Privacy and security

Protection of personal data and commitments to privacy and security

This Data Protection Policy (the “Policy”) applies to bioMérieux the registered office of which is located at 69280 Marcy l’Etoile, France, and the bioMérieux entities owned or controlled by bioMérieux SA (hereinafter referred to collectively as “bioMérieux”, “we”, “us” or “our” or “bioMérieux group”).

In this Policy, your personal information is called personal data (“Personal Data”). We may also sometimes collectively refer to handling, collecting, protecting and storing your personal information as “processing” such Personal Data.

This Policy also contains information about when we share your personal data within the bioMérieux group and with other third parties (for example, our service providers).

We have adopted this Policy in order to ensure that the communication of your Personal Data is subject to a strict privacy and security policy by which we are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your Personal Data in a fair and transparent manner. In this regard, and to ensure the application of bioMérieux’s commitments, bioMérieux has designated a data protection officer, in accordance with applicable regulation: PrivacyOfficer@biomerieux.com.

Type of Personal Data collected

Such Personal Data may be collected because you provide it to us (for example by filling out a form on our Website), or because other people have provided this Personal Data to us (for example your employer or advisor, or third party service providers that we rely on in operating our business), or because it is publicly available.

We may also collect or obtain Personal Data about you by observing or inferring such information from the way you interact with us directly, or indirectly by means of other people (for example, partners, joint controllers or subcontractors, who may be involved in data collection operations on behalf of bioMérieux).

The Personal Data that we collect or obtain may include: First Name, Last Name, Email address and, in some circumstances, we may also collect other special types of Personal Data about you either because you have given us your prior express consent to do so at the time of the collection of the Personal Data, or in the framework of a contract, or, finally, because we are required to do so as a result of legal requirements imposed on us.

Nature and Purpose of the Processing

We will use your Personal Data to inform you of offers or news regarding bioMérieux products, services or events.

If you do not want to continue receiving any marketing materials from us, you can click on the unsubscribe function contained in the information form or send a request to webmaster@biomerieux.com.

Recipients of Personal Data

In connection with one or more of the purposes outlined above, we may disclose information to the bioMérieux group and/or to third parties that provide services for us and/or the bioMérieux group.

We may also be required by law to disclose your Personal Data to a regulator or in the context of legal proceedings.

Protection of Personal Data

bioMérieux takes all necessary precautions — including administrative, technical, organizational  and physical measures — to safeguard the Personal Data of our employees, customers and partners against loss, theft and misuse, as well as against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.

Although we employ all security measures deemed reasonably necessary once we have received your Personal Data, the transmission of data over the Internet (including by e-mail) is never completely secure.  We endeavor to protect Personal Data, but we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to us or by us.

Principles for Processing Personal Data

bioMérieux strives to ensure that Personal Data in its possession is:

• Collected for clearly defined, explicit and legitimate purposes, and not subsequently processed in such a way as might prove incompatible with these purposes;
• Processed fairly, lawfully and transparently concerning the data subject (the individual);
• Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in order to achieve the purpose(s) for which it is processed (data minimization);
• Accurate and, if necessary, updated;
• Stored in a format allowing for the identification of the data subject(s) no longer than is necessary for the purpose(s) for which it is processed;
• Processed in such a way as to guarantee appropriate security;
• Only transferred from one country to another on condition of (i) an adequacy decision issued by the European Commission or (ii) appropriate safeguards. 

Protection of Children’s Privacy

bioMérieux understands the importance of protecting children’s privacy, especially in a digital environment. In this respect, our site(s) is (are) not intentionally designed for or aimed at children under the age of 16. It is our policy never knowingly to collect or maintain information about anyone under the age of 16, except as part of the provision of our professional services.

Retention Period

In the absence of any request for deletion sent to PrivacyOfficer@biomerieux.com, we will store your Personal Data on our systems for the longest of the following periods: (i) as long as is necessary for the relevant activity or operation; (ii) any such retention period as may be required by law; (iii) the end of the statute of limitations for any such litigation or inquiry as might arise in respect of the relevant activity or services. Upon the expiry of said period, your Personal Data will be deleted, as required by the applicable regulation.

Rights of Individuals

• To be informed of the existence and purpose of all processing of their Personal Data;
• To access their Personal Data, and to request rectification or deletion of their Personal Data, or the restricting of its processing;
• To object to the processing as well as to request the portability of Personal Data;
• To withdraw his/her consent given to bioMérieux at any time;
• To rapidly inform the Group manager in charge of data protection of any loss or abuse (illegal processing) of his/her Personal Data.

In compliance with European and French laws, every individual is entitled to exercise the following rights with respect to bioMérieux, which processes Personal Data:

To exercise any of your rights, or if you have any other questions about our use of your Personal Data, please send your request to  PrivacyOfficer@biomerieux.com.

You may also use these contact details if you wish to file a complaint with us relating to your privacy.

Right to File a Complaint

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your Personal Data or any privacy query or request unsuccessfully filed with us, you are entitled to file a complaint with the relevant Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) in your jurisdiction.

If you would like to be directed to the appropriate DPA, or if you would like to contact us with any questions or concerns about privacy issues or Personal Data management, please contact: PrivacyOfficer@biomerieux.com.

Changes to this Data Protection Policy

This Policy may be subject to further updates or changes (notably so as to comply with any new laws and/or regulations).

In order to keep you informed of the date of any changes or updates to this Data Protection Policy, we will amend the date at the top left-hand corner of this page to reflect the date of amendment or update. The new modified or amended Data Protection Policy will apply as from that date of revision. We therefore encourage you to review this statement periodically so as to remain informed of how we are protecting your Personal Data.