Data Protection Overview?
The following Data Protection Overview provides a concise overview of how FCI Ophthalmics online services (websites and social networks) collect and process your personal information. Full details of this process are available in the complete version of our Data Protection Notice.
What information do we collect?
I. When you open and/or use one of our online services, the information collected includes:
- The type of browser you are using
- The pages you have visited on our website
- The operating system
- Your IP address or shortened IP address
- User behavior (e.g. mouse movements, click behavior, session duration, etc.)
This information is predominantly collected and used in an anonymized or pseudonymized form.
II. If you have registered on our website, you have voluntarily provided information about yourself, which includes:
- First name, last name and title
- Payment information
- Contact information (e.g. email, phone)
- Address and order information
- Company, group assignment
- Products and equipment you use
- Personal interests and preferences
How is information collected by FCI Ophthalmics online services?
FCI Ophthalmics’ online services use various types of cookies or tracking technologies with different functions. These perform purely technical functions, while also contributing to the optimization of the web pages, to interactions with social media, as well as to the usage-related advertisement both on our side and the partners’ side. As a result, we also provide information to our partners for analysis, marketing, and social media purposes. You can object to the use of these technologies at any time and in different stages. Click on “Settings” to select your personal cookie settings:
Data is collected by FCI Ophthalmics’ online services via automated processes or user entry, e.g. by means of:
- Cookie tracking pixels
- Direct user entry
- Cross-device tracking, mouse tracking and similar methods
Cookies make websites more user-friendly, effective and secure. A cookie is a text file containing information about user activity which is temporarily saved in the user’s browser. They can be used to define and save visitor preferences and website settings. Note: Additional information about cookies and other internet technologies is available in our Data Protection Notice.
Why do FCI Ophthalmics’ online services process and use my personal information? When does FCI Ophthalmics use and process my personal information?
It should be noted that FCI Ophthalmics only collects personal information on a case-by-case basis and for specific purposes. The following list of reasons is therefore not exhaustive.
- For the provision of our products and services
- To comply with legal obligations
- For credit checks when processing payments that use insecure payment methods
- To prevent fraud on purchases for advertising purposes
- For web analytics and to improve our website
- For contests
- For newsletters and other subscriptions
- For online applications
- For contact purposes and in contact forms
- For orders
- During the use of FCI Ophthalmics digital services, e.g. platforms, subscribing to/unsubscribing from newsletters.
We know that it is important to you that your personal information be handled with care. Since data protection is a high priority issue at FCI Ophthalmics, we make sure that your information is collected, processed and used strictly in accordance with the law. The instances listed above are those in which we require personal information from you. This information helps us continually improve our websites and provide you with an individualized user experience. The individual items of personal information are used to process your orders, to deliver purchased goods and products to you, to verify your creditworthiness, to process payments, to prevent fraud, and to keep you informed about your orders and our products, services, and special offers.
To ensure that we can get in touch with you quickly, we request that you provide us with your email address. Your address will only be used for advertising purposes if you have given your explicit permission for this.
Legal basis for processing personal data
We process your data only in compliance with the applicable laws. In particular, we will process your data in accordance with Article 6 and Article 9 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as in accordance with the conditions for consent in Article 7 GDPR. We will process your data, among other things, upon the following legal bases. Please note that this is not a complete or exhaustive list of the legal bases. Instead, these are merely examples intended to render the legal bases more transparent.
- Consent (point (a) of Article 6, paragraph 1 and Article 7 GDPR or point (a) of Article 9, paragraph 2 and Article 7 GDPR): we will only process specific data according to your explicit and voluntary consent, provided in advance. You have the right to revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future.
- Performance of a contract / pre-contractual measures (point (b) of Article 6, paragraph 1 GDPR): we require access to certain data to initiate or implement your contract with FCI Ophthalmics and FCI Ophthalmics’ partners.
- Compliance with a legal obligation (point (c) of Article 6, paragraph 1 GDPR): FCI Ophthalmics is subject to several legal requirements. In order to meet these requirements, we must process specific data.
- Protection of legitimate interests (point (f) of Article 6, paragraph 1): FCI Ophthalmics will process specific data to protect its interests or those of third parties. However, this only applies if your interests in the individual case do not prevail.
Where is my personal information processed?
Generally, your information is processed on servers located in the USA. If permitted, your information may also be processed in countries other than the USA. User information is processed in part by external companies hired by FCI Ophthalmics. The forwarding of data within the FCI entities (if permitted), the transfer of data abroad, and the processing of data via external partners are performed in accordance with the applicable data privacy protection laws.
These activities are secured by means of the statutory regulations on data privacy protection including data processing agreements, EU standard contractual clauses, and international conventions.
What rights do I have?
- The right to information
- The right to object, including the right to withdraw your objection
- The right to have information deleted or released/transferred
- The right to limit or block the processing of information
- The right to have information corrected
- The right of appeal, also through a responsible supervisory authority
- The right to withdraw your consent
- The right to not be subject to a decision stemming from the automated processing of information or profiling
For data protection requests, please contact our corporate data protection representatives:
Corporate Data Protection Officer
30 Corporate Park Drive #310/320 Pembroke, MA 02359 – USA
Contact by e-mail (please do not send confidential or sensitive information): [email protected]
Phone: 1 (800) 932-4202
When does my personal information get deleted?
We delete your personal information when the purpose for which it was collected no longer exists; this could include information collected during the execution of a contract which has been terminated. In order to adhere to trade/tax law and other legal obligations, it may be necessary to store your personal information beyond the purpose for which it was collected, or to initially block the information so that it can be used for later processing. This may also be necessary for the assertion, exercise and defense of legal claims.
How does FCI Ophthalmics safeguard my personal information?
When you sign into specially protected areas or into online shops, when you register to participate in contests or when you place an order, your personal information is transferred to us. To ensure that your information does not end up in the wrong hands, it is encrypted using standard, state-of-the-art methods such as SSL encryption (secure sockets layer). This is a proven and secure method of transferring information on the Internet.
FCI Ophthalmics also employs a wide range of additional technical and operational security measures to ensure the safeguarding of personal information for its partners and customers. In conjunction with these security measures, we may occasionally request that you provide proof of your identity before granting you access to your personal information.
Does FCI Ophthalmics use cookies?
FCI Ophthalmics uses cookies to ensure that your user experience is as comfortable and convenient as possible. Want to know more about how we use cookies?
Learn more about cookies and other Internet technologies
Your FCI Ophthalmics account
The information you provided voluntarily is used to create a personalized data record which helps us provide products and services which are better tailored to you personally.
Withdrawing permission to use your personal information
To withdraw permission for the use of your personal information, click the link below:
Falsified emails (spoofing), spam and phishing
Beware of phishing and spoofing activities
Unfortunately, the FCI Ophthalmics brand is among those which are misused for deceptive purposes. In more specific terms, this means that users sometimes receive falsified emails supposedly sent from FCI Ophthalmics. These emails are often visually designed to look like FCI Ophthalmics communications and can in some cases be difficult to tell apart from authentic emails from FCI Ophthalmics.
In these cases, the persons sending the falsified emails are attempting to exploit the trust between FCI Ophthalmics and its customers in order to steal sensitive information (e.g. login details, customer information, payment information) or to install malicious software on your computer or smartphone.
These emails are not created or sent by FCI Ophthalmics, even if our name is used to make it appear so. Unfortunately, this also means the FCI Ophthalmics has no control over the creation and sending of illegitimate emails.
The following characteristics can help you identify whether the email you received is actually from FCI Ophthalmics:
- Confirmation emails and invoices from FCI Ophthalmics should only be for items you actually ordered or requested a quote.
- Emails from FCI Ophthalmics should be free of typographical and grammatical errors, since they are proofread before being sent.
In some areas of our websites, we also provide information about, and links to, third-party websites. We do this only if we are firmly convinced of the seriousness of the respective supplier. However, FCI Ophthalmics is not responsible for the data protection stipulations or contents of these websites and assumes no liability in this regard. These external links are marked with the following icon:
The right way to deal with spam, phishing and spoofing emails:
- We recommend that you delete suspicious emails immediately.
- Never open links or attachments in suspicious emails and never give out your personal information.
- We also recommend running a virus scan on your computer.
If an email contains unusual or suspicious information regarding your order or your customer information, contact FCI Ophthalmics (800.932.4202). You will get a list of all the orders you have actually placed, along with the status and invoice number for each order.
Tip: If you’re unsure about an email you’ve received, use our contact service to get in touch with us or write us a message at View form.
Country-Specific Regulations
The following applies to users residing in the United States:
The content of this Website may be limited for use by persons located within certain geographic regions (including without limitation the United States) and FCI Ophthalmics makes no claims that the Website or any of its content is accessible or appropriate outside of such regions. Access to the Website may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Website in contravention of legal restrictions, you do soon your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.
The “Shine the Light” law of the state of California enables residents of California to request certain information about the data collected by FCI Ophthalmics and sent to third parties for direct marketing purposes.
If you wish to request additional information covered by the “Shine the Light” law, contact us using the information provided above or submit a request to the address provided with the phrase “California Shine the Light Request” so that we can appropriately categorize your request. For this process, we require your mailing address, permanent address and an email address so that we can contact you.
CCPA Privacy Notice Addendum
This Privacy Notice for California Residents supplements the information contained in FCI Ophthalmics’ Data Protection Notice and applies solely to all visitors, users and others who reside in the State of California. We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2019 (“CCPA”) and other California privacy laws. Any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this notice.
What information is collected?
| Category | Examples | Collected |
| A. Identifiers | A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, or Social Security number. | Yes |
| B. Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)). | A name, signature, Social Security number, address, telephone number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information. | Yes |
| C. Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law. | Age (40 years or older), race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information). | No |
| D. Commercial information. | Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. | Yes |
| E. Biometric information. | Genetic, physiological, behavioral, or biological characteristics, such as fingerprints, used to extract a template or other identifier or identifying information. | No |
| F. Internet or other similar network activity. | Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer’s interaction with a website, application, or advertisement. | Yes |
| G. Geolocation data. | Physical location or movements. | Yes |
| H. Sensory data. | Audio as part of voicemail or call recordings. | Yes |
| I. Professional or employment-related information. | Current or past job history or performance evaluations. | Yes |
| J. Non-public education information (per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99)). | Education records directly related to a student maintained by an educational institution or party acting on its behalf, such as grades, transcripts, class lists, student schedules, student identification codes, student financial information, or student disciplinary records. | No |
| K. Inferences drawn from other personal information. | Profile reflecting a person’s preferences, characteristics, predispositions. | Yes |
Personal information described above and in this Privacy Notice does not include:
- Publicly available information from government records.
- Deidentified or aggregated consumer information.
- Information excluded from the CCPA’s scope, like:
- Directly from consumers. For example, if you have registered on our website, you have voluntarily provided information about yourself.
- Indirectly from consumers. For example, when you open and/or use one of our online services, information is collected.
- From our third-party service providers that help us provide our products and services.
- From third parties that interact with us in connection with the services we perform. For example, from eye care professionals as part of a product order.
- health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data;
- personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994.