Privacy and Copyright
Site and Program Ownership
This site is owned and operated by NSF (NSF). Our principal office is located at 789 North Dixboro Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA.
Copyright
Copyright © 1996-2024 NSF. All rights reserved. All text, images, graphics and other materials on this site are subject to the copyrights and other intellectual property rights of NSF. NSF owns the copyrights in the selection, coordination and arrangement of the materials on this site. These materials may not be copied for commercial use or distribution, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior express written permission of NSF.
Privacy and Website Usage Data
At NSF International, we strive to honour the privacy and security of our users, customers and suppliers, as well as their representatives, in relation to all products, services, applications and websites provided by NSF International, 789 North Dixboro Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA or its affiliates (each an NSF entity and collectively NSF or we/us hereunder).
This privacy statement describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide to us, for instance when you visit the websites, applications, social media, software and other services provided by or on behalf of NSF (including but not limited to www.nsf.org; collectively the “Websites”), and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information. Please read this privacy statement carefully in order to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it.
This privacy statement may change from time to time. Please check for updates. If you have any questions or comments regarding this privacy statement, please contact us at data.protection@nsf.org. For individuals in the People’s Republic of China, you may also contact china@nsf.org.
Personal Data
Children Under the Age of 13
Our Websites are not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on our Websites or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address or any screen name or username you may use. If we find out that we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent (to the extent such consent is required), we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact our Data Protection team: NSF International, 789 North Dixboro Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA or via email at data.protection@nsf.org. For individuals in the People’s Republic of China, you may also contact china@nsf.org.
Types of Personal Data Processed
When you submit a request or electronically pass information to any NSF entity (including – but not limited to – orders, subscriptions, registration, contest or survey participations, comments, feedback, forms, transactions, employment applications and CVs), you are sometimes asked to provide certain information, including – but not limited to – your name, title, company, address, phone and fax numbers, email address and line of business, as well as appropriate categories of personal data (such as transactional data in the event of transactions). When you browse on any of our Websites, we may also automatically collect electronic identification and configuration data, such as device- or connection-related details. These kinds of data will in many circumstances be considered to be personal data under applicable data protection legislation, and we may obtain your consent (where required by applicable law) prior to collecting your personal data as described above.
In addition to obtaining personal data from you or your device directly, we may obtain such personal data from third parties, for example our business partners.
For more information on the automated collection of information through cookies and similar files/tags, please see our section below on Cookies.
Purposes of Processing
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal data. Where required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent. Otherwise, when we process your personal data, we rely on the following legal bases:
- Based on our legitimate interest in promoting our services:
- To present our services, our Websites and their contents to you.
- To notify you about changes to our Websites or any products or services we offer or provide though them.
- Based on a (potential) contract with you or our legitimate interest in concluding or performing a contract with your employer:
- To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us.
- To fulfil any other purpose for which you provide it.
- To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for invoicing and collection.
- For any other purpose with your consent.
It helps us to improve our Websites and to deliver a better and more personalised service, including by enabling us to:
- Recognise you when you return to our Websites;
- Speed up your searches;
- Estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
- Store information about your preferences (mailing lists you’ve signed up for, services your company is interested in), which allows us to customise our Websites according to your individual interests.
- We may also use your information to contact you about our own services that may be of interest to you. If you do not want us to use your information in this way, please see Your Rights as a Data Subject.
- Some jurisdictions such as the People’s Republic of China require the disclosure of a series of details about overseas recipients. For more information, you may contact us using the contact details provided below.
Where we process your personal data for purposes not stipulated in this privacy statement, we will obtain your consent (where required by applicable law).
Disclosure of Your Personal Data
We may disclose, without restriction, aggregated information about our users and information that does not identify any individual. With your consent (where required by applicable law), we may disclose personal data that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy statement:
- To our subsidiaries and affiliates for the purpose of delivering the service for which you provided it. We also may share data collected through cookies and similar technology with our suppliers to advertise or market to you on other websites as you browse the web. We may also allow our affiliates and suppliers to have access and use aggregate statistics – statistics not linked by us to any specific consumer – about consumer behaviour, sales, online activity patterns and related services information.
- To contractors, service providers and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
- To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganisation, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of NSF’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceedings in which personal information held by NSF about our Website users is among the assets transferred.
- To fulfil the purpose for which you provide it.
- For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
- With your consent to specific third parties or for specific processing activities.
We may also disclose your personal data:
- To comply with any court order, law or legal process, including to respond to any governmental or regulatory request;
- To enforce or apply our terms of use or terms of and other agreements, including for invoicing and collection purposes;
- If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property or safety of NSF, our customers or others.
The above third parties may act in the capacity of data processors or data controllers, depending on their relationship with us.
International Data Transfers
Your personal data may be transferred internationally to our group entities or to external parties. A list of NSF’s global offices is available at www.nsf.org for reference.
In the event of transfer of personal data, initially from a country within the European Economic Area to another country outside of the European Economic Area or initially from your place of residence to another country outside of your place of residence, NSF systematically ensures the application of an adequate and comparable level of protection of such personal data by approved means (e.g. by putting in place standard contractual clauses on the processing of personal data, for example in accordance with the EU Commission model clauses, ensuring that the recipient has adequate organisational and technical measures in place to protect your personal data). You may request more information about such measures (including copies where relevant) by getting in touch with NSF through the contact details below.
Some jurisdictions such as the People’s Republic of China require the disclosure of a series of details about overseas recipients. For more information, you may contact us using the contact details provided below.
Your Rights as a Data Subject
Subject to applicable law, you may have some or all of the following rights in respect of your personal data. You can exercise these rights by submitting your request by getting in touch with NSF at data.protection@nsf.org or china@nsf.org. Please include your personal details as well as some means of verifying your identity (e.g. a copy of your identity card.).
Please note that NSF may reject requests that are excessive or a misuse of the relevant right.
Access right. You may have the right to obtain confirmation of whether NSF processes personal data in relation to you and, if so, gain access to a copy thereof. For certain kinds of data, you may also have a right to data portability.
Data accuracy: right of rectification and right to erasure. You may have the possibility to rectify or request the erasure of your personal data in certain circumstances, provided that the applicable legal requirements are met. The right to erasure is subject to various exceptions, notably as regards personal data the processing of which is necessary to support litigation or for compliance with statutory retention requirements.
Please note that it may not always be possible for us to delete your personal data on the relevant Website without deleting your user account. Where applicable, you may also have the right to request deregistration of your account if you have registered an account with us.
Limits to processing: right to restriction, right to object and right to limit or withdraw consent. In addition, you may have the right to request information or object to the processing of personal data based on NSF’s legitimate interests (see above) and to otherwise obtain the restriction of certain forms of processing in specific circumstances. In particular, in relation to the processing of personal data for direct marketing purposes, you may have the right to object thereto at any time. Where any processing is based on consent, you may have the right to limit or withdraw such consent at any time (without this affecting the processing prior to the consent withdrawal).
You can exercise this right by sending us an email, stating your request to data.protection@nsf.org or china@nsf.org. If we have sent you a promotional email, you may click on the unsubscribe box at the bottom of the email which will omit you from future email distributions. This opt-out does not apply to the processing of personal data in the context of a service purchase, warranty registration, service experience or other transactions.
In relation to cookies and tracking technologies, you can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. To learn how you can manage your cookie settings, visit your browser settings. If you disable or refuse all cookies, including functional cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
Right to lodge a complaint with us and the supervisory authorities: You may have the right to lodge a complaint with us and with the supervisory authority, in particular the competent data protection authority for your place of residence.
Your California Privacy Rights
California Civil Code Section § 1798.83 permits users of our Websites who are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to data.protection@nsf.org or write to us at Data Protection Team, NSF International, 789 North Dixboro Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA.
Data Security
We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal data from accidental loss and from unauthorised access, use, alteration and disclosure.
The safety and security of your data also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to our Websites. Any transmission of personal data is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Websites.
Data Retention
We retain your personal data for as long as required to satisfy the purpose for which it was collected and used, unless a longer period is necessary for our legal obligations or to defend a legal claim.
Cookies
General principles regarding the use of cookies and other files/tags
Our Websites use cookies, pixel tags and other forms of identification and local storage (together referred to as “tags/files” hereunder) to distinguish you from other users of our Websites. This helps us provide you with a good experience when you browse our Websites and also allows us to improve our Websites and our services.
In many cases, these tags/files lead to the use of your device’s processing or storage capabilities. Some of these tags/files are set by NSF itself, others by third parties; some only last as long as your browser session, while others can stay active on your device for a longer period of time.
In particular, the technologies we use for automatic data collection may include:
- Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can go to your browser settings to learn how to delete or reject cookies. If you choose to delete or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our website. If you choose to delete cookies, settings and preferences controlled by those cookies, including advertising preferences, may be deleted and may need to be recreated.
- Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Websites may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from and on our Websites. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as those used for browser cookies.
Web Beacons. Pages of our Websites and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that permit NSF, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
Cookies are also used to gather information for remarketing, re-engagement or similar audiences. These cookies remember if you have visited the Websites and enable us to serve you with advertising when you are visiting other sites. Other retargeting cookies may remember the terms that you have used on search engine queries so that we can serve you with advertising for services relevant to those search terms. We work with third parties who may place cookies on your web browser to enable us to serve you with advertising based on your search activity. You can disable remarketing cookies here:
Where required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent prior to collecting your data via these technologies. For information about managing your privacy and security settings for cookies, see Your Rights as a Data Subject.
Some jurisdictions such as the People’s Republic of China require the disclosure of a series of details about overseas recipients. For more information, you may contact us using the contact details provided below.
These tags/files can fall into several categories: (i) those that are necessary for functionality or services that you request or for the transmission of communications (functionality tags/files); (ii) those that we use to carry out performance and audience metrics regarding our website (analytic tags/files) and (iii) the rest (tracking across a network of other websites, advertising etc.) (other tags/files).
Our Websites may include third-party advertising, promotions, co-branded features, links to other websites and other programmes offered by or in collaboration with third-party businesses, such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google. In addition to collecting information directly from you, these third-party businesses may use tracking technology to measure the effectiveness of their ads, personalise or optimise advertising content and track users who click on the links made available through the Websites.
Changes to our Privacy Statement
Changes we make to our privacy statement will be made public by a notice on this page, on the relevant Website homepage, stating that the privacy statement has been updated. If we make material changes to how we treat our users’ personal data, we will notify through a notice to your primary email address or on the relevant Website homepage and obtain your consent (if required by law). The date when the privacy statement was last revised is identified at the bottom of the page. You are responsible for periodically visiting our Websites and this privacy statement to check for any changes.
Contact Information
To ask questions or comment about this privacy statement and our privacy practices, contact us at: Data Protection Team, NSF International, 789 North Dixboro Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA or via email at data.protection@nsf.org or by calling us at: 800-NSF-MARK (800-673-6275, toll-free in the USA) or +1-734-769-8010. For individuals in the People’s Republic of China, you may also contact china@nsf.org.
Last Modified: 2 January 2024
User Names, Passwords and Security
Some sections of the NSF website (NSF Connect) require the use of a user name and password. When you use this site, you are encouraged to maintain the confidentiality of your user name and password as you will be responsible for all the activities that occur under your user name or password. We also remind you that you should monitor the usage of your NSF website user names and passwords by your employees. You are free, at any time, to request a change in your user name and password. You can do this by contacting your project manager. When needed, we do reserve the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, remove or edit content, or cancel transactions. NSF takes reasonable precautions to protect the security of the information.
Links to Third-Party Sites
This website may contain links to third-party sites. When you click on a link, you may leave our site. Access to any other Internet site linked to this website is at the user's own risk. NSF is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any information, data, opinions, advice or statements made on those sites. We encourage you to read their terms and conditions, terms of use, privacy policies and/or privacy statements prior to using their site, as NSF is not responsible for the privacy policies of other sites. NSF provides these links merely as a convenience and the inclusion of such links does not imply an endorsement.
Trademarks, Copyrights and Other Intellectual Property Rights
All content included or available on this site, including the site's design, code, text, graphics, interfaces and the selection and arrangements thereof, is proprietary to NSF and is copyrighted by NSF with all rights reserved, or is the property of third parties protected by intellectual property rights. Any use of materials on this site, including reproduction for purposes expressly permitted in these terms and conditions, modification, distribution, replication, any form of data extraction or data mining, or other commercial exploitation of any kind, without prior written permission of NSF is strictly prohibited. Pages containing social media bookmarks for sharing, such as NSF news releases and fact sheets, are permitted to be shared in their entirety via these tools. All copies of data from this site must retain all copyright and other proprietary notices. You agree that all of NSF's trademarks, certificate marks, trade names, service marks and other logos and brands (collectively, the "NSF marks") are the exclusive property of NSF and you shall not display or use any NSF marks in any manner without the prior written consent of NSF.
Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability
This site is provided by NSF on an "AS IS"; and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. NSF makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the operation of this site or the information, content, materials or products included on this site. You expressly agree that your use of this site is at your sole risk. To the full extent permissible by applicable law, NSF disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. NSF does not warrant that this site, its servers or email sent from NSF are free of viruses or other harmful components. NSF will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of this site, including, but not limited to direct, indirect, incidental, punitive and consequential damages.
Changes: We may change this privacy policy at any time. If we make changes to this privacy policy, we will notify you by publication on this page.
Applicable Law
By visiting NSF's site, you agree that the laws of the state of Michigan, without regard to principles of conflicts of laws, will govern these website terms of use and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and NSF.
We can be reached through our Contact Us page, or by calling 800-NSF-MARK (800-673-6275) or (+1) 734-769-8010.
Our postal address is:
P.O. Box 130140,
789 North Dixboro Road,
Ann Arbor, MI 48113-0140, USA