Privacy Statement For RS Online

RS Online collects information in several ways:

Some personal information is gathered when you register. During registration, RS Online asks you for a Username, Password, Security Password, your name, telephone number, fax number, email address, company name, address, company's area of business, job technology, job function, purchasing influence, number of employees in your company, your primary product interest and how you heard about the site.

We may also record some details of how you use the site, such as adverts you click on, products you search for, products you purchase, and information you download. If you accessed this site following a search on the internet, we may record the search you undertook and how it relates to your use of this site.

We may keep copies of information you submit when you send email feedback to the site, ask a technical question, or report a problem. If you contact RS Online in writing we may keep a record of that correspondence. RS Online also occasionally asks users to complete surveys that we use for research purposes.

RS always aim to deliver the highest level of service and security to our customers and RS Online has been specifically designed with security in mind.

In order to ensure the security and protection of your personal details whenever you submit any sensitive information such as credit card number and account details, we use the following security methods:

128 bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption - the latest technology to encode and protect your data - which is your guarantee for a safe and secure transaction.

The RS VeriSign Security Guarantee pops up whenever you submit sensitive information as an indication that the current information will be encrypted. This means that your information is protected and safe to submit.

Sensitive credit card information stored on our in-house systems is also held in encrypted format.

Your RS Online Account Information and RS Online Personal Profile are password-protected so that you and only you have access to this personal information. You may edit your RS Online Account Information and RS Online Personal Profile by using your RS Online user name and password and by clicking on the Update My Details button on your home page navigation bar. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. RS Online will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited email.

If you log-in to the site using a Username and Password, your browser may alert you to the fact that a cookie is being sent to your PC. This is a permanent cookie and is used the next time you visit RS Online. It identifies you to our server so that we can display web pages which are more relevant to your needs.

If you use the InfoZone on the site to locate and download data sheets, your browser may again alert you to the fact that a cookie is being sent. This will not be stored on your hard drive. It's purpose is merely to identify you to the data sheet server for the time you are using it. Once you have finished using the server, this cookie will be deleted.

If you accessed this site following a search on the internet, your browser may again alert you to the fact that a cookie is being sent. This cookie will be stored on your hard drive. The purpose of the cookie is to monitor the effectiveness of the keywords we submit to search engines on the internet and to better understand and serve our users as described in How does RS Online use my information?

RS Online uses your information for the purposes of order fulfilment, occasional direct marketing activities (see What are my choices regarding collection, use and distribution of my information?), for the administration of prize draws and competitions you may enter, and to provide you with customised and relevant information on your home page when you visit the site.

RS Online also does research on our users' demographics, interests, and behaviour . We do this to better understand and serve our users and to review, develop and improve the products and services we offer.

The personal information you provide to this site is collected by RS and its third party agents.

Please be aware that RS Online has links to other sites which may collect personally identifiable information about you. The information practices of those web sites linked to RS Online are not covered by this privacy statement.

RS is a member of a world-wide Group of companies of which RS Group is the parent company. RS may share information collected about you via the RS Online web site with other members of this Group. The members of this Group never sell, rent, or give away information that personally identifies customers to third parties except where elements of the business have been outsourced and the provision of such information is required for the provision of the service to you. Under such circumstances, the security and confidentiality of personal information would form a part of the legal agreement between us and the supplier. From time to time, we may release aggregated and anonymised marketing statistics to business partners, or may use these in press releases, advertising, or published reports. We would only personally identify you or any other customer in such press releases, advertising, or reports with your prior consent. RS may also disclose user information in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) RS' rights or property, other RS Online users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. In addition, RS may disclose user information when the law requires it.

RS Online may, from time to time, send you email regarding our products and About RS. In addition, we may occasionally send you direct mail about products and About RS that we feel may be of interest to you. Only RS Online or its agents will send you these direct mailings.

If you do not wish to receive details of these other offers then please contact RS by either writing to them at P.O. Box 80108 Cheung Sha Wan Post Office Hong Kong, faxing it to: (852) 2421 0339 , telephoning it to: (852) 2421 9898, emailing it to: HKEnquiry@rs.rsgroup.com .

You may edit your Personal Profile information at any time by clicking on the Update My Details button on your home page navigation bar. If you have forgotten your password, or have any other problems accessing the site, please contact the RS Online HelpDesk on (852) 2421 9898.

If you have forgotten your password, or have any other problems accessing the site, please contact RS by either writing to them at P.O. Box 80108 Cheung Sha Wan Post Office Hong Kong, faxing it to: (852) 2421 0339 , telephoning it to: (852) 2421 9898, emailing it to: HKEnquiry@rs.rsgroup.com .

Questions regarding this policy should be directed to RS, by either writing to them at,

RS P.O. Box 80108 Cheung Sha Wan Post Office Hong Kong, or  faxing it to: (852) 2421 0339, or telephoning it to: (852) 2421 9898, or  emailing it to: HKEnquiry@rs.rsgroup.com

RS is notified under the Data Protection Act 1998.

RS Group plc is the publicly quoted parent company which owns RS. For full details of the RS Group of companies, please click on the blue link.