Privacy notice for our social media company profiles

Thank you for visiting one of the social media company profiles of KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA or one of the local KWS entities listed in Appendix 1 (hereinafter collectively referred to as “KWS”, “we” or “us”) and the associated interest in our company. KWS takes the protection of your personal data very seriously. We process your personal data confidentially and in accordance with the statutory data protection requirements and this privacy notice. In the following, we would like to inform you in particular which personal data are processed when you visit one of the following KWS social media company profiles:

• Twitter (Twitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07 Ireland) for the Twitter page at:
  https://twitter.com/KWS_Group
  https://twitter.com/KWS_Semillas
  https://twitter.com/KWS_Benelux

• Instagram (Facebook Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland) for the Instagram page at:
  KWS Austria (https://www.instagram.com/kws_austria/)
  KWS Benelux BV (https://www.instagram.com/kws_benelux/)
  KWS Deutschland (https://www.instagram.com/kws.deutschland/)
  KWS Italia (https://www.instagram.com/kwsitalia/)
  KWS Portugal (https://www.instagram.com/kwsemportugal/)
  KWS Romania (https://www.instagram.com/kws_ro/)
  KWS Scandinavia (https://www.instagram.com/sukkerroer/)
  KWS Srbija (https://www.instagram.com/kws.srbija/)
  KWS Semillas Iberica (https://www.instagram.com/kwssemillas/)

• XING (New Work SE, Dammtorstraße 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany) for the XING page at https://www.xing.com/pages/kwsgruppe.

• YouTube (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) for the YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/user/KWSSeedingTheFuture.

• LinkedIn (LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2 Ireland) for the LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/kwsgroup/.

The information in this privacy notice relates to the processing of your personal data in connection with your visit to our social media company profiles insofar as we carry out the processing.

1. Data processing controller

KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA, Grimsehlstraße 31, 37574 Einbeck, Germany, is the data processing controller in accordance with Art. 4 (7) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the KWS social media company profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, XING and YouTube.

The respective local KWS entity in Appendix 1 is the data processing controller in accordance with Art. 4 (7) of the GDPR for the KWS social media company profiles on Instagram.

2. Contact information of the data protection officer

You can reach our data protection officer for the German entities at:
KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA
Data protection officer
Grimsehlstraße 31
37574 Einbeck, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)5561 311-1412
Fax: +49 (0)5561 311-500
Email: dataprotection@kws.com

Encrypted contact form:
https://www.scheja-partner.de/kontakt/kontakt.html,
Addressee: Boris Reibach

3. Purposes and legal basis of the processing

a) Contact and interaction

We process your personal data when you contact us via our company profiles by using the functions provided for this purpose (e.g. messages, comment function, posts, “Like” button) or by accessing the content provided by us (e.g. videos).

If you contact us in this way, we process your personal data that is directly accessible (generally: username; profile picture; message content, if applicable, including photos contained therein; date and time of interaction) in order to respond to your request. We also process your personal data for the external presentation of our company as well as for information about and optimisation of our products, services and projects.

The legal basis for the processing is Article 6 (1) (f) of the GDPR. The legitimate interest pursued by us lies in contacting (potential) customers and interested parties, presenting our company externally as well as informing you about our products, services and projects and optimising them.

The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is Art. 6 (1) (b) of the GDPR insofar as you contact us via the KWS social media company profiles for the purpose of concluding or performing a contract with us.

b) Evaluations for statistical purposes using Page Insights

We use Page Insights for the purpose of demand-based design and continuous optimisation of our offer on our social media company profiles. When visiting or interacting on our company profile, we receive anonymised information from the provider, in the form of statistics, about our visitors and their interaction on our company profile (Page Insights).

We process the data using Page Insights in order to optimise our offer and to ensure more effective communication with (potential) customers and interested parties.

The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is Art. 6 (1) (f) of the GDPR. The legitimate interest pursued by us lies in improving our offer on our social media company profiles.

c) Social media targeting

If, in the context of interest-based advertising, we were to perform “Advanced Matching” with personal data to be uploaded by us to the respective social media platform, this would only be done on the basis of consent provided by you for this purpose (Art. 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR). The privacy information provided when obtaining consent applies.

d) Holding competitions

If you take part in one of our competitions, we will also process your data to hold the respective competition. The purpose of processing personal data is to determine and announce the winner(s) and to award the prizes. For this purpose, first the account names of those who participate in the competition will be stored and the winners will be drawn from them. KWS then announces the winners and contacts them to obtain their postal address and send out the prizes.

The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is Art. 6 (1) (f) of the GDPR. The legitimate interest of KWS lies in being able to determine and announce the winner of the competition and to be able to award the respective prizes.

4. Recipients of personal data from KWS

Recipients of personal data are the operators of the social media platforms as described in the respective privacy notices:

• Twitter privacy notice at https://twitter.com/en/privacy
• Instagram privacy notice at https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875
• LinkedIn privacy notice at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy?trk=homepage-basic_footer-privacy-policy
• XING privacy notice at https://privacy.xing.com/en/privacy-policy
• YouTube privacy notice at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB&gl=de

In addition, KWS works with internal and external service providers (“processors”), such as providers of IT maintenance services. These service providers may only act in accordance with the instructions of KWS and are contractually bound to comply with the applicable data protection requirements.

Insofar as this is legally permissible and necessary in order to comply with applicable law or to assert, exercise or defend legal claims, KWS shall transmit personal data to courts, authorities or law firms.

5. Transmission to third countries

We do not share your personal data with countries outside the European Economic Area (“third countries”).

However, there is a possibility that social media platforms may also process personal data outside the European Economic Area, where we have no control or access. Further details can be found in the privacy notice listed under Section 4.

6. Storage duration

For the purpose of conducting our competitions, the participants’ account names will be stored until the winner is determined. The account names will then be erased. The names and address details of the winners will be stored until the prizes are awarded. The names and address details will then be erased.

In addition, we erase the data if no longer required for the purposes pursued by us and no other legal basis, particularly legal or contractual retention periods, intervenes. If you contact us via the KWS social media company profiles (e.g. via the comment function), we process your data for as long as it is accessible to us. You can determine the accessibility of certain functions yourself by removing your respective data, e.g. by deleting your comment or your review on our KWS social media company profile.

7. Your data subject rights

Within the framework of the respective legal requirements, you have certain rights with regard to your personal data. Please note that certain exceptions apply to the exercise of these rights. You therefore cannot exercise them in all cases.

• Information: You have the right to obtain information on all personal data that is stored by KWS about you.
• Correction: You can request that we correct incorrect personal data.
• Deletion: You may ask us to delete personal data under certain circumstances, and we will take reasonable steps to inform other controllers who process the data that you have requested the deletion of links to your data as well as the deletion of copies or duplications of your data.
• Withdrawal of consent: You may withdraw your consent that you have given us for data processing and prevent further processing if there is no other reason why KWS can or must process your personal data.
• Restriction: In certain cases, you may request that we restrict the processing of your data.
• Portability: If you have provided us with data on the basis of a contract or consent, you may request that the data provided by you is received in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or you may request that we transfer it to another controller.

Right to object

Right to object on a case-by-case basis

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data which is based on legitimate interests at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation. This personal data will then no longer be processed for these purposes unless compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.

Right to object to data processing for direct marketing purposes

In individual cases, your data will be processed for direct marketing purposes. You have the right to object to the processing of personal data concerning you for the purposes of such marketing at any time. If you object to processing for direct marketing purposes, your personal data will no longer be processed for these purposes.

To exercise the aforementioned rights, you can contact us via the contact information provided under Section 1 of this privacy notice.

• Submit a complaint: You also have the right to submit a complaint to a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your place of residence, your workplace or the location of the suspected violation, if you believe that the processing of personal data concerning you is unlawful.

8. External links

Our online offer occasionally contains links that refer to websites of third parties. If this is not obvious, we point out when links are external links. KWS has no influence on the content and design of the websites of external providers. This privacy notice does not apply to such external websites in this respect.

9. Amendment to this privacy notice

We reserve the right to review and amend this privacy notice from time to time. Please refer to the current version of our privacy notice in this regard.

Einbeck, October 2021