMS.
However, we will not send such communications without your prior consent (where required, in accordance with applicable laws) and you can exercise your right to prevent such processing by either not opting in to receive such communications or you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each communication.
Please note that marketing communications are not the same as “information only” communications and that we may communicate with you about the products you have purchased, or the services or solutions you have requested, using contact details you have provided for this purpose without your express consent being required.
Protection of your personal data
We use the industry-standard security protocol Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encode more sensitive information, such as credit card numbers for online purchase transactions via the Website. We employ the latest 128-bit encryption technology in all areas of the Website, which require you to provide personal or account information. This means that the credit card information you send is encrypted by your computer, and then decrypted again on our side, which limits the risk of others from accessing your private information when in transfer. You can verify this by looking for a closed lock icon at the bottom of your web browser or looking for “https” at the beginning of the address of the web page.
While we use encryption to protect credit card numbers and similar transaction information, please be aware that no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. Although we take reasonable security measures to protect your personal data when we receive it, you also need to ensure you take appropriate steps to protect your personal data.
We also seek to protect your personal data offline. Only employees who need the information to perform specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to relevant personal data.
Retention of your personal data
We will retain your personal data as long as necessary for the purposes set out when collecting your personal data or as required by relevant laws and regulations.
The criteria we use to determine data retention periods includes the following:
Retention in case of queries
We may retain your personal data for a reasonable period after you have enquired about products, services or solutions, in case of follow up queries from you.
Retention in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements
We will consider whether we need to retain your personal data after the period of retention in the case of queries (above) because of a legal or regulatory requirement. Some or all of these criteria may be relevant to retention of your personal data collected from you in connection with our products, services, solutions and/or your use of the Website.
Retention permitted under applicable law
We will continue to retain personal data where necessary to provide our services to you and the retention of such personal data if necessary for the purposes of pursuing our legitimate interests or where it is necessary for public interest purposes.
Access to your personal data
You have the right to request confirmation as to whether or not your personal data is processed by us and you have reasonable access to your personal data, in order for your personal data to be updated, modified, or, if legally possible, deleted. In order for us to respond to your request, we may require you to verify your identity. You also have the right to withdraw your consent to any processing for which you have previously given that consent.
You can update your email subscription preferences at any time.
Please be aware that we may reject requests that are unreasonably repetitive, require disproportionate technical effort (for example, developing a new system or fundamentally changing an existing practice), risk the privacy of others, or would be extremely impractical (for instance, requests concerning information residing on backup systems).
Links to other websites
Our Website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over the other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information that you provide while visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this Privacy Notice. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
Amendments to this Privacy Notice
We may update this Privacy Notice to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any changes we will update you by means of a notice on the Website. We encourage you to periodically review the Website for the latest information on our privacy practices and this Privacy Notice.
Contact Information
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, your use of the Website, our products, services, solutions or your dealings with us, in relation to our use of your personal data, you can contact us via the following contact details: info@pmeasuring.com
Cookie Notice
PMS uses cookies (small text files placed on your device) and similar technologies to provide our website (www.pmeasuring.com) or any related online channels such as our e-commerce site, social media pages, and blogs (together the ‘Website’) and to remember your preferences and tailor our Websites to your interests (“Cookies”). Through this Cookie Notice, we provide you with background information about cookies in general, the cookies that we use on our Website and how you can control these cookies. If after reading this notice, you have any remaining questions about cookies that are used on our website, please contact us at info@pmeasuring.com.
What are cookies?
Cookies are files or pieces of information that may be stored on your computer (or other internet-enabled devices, such as a smartphone or tablet) when you visit our Websites. A cookie will usually contain the name of the website from which the cookie has come from, the “lifetime” of the cookie (i.e. how long it will remain on your device) and a value, which is usually a randomly generated unique number.
Different types of cookies
First party cookies
First party cookies are set by the website you are visiting and only that website can read them. In addition, a website may use an external company to analyze how people are using that website. This external company will set their own cookie to do this.
Third party cookies
Third party cookies are set by someone other than the owner of the website you are visiting. Some PMS web pages may also contain content from other sites like YouTube, which may set their own cookies. Also, if you share a link to a PMS web page, the service you share it on (e.g. Facebook) may set a cookie on your browser. PMS has no control over third party cookies.
Advertising Cookies
Some websites use advertising networks to show you specially targeted advertisements when you visit them. These advertising networks may also be able to track your browsing activities across different sites.
Session Cookies
Session cookies are temporary cookies that remain on your device until you leave the Website.
Persistent Cookies
Persistent cookies are saved on your computer. So, they do not get deleted when you close your browser. We use persistent cookies when we need to know who you are for more than one browsing session. For example, we use them to remember your preferences for the next time you visit. A persistent cookie remains on your device for much longer or until you manually delete it. How long the cookie remains on your device will depend on the duration or “lifetime” of the specific cookie and your browser settings.
The different types of cookie detailed above can be categorized into 4 groups broadly describing their function:
| Type of cookie | What do they do? | Do these cookies collect my personal data / identify me? |
|---|---|---|
| Necessary | Cookies that are essential to making the Website work correctly. They enable visitors to move around our website and use our features. Examples include remembering previous actions (e.g. entered text) when navigating back to a page in the same session. | These cookies do not identify you as an individual. If you do not accept these cookies, it may affect the performance of our website. |
| Performance | Cookies that help us understand how visitors interact with our web properties by providing information about the areas visited, the time spent on the website and any issues encountered, such as error messages. They helps us improve the performance of our websites, alert of any concerns and more. | These cookies do not identify you as an individual. All data is collected and aggregated anonymously. |
| Functionality | Cookies that allow our web properties to remember the choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) to provide a more personalized online experience. They can also enable visitors to watch videos, play games and engage with social tools, such as blogs, chatrooms and forums. | The information these cookies collect may include personally identifiable information that you have disclosed, such as your username or profile picture. We shall always be transparent with you about what information we collect, what we do with it and with whom we share it. If you do not accept these cookies, it may affect website performance and functionality and may restrict access to web content. |
| Targeting / advertising | Cookies that are used to deliver content that is more relevant to you and your interests. They may be used to deliver targeted advertising or to limit the number of times you see an advertisement. They also help us measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on the Website. We may use these cookies to remember websites you have visited and we may share this information with other parties, including advertisers and our agencies. | Most types of these cookies track consumers via their IP address so may collect some personal identifiable information. |
What do we use cookies for?
We use cookies to make the Website easier to use and to better tailor our web presence and products to your interests and needs. Cookies may also be used to help speed up your future activities and experience on our web properties. We also use cookies to compile anonymous, aggregated statistics that allow us to understand how people use our web properties and to help us improve web structure and content. Whether or not we can identify you personally from this information, depends amongst others on the type of cookie.
Cookies used on our Website
The table below summarizes the different types of cookie we use on the Website, together with their respective purpose.
| Cookie name | From | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| acpck | PMS | Necessary | 1st party Determines whether or not the user has closed the cookie banner. |
| ASP.NET_SessionId | SDL | Necessary | 1st party Contains the user’s session ID. Expires at the end of the session (when you close your browser). |
| __cfduid | Cloudflare | Performance | 3rd party Cloudflare is a global Content Delivery Network (CDN), which improves the page-load times of the Website. Cloudflare have more detailed information at: https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200170156-What-does-the-Cloudflare-cfduid-cookie-do- |
| _ga | Google Analytics | Targeting | 1st party We use Google Universal Analytics to monitor traffic and visitors’ use of the Website. This cookie is used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. It is used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data for the Website’s analytics reports. |
| _gid | Google Analytics | Targeting | 1st party This cookie name is associated with Google Universal Analytics. It stores and updates a unique value for each page visited. |
| NID | Google AdWords | Targeting | 3rd party We use Google AdWords Remarketing to advertise across the Internet. AdWords remarketing will display relevant ads tailored to you based on what parts of our Website you have viewed by placing a cookie on your machine. |
| LPSID-######## | LivePerson | Functionality | 1st party LivePerson enables us to add online chat functionality to communicate directly with visitors. LivePerson have detailed information at https://developers.liveperson.com/guides-cookies.html |
| LPSessionID | LivePerson | Functionality | 3rd party LivePerson – see above |
| LPVID | LivePerson | Functionality | 1st party LivePerson – see above |
| LPVisitorID | LivePerson | Functionality | 3rd party LivePerson – see above |
| JSESSIONID | Live800 | Functionality | 3rd party Live800 enables us to add online chat functionality to directly communicate with visitors in China. |
| vp_1 | PMS | Targeting | 1st party Implicit Profiling enable us to log information about the content that a Website user views and then based on the results, we can target the user with precise content using rules based on visit behavior for future visits. |
| AWSALB | Amazon | Performance | 1st party We use Amazon Web Services’ Application Load Balancer to improve stability and performance of the Website. |
| ASP.NET_SessionId | SDL | Functionality / Necessary | 3rd party This stores the session ID for SDL MediaManager, which stores images and videos displayed on the Website. |
| mySessionCookieF | SDL | Functionality / Necessary | 1st party SDL Tridion is the platform upon which the Website is built. This cookie is necessary to ensure the functionality of the Website. |
| myTrackingCookie | SDL | Functionality / Targeting | 1st party This cookie relates to SDL SmartTarget, a system which may be used by us to deliver tailored and personalized content to our Website visitors. |
| visitor_id##### | Pardot | Targeting | 1st party This cookie enables the Pardot marketing automation system – see more information on Pardot below. |
| pi_opt_in | Pardot | Targeting | 1st party This cookie stores a visitor’s preference regarding Pardot’s “Do Not Track” privacy setting. |
Third-Party Applications
We sometimes embed content and sharing tools from other (third party) sites. When you visit our Website with embedded third party content or sharing tools, you may be presented with cookies from those third parties’ sites. We do not control the dissemination of these third party cookies. You should check relevant third party website(s) for more information about these cookies, and whether and how you may opt out of receiving them.
Google Analytics: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245
Google Analytics
PMS websites uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service from Google Inc. which uses ‘Cookies’, text files stored on your computer, to allow an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there, according to Google.
If IP anonymization is activated on this website, within EU Member States or in other member states of the European Economic Area, Google will shorten your IP address before transmitting it. Only in exceptional cases will your full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. The IP anonymization is active on this website. On behalf of PMS, Google will use this information to analyze your use of the website, compile reports on website activity and to provide other services to PMS in connection with website activity and Internet related services for internal record keeping within PMS itself.
The IP address provided from your browser under Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data. You may prevent cookies from being stored by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser or by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en
Pardot
PMS Websites use a marketing automation system provided by Salesforce Inc., The Landmark at One Market, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94105. For more information regarding Pardot’s specific cookies please refer to Pardot www.pardot.com.
YouTube
PMS websites uses the YouTube video platform operated by YouTube LLC, 901 Cherry Ave. San Bruno, CA 94066 USA. YouTube is a platform that enables playback of audio and video files.
When you load a page on our website, the integrated YouTube player establishes a connection to YouTube in order to ensure the technical transmission of the video or audio file. When the connection to YouTube is established, data is transferred to YouTube.
For information about the scope and purpose of data collection, the further processing and use of the data by YouTube and your rights and the settings you can configure to protect your privacy, please refer to the YouTube Data Protection Notice.
Third-Party Plugins
When you visit a website that contains a social plugin, your browser establishes a direct link to third-party servers as opposed to through the PMS websites. The content of the plugin is transferred by the third party directly to your browser, which embeds the latter into our website. PMS therefore has no influence over the scope of data that the third party collects using the plugin and you should refer to their individual policies for more details. By utilizing these third-party plugins, you are informing these third-party companies that you have accessed the corresponding pages where the icon was placed.
How can I control or delete cookies?
Most internet browsers are initially set up to automatically accept cookies. You can change the settings to block cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent to your device. There are a number of ways to manage cookies. Please refer to your browser instructions or help screen to learn more about how to adjust or modify your browser settings.
If you disable the cookies that we use, this may impact your experience while on the Website. For example, you may need to continually refill in forms when downloading information.
If you use different devices to view and access the Website (e.g. your computer, smartphone or tablet), you will need to ensure that each browser on each device is adjusted to suit your cookie preferences.
Amendments to this Cookie Notice
We may update this Cookie Notice to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any changes we will update you by means of a notice on the Website. We encourage you to periodically review the Website for the latest information on this Cookie Notice.
