Privacy Policy
Harvard Bioscience, Inc. and Affiliates Privacy Policy
Effective starting: May 4, 2023
Your privacy is important to us, and so is being transparent about how we collect, use, store, transfer, and share information about you as you interact with us on our websites or use our products or services.
This Privacy Policy describes the types of information Harvard Bioscience, Inc. and its affiliates ( “Company” “we” or “us”) may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit our website at www.harvardbioscience.com, or any of our websites which are listed at the bottom of this page at (the “Website”) or the features made available on the Website or any mobile application(s) (the Website and any features made available on that or a mobile application are referred to collectively as the “Services”), or otherwise interact with us (for example, by emailing us), unless a different policy is displayed. This policy also explains our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. If you do not agree with this policy, do not access or use our Services or interact with any other aspect of our business.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to information that we collect offline or through any other means, including any website or app operated by a third party. It also does not apply to information that you provide to or that is collected by any third party such as through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from the Website.
This Privacy Policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). We will make note of the changes on the Website of any material changes to this Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check back periodically for updates.
Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
Information we receive from other sources
How we use information we collect
How we share information we collect
How we store and secure information we collect
How to access and control your information
Your rights to your information
How we transfer information we collect internationally
Other important privacy information
INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU AND HOW WE COLLECT IT
We collect information about you when you input it into the Services or otherwise provide it directly to us through completing a form. We also collect information automatically as you navigate through the Website or use the Services, such as usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, analytics tools, and other tracking technologies. We may also collect information about you from third parties, for example, our business partners and service providers.
We collect several types of information from and about users of our Services, some of this information is personal data that we will collect from you when you sign up for an account, process a payment, or create or modify your contact details, including information:
- by which you may be personally identified, such as your name, postal address or location, e-mail address, telephone number, gender, age, credit card number, employment status, familial status (e.g., age ranges of children, nature of the relationship with other members of your household), or any other identifier by which you may be contacted online or offline (“personal information”). If you give us payment information, we use it solely as authorized by you in accordance with this Privacy Policy;
- that is about you but individually does not identify you, such as your local time zone, your personal interests, and your actions within the Services (including information about the tasks you complete); and/or
- about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Services, and usage details.
The information we collect on or through our Services may include:
| Context | Types of Data | Primary Purpose for Collection and Use of Data |
|---|---|---|
| User Information | When you set preferences or sign-up for or make purchases through the Services, we collect your full name, email address, and account log-in credentials. | We have a legitimate interest in contacting our Users and communicating with them concerning normal business administration such as providing services, and billing. |
| User Account information | We collect personal information from our Users when they create an account to access and use the Services or request certain free Services from our Website. For example, when you authorize us to store information about you in your account, we engage a third party servicer to collect your name and contact information and information about your stored payment methods (e.g. payment card number, CVC code and expiration date). This information could also include business contact information such as name, email address, title, company information, and password for our services. | We have a legitimate interest in contacting our Users and communicating with them concerning normal business administration such as providing services, and billing. |
| Cookies and first party tracking | We use cookies. “Cookies” are small pieces of information that a website sends to a computer’s hard drive while a website is viewed. See our Cookie Policy for more information. | We have a legitimate interest in making our Website operate efficiently. |
| Cookies and Third Party Tracking | We participate in behavior-based advertising, this means that a third party uses technology (e.g., a cookie) to collect information about your use of our Website so that they can provide advertising about products and services tailored to your interests on our Website, or on other websites. | We have a legitimate interest in engaging in behavior-based advertising and capturing website analytics. |
| Log Files | We may collect and store information about your computer hardware and software when you visit our websites or use our Services. This information can include your IP address, browser type, domain names, internet service provider (ISP), and the files viewed on our websites (e.g., HTML pages, graphics, etc.), your operating system, access times and referring website addresses. | We have a legitimate interest in understanding our customers and providing tailored services and capturing website analytics. |
| Demographic Information | We may collect personal information, such as your age or location. | We have a legitimate interest in understanding our customers and providing tailored services. |
| Distance Information | When you access our Services, we may collect your location from the GPS, Wi-Fi, and/or cellular technology in your device to determine your location to better provide the Services. | We have a legitimate interest in understanding our customers and providing tailored services. In some contexts, our use is also based upon your consent to provide us with geo location information. |
| Email Interconnectivity | If you receive email from us, we may use certain tools to capture data related to when you open our message, click on any links or banners it contains, and make purchases. | We have a legitimate interest in understanding how you interact with our communications to you. |
| Employment | If you apply for a job posting, or become an employee, we collect information necessary to process your application or to retain you as an employee. This may include, among other things, your Social Security Number. Providing this information is required for employment. | We use information about current employees to perform our contract of employment, or the anticipation of a contract of employment with you. In some contexts, we are also required by law to collect information about our employees. We also have a legitimate interest in using your information to have efficient staffing and workforce operations. |
| Feedback/Support | We collect personal information from you contained in any inquiry you submit to us regarding our Website or Services, such as completing our online forms, calling, or emailing for the purposes of general inquiries, support requests, or to report an issue. When you communicate with us over the phone, your calls may be recorded and analyzed for training, quality control, and for sales and marketing purposes. We will collect the phone number you use to call us, as well as other information you may provide during the call. During such calls we will notify you of the recording via either voice prompt or script. | We have a legitimate interest in receiving, and acting upon, your feedback, issues, or inquiries. |
| Mailing List | When you sign up for one of our mailing lists or newsletters, we collect your email address and/or postal address. | We share information about our products and services with individuals that consent to receive such information. We also have a legitimate interest in sharing information about our products or services. |
| Mobile Devices | When you access our Services from a mobile device, we may collect information about your location and your mobile device, including a unique identifier for your device. Most mobile devices allow you to turn off location services. If you have questions about how to disable your device’s location services, we recommend you contact your mobile service carrier or your device manufacturer. | We have a legitimate interest in connection with our efforts to prevent fraud or illicit use of our Services and to provide you with location-based services, such as advertising, search results, and other personalized content. |
| Order Placement | We collect payment and billing information when you register for certain paid Services. For example, we ask you to designate a billing representative, including name and contact information, upon registration. You might also provide payment information, such as payment card details, which we collect via secure payment processing services. | We have a legitimate interested in getting paid for the Services. |
| Promotions | Promotions, incentives or giveaways may be made available by us or third parties from time to time. You do not have to participate in these, however, if you choose to participate, you may be asked to disclose some personal information. Additionally, at the time of entering the promotion, we will disclose in the promotion’s materials specific terms and conditions regarding how your personal information will be used. Please do not participate in any promotion if you do not agree to such usage. | We have a legitimate interest in sharing information about our products or Services and providing incentives to our customers. |
| Surveys | If we give you the option to participate in a survey and you agree to participate, we collect information that you provide through the survey such as your email address, name, and any other information you choose to include in the body of your email or responses. If the survey is provided by a third-party service provider, the third party’s privacy policy applies to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information. | We have a legitimate interest in understanding your opinions and collecting information relevant to our organization. |
| Website interactions | We use technology to monitor how you interact with our Website. This may include which links you click on, or information that you type into our online forms. This may also include information about your device or browser. | We have a legitimate interest in understanding how you interact with our Website to better improve it and to understand your preferences and interests in order to select offerings that you might find most useful. We also have a legitimate interest in detecting and preventing fraud. |
INFORMATION WE RECEIVE FROM OTHER RESOURCES
In addition to information that you provide us or that we collect through the Services, we receive information about you from other Service users, from third-party services, from our related companies, social media platforms, public databases, and from our business partners. We may combine this information with information we collect through other means described above. This helps us to update and improve our records, identify new customers, create more personalized advertising, and suggest services that may be of interest to you.
HOW WE USE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
How we use the information we collect depends in part on which Services you use, how you use them, and any preferences you have communicated to us. Below are the specific purposes for which we use the information we collect about you.
- To provide the Services and personalize your experience. We use information about you to provide the Services to you, including to process transactions with you, authenticate you when you log in, provide customer support, and operate, maintain, and improve the Services.
- For research and development. We are always looking for ways to improve our Services. We use information and collective learnings (including feedback) about how people use our Services to troubleshoot, to identify trends, usage, activity patterns, and areas for integration and to improve our Services and to develop new products, features, and technologies that benefit our users and the public.
- To communicate with you about the Services: We use your contact information to send transactional communications via email and within the Services, including confirming your purchases, reminding you of subscription expirations, responding to your comments, questions and requests, providing customer support, and sending you technical notices, updates, security alerts, and administrative messages. Depending on your chosen method of contact, we may send you SMS notifications or call you. We also provide tailored communications based on your activity and interactions with us.
- To market, promote and drive engagement with the Services: We use your contact information and information about how you use the Services to send promotional communications that may be of specific interest to you, including by email and by displaying ads on other companies' websites and applications. You can control whether you receive these communications by opting-out.
- Customer support. We use your information to resolve technical issues you encounter, to respond to your requests for assistance, to analyze crash information, and to repair and improve the Services. Where you give us permission to do so, we may share information with our affiliates and a third party service provider for the purpose of responding to support-related or technical requests.
- For safety and security. We use information about you and your use of the Services to verify accounts and activity, to detect, prevent, and respond to potential or actual security incidents and to monitor and protect against other malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity, including violations of Service policies.
- To protect our legitimate business interests and legal rights. Where required by law or where we believe it is necessary to protect our legal rights, interests, and the interests of others, we use information about you in connection with legal claims, compliance, regulatory and audit functions, and disclosures in connection with the acquisition, merger or sale of a business.
- With your consent. We use information about you where you have given us consent to do so for a specific purpose not listed above. For example, we may publish testimonials or featured customer stories to promote the Services, with your permission.
HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We make our Services available to you for your benefit, and we want them to work well for you. This sometimes means sharing information through the Services and with other Service users and certain third parties. We share information we collect about you in the ways discussed below, including in connection with possible business transfers. We are not in the business of selling information about you to advertisers or other third parties.
- Sharing with other Service users. When you use the Services, we share certain information about you with other Service users for the purposes of collaboration and to participate in community forums.
- Service Providers. We work with third-party service providers to provide website and application development, hosting, maintenance, backup, storage, virtual infrastructure, payment processing, analysis, and other services for us to provide the Services to you, this may require them to access or use information about you. If a service provider needs to access information about you to perform services on our behalf, they do so under close instruction from us, including appropriate security and confidentiality procedures designed to protect your information.
- Affiliates. To facilitate our global operations and provision of Services to you, we may transfer information to our affiliates. This Privacy Policy will apply even if we transfer your personal information to other countries. We have taken appropriate measures and employed safeguards to require that your personal information will remain protected wherever it is transferred. When we share personal information of individuals in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), Switzerland or the United Kingdom (“UK”) within and among our affiliates, we make use of the Standard Contractual Clauses (which have been approved by the European Commission), as amended for Switzerland and the UK.
- Partners. We work with third parties who provide consulting, sales, support, and technical services to deliver and implement customer solutions around the Services. We may share your information with these third parties in connection with their services, such as to assist with billing and collections, to provide localized support, and to provide customizations. We may also share information with these third parties where you have agreed to that sharing.
- Links to Third Party Websites. The Services may include links that direct you to other websites or services whose privacy practices may differ from ours. If you submit information to any of those third-party websites, your information is governed by their privacy policies, not this one. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any website you visit.
- Third Party Services. We may offer you the ability to interact with or share information with third parties through the Services. For example, we may offer users the ability to interact with social media networks via links on the Services. When you intentionally interact with these third parties, we may share certain information with those third parties or receive information with those third parties, consistent with your privacy settings on the third-party service. Such information may include contact information, identification, and demographic information and device information, and identifiers. You should always check the privacy settings and notices in these third-party services to understand how those third parties may use your information.
- With your consent. We share information about you with third parties when you give us consent to do so. For example, we may display personal testimonials of satisfied customers on our public websites. With your consent, we may post your name alongside the testimonial.
- Compliance with Enforcement Requests and Applicable Laws; Enforcement of Our Rights. In exceptional circumstances, we may share information about you with a third party if we believe that sharing is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, including to meet national security requirements, (b) enforce our agreements, policies, and terms of service, (c) protect the security or integrity of our products and services, (d) protect Company, our customers, or the public from harm or illegal activities, or (e) respond to an emergency which we believe in good faith requires us to disclose information to assist in preventing the death or serious bodily injury of any person.
- Business Transfers. We may share or transfer information we collect under this Privacy Policy in connection with any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company, or in connection with a similar transaction involving one of our affiliates.
HOW WE STORE AND SECURE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We use industry standard technical and organizational measures to secure the information we store. We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers. Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology.
The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Website like message boards. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of the Website.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.
HOW LONG WE KEEP INFORMATION
How long we keep information we collect about you depends on the type of information. Generally, we will hold your personal information to ensure accuracy and to help maintain quality of service, or if we are obliged to retain such information for legal, regulatory, fraud prevention, and legitimate business purposes. Upon your request, we will either delete or de-identify your information or, if this is not possible (for example, because the information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your information and isolate it from any further use until deletion is possible.
HOW TO ACCESS AND CONTROL YOUR INFORMATION
We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:
- Tracking Technologies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. You can choose whether or not to allow the Services to collect information through other tracking technologies by deleting your profile on the Settings screen. If you disable or refuse cookies or block the use of other tracking technologies, some parts of the Services may then be inaccessible or not function properly. We do not currently recognize automated browser signals regarding tracking mechanisms, which may include "Do Not Track" instructions. As an example, we use Google Analytics. If you would like to get more information on how Google uses information from sites or applications that employ its products, you can find out more at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ or any other URL that Google may provide from time to time.
- Location Information. You can choose whether or not to allow the Services to collect and use real-time information about your device’s location through the device’s privacy settings. If you block the use of location information, some parts of the Services may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
- Promotion by Us. If you do not want us to use your contact information to promote our own or third parties’ products or services, you can opt-out by sending us an email stating your request to info@harvardbioscience.com. If we have sent you a promotional email, you can be omitted from future email distributions by using the ‘unsubscribe’ link provided in the applicable email.
- Disclosure of Your Information for Third-Party Advertising. If you do not want us to share your personal information with unaffiliated or non-agent third parties for promotional purposes, you can opt-out by deleting your profile on the Settings screen or by sending us an email stating your request to info@harvardbioscience.com.
We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However, these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can opt out of receiving targeted ads from members of the NAI on the NAI’s website.
YOUR RIGHTS TO YOUR INFORMATION
Depending on where you are located and subject to applicable law, you may have the following choices regarding your personal information:
- Access to your personal information. You can review and change your personal information by sending us an email at info@harvardbioscience.com to request access to personal information that you have provided to us. If required by law, upon request, we will grant you reasonable access to the personal information that we have about you. We will provide this information in a portable format, if required. Note that some individuals, including California residents, may be entitled to ask us for a notice describing what categories of personal information (if any) we share with third parties or affiliates for direct marketing.
- Changes to your personal information. We rely on you to update and correct your personal information. If our Sites do not permit you to update or correct certain information, you may contact us at the address described below in order to request that your information be modified. Note that we may keep historical information in our backup files as permitted by law.
- Deletion of your personal information. Typically, we retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. You may, however, request information about how long we keep a specific type of information, or request that we delete your personal information by contacting us at the address described below. We cannot delete your personal information except by also deleting your user account. If required by law we will grant a request to delete information, but you should note that in many situations we must keep your personal information to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, or for another one of our business purposes.
- Objection to certain processing. Where we are relying on a legitimate purpose of Company or a third-party recipient of the information, in order to use and disclose your personal information, you may object to our use or disclosure of your personal information by contacting us at the address described below. We will cease to use and process your personal information for that purpose unless we can show there are compelling legitimate reasons for it to continue or it needs to use your personal information for the purposes of legal claims.
- Revocation of consent. If you revoke your consent for the processing of personal information, then we may no longer be able to provide you Services. In some cases, we may limit or deny your request to revoke consent if the law permits or requires us to do so, or if we are unable to adequately verify your identity. You may revoke consent to processing (where such processing is based upon consent) by contacting us at the address described below.
HOW WE TRANSFER INFORMATION WE COLLECT INTERNATIONALLY
We are located in the United States. Our service providers and other third parties you may interact with in connection with our Services may be located in the United States and other countries around the world. As a result, your information may be processed in a foreign country where privacy laws may be less stringent than the laws in your country. Nonetheless, where possible we take steps to treat personal information using the same privacy principles that apply pursuant to the law of the country in which we first received your information. By submitting your personal information to us you agree to the transfer, storage, and processing of your information in a country other than your country of residence including, but not necessarily limited to, the United States. To the extent personal information is collected and subsequently transferred out of the European Economic Area, the transfer will take place consistent with the Standard Contractual Clauses or other accepted transfer mechanism.
OTHER IMPORTANT PRIVACY INFORMATION
Children under 16
The Services are not directed to individuals under 16. No one under age 16 may provide any personal information to us via the Services. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you are under 16, do not use or provide any information on the Services or on or through any of their respective features, register on the Website or make any purchases through the Services, use any of the interactive or public comment features of the Services or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we become aware that a child under 16 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information. If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact the appropriate support team at info@harvardbioscience.com.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
It is our policy to post any changes we make to our Privacy Policy on this page. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy to how we treat our users’ personal information, we will notify on the Website by updating the Privacy Policy with the last revision date identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date, active, and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting this Privacy Policy to check for any changes.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, our privacy practices, or to exercise your rights to delete, correct, or modify your Personal Data, please contact us at:
Harvard Bioscience, Inc.
84 October Hill Road, Suite 10
Holliston, Massachusetts 01746
United States
ATTN: Privacy Office
To Unsubscribe from Our Communications
You may unsubscribe from our marketing communications through one of the following methods:
- By clicking on the "unsubscribe" link located on the bottom of any of our marketing or newsletter e-mails; or
- By contacting us at info@harvardbioscience.com.