Privacy policy

1. Who is responsible for your data

The data controller for this website is:

All contracts, invoices and formal notices are issued in the registered legal name above. “ANNEAL METALS” is a brand of the same company and is not a separate legal entity.

2. What we collect

We only collect what you send us or what is needed to run the site:

• Enquiry data — the name, company, email address, country, phone number and specification details you enter in a quote request, plus any file you attach.
• Technical data — IP address, browser type, pages visited and referring site, collected only if you accept analytics cookies.
• Cookie data — a single preference cookie that records your cookie choice.

We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16, and this site is not directed at consumers.

3. Why we use it and on what basis

4. How long we keep it

• Unsuccessful enquiries: 24 months, then deleted. This applies to enquiries received through the website form as well as by email, and the form records are cleared on the same schedule.
• Customer and order records: for the period required by Chinese accounting, tax and export regulations, and by the quality and traceability requirements of the standards we are certified to.
• Certificate and inspection records: retained for the retention period stated in the applicable standard, because traceability is part of the product.
• Analytics data: as configured in our analytics tool, generally no longer than 14 months.

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell personal data. We share it only where necessary:

• Freight forwarders, shipping lines and customs brokers, to move your order
• Third-party inspection agencies you nominate, such as SGS, TUV, Bureau Veritas or Intertek
• Banks and payment providers, for settlement
• Our email, hosting and form-processing providers, acting on our instructions: Cloudflare (website hosting, content delivery and DNS), Tencent Exmail (our business mailbox) and Forminit (handling and storage of enquiry form submissions)
• Public authorities, where we are legally required to disclose

6. International transfers

We are based in China and some of our service providers process data in other countries. Where data is transferred out of the European Economic Area, the UK or another jurisdiction with transfer restrictions, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses, or on the necessity of the transfer for performing a contract with you.

Enquiry form submissions — including any file you attach — are processed and stored by our form provider Forminit on servers in the European Union (AWS, Ireland) under a data processing agreement, so they are not transferred outside the EEA by that step. Our website hosting and business email are provided from infrastructure that may include locations outside the EEA, covered by the safeguards described above.

7. Cookies

Essential cookies keep the site working and remember your cookie choice — these cannot be switched off. Analytics cookies are optional and are only set after you accept them. You can change your choice at any time using the cookie settings link in the footer, or by clearing cookies in your browser.

8. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• ask us to correct anything inaccurate
• ask us to delete data we no longer need
• ask us to restrict or stop processing
• receive your data in a portable format
• withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent
• lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority

Write to [email protected] and we will respond within 30 days. We may ask you to verify your identity first.

9. How we protect it

The site is served over HTTPS. Enquiry data is stored in access-controlled systems, available only to the staff who need it to quote and fulfil your order. We keep the number of people who can see a quotation list as small as we can.

10. Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle personal data we will update this page and change the date at the top. Material changes affecting existing customers will be notified by email.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy, or about a quotation you have already sent us, go to [email protected] or to the address in section 1.