Privacy policy

This policy was last updated in March 2021.

Guidehouse Netherlands B.V., as consulting partner of the Hydrid Heating Group Europe, and its global subsidiaries (collectively, “Guidehouse,” “Company,” “we,” or “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your Personal Data when using our website and related websites, as well as mobile websites and mobile Guidehouse applications (“Mobile Apps”), services, tools and other applications (collectively the “Site”). Hybrid Heating Group Europe currently consists of the following companies: BDR Thermae Group, Bosch Thermotechnology, Danish Gas Technology Center, Enpuls, E-on, EWENetz, Gas Reseau Distribution France, Groupe Atlantic, Gasunie, GRT Gaz, Stedin net and Viessmann. This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains how Guidehouse uses and discloses the Personal Data that we collect when you use the Site or Mobile Apps that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Services”). “Personal Data” is information that reasonably can be used to directly or indirectly identify you or other individuals, such as a name, personal address, personal phone number, financial account information, geolocation data, etc. The categories of Personal Data collected from you depend on how you use the Site. By using the Services, you confirm that you understand and agree to the use of your Personal Data in accordance with this Privacy Statement. If you do not understand our Privacy Policy, please contact us using the information below. If you do not agree to our Privacy Policy, you may not use the Services.

This Privacy Policy also applies to all of Guidehouse’s current U.S.  and international subsidiaries.

This Privacy Policy explains Guidehouse’s online information practices and the choices you can make about the collection and use of information you submit or we collect through our Site and Mobile Apps. Guidehouse is committed to protecting the information that our clients, prospects, suppliers and vendors have entrusted to us. We collect and use Personal Data in order to perform our business functions and provide consultancy services to our customers. Consistent with our values, we treat any Personal Data that we obtain in accordance with the data privacy principles of transparency, purpose limitation, data minimization, data quality, integrity and confidentiality, accountability and privacy by design. This Privacy Policy applies to all Personal Data in any format or medium, relating to all Guidehouse employees, clients, vendors and others who do business with Guidehouse.

If you have any further questions, you may contact us by using the contact details provided at the end of this Privacy Policy.

  1. Who is responsible for data processing on the Site?

The Site is owned and operated by Guidehouse. You can contact the operator of the Site if you have any questions.

  1. Who is the Data Protection Officer?

The Data Protection Officer for Europe can be contacted at privacy@guidehouse.com if you have any questions.

  1. Data Collection and consent

Data Collection

Guidehouse collects information which you voluntarily provide in connection with your use of the Services. In particular, Guidehouse may collect certain Personal Data such as name, job title, company name, address, email address, telephone, and fax numbers when you request information through our Contact form.

When you navigate the Services, we and our vendors may automatically collect certain technical information from your computer or mobile device over time and across different websites, through a variety of technical methods including cookies and web beacons, and other technologies (collectively, “Online Identification Technologies” or “Tracking Technologies”). The information we collect includes your IP address, the content and features you use or view on the Services, how you navigate through the Services, the online services you visit immediately before and after you access our Services, and the search terms you enter on our Services. Guidehouse may combine information collected through means such as cookies or third-party analytics tools with Personal Data maintained by Guidehouse. For more information, please see the section titled “Tracking Technologies (Cookies)/Online Identification Technologies.”

Guidehouse’s intention is not to seek any sensitive information through our Services unless legally required. Sensitive information includes a number of types of data relating to: race or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious or other similar beliefs; trade union membership; physical or mental health; sexual life or criminal record. We suggest that you do not provide sensitive information of this nature. If you choose to provide sensitive information for any reason, Guidehouse accepts your explicit consent to use that information in the ways described in this Privacy Policy or as described at the point where you choose to disclose this information.

When do we ask for your consent?

When you use the Site, you acknowledge that we are processing your Personal Data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not wish that we process your Personal Data in this way, please do not use our Site or otherwise provide our Site with your Personal Data. For prospective clients we only collect name and contact information, from clients we collect personal data, which may include sensitive in-formation only when this is necessary to provide the service. For website and social media users, we collect the domain name, IP address, browser type and version, operating system and platform, average time spent on our website, pages viewed, information searched for, access times and other relevant statistics.

We process your data to provide you the Site Services, to operate our business and to analyze and improve Site Services. In certain instances, we only process your data if you have consented, for example in certain cases where we process your Personal Data for marketing purposes or where we use cookies. Where we process your data on the basis of your consent, we will ask for your consent in a transparent manner. We may also ask you to provide additional consent if we need to use your Personal Data for purposes not covered by this Privacy Policy or before sharing your Personal Data with third parties.

  1. What are the reasons for processing of your data on the Site?

(a)  Browsing, Registration and Account Information: You can browse the Site without telling us who you are or inputting any personal information (i.e., name, email address, phone number, fax number, mobile telephone number and physical contact information) about yourself. If you register for an account with us, you choose to give us your above listed personal information and are not anonymous to us. When you register an account, create a profile, purchase products or services, or otherwise engage with our Site, you may provide personal information. Personal information is only associated with your account/profile when you sign in as a registered user. You may also provide non-personal information such as your company name or business address.

We will process the Personal Data we obtain from you in context of your registration only for the purpose of administering your registration and offering you the related services.

The legal basis for such processing is performance of the agreement with you.

  1. b)  Information to respond to your requests: You may give us your personal information so we can send you information as requested – e.g., newsletters, publications, market research reports, surveys to understand your interests and other communications you request. Details of how you can opt-out of receiving any communications from us are detailed in the section headed “Your Choices” below.

    We will process the Personal Data we obtain from you in context of your request only for the purpose of administering and providing the information you request.

The legal basis for such processing is – depending on your request – either your consent or performance of the agreement (i.e. process your request) with you.

(c)  Information from Other Sources: The information we collect may be combined with information from outside records (e.g., demographic information, navigation information, additional contact information) that we have acquired in accordance with the law. These sources include social media sites, company websites and subscription-based third party databases. For example, if you work at a law firm but we don’t know your title, we may go to the firm’s website or a social media site to confirm your title.

We will process the Personal Data we collected only for the main purpose that serves us to process the data we obtained earlier directly from you.

The legal basis for such processing is – depending on the situation – either consent, performance of the agreement (i.e. process your request) with you or balancing of interest. Where we base our processing on balancing of interests, our main interests pursued are to provide you a better and more tailored service by adding information that is publicly available anyway.

(d)  Mobile Information: We may collect additional basic information from you if you access our Site through a mobile device (e.g. your device’s operating system, unique device identifier, and country or state of location) to better serve your needs and optimize the services for you. Please also see the section on Tracking Technologies (Section 8 below) for further details.

(e)  Technical Usage Information: When you visit our Site, we collect usage information sent to us by your computer, mobile, or other access device that tells us how you are using the Site such as the browser type, IP address, user language, the operating system, the presence/absence of “flash” plug-ins, screen resolution, connection type, and information that identifies the cookie, the pages you view and the length of your visit to the Site (“usage information”). We use tracking technologies (including cookies, flash cookies, web beacons/GIFs, embedded scripts, e-tags/cache browsers) to collect usage information.

We may also collect password information from you when you log in, as well as computer and/or connection information. During some visits we may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, time spent on certain pages and page interaction information.

Our goal is to collect and use only that information that we think is required, in order to better understand your interests and improve your experience of using the Site. To learn more about how we use tracking technologies and cookies, and your ability to consent to such usage, see Section 8 of this Privacy Policy.

  1. How long do we process and keep your Personal Data?

We will delete or block your Personal Data, once we do not need it any longer for any of the above purposes for which we have collected or received the information, unless we are required by law to retain your personal information, or unless we need to retain your personal information in order to continue providing a service. You consent to our retention of your video viewing tracking data for as long as permissible under applicable law – up to twenty-six months after your last visit to the Site. For browsing we keep data for twenty-six months, for career information up to five years, mobile information will be kept for maximum twenty-six months – unless you request that we delete your information sooner. These storage terms apply unless agreed otherwise in a contract with Client or in locally applicable legislation.

  1. Who is receiving our Personal Data?

Information collected on the Site may be shared with:

(a)  The Guidehouse Corporate Family as Controllers. We may share the information we collect about you with the Guidehouse corporate family and their and our affiliates and subsidiaries, as well as with third-party suppliers. The information may be disclosed (i) to provide joint content and our services or when required to facilitate conferences or events hosted by a third party (e.g., registration, transactions, analytics and customer support); (ii) to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts, violations of our policies, fraud and/or data security breaches; and (iii) to guide decisions about our Guidehouse products, Site, applications, services, tools, and communications. Members of our corporate family will use this information to send you marketing communications and you will have the opportunity to opt-out of email communications. We will only transfer your Personal Data to any third-party suppliers if and to the extent we are permitted to do so by law or if you have provided your prior consent.

(b)  Service Providers and Other Third Parties. We may disclose your information to service providers under contract who help with our business operations (such as, but not limited to, fraud investigations, software development, email delivery, marketing communications, bill collection, payment processing, and site analytics and operations). These third parties are authorized to use your Personal Data only as necessary to provide these services to us, for example, the purposes for which the visitor has submitted the information and for the administration of our system or site and/or other internal, administrative purposes. Personal Data may also be transferred to third party service providers of identity management, website hosting and management, data analysis, data backup, security and storage services.

(c) Other Entities with your Consent. Other third parties to whom you explicitly ask us to send your Personal Data (or about whom you are otherwise explicitly notified and consent to when using a specific service). On the Site, you may have opportunities to express interest in or register for other services. If you do, we will provide your Personal Data to those third parties, or parties working on their behalf, to implement your request. When you interact with our Site through social media sites, plug-ins or other applications, depending upon your privacy settings, this information may become public on the Internet. We cannot prevent further use of this information. You can control what data you share through privacy settings available on some social media sites. Please refer to those third party sites’ privacy policies and terms of use to learn more about their privacy practices, which we do not control.

(d) Legal. We may also disclose your personal information as required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena or other legal process, when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to comply with such legal process, or to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request. We will inform you separately of any such transfer either before the transfer or at the latest after there is no risk of impairment of the purpose of the planned transfer and if we are permitted by law to do so.

(e) Change of Control: New Owners. We may share your information with other business entities, should we plan to merge with or be acquired by that business entity. Should such a combination occur, we will make reasonable efforts to request that the new combined entity follow this Privacy Policy with respect to your personal information. If your personal information would be used contrary to this policy, we will request that the new owner provide you with prior notice. We will inform you separately of any such contrary use and ask you for your consent (if required) either before the transfer or at the latest after when there is no risk of impairment of the purpose of the planned transfer.

  1. Newsletters and Marketing: Your Choices

You can control how and when you want to receive notifications regarding electronic newsletters and marketing-related emails for services described on the Site by contacting us at info@hybridheatingeurope.eu or by following the “unsubscribe” instructions within the notices.

  1. Tracking Technologies (Cookies) /Online Identification Technologies

We and our business partners may utilize online identification technologies, such as cookies, web beacons, or pixels in connection with the Services. Online Identification Technologies can be used to store registration information in an area of our site so that a user does not need to re-enter it on subsequent visits to that area. It is Guidehouse’s intention to use these technologies to make navigation of our websites easier for visitors, to facilitate efficient registration procedures (including remembering preferences), and to better deliver tailored content to visitors.

A few additional important things you should know about our use of tracking technologies (cookies):

  • We offer certain features that are available only through the use of tracking technologies.
  • We use both session and persistent tracking technologies. Tracking technologies (e.g., cookies) can either be persistent (i.e., they remain on your computer until you delete them) or temporary (i.e., they last only until you close your browser). You are always free to decline tracking technologies if your browser permits, although doing so may interfere with your use of the Site. Refer to the help section of your browser, browser extensions, or installed applications for instructions on blocking, deleting, or disabling tracking technologies such as cookies.
  • We use tracking technologies with your prior consent as obtained through your continued use of this Site.
  • You may encounter tracking technologies/cookies from our third party service providers, that we have allowed on our site that assist us with various aspects of our web site operations and services, such as Google Analytics, which uses Cookies to track your interactions with our Services. Google then collects that information and reports it back to us. This information helps us improve our Services so that we can better serve users like you. For more information on Google Analytics, visit https://support.google.com/analytics.
  • You also may encounter tracking technologies from third parties on certain pages of the websites that we do not control and have not authorized. (For example, if you view a web page posted as a link from our Site, there may be a cookie placed by that web page).
  • We may target and track the videos you view on the Site. You consent to our tracking of your video viewing through the Site or third party social media for up to two years or as permitted by applicable law, unless you notify us through the channels in Section 7 (Your Choices) or Section 1 (Contact Us).

If you are concerned about cookies, you may refuse or delete one or more cookies and still access our websites, but site functionality may be impaired. After you finish browsing our websites, you may delete site cookies from your system if you wish.

In order to properly manage our Services we also anonymously log information on our operational systems and identify categories of visitors by items such as domains and browser types. These statistics are reported in the aggregate to our webmasters. This is to ensure that our website presents the best web experience for visitors and is an effective information resource.

For more information about the use of cookies and similar technology on our Site please review this Privacy Policy and our Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.

  1. European Residents

Notice to EEA Residents.

If you are located in the European Economic Area and you interact with our Site or provide Guidehouse Personal Data over the Site then your Personal Data may be transferred to the United States. If you create an account/profile, you consent to the collection and/or processing in the United States of your personal information and tracking technologies/cookies as described in this Policy. Be informed that the US is not in the list of countries that the European Commission considers adequate to the protection of Personal Data. Any transfers of Personal Data from within the European Economic Area (EEA) to third parties outside the EEA will be based on an adequacy decision or are governed by the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.

If data is processed in the European Economic Area, you may be entitled to request information from us regarding your Personal Data stored by us and to have your Personal Data corrected, deleted or blocked by us in accordance with applicable laws. Please contact us by using the contact information as set out in Section 15 of this Privacy Policy below.

If you reside or otherwise find yourself in the territory of Europe, Guidehouse is committed to facilitate the exercise of your rights granted by the European data protection laws. Otherwise you can contact us at any time to discuss your privacy concerns.

Privacy rights under European data protection laws:

Transparency and the right to information: we provide notice to our employees, customers, suppliers, vendors and others of how we use Personal Data in our day-to-day operations at the time of collecting Personal Data, or as soon thereafter as possible. We also publish this privacy notice for a greater transparency.

Right to access, rectification, restriction of processing, and erasure: we provide data subjects with access to their own personal data where required by applicable law. In addition, we will rectify their Personal Data when we are notified that it is inaccurate, and we will ensure the right to erasure and to restriction of processing when these rights are not compatible with local regulations.

Right to object and withdraw consent at any time: for all marketing materials, you can opt-out anytime, and free of charge. The right to object for other processing activities will be balanced in order to ensure that it is not incompatible with local regulations or the legitimate interests of Guidehouse.

Right to data portability: based on your specific situation, we provide data subjects with the right to obtain and reuse your data across different services and includes transferring of your data to you, another controller or a trusted third party.

Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

These requests should be submitted as follows:

  • Opt-out of marketing communications: you can opt-out anytime by following the opt-out instructions in our commercial e-mails
  • To exercise the rest of your rights: you should send a communication in writing to privacy@guidehouse.com. Guidehouse will attend to your request in a timely manner within 30 days after receiving your request. If for any reason we need to extend this period of time, we will contact you.
  • Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: you can have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement.

Accountability and enforcement

Guidehouse is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission. We will comply with lawful requests by public authorities to disclose personal information, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

  1. California and Canada Residents

(a) California residents

(1) How Do We Respond to Do Not Track Signals for California Residents

California Business & Professions Code Section 22575(b) (as amended effective January 1, 2014) provides that California residents are entitled to know how Guidehouse responds to “Do Not Track” browser settings. Guidehouse does not currently take actions to respond to Do Not Track signals because a uniform technological standard has not yet been developed. We continue to review new technologies and may adopt a standard once one is created. To learn about Do Not Track and for information about how to opt out of receiving targeted advertising, please click www.aboutads.info/choices.

(2) California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 

If you are a California resident, California law may provide you with additional rights regarding our use of your personal information. To learn more about your California privacy rights, visit https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/privacy-laws. To further define how the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) impacts Guidehouse, we have a Supplemental Privacy Statement for California consumers under CCPA.

(b) Notice to Canadian residents

This policy considers the principles of accountability, identifying purposes, consent, limiting use and disclosures, openness and safeguards established by the Canadian Privacy regulation (PIPEDA). However, there are other principles that we also guarantee for the Canadian residents such as the principle of limiting collection, retention, accuracy, and individual access and rectification.

  • Limiting collection: we limit the amount and type of the information gathered to what is necessary for the identified purposes.
  • Retention: we keep personal data only as long as necessary to satisfy the purposes for which it was collected. When information is no longer required for an identified purpose or a legal requirement we destroy, erase or render anonymous the information.
  • Accuracy and right to correct: we keep your personal data as accurate, complete and up to date as necessary, taking into account its use and your interests. We also provide you to request correction to your personal data if its inaccurate or incomplete.
  • Right of access: we will make available to you any personal information of yours that we have collected, used or disclosed upon request, to the extent permitted by law. To exercise your request please write us at privacy@navigant.com and provide sufficient data for your identification. The access request does not usually have any cost, in cases it has it we will provide you an estimate beforehand.

If you have questions or concerns about this policy, please contact us at privacy@guidehouse.com. We will respond to any request as soon as possible, or in any case not later than 30 days after receipt of the request. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to make a complaint to the Federal Privacy Commissioner.

  1. Third Parties

Our Site may contain links to other third party websites. Guidehouse does not review or endorse, and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these third party sites and encourage you to review each site’s privacy policy before disclosing any Personal Data.

  1. Security

Guidehouse is committed to the security, confidentiality and integrity principle. We take commercially reasonable precautions to keep all information obtained from our online visitors secure against unauthorized access and use and we periodically review our security measures. We are committed to processing your data in a secure manner and have put in place specific technical and organizational measures to prevent the personal data we hold from being accidentally or deliberately compromised. We store and process your information on our servers located in the United States and around the world. We maintain technical, physical, and administrative security measures to protect the security of your personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or alteration. Some of the safeguards we use are firewalls, data encryption, physical access controls to our data centers and information access authorization controls. It is your responsibility to make sure that your personal information is accurate. You should keep in mind however, that no data transmitted over the internet is 100% secure and any information disclosed online can potentially be collected and used by parties other than the intended recipient. As a result, while we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information that you transmit to or from our Services.

  1. Children’s Privacy

Our services are not designed for, intended to track, or directed towards children under the age of thirteen. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with personal data without their consent, please contact us. If we become aware that a child has registered for a service and has provided us with personal data, we will delete such information from our files.

  1. Notification Regarding Updates

From time to time, we may update this Privacy Policy. If we make any material changes to how we treat personal data, we will notify you by placing a notice on the Site, prior to the change becoming effective. You should check the Site frequently for updates.

Additionally, if we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will take reasonable steps to notify you, such as by posting an announcement on our website.

  1. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our use of your Personal Data collected through the Services, you may email us at privacy@guidehouse.com or write to us at Guidehouse Netherlands B.V., Stadsplateau 15, 3521 AZ, Utrecht, The Netherlands or by using the contact of the operator of the Site.