Our handling of your data and your rights under EU Data Protection Law

Information in accordance with Art. 13 and 21 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

With the following information, the Freudenberg Home and Cleaning Solutions Business Group would like to give you an overview of how your personal data is processed by us and your rights according to data protection law. Which specific data are processed and how they are used depends largely on the requested or agreed-upon services. Therefore, not all sections of this information will apply to you.

Furthermore, this data protection information may be updated periodically. You'll find the latest version on this page at any time. Status: Updated as of June 6, 2024

Responsible parties 

Your contractual partner is responsible for the processing of your personal data. Information on this can be found in the contract concluded with your company. 

Shared responsibility 

As part of their activities, the companies may utilise the same database solution within the scope of their activities and access a common data set as required. The joint responsibility is regulated by an agreement between the companies. The companies are hereby independently responsible for the lawful processing of personal data and ensuring data subjects' rights, including the provision of compulsory information. If necessary, the companies support each other during this process.

We have appointed a data protection officer for the German companies:
c/o activeMind.legal Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH 
Potsdamer Str. 3 
80802 Munich
Phone: 089 / 91 92 94 - 900
E-mail: data_protection@fhp-ww.com  

We process your data for the following purposes and on the following legal basis: 

To fulfil contractual obligations (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR) The processing is necessary for the fulfilment of a contract with you. If you enquire about an offer, the data processing is carried out in response to your enquiry and is necessary for the implementation of pre-contractual measures.


Due to statutory requirements (Art. 6 para. 1 letter c) GDPR)
We are subject to various legal obligations that result in data processing. These include, for example, tax laws, as well as the respective statutory accounting, responding to inquiries and meeting the requirements of supervisory or law enforcement authorities and compliance with tax audits and reporting obligations.


In addition, the disclosure of personal data within the context of administrative/judicial measures may be required for purposes of gathering evidence, prosecuting or enforcing civil claims.

Within the scope of weighing interests (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR)
If required, we process your data beyond actual contractual compliance for the protection of our legitimate interests or those of third parties. Examples of such cases are 

  • if you contact us by e-mail or telephone, the data you enter will be stored for the purpose of individual communication with you,
  • saving additional contacts in the CRM system for communication,
  • surveys to improve our products (anonymous evaluation),
  • direct marketing to existing customers, provided you have not objected to the use of your e-mail address for advertising purposes, you will receive information on news and events by e-mail, and
  • enforcement of legal claims and defence in legal disputes.

Who receives your data?

In our company, employees receive your data in order to contact you and for contractual collaboration (including the implementation of pre-contractual measures).

Your data will only be forwarded to service providers (processors) when necessary to perform our contractual duties (e.g. support/ EDP maintenance /IT applications, accounting, data erasure). All service providers are obliged to handle your data confidentially pursuant to a commissioned processing contract.


With regard to the data transfer to recipients outside of our company, it should be noted that we only forward required personal data in compliance with the applicable data protection regulations. Under these conditions, recipients of personal data may be

  • public bodies and institutions (e.g. tax authorities, law enforcement authorities) when presented with a statutory or regulatory obligation,
  • credit and financial services institutions (processing payment transactions),
  • tax consultants, certified public accountants and income/corporate tax auditors (statutory audit mandate).

Is data transferred to a third country or an international organisation?

Your data will only be processed within the European Union and countries within the European Economic Area (EEA).

How long will your data be stored?

We process and store your personal data as long as this is necessary to fulfil our contractual and legal obligations. If the data are no longer required for the fulfilment of contractual or legal obligations, these are deleted on a regular basis. There are exceptions to the above-mentioned deletion criteria for data

  • required to fulfil the statutory retention requirements, 
  • for maintaining evidence in accordance with the legal statute of limitations. 

If the data processing takes place in our legitimate interest of that of a third party, the personal data will be deleted as soon as this interest no longer exists. The aforementioned exceptions also apply here.

In the case of direct advertising, each mailing contains an opt-out link so that you can object at any time. 

What data protection rights do you have?

Every data subject has the right of access pursuant to Art. 15 GDPR, right to rectification pursuant to Art. 16 GDPR, right to erasure pursuant to Art. 17 GDPR, right to restriction of processing pursuant to Art. 19 GDPR, right to object from Art. 21 GDPR as well as the right to data portability from Art. 20 GDPR.

National restrictions may apply to the right of access and the right to erasure.
In addition, there is a right to lodge a complaint with a competent data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR). A list of the supervisory authorities is available at:
https://www.edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en 

Am I obligated to provide data?

Under the terms of the contractual relationship, you may provide the personal information necessary to initiate, carry out and terminate the contractual relationship and to fulfil the respective contractual obligations or those that we are required to collect by law. Without this data, we will not be able to contact you, enter into a contract with you or perform the services detailed therein.

With regard to participating in surveys or receiving direct advertising, the provision of your personal data is voluntary. There will be no disadvantages for you if you object to the processing of your personal data. You will no longer receive direct advertising including invitations for participating In surveys.

Information about your right to object according to Art. 21 (1) GDPR

Case-specific right to object

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data by us at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation, provided that this objection was filed in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (data processing based on a weighing of interests).
If you file an objection, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for processing that outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms, or if the processing is for the purpose of enforcing, carrying out or defending legal claims.

Recipient of an objection

The objection can be made without any formal requirements with 'Objection' in the subject line, your name and address, and can be sent to the above-mentioned contact details.