Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Effective Date: May 15, 2025

This privacy policy applies to www.velcro.com which is owned and operated by Velcro USA Inc. (“Velcro USA”) or any of its affiliates (collectively, “Velcro Companies”, “We”, “Us”, “Our”). We respect your privacy rights and value your trust. This privacy policy describes how we collect, receive, use, store, share, transfer, and process your personal information, as well as your rights in determining what we do with the information that we collect or hold about you.

Velcro USA is responsible for the processing of your personal information when you interact with our website. You may contact us at any time via the methods described in this privacy policy.

We use this information to:

• Assess the needs of your business to determine suitable products
• Send you requested product or service information
• Respond to customer service requests
• Send you a newsletter
• Send you marketing communications
• Respond to your questions and concerns
• Improve our website and marketing efforts
• Conduct research and analysis
• Display content based upon your interests

Where required by applicable law (such as the EU- or UK GDPR), we process your personal data on one or more of the following legal bases: your consent; the performance of a contract; compliance with legal obligations; or our legitimate interests, provided that such interests are not overridden by your rights.

We will share your personal information with third parties only in the ways that are described in this privacy policy. We do not sell, rent or otherwise distribute your personal information to third parties.

How long will your data be stored?
We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for legal, accounting, or reporting obligations. The specific retention periods vary depending on the type of data and applicable laws.

Service Providers
We may provide your personal information to companies that provide services to help us with our business activities such sending you emails. These companies are authorized to use your personal information only as necessary to provide these services to us and are contractually obligated to keep your information confidential.

Legal Disclaimer
We may also disclose your personal information:

• As required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or similar legal process
• When we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

If Velcro USA is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a majority portion of its assets which results in a change that materially affects the way your data is processed or used, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our website of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information, to any other third party with your prior consent to do so.

Under applicable state laws, including California privacy laws, and international laws such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation, you may have certain rights pertaining to your personal information.

• You may have the right to request information about the personal information we have collected about you and for what purpose, how we process your personal information and a copy of your personal information.
• You may have the right to be provided your personal information in a readily useable format.
• Subject to the personal data protection laws that apply in your country, you may have the right to request that we correct, complete, amend, restrict processing, or delete the personal information we have collected about you. You may also have any of the following rights: Access and receive a copy of your personal data; object to the processing of your data for direct marketing at any time; object to other processing based on legitimate interests, in certain cases; withdraw your consent at any time (if processing is based on consent); and/or lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority of your country.

To make these requests or otherwise exercise the rights you may have, email our Customer Support here or contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below. We will respond to your request within 30 days. We will retain your information for as long as needed to provide you services and as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

If you wish to limit the use of your personal information as described in Section 1 above or the disclosure of your personal data to our service providers as described in Section 2 above, you may email our Customer Support here or contact us by telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below.

Opt-out Preferences
If you wish to subscribe to our newsletter(s), we will use your name and email address to send the newsletter to you.  Out of respect for your privacy, you may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails, accessing the email preferences in your account settings page or you can contact us here.

Non-discrimination
We will not discriminate against you for exercising your consumer privacy rights.

Velcro USA complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce (jointly “DPF Principles”). Velcro USA has self-certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the DPF Principles with regard to the processing of non-HR personal data received from the EU and from the UK. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the DPF Principles, the DPF Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

If you have a question or complaint about any non-HR related data or data transfer to the U.S. in connection with Velcro Companies, please reach out to us at privacy@velcro.com.

For data transfers from the EU or the UK to the U.S., if you do not receive acknowledgment of your non-HR data related complaint from us within 30 days from the date of your first message, or if we have not addressed your non-HR data related complaint to your satisfaction, you may reach out to TRUSTe, the alternative dispute resolution provider or the purposes of resolving disputes related to the processing of non-HR data under the DPF Principles that Velcro USA has contracted. In that case, please visit https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request for more information or to file a complaint. These dispute resolution services are provided at no cost to you.

For data transfers from and to any other country or region,  if you do not receive acknowledgment of your non-HR data related complaint from us within 30 days from the date of your first message, or if we have not addressed your non-HR data related complaint to your satisfaction, you may reach out to your country´s data protection authority.

In order to lawfully transfer HR personal data from the EU or the UK to Velcro USA and its United States-based subcontractors, Velcro USA, together with its affiliates established in the EU and the UK, has entered into the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses for international data transfers  in conformity with the EU Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/914 (“SCCs”), supplemented by the International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses issued by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (“UK Addendum”).

If you have a question or complaint about any HR related data or data transfer from or to any country or region in connection with Velcro Companies, please reach out to us at privacy@velcro.com.

If you do not receive acknowledgment of your HR-related complaint from us within 30 days from the date of your first message, or if we have not addressed your complaint to your satisfaction, you have the right to address your complaint with the data protection authority of your country. For the list of the EU Data Privacy Authorities and their contact information, please visit: https://www.edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members ; and for the UK: https://ico.org.uk/ .

Subcontractors and required disclosures in the U.S.
Velcro USA is responsible for the processing of personal data it receives, under the DPF and/or the SCCs or the UK Addendum, and subsequently transfers to a third party acting as an agent on its behalf. Velcro USA complies with the DPF Principles and the SCCs and UK Addendum, whichever relevant, for all onward transfers of personal data from the EU and the UK, including the onward transfer liability provisions.

The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over Velcro USA’s compliance with the DPF Principles. In certain situations, Velcro USA may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies or similar technologies on this site. However, we do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site.

We use session ID cookies and/or persistent cookies.  A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser.  A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time.  Our cookies help us determine which content on our site is most effective.  You can remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser’s “help” directory.  If you reject cookies, you may still use our site, but your ability to use some areas of our site will be limited.

Analytics / Log Files
As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files.  This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data.  We use this information, which does not identify individual users, to analyze trends, to administer the site, to track users’ movements around the site and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We do not link this automatically-collected data to personally identifiable information.

3rd Party Tracking
The use of cookies or similar tracking technologies by our service providers, technology partners or other 3rd party assets (such as social media) on the site is not covered by our privacy policy.  These 3rd parties may use cookies, clear gifs, images, and scripts to help them better manage their content on our site.   We do not tie the information gathered to our Customers’ or Users’ personally identifiable information.

Behavioral Targeting / Re-Targeting
We partner with a third-party ad network to manage our advertising on other sites. Our ad network partner uses cookies, web beacons and other tracking technologies to collect non-personally identifiable information about your activities on this and other websites to provide you targeted advertising based upon your interests. If you wish to not have this information used for the purpose of serving you targeted ads, you may opt out of interest-based advertising by clicking here. Please note you will continue to receive generic ads.

Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager
We use Google Analytics and/or Google Tag Manager to analyze how visitors use our websites, but only if you have provided your explicit consent via our cookie banner. IP addresses are anonymized before being processed.  The data generated by these tools may be transmitted to Google servers in the United States. Google is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. You may withdraw your consent at any time via our cookie settings or by using Google’s opt-out browser add-on. For more details, see Google’s privacy policy.

The security of your personal information is important to us.  We follow generally accepted standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it.  No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. If you have any questions about the security of your personal information, you can contact us at legal@velcro.com.

Scam Emails
Here are a few ways to identify scam emails:

• Confirm the sender’s identity before replying to email requests and opening attachments or clicking on links, even if they appear to come from a legitimate source. All emails from Velcro Companies’ will be from @velcro.com address.
• Consult with your Information Technology department about any phishing attempts.
• Call Velcro Companies to validate communications originating from us on 1-800-225-0180, Option 3.

Links to 3rd Party Sites
Our Site includes links to other websites whose privacy practices may differ from those of Velcro Companies. If you submit personal information to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy policies. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any website you visit.

Blog / Forum
Our website offers a publicly accessible blog and community forum. You should be aware that any information you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others who access them. To request removal of your personal information from our blog or community forum, contact us here. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.

Social Media Widgets
Our website includes Social Media Features, such as the Facebook Like button and Widgets, such as the Share this button or interactive mini-programs that run on our site. These Features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the Feature to function properly. Social Media Features and Widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Site. Your interactions with these Features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

Obligation to provide your data and automated individual case decisions or profiling measures
If you contact us, we will ask for basic personal data (such as your name and email) in order to  respond to your request. If you do not provide this information, we may not be able to reply. Automated individual case decisions or profiling measures do not take place via our website. 

Changes To This Policy
We may update this privacy policy to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes, we will notify you by email or by means of a notice on this Site prior to the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.