Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Commitment

IFS Coatings, Inc. (“IFS,” “we,” “us” or “our”), a Texas corporation with its principal place of business at 3601 North I-35, Gainesville, TX 76240, is committed to respecting the privacy rights and concerns of all users of IFS’s website located at www.ifscoatings.com (the “Site”) (we refer to the information and materials made available by IFS through the Site, collectively, as the “Materials”). As such, we have established and implemented this Privacy Policy to inform visitors to the Site and users of the Materials how we use and protect the information we collect through the Site. We want you to know that IFS will collect, use, store, erase and disclose information relating to you as set forth in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date set forth above and is only applicable to the Site and the Materials and not to any other website that you may be able to access from the Site or the Materials which may have its own data collection and use practices and policies.

This policy answers the following questions:

  •  What information do we collect about you and how do we use it?
  • Will we share your personal data with third parties?
  • What choices and rights do you have about the collection and use of your personal data?
  • What security measures do we take to safeguard your personal data?

For users located within the United Kingdom and/or European Union, please note that we have added a new “Part 2” to this Privacy Policy which sets out additional content required under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”). You can view Part 2 by scrolling down the page. The content of Part 2 may apply in addition to, or instead of, Part 1 of this Privacy Policy. If there is a conflict between Part 1 and Part 2, the contents of Part 2 will prevail for those users located in the United Kingdom and/or European Union. 

What information do we collect about you and how do we use it?

Types of Information We Collect

Personal data means information that can be used to identify you. You do not need to submit personal data to access the Site or use the Materials. However, you may be required to submit personal data to use certain aspects of the Site, such as submitting order forms to IFS. We may collect other personal data, such as your mobile device operating system, your browser type, and your physical location, from the technology you use to access the Site and/or the Materials. This information may be aggregated to measure the number of visits, average time spent, page views, and other statistics about users of the Site or the Materials. We also may use this data to monitor the Site’s performance and to make the Site easier and more convenient to use.

We collect personal data when you subscribe to our newsletter, submit order forms or feedback forms and receive customer or technical support.

Third Party Privacy Policies

Through the Site, you may be able to link to services owned and controlled by third parties (“Third Party Services”). You may be permitted or required to submit personal data to access Third Party Services. Such use of Third Party Services and submission of information through Third Party Services will be subject to such applicable third party’s terms of use, terms of service and privacy policy. You agree to look solely to the applicable third party and not to IFS to enforce your rights in relation thereto. When you have clicked on a third party logo or URL displayed on the Site, or accessible through the Materials, which links you to any Third Party Services, our Terms of Use no longer applies and you must read the terms of use, terms of service and privacy policy of the third party to see how your personal data will be handled on their website.

How We Use Your Personal data

The personal data you provide to us will allow us to communicate with you. This includes alerting you of new products or services; verifying your identity; handling your customer service questions or issues; requesting feedback; distributing newsletters; and notifying you of promotions, updates, or special offers that we think may interest you. We may also use your email address in sending you messages about IFS products or services and other general announcements. We keep track of your interactions with us including, but not limited to, your activity within the Site.

We may use your personal data with non-personal data that we have collected in a manner such that the end-product does not personally identify you or any other user of the Site. We may make your personal data non-personally identifiable by either combining it with information about other users (aggregating your personal data with information about other users), or by removing characteristics (such as your name or email address) that make the information personally identifiable. This process is known as de-personalizing your information. You grant us a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable and fully transferable right and license to use your personal data in connection with the creation and development of analytical and statistical analysis tools relating to the use of the customer data we collect through the Site (the “Analytical Data”). We are expressly authorized to make any commercial use of the Analytical Data, including without limitation, sharing the Analytical Data with third parties, provided that we do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer from us any part of the Analytical Data that personally identifies any users.

Do Not Track

In compliance with California legislation, AB370, effective January 1, 2014, and for users in the European Union, the GDPR effective 25 May 2018, IFS’s practices in responding to “do not track” signals and collecting user information over time and across a network of websites when you visit the Site are as follows: We honor the request of “do not track” signals sent by your browser when you visit the Site. For the purposes of the GDPR, this could be when you withdraw consent to the use of tracking cookies or similar technology. Additionally, IFS does not collect user information about your online activities over time and across different websites, or authorize third parties to do so.

Google Analytics

IFS uses Google Analytics to help us learn about who visits the Site and what pages are being viewed. We collect the following categories of personal data from Google Analytics: internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, and operating system and platform.

Children’s Privacy

We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13.

Will we share your personal data with third parties?

Sharing Your Information

We use your personal data to process orders that you submit through the Site and complete transactions, handle your customer service questions or issues and send communications to you about promotions, updates, or special offers from IFS that may be of interest to you. IFS may also share the personal data we collect from you under the following circumstances:

  • Protection of rights. We will share personal data if we have a good faith belief that (a) access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, such as a court order or subpoena, or a request by law enforcement or governmental authorities; (b) such action is appropriate to enforce our Terms of Use for the Site, including any investigation of potential violations thereof; (c) such action is necessary to detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues associated with the Site; or (d) such action is appropriate to protect the rights, property or safety of IFS, its employees, users of the Site or others.
  • Asset transfers. If we become involved in a merger, acquisition or other transaction involving the sale of some or all of IFS’s assets, user information, including personal data collected from you through your use of the Site, could be included in the transferred assets. Should such an event occur, we will use reasonable means to notify you through email and/or a prominent notice on the Site.
  • Service Providers. We may share your personal data with service providers (including our affiliates and independent sales representatives that provide services on our behalf) that we engage for the purpose of processing information on our and your behalf. While providing services for us, these companies may access your personal data. To the extent applicable, we require these entities to comply with this Privacy Policy and appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
Additional Information You Should Know About Third Parties

The Site may contain direct links to websites operated by our partners and other entities. These third party websites may collect information about you when you visit them or otherwise communicate with them. This Privacy Policy does not cover the information practices of third party websites linked to the Site or accessible through the Materials. Although we encourage such third parties to adopt and follow their own privacy policies, we are not responsible for their collection, use and disclosure of your personal data. You should refer to the privacy policies and statements of other websites or contact the respective webmasters of those websites to obtain information regarding their information collection, use and disclosure policies.

Mediation

You agree that, in the event any dispute or claim arises out of or relating to this Privacy Policy, you and IFS will attempt in good faith to negotiate a written resolution of the matter directly between the parties. You agree that if the matter remains unresolved for forty-five (45) days after notification (via certified mail or personal delivery) that a dispute exists, all parties shall join in mediation services in Gainesville, Texas with a mutually agreed mediator in an attempt to resolve the dispute. Should you file any arbitration claims, or any administrative or legal actions without first having attempted to resolve the matter by mediation, then you agree that you will not be entitled to recover attorneys’ fees, even if you would otherwise be entitled to them. If you are located in the European Union, this section will not apply to you.

What security measures do we take to safeguard your personal data?

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed. IFS may collect personal data from you, in which case the personal data that you provide to us is stored on servers, which are located in secured facilities with restricted access, and protected by protocols and procedures designed to ensure the security of such information. In addition, we restrict access to personal data to IFS employees, independent contractors and agents who need to know this information in order to develop, operate and maintain the Site. However, no server, computer or communications network or system, or data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect user information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or through the use of the Site and you acknowledge and agree that you provide such information and engage in such transmissions at your own risk. Once we receive a transmission from you, we will endeavor to maintain its security on our systems.

In the event that personal data you provide to us is compromised as a result of a breach of security, when appropriate we will take reasonable steps to investigate the situation, notify you and take the necessary steps to comply with any applicable laws and regulations.

Notification of Changes

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time and we will post all changes on the Site.

Questions? Contact Us

If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at coatingsinfo@ifscoatings.com or by telephone at 940.668.1062.

Terms of Use

Please read the Terms of Use https://www.ifscoatings.com/content/terms-of-use governing the access to and use of the Site and the Materials.

PART 2: GDPR ADDENDUM

This section is only applicable to users located in the United Kingdom and/or European Union and who are within scope of Article 3 GDPR.  In addition to the terms set out above, the following terms are applicable to the personal data that we process about you:

Purposes For Which We Will Use Your Personal Data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

 

Purpose/Activity Categories of Personal Data Lawful Basis For Processing
To request a guide to applying powder coatings, or to request other Materials First name, last name and email address Necessary for our legitimate interests (to grow our business)
To receive, process and deliver your orders for products and services through the ‘Order Product’ feature, including: (a)    Managing payments, fees and charges(b)    Collecting and recovering money owed to us First name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth, gender, billing address (“Identity Data”), email address and telephone numbers (“Contact Data”), bank account, payment card details (“Financial Data”), details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us (“Transaction Data”) (a) Performance of a contract with you(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us)
To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a)    Notifying you about changes to our Terms of Use or this Privacy Policy(b)    Asking you to leave a review, complete a feedback form or take a survey Identity Data, Contact Data, your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences (“Marketing Data”) (a) Performance of a contract with you(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation(c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products)
To administer and protect our business and this Site (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) Identity Data, Contact Data, internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website (“Technical Data”) (a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganization or group restructuring exercise)(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
To answer your questions through the ‘Ask a Question’ feature, to facilitate the provision of samples through the ‘Order Samples’ feature, to facilitate the provision of brochures through the ‘Order Brochures’ feature, or to facilitate the provision of color cards through the ‘Contact’ feature Identity Data, Contact Data, Technical Data, information about how you use our Site, products (“Usage Data”). Necessary for our legitimate interests (to provide customer service)
To use data analytics to improve our Site, products, marketing, customer relationships and experiences Technical Data and Usage Data. Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our products, to keep our Site updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about products that may be of interest to you Identity Data, Contact Data, Technical Data, Usage Data, Profile Data and Marketing Data. Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products and grow our business)
To subscribe you to our Materials, including eblasts and our architectural newsletter Identity Data, Contact Data and Marketing Data. Necessary for our legitimate interests (to communicate the applications and benefits of our products)
To put you in contact with a sales representative in your area Identity Data, Contact Data and Marketing Data.           Necessary for our legitimate interests (to pass on sales leads)
To provide you with technical assistance Identity Data, Contact Data and Marketing Data.           Necessary for our legitimate interests (to provide customer service)

 

Your Legal Rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These rights are set out in the GDPR and include the right to:

  • Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
  • Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
  • Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:
    • If you want us to establish the data's accuracy.
    • Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
    • Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
    • You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us at coatingsinfo@ifscoatings.com.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights).  However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the national supervisory authority responsible for the administration of the GDPR in your member state. A list of those supervisory authorities is available here http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/document.cfm?doc_id=50061.We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the supervisory authority so please contact us in the first instance. 

International Transfers

IFS is based in the US. Many of our service providers are also based outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the EEA.  Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented: 

  • We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission.
  • Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe.
  • Where we use providers based in the US, we may transfer data to them if they are part of the Privacy Shield which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between Europe and the US.

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.