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Privacy Policy

Revised: January 25, 2022

Introduction 

FMC Corporation, including our subsidiaries and affiliates is committed to respecting data privacy and committed to protecting it through our compliance with the practices described in this notice (the “Notice”). This Notice describes our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing the personal data we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit https://ag.fmc.com/za/en or other of our websites, apps or forms that link or refer to this Notice (our “Website"). 

For the purposes of this Policy, the following terms, when referenced herein, shall have the corresponding meaning as defined under POPIA: "personal data" shall include reference to "personal information" as defined under POPIA; and "controller" shall include reference to "responsible party".

"Personal Data” is information or an opinion relating to an individual who is identified or may be identified or information that can be combined with other information to identify a natural person’s information. Where the processing of Personal Information falls under the ambit of South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA), Personal Information is as defined in POPIA and includes the Personal Information of juristic persons as well as natural persons. This Notice applies to the Personal Data collected through our website and offline, regardless of the country where you are located. FMC Chemicals Proprietary Limited (“FMC", "Company”, "us" or "we”) is the controller / responsible party and responsible for your Personal Data collected or provided through or in connection with your use of the Website. 

Please read this Notice carefully to understand our policies and practices for processing and storing your Personal Data. By engaging with our website, you accept and consent to the practices described in this Notice.  

By visiting this Website, or using any of our services, you agree that your Personal Data will be handled as described in this Notice. Your use of our services, and any dispute over privacy, is subject to this Notice and our Terms of Use including its applicable limitations on damages and the resolution of disputes.  

This Notice may change from time to time.  

You can review the specific areas of this Notice set out below. 

Purpose of this Privacy Notice 

Data We May Collect About You 

How We Collect Data About You 

Cookies, Pixels and Automatic Data Collection Technologies 

How and for Which Purposes We Use Your Personal Data 

Sharing Your Personal Data 

International Data Transfers 

Data Security and Retention 

Children's Online Privacy 

Links to Other Websites 

Embedded YouTube Videos

No Sale of Personal Data  

Your Rights

Changes to this Notice 

Contact FMC 

Purpose of this Privacy Notice 

This Privacy Notice aims to give you information on how FMC collects, uses, discloses, and otherwise processes your Personal Data through your use of the Website, including any Personal Data you may provide through this Website when you communicate with us through our Contact Us page.  

It is important that you read this Notice together with any other privacy policy or privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing Personal Data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This Notice supplements other notices and policies and is not intended to override them. 

Data We May Collect About You 

With your consent (where required by applicable law), we may collect and use different types of data from and about you, including Personal Data and non-personal details. This data includes without limitation your: 

  • Identity Data: includes your first name and last name; 
  • Contact Data: includes your email address and telephone number(s); 
  • Address Data: includes your postal code;
  • Technical and Device Data: includes the type of device you use to connect to the Website, your IP address, a unique device identifier (for example, a mobile phone number used by a mobile device), network information, operating system and platform, browser type and version, your time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, and other technology on the devices you use to access this Website. 
  • Inquiry Data: includes details of queries or support requests submitted through the Website, including any personal data you may choose to include in such communications; 
  • Website Interaction Data: including your clickstream to, through, and from our website (including date and time), the full URL(s), pages you view, keywords you searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks and mouse-overs), methods used to browse away from the page; and 
  • Communications Data: includes your communication preferences. 

We also collect, use and share aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated data could be derived from your Personal Data but is not considered Personal Data insofar as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Website Interaction Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Website feature, or to determine the percentage of users who access our website from a particular country or region. However, if we combine or connect aggregated data with your Personal Data so that it may relate to you, we treat the combined data as Personal Data which will be used in accordance with this Notice. 

We do not collect any Special Personal Information about you (this is as defined by applicable data protection laws and may include details about your race or ethnicity, religious, moral, or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health (including mental), and genetic and biometric data; and financial information such as account numbers) through the Website. Nor do we collect any information about criminal behavior and criminal convictions or offences. 

IF YOU FAIL TO PROVIDE PERSONAL DATA 

Please note that all Personal Information you provide to us is provided voluntarily. However, where we need to collect Personal Data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, or on any other legal basis and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time. 

How We Collect Data About You 

With your consent (where required by applicable law), we collect data about you in the following ways:  

Direct Interactions with You 

You may give us information (including Personal Data) about you by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail, or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you submit a query or support request to us through the Website or other method or report a problem with the Website. 

Information From Other Sources

We may combine Personal Data about you from multiple sources, such as information from the Website, user / usage data from our Precision App, sales history, and customer relationship management information from our CRM tools.

We may receive information about you from third parties including, for example, business partners, sub-contractors in technical services, advertising networks, analytics providers, and search information providers, such as Google. These third parties include internal and external third parties, who may be located in or outside your country or region (see Sharing your Personal Data).

Automated Technologies or Interactions 

As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect technical data about your equipment / device, browsing actions and patterns as specified above. We collect this information by using cookies, server logs, and other similar technologies. We may also receive technical data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. This technical data and information may include Personal Data. See our Cookie Policy  for further details. 

Cookies, Pixels and Automatic Data Collection Technologies 

FMC may use cookies and other tracking technologies on our website, mobile apps and social media pages, as described in this Notice and our Cookie Policy, and with your consent (where required by applicable law). A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your device’s hard drive or temporary memory. Our website is cookie-enabled in order to give you a more personalized user experience.  It also allows us to improve our website by enabling us to:  

  • Estimate our audience size and usage patterns (including determining the extent of repeat usage and usage by a registered user versus by an unregistered user); 
  • Develop content based on user interests and behavior. 
  • Measure traffic patterns, including which areas of our website users visit, and visiting patterns in the aggregate; 
  • Understand how our users’ habits are similar or different from one another; and 
  • Recognize you when you return to our website. 

We use this research so that we can make each new experience on our website a better one.  You may also unsubscribe by following the links within any electronic marketing materials we, third-party ad companies and ad networks send to you. 

You may change your cookie settings on your internet browser or delete our cookies at any time, except for essential cookies that are necessary to ensure basic Website functions, such as securing the Website and directing user traffic on the Website. You may also refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser or clicking “Reject All Cookies, Except Strictly Necessary Cookies” on the cookie banner on the Website. However, please note that if you disable cookies, all or part(s) of our website may become inaccessible and certain features may not work correctly. Unless you adjust your browser settings to refuse cookies or decline cookies on our cookie banner, our system will issue them. For detailed information on the cookies we use, the purposes for which we use them, and how you can exercise your choices regarding our use of your cookies, see our Cookie Policy.  

Our website pages and e-mails may contain web beacons (small transparent embedded images or objects, also known as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count website page visitors or email readers, or to compile other similar statistics such as recording Website content popularity or verifying system and server integrity. 

Third Party Use of Cookies Pixels and Other Tracking Technologies 

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on our website are served by third parties, which may include advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies, alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website. Such third parties may associate the information collected with your Personal Data or they may collect information, including Personal Data, about your online activities over time and across different websites or other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.  

We do not control how these third-party tracking technologies operate or how they may use the collected data. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the provider directly.  

Do Not Track 

Currently, our systems do not recognize browser “do-not-track” requests. You may, however, disable certain tracking as discussed in this section (e.g., by disabling cookies); you also may opt-out of targeted advertising by following the instructions above. 

How and for Which Purposes We Use Your Personal Data 

We will only use your Personal Data when the law allows us to do so, and we do so with your consent or where required or permitted by applicable law. For example, we may use your Personal Data to provide you with products, offer you services, communicate with you, and/or to conduct other business operations, such as using data to improve and personalize your experiences, or for any other purpose for which you have provided consent (where required by applicable law). Otherwise, we will use your Personal Data in the following circumstances:  

  • To perform a contract with you or take steps to enter into a contract with you, including: 
    • registering you as a new customer;  
    • providing you with the information, products, services and support that you request;  
    • fulfilling the purposes for which you provided the data or that were described when it was collected; and 
    • providing after-sales support and customer service. 
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) , including: 
    • ensuring that we present our website content in the most effective manner for you and your computer; 
    • administering our website and applications, and conducting internal operations, (including for troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes); 
    • improving our website, product or services, marketing, or customer relationships and experiences;  
    • offering interactive, social media, or other similar features that may be provided through our website. 
    • securing and protecting our website, employees and/or operations (including troubleshooting, system maintenance, support, reporting and hostage of data);  
    • measuring or understanding the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant content and/or advertising to you; 
    • except where required by applicable laws, notifying you about changes to our website, terms of our Notice, products, or services, and keeping accounting records and evidence of on-line sales. 

When we process your Personal Data based on our legitimate interests, those interests are to use your data to conduct and develop our business activities with you and others, and to improve our products and services in order to operate our business efficiently and profitably while limiting Personal Data use to the purposes that support the conduct and development of our business.  

  • To comply with a legal obligation (where applicable): 
    • notifying you about changes to our website, terms of our Notice, products or services; and 
    • keeping accounting records and evidence of on-line sales. 
  • Where you provide your consent (where applicable) 
    • Sending you marketing messages by mail or email. 
  • Where necessary to exercise our rights in any judicial, administrative or arbitration procedure. 

We may use non-personal data (such as aggregated data) for any business purpose. 

Change of Purpose 

We will only use your Personal Data as described in this Notice, for the purposes for which we collected it, for purposes for which you provided your consent, or where we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible and directly related with the original purpose. If you wish to receive an explanation as to how the processing for a new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.  

If we need to use your Personal Data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so and, where required by applicable law, we will seek your prior consent.  

Please note that we may process your Personal Data without your knowledge or consent where this is required or permitted by law. 

Sharing Your Personal Data 

To the extent permitted by applicable law (and with your consent where required by applicable law), we may share your information with the parties set out below for purposes identified in this Notice.  

  • Within FMC. We may share your Personal Data with internal third parties (FMC affiliates and subsidiaries) for the purposes set forth in this Notice. FMC has affiliates and subsidiaries based all over the world. 
  • Our Service Providers. We may share your Personal Data with internal and external companies or organizations, including subsidiaries, affiliates, and non-FMC entities that perform services on our behalf, such as technology support service providers, data analytics providers, and marketing service providers. In each case, such third parties are required to use adequate privacy and security protections and may use the information only for the purpose of providing services to FMC. We may also share your Personal Data with external companies or organizations who partner with us to deliver products or services to you. 
  • We require third parties to which we disclose your data to respect the security of your Personal Data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your Personal Data in a manner that is not permitted by law in the applicable jurisdiction(s). This means that we do not allow our third-party service providers to use your Personal Data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your Personal Data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. 
  • Business Transactions and Transfers. FMC may buy, sell, form, or otherwise reorganize one or more of its businesses or sell stock or assets, for example, as the result of a sale, merger, reorganization, or liquidation. A transaction of this type may involve the disclosure of your information to prospective purchasers or partners who have signed a confidentiality agreement with FMC, as well as accountants, bankers, lawyers, and other advisers. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your Personal Data in the same way as set out in this Notice. 
  • Compliance with Laws and Protection of Our Rights and the Rights of Others. We may disclose your Personal Data when we, in good faith, believe disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law, legal process, a court order or a subpoena, or where we believe it is necessary or appropriate to enforce or apply our website or application’s terms of use. We may also disclose your data to cooperate with a government investigation; to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; to enforce or apply our online terms of use or other agreements; in connection with litigation or a dispute proceeding; or to protect our own rights or property or the rights, property or safety or use by others.  
  • Other Disclosures. We may also share your Personal Data as needed to fulfil the purpose for which you provide it, or for any other purpose that we disclose in writing when you provide the data, or otherwise with your consent.  

We may share non-personal data without restriction. 

International Data Transfers 

FMC is a global organization with its corporate headquarters in the United States. As part of the services offered to you through our website and applications, and during our ordinary business operations, the information which you provide to us (including Personal Data) may be transferred to countries outside your home country. Our servers, databases, and service providers may be in the United States or in other locations outside of your home country. Different countries have different privacy laws and requirements, and some may not be considered to provide adequate protection to Personal Data originating from your home country.  

We comply with laws governing the international transfer of Personal Data, typically through the execution of legally required data protection agreements incorporating, where applicable, binding clauses, binding corporate rules or other instructions or measures that provide an adequate level of protection for your Personal Information and which may be specified, updated, amended, replaced, or superseded from time to time by the applicable regulatory authority. 

Under certain data protection laws and regulations, there may be additional requirements with which we must comply before transferring any Personal Data outside of the territory from which it has been collected, including without limitation, having obtained explicit consent from you,  obtaining prior authorization from the supervisory authority in circumstances where required in terms of applicable laws and/or having undertaken certain security assessments mandated by local laws and regulations.  

In light of the above, your Personal Data may be accessible to law enforcement and/or regulatory authorities in accordance with the applicable laws in the relevant jurisdictions.  

By submitting your Personal Data or engaging with our website, to the extent permitted by applicable law, you consent to the transfer, storing or processing of your Personal Data as described in this Notice.  

Data Security and Retention 

Security of Your Personal Data 

We take what we determine to be reasonable physical, technical, and administrative security standards designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity and security of your Personal Data. We store information we receive about you in computer systems and databases operated either by us or our external service providers. We take steps to limit access controls and add encryption and anti-malware protections to your Personal Data as appropriate. We will collect and store Personal Data on your device using application data caches and browser cookies.  

You also have an important role to play in protecting the security of your Personal Data, and you should take care about disclosing information, and how you protect your communications and devices. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password that enables you to access certain parts of our website or applications, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone else.  

Retention of Your Personal Data 

We apply a general rule of keeping Personal Data only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purpose of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements.  We typically retain certain elements of your Personal Data for a period of time corresponding to a statute of limitation, for example to maintain an accurate record of your dealings with us, such as pursuant to a contract so that we can raise or defend a legal claim. In some circumstances we may retain Personal Data for other periods of time, for instance where we are required or permitted to do so in accordance with legal requirements, or if required to do so by a legal process, legal authority, or other governmental entity having authority to make the request, for so long as required. We may also 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. 

In some circumstances, we will anonymize your Personal Data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may retain this information indefinitely without further notice to you. 

Where required by law we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify your Personal Data when it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and/or the purposes for which you provided consent. 

Children's Online Privacy 

We do not direct our website to minors and we do not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under 18 (or as defined by local legal requirements). If we learn we have mistakenly or unintentionally collected or received Personal Data from a child under 18 without appropriate consent, we will delete it. If you believe we mistakenly or unintentionally collected any information from or about a child under 18, please contact us at DataPrivacy@fmc.com

Links to Other Websites 

Our website may, from time to time, contain links to and from websites, plug-ins, services, and/or applications of third parties, including our partners and affiliates. Please note that clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow the third party to collect or share data about you. These websites and any services that may be accessible through them have their own privacy notices and we do not accept any responsibility or liability for such notices or for any content or Personal Data that may be collected through the websites or services, or any privacy practices of such websites. We encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit. 

Embedded YouTube Videos

This Website may include videos that are stored on www.youtube.com and can be played via this website. The videos are embedded in the so-called "extended data protection mode", so that no personal data about you as a user is transmitted to YouTube as long as you have not previously selected that you want to see YouTube videos (by using the slider). If you chose to see a YouTube video, a corresponding cookie is placed on your device to remember your choice and you are referred to YouTube. The use of cookies and the processing of your Personal Data that results from you watching YouTube videos that are embedded in our website are not controlled by FMC, but rather by Google. Please be aware that if you have logged into your YouTube account, your Personal Data may be linked to your YouTube profile. Please refer to Google’s privacy notice for further information on this data processing.

No Sale of Personal Data 

We do not sell your Personal Data.  

Your Rights

You may have certain rights under applicable laws with respect to your Personal Data, which may include: 

  • Access – upon request in writing to DataPrivacy@fmc.com, you may, subject to applicable laws, be able to gain access to information about, and obtain a copy of, your Personal Data that we are processing, including information on the following:
    • Contents of Personal Data and categories of data that were processed;
    • Sources from which your Personal Data were obtained, if the data was not collected from you;
    • Purposes of processing;
    • Identities and addresses of recipients of Personal Data;
    • Manner by which your Personal Data were processed;
    • Reasons for the disclosure and purposes for granting access to the recipients of your Personal Data;
    • Information on automated processing, in case the data was used as the sole basis for any decision that significantly affects or will significantly affect you as a data subject;
    • Date when their Personal Data was last accessed or modified;
    • The designation, identity, and address of the responsible party and/or operator other than the Company, if any;
    • Period for which particular categories of information will be stored; and
    • The designation, name or identify, and address of the responsible party's  information officer.

Your access rights may be restricted if we are obliged to refuse access to information in terms of applicable laws, including on the basis of the grounds for refusal of access to records under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000.

  • Rectification – you have the right to request correction of any inaccurate data relating to you as well as the right to request completion of incomplete data or rectification of data that is irrelevant, excessive, misleading, or out of date.

Note: You can see and update most of your Personal Data by contacting us directly at DataPrivacy@fmc.com.

  • Withdraw consent – where applicable, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. 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.
  • Lodge a complaint – you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority of your habitual residence, place of work or place of alleged infringement, if you consider that our processing of your Personal Data infringes applicable data protection law. For South Africa, it is the Information Regulator who can be contacted using the following details: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za or by mailing the Information Regulator at: 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2001.
  • Object to processing – you may, on grounds relating to your particular situation, at any time object to our processing of your information where we are relying upon legitimate interests to process your data.  Where we rely upon legitimate interest as a basis for processing we believe that we can demonstrate legitimate grounds for the processing, but we will consider each case on an individual basis to determine whether or not we should stop the processing. We will not stop the processing where we need to process the Personal Information for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.

You also have the right to object to our processing at any time where we are processing your data for direct marketing purposes.

  • Informed – you have the right to be informed, whether Personal Data pertaining to you shall be, are being, or have been processed, including the existence of automated decision-making and profiling. You shall be notified and furnished with information before the entry of your Personal Data into the processing system of the personal information controller, or at the next practical opportunity: (a) description of the Personal Data to be entered into the system; (b) purposes for which they are being or will be processed, including processing for direct marketing, profiling or historical, statistical or scientific purpose; (c) basis of processing, when processing is not based on your consent; (d) scope and method of the Personal Data processing; (e) the recipients or classes of recipients to whom the Personal Data are or may be disclosed; (f) methods utilized for automated access, if you have allowed the same, and the extent to which such access is authorized, including meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and the envisaged consequences of such processing for you; (g) the identity and contact details of the Personal Data controller or its representative; (h) the period for which the information will be stored; and (i) the existence of your rights as a data subject, including the right to request access to, or correction of Personal Information, and to object to the processing, as well as the right to lodge a complaint before the Information Regulator.
  • Damages - you may be entitled to compensation for delictual damages you sustain due to such inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, false, unlawfully obtained, or unauthorized use of your Personal Data, taking into account any violation of your right and freedoms as a data subject.

Please contact us as indicated in the “Contact FMC section below if you wish to exercise any of your rights, or if you have any enquiries or complaints regarding the processing of your Personal Data.

Changes to this Notice 

We review our policies periodically and this Notice may change from time to time. If it does, those changes will be posted on this page and, if it is appropriate, you may be notified (either directly by email or SMS, or indirectly when you next visit the Website), and we will obtain consent to material changes where required to do so by applicable law. The new Notice may be displayed on-screen and you may be required to read and accept the changes to continue your use of the Website.  Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our Notice. 

It is important that the Personal Data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your Personal Data changes during our relationship with you. 

Contact FMC 

You can contact FMC at:

FMC Chemicals Proprietary Limited

Block C, Floor 1, Suite 7,

Westend Office Park

254 Hall Street,

Die Hoewes,

Centurion, 0157

FMC is headquartered at 2929 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States. Please address any questions, comments and requests regarding our data processing practices to us at our headquarters (Attn: Data Privacy Office) or contact us at DataPrivacy@fmc.com.