Privacy policy

Privacy Notice

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to www.abtechnics.be. This Privacy Notice explains what we do with your personal data when you visit www.abtechnics.be (the “Website”) or wish to make a purchase on the Website. It describes how we collect, use and process your personal data, and how, in doing so, we comply with our legal obligations to you. Your privacy is important to us, and we are committed to protecting and safeguarding your rights.

This Privacy Notice applies to the personal information of our consumer customers. If you are not a consumer, please contact us and we will provide you with the Privacy Notice applicable to your situation.

For the purposes of the applicable data protection legislation, AB TECHNICS BV, a private limited company registered under company number (CBE) 0464.432.436, with its registered office at 2390 Malle, Antwerpsesteenweg 115 (Belgium) and VAT number BE0464.432.436 (“we”, “our” or “us” or “AB Technics”), is the “controller” of your personal data. This means that we decide why and how your personal data are used and that we are responsible for protecting them. Please see the end of this notice for our contact and company details.

We may amend this Privacy Notice from time to time. Please visit this page regularly, as we will post any changes here. Where appropriate, we may also notify you of the changes by e-mail. Please see further the Changes section below.
If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of this Privacy Notice, you may have legal rights, which we have described below, where applicable.

1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

When you use the Website, we collect and use information about you in connection with the supply of our products and services and with customer support. We may collect some or all of the information below to assist us in doing so:

• information that you submit online via the Website, including your name, contact details, etc.
• information that you provide via contact forms on the Website and any correspondence we have with you by e-mail or telephone or via the Get in Touch on the Website;
• details of transactions you carry out or orders you place via the Website;
• additional information that you choose to tell us;
• details of side effects or incidents during the use of our products that you have reported to us by e-mail, by telephone or via the web chat function on the Website; and
• technical information about your visit, including data about your visits to the Website and your navigation of the Website, traffic data, communication data, information about the device you use to access the Website, the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform.

We also automatically collect information about how visitors use our Website by using cookies and similar technologies, provided that, where these are not essential to the functioning of the Website, you have consented to their use. For more information on how we use cookies and how you can disable them, please see our Cookie Policy.
Depending on the type of personal data concerned and the legal grounds (i.e. the “legal bases”) on which we process your personal data, if you refuse to provide us with such data, we may be unable to fulfil our contractual obligations or, in extreme cases, to continue our relationship with you.
For details of the legal bases on which we rely in order to be able to use and process your personal data, please see How we use your information.

2. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

2.1. Personal informationThe purposes for which we use your personal data and the legal basis under data protection legislation on which we rely in doing so are explained below.

2.2. Where you have given CONSENTIn certain cases, we rely on your consent to send you the following when we invite you to sign up on the Website for market research surveys and related communications, and to use your responses to such communications, individually or combined with the responses of other persons, for insight purposes.
We obtain your consent for the use of cookies that are not strictly necessary. For more information, please see our Cookie Policy.
You may withdraw your consent at any time.

2.3. Where there is a LEGAL OBLIGATIONWe will use your personal data to comply with our legal obligations, including where the law requires us

• to respond to or assist the government or the police and other criminal investigation bodies;
• to identify you when you contact us
• to verify the accuracy of the data we hold about you; and
• to comply with a request from you in connection with the exercise of your rights.

2.4. Where it is in your VITAL INTERESTSWe will use your personal data to notify you of product safety issues or product recalls.

2.5. Where there is a LEGITIMATE INTERESTWe may use and process your personal data where this is necessary for us to pursue legitimate interests (either our own, in connection with our business, or those of a third party), except where such interests are overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms, for example in the following cases:

Processing necessary for the provision of the Website

• delivery and design of the Website and to ensure that the content of the Website is presented to you in the most effective manner
• to ensure the operation of the Website by means of strictly necessary cookies (see our Cookie Policy ).

Processing necessary for us to support Website visitors and customers with their enquiries

• to respond to correspondence you send us and to fulfil the requests you make to us in relation to our products and services.

Processing necessary for us to respond to changing market conditions and the needs of Website visitors

• to analyse, evaluate and improve our products and services so that your visit to and use of the Website and social media pages are more useful and enjoyable (we will generally use data aggregated from many people so that it does not identify you personally);
• to carry out market research and analysis (or to commission a third party to carry these out on our behalf) so that we can better understand your needs as a customer, but only where we are not relying on your consent (i.e. during any period in which the Website does not offer you an opt-in facility for this purpose).

Processing necessary for us to carry out the administrative and technical aspects of our business efficiently and effectively

• to inform you of changes to our services
• to administer the Website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, testing and statistical purposes;
• to prevent fraud and other criminal activities
• to verify the accuracy of the data we hold about you and to gain a better understanding of you as an account holder or visitor;
• for network and information security, so that we can take measures to protect your data against loss or damage, theft or unauthorised access;
• to inform you of administrative, legal and business matters;
• for the purposes of a corporate restructuring or reorganisation or a sale of our business or our assets;
• to enforce or protect our contractual or other legal rights or to bring or defend legal proceedings;
• to inform you of updates to our terms and our policies;
• for our internal purposes, such as quality control, website performance, system administration and to evaluate the use of the website, so that we can provide you with better services.

If you are located in the EU, the following applies to you in addition to (and, in the event of any conflict, in priority to) the other provisions of this section:

• If the processing of your personal data is based on your consent, the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. You may withdraw your consent at any time (Art. 7(3) GDPR), with effect for the future. This does not affect the lawfulness of the processing that took place before you withdrew your consent.
• If the processing of your personal data is based on a contract between us and you, the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
• If the processing of your personal data is based on legal obligations with which we must comply, the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR.
• If the processing of your personal data is based on our legitimate interests, the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. If you would like detailed information on the balancing of your interests and ours, please contact us as described in the section How to contact us. Insofar as the processing is based on our legitimate interests, you have the right to object to the processing (Art. 21 GDPR).

3. USE OF DEVICE AND SOFTWARE USAGE INFORMATION

We may monitor your use of the Website and record your IP address, operating system and browser type, browser version, previously visited website (referrer URL), screen resolution, operating system and, where applicable, device information (e.g. device type) for system administration purposes.
We collect aggregated statistical data about Website visitors and sales and traffic patterns. This information does not identify users personally, and we do not use this information to build profiles of individual users: it contains only general information about the users of the Website.

4. COOKIES

A cookie (and other technologies such as pixels and beacons) is a small data file that is placed on your browser or on the hardware of your computer or other device in order to enable a website to recognise you as a user when you return to the website.
We use non-essential cookies where you consent to them, and essential cookies, on the website. Please see our Cookie Policy for more information on the type of cookies and tracking technologies we use on the Website and why, and on how you can accept and refuse them.

5. SHARING YOUR INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES

We only disclose personal data to third parties where this is necessary for the provision of our service or where it is otherwise permitted by law. For the purposes set out herein, personal data are disclosed to service providers involved in the provision of our services. In addition to their statutory obligation to comply with all data protection regulations, these service providers are bound by additional contractual data protection requirements. This includes, in particular, contractual obligations as a processor (in accordance with the requirements of Art. 28 GDPR). In particular, we may share your data with any of the following groups:

• any of our affiliated entities, where this is necessary/lawful, and in accordance with data transfer legislation;
• tax, audit or other authorities, where we believe that the law or other regulations require us to share such data (for example, due to a request from a tax authority or in connection with anticipated litigation);
• lawyers who provide us with legal and regulatory advice;
• external consultants who provide industry insights, market research and technical support;
• accountants and bookkeepers who prepare and examine financial records, review financial operations and help to improve efficiency;
• IT technical support functions, IT consultants and external analytics service providers who carry out testing, research and development on our business technology systems;
• external market research providers who provide industry insights and assist with product development;
• third parties for the purposes of credit card clearing, credit referencing, order fulfilment, delivery, customer support services and storage services;
• third-party outsourced IT providers with whom we have an appropriate data processing agreement (or similar protection) in place;

6. WHERE WE STORE YOUR INFORMATION

Your personal data may be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to the third parties described in Sharing your information with third parties.
We wish to ensure that your personal data are stored and transferred in a secure manner. We will therefore only transfer data outside the EEA where this is in accordance with data protection legislation and the means of transfer provides adequate safeguards in relation to your data, for example

• by way of an intra-group agreement between AB Technics entities incorporating the current standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission, the Belgian Data Protection Authority or another competent body for the transfer of personal data to jurisdictions without adequate data protection legislation;
• by way of a data transfer agreement with a third party incorporating the current model contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission, the Belgian Data Protection Authority or another competent body for the transfer of personal data to jurisdictions without adequate data protection legislation;
• by transferring your data to a country in respect of which the European Commission, the Belgian Data Protection Authority or another competent body has determined that the level of data protection afforded by that country’s legislation is adequate; or
• where you have consented to the transfer.

Where we transfer your personal data outside the EEA and the country or territory concerned does not maintain adequate data protection standards, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data are treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Notice. You may request to inspect these by contacting us using the contact details below.

7. HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION

We care about the protection of your information. We therefore take appropriate measures to prevent unauthorised access to and misuse of your personal data.
We undertake to take all reasonable and appropriate steps to protect the personal information we hold against misuse, loss or unauthorised access. We do this by implementing a range of appropriate technical and organisational measures, including encryption measures and disaster recovery plans.

If you suspect any misuse, loss or unauthorised access to your personal data, please let us know immediately by contacting our Data Protection Officer using the details at the end of this notice.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we will apply our normal procedures and comply with legal requirements to protect your information, we cannot guarantee the security of your information transmitted to the Website, and any transmission is at your own risk.

The Website may, from time to time, contain links to and from other websites. If you follow a link to any of those websites, please note that those sites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for those sites or for their privacy policies. Please check those privacy policies before you submit any data to those websites.

8. HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION

We retain your data relating to orders you have placed with us for as long as is required by law or otherwise (for example, due to a request from a tax authority or in connection with anticipated litigation).

If you have contacted us with a complaint or query: we retain your personal data for as long as is reasonably necessary to resolve your complaint or query.

The exceptions to the above are where

• we have carefully considered whether we need to retain your personal data beyond the periods described above in order potentially to bring, pursue or defend a legal claim or to comply with a legal or regulatory requirement;
• we actually bring or defend a legal claim or other proceedings during the period in which we retain your personal data; in that case, we will retain your personal data until those proceedings have been concluded and no further appeal is possible;
• you exercise your right to require us to retain your personal data for longer than the retention period we have indicated (see further Right to restriction of processing below);
• you exercise your right to have the information erased (where applicable) and we are not required to retain it in connection with any of the reasons permitted or required by law (see further right to erasure below); or
• in limited cases, a court or regulator requires us to retain your personal data for a longer or shorter period.

Where it is no longer necessary to retain your data, we will remove the personal data we hold about you from our systems (by erasing or anonymising such data). After that time, we may retain and store aggregated data (from which you cannot be identified) for analytical and statistical purposes.

9. YOUR RIGHTS

You have a number of rights in relation to your data under data protection legislation. In connection with certain rights, we may ask you for information to confirm your identity and, where applicable, to help us search for your personal data. Except in rare cases, we will respond to you within one month from either: (i) the date on which we confirmed your identity; or (ii) where we do not need to do so because we already hold this information, the date on which we received your request.

9.1. Right to objectThis right enables you to object to our processing of your personal data where we do so for any of the following reasons:

• where we rely on our legitimate interests to process your information;
• to enable us to perform a task in the public interest or to exercise official authority; or
• for scientific, historical, research or statistical purposes.

Except for the purposes for which we are certain that we may continue to process your personal data, we will temporarily suspend the processing of your personal data in accordance with your objection until we have investigated the matter. If we agree that your objection is justified in accordance with your rights under data protection legislation, we will permanently cease using your personal data for those purposes. Otherwise, we will provide you with our justification as to why we need to continue using your personal data.

9.2. Right to withdraw consentWhere we have obtained your consent to process your personal data for certain activities, you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will cease using your personal data for that purpose, unless we consider that there is an alternative legal basis justifying our continued processing of your data for this purpose, in which case we will inform you of this condition. If you withdraw your consent, our use of your personal data before your withdrawal remains lawful.

9.3. Right of access (‘Data Subject Access Requests’)You may at any time ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you and request us to amend, update or delete that information. If we provide you with access to the information we hold about you, we will not charge you for this, unless permitted by law. If you request further copies of this information from us, we may charge you a reasonable administrative fee. Where we are legally permitted to do so, we may refuse your request. If we refuse your request, we will always inform you of the reasons for doing so.
If you wish to request access to your data, it would assist us in handling your request if you used the heading “Data Subject Access Request” or mentioned this by telephone when contacting us. This is, however, not mandatory, and we will also handle requests that do not include this reference.

9.4. Right to erasure of dataYou have the right to request, in certain circumstances, that we erase your personal data. This right normally exists where

• the data are no longer necessary;
• you have withdrawn your consent to our use of your data and there is no other valid reason for us to continue;
• the data have been processed unlawfully
• the data must be erased in order to comply with our legal obligations; or
• you object to the processing of your data and we are unable to demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for our continued processing.

We are entitled to refuse to comply with your request for erasure only in limited cases, and we will always inform you of the reason for doing so.
Where we comply with a valid request for erasure of data, we will take all reasonably practicable steps to erase the relevant data.

9.5. Right to restriction of processingYou have the right to request that we restrict our processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example if you contest the accuracy of the personal data we hold about you, if you object to our processing of your personal data for our legitimate interests, or if you require us to retain them in connection with legal proceedings. Where we have shared your personal data with third parties, we will notify them of the restricted processing, unless this proves impossible or involves disproportionate effort. We will, of course, notify you before we lift any restriction on the processing of your personal data.

We may only process your data while their processing is restricted if we have your consent or are legally permitted to do so, for example for storage purposes, to protect the rights of another individual or company, or in connection with legal proceedings.

9.6. Right to rectificationYou have the right to request that we rectify any inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you. Where we have shared such personal data with third parties, we will notify them of the rectification, unless this proves impossible or involves disproportionate effort. You may also request details of the third parties to whom we have disclosed the inaccurate or incomplete personal data. Where we consider it reasonable for us not to comply with your request, we will explain our reasons for that decision.
You may view and update certain parts of your information by logging in to your account on the Website.

9.7. Right to data portabilityIf you so wish, you have the right to transfer your personal data between service providers where we rely on your consent or on the performance of your contract as the legal basis for using those data. In effect, this means that you may transfer the data we hold about you to another third party. To enable you to do so, we will provide you with your data in a commonly used machine-readable format, so that you can transfer the data. Alternatively, we may transfer the data directly on your behalf where this is technically feasible.

9.8. Rights in relation to automated decisionsIn certain circumstances, you may challenge a decision taken about you on the basis of solely automated processing where that processing is not required by law. You may also ask us to stop taking such decisions on the basis of solely automated processing.

9.9. Right to lodge a complaintYou also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority, which in your case is the Belgian Data Protection Authority. You may contact them in the following ways:

• Telephone: +32 (0)2 274 48 00 or +32 (0)2 274 48 35
• Website: https://www.dataprotectionauthority.be/citizen
• E-mail: contact@apd-gba.be
• Address: Drukpersstraat 35, 1000 Brussel

9.10. How to exercise your rightsIf you wish to exercise any of these rights, you may contact us using the details under How to contact us. Please note that we may keep a record of your communications to help us resolve any issues.

10. CHANGES

We may make changes to this Privacy Notice at any time by posting a copy of the amended notice on the Website or, where appropriate, by sending you an e-mail containing that notice. All changes will take effect 7 days after the date of our e-mail or the date on which we post the amended terms on the Website, whichever is earlier.

11. HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, including your rights in relation to your personal data, you may contact us by e-mail at dpo@abtechnics.be or by post at: Antwerpsesteenweg 115, 2390 Malle (Belgium).

If you wish to contact us with general questions or concerns, you may use our “About us > Contact” page or send an e-mail to mail@abtechnics.be or write to us by post at the above address.

If you contact us by e-mail or post, please use the subject “Data protection query”, so that we can forward your query to the appropriate department and deal with it promptly.

Version: 31 January 2026