Last Updated 25 July 2024

SCOPE

This Privacy Notice explains how First Solar, Inc. and its affiliates, subsidiaries, divisions, and groups (collectively, "First Solar," “our,” “us,” or “we”), collects, uses, discloses, and otherwise processes personal information in connection with our services. This Privacy Notice applies to the collection of personal information (defined below) from our customers, vendors, business partners or any other individuals who access our services or a website/application to which this Privacy Notice is linked.

DEFINITIONS

The following definitions shall apply throughout this Privacy Notice:

"Personal Information" means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, to you. Personal Information does not include aggregated or de-identified information that is maintained in a manner that is not reasonably capable of being associated with or linked to you. Unless the context requires otherwise, Personal Information shall be deemed to include Sensitive Personal Information.

"Sensitive Personal Information" means Personal Information that reveals genetic data or biometric data, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious, or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, or information specifying the health or sex life of the individual.

"Website” means Firstsolar.com and all other First Solar websites and online services, including desktop and mobile applications that post or link to this Privacy Notice.

PRIVACY PRINCIPLES

  1. NOTICE

    This Privacy Notice, together with our Terms of Use (https://www.firstsolar.com/Policies/Terms-of-Use), sets forth the basis on which we will process any Personal Information that we collect on you, or that you provide to us.

    Please read the following carefully to understand the Personal Information we collect, how that Personal Information is used and the ways it can be shared between us and you. If you do not agree to your Personal Information being processed by us in the ways described within this Privacy Notice, please do not use the Website or any of the services which we provide.

    The Data Controller of your Personal Information is First Solar, Inc. Our representative in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) is First Solar GmbH. Contact details for the Data Protection Officers at each of these entities are set forth below.

  2. PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

    We collect Personal Information that you provide to us directly or that we generate through our Website or services. At times, we may collect Personal Information about you from other sources and third parties, even before our first direct interaction.

    Personal Information you give to us. We may collect Personal Information about you that you give directly to us. For example, we may collect Personal Information from you through your interaction with the Website, by signing up for a newsletter, by providing your Personal Information to obtain access to certain content, by applying for a job with us, by filling in a “Contact Us” form on the Website or by corresponding with us by phone, email or otherwise. In addition, we may collect Personal Information that you provide to us at in person events and other meetings. We may also collect Personal Information that you provide to us when we provide our services, such as when you are making a purchase.

    Such Personal Information may include your first and last name, email address, telephone number, postal address, employer, job title, or other data that will allow us to facilitate your request and answer your questions.

    If you contact us in regard to an application for employment or when you submit a job application online, this may also include information such as employment history, education history, and other information from your application or resume, such as gender, race, ethnicity, veteran and disability status, where required or permitted by law.

    Personal Information we automatically collect about you. We may automatically collect certain types of usage and device information when you visit our Website, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us online through the use of tracking technologies, such as:

    • technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer or other device to the Internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform; and
    • information about your visit, including the dates and times you use the Website, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction data (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), methods used to browse away from the page, and any phone number used to call the contact phone number provided on our Website.

    For information about our and our third-party partners’ use of cookies and related technologies to collect information automatically, and any choices you may have in relation to its collection, please see the “Cookies and Online Ads” section below.

    Personal Information we receive from other sources. We may collect information about you from third party sources, which we may combine with the other information we have collected about you in order to help us provide our services, comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, or to fulfill our business obligations. This includes information that social media platforms share with us about individuals who click on our posts and/or “like” a post or add comments.

    We do not collect any Sensitive Personal Information about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data) without your express consent.

  3. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

    We may use your Personal Information for a number of business purposes, including:

    • where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you, including to enforce the Terms of Use;
    • where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests;
    • where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation;
    • to set up a customer/vendor account with us;
    • to respond to your inquiries;
    • to post testimonials, comments, and reviews on the Website which may contain Personal Information. We do obtain the individual’s consent prior to posting their testimonial, both to post their testimonial and to post their name along with their testimonial;
    • to send service-related announcements when we deem necessary. For instance, if service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, we may send an email notification;
    • occasionally we may send marketing emails. If you no longer wish to receive marketing emails, follow the unsubscribe instructions included in those communications. You may not opt out of service-related communications (e.g., account verification, transactional communications, changes/updates to features of the service, technical and security notices);
    • to deliver the Website effectively and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
    • to improve the Website to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer or other device;
    • as part of our efforts to keep the Website safe and secure;
    • if an individual chooses to use our referral service embedded in our Website to tell a friend about a job, we may ask for the friend’s name and email address. We may automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the site; and
    • we may combine this Personal Information with Personal Information you give to us and/or that we collect or receive about you. We will use the combined Personal Information for the purposes set forth above (depending on the types of Personal Information we receive).
  4. DISCLOSURE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

    We disclose Personal Information in the following ways:

    • Within First Solar: we may disclose Personal Information between and among any of our global locations and affiliates in accordance with local law. Data protection laws in some of these locations may not have the same level of protection for your Personal Information as those of your home country. However, where we share your Personal Information with our First Solar group companies located outside of the EEA, we will ensure that adequate safeguards, including the standard contractual clauses, are in place;
    • Service Providers: we share Personal Information with third-party vendors, consultants and other service providers that perform functions or services on our behalf and under our instructions to make our services available to you (e.g., a job search company to post jobs and collect resumes, tax and accounting services, auditing and compliance, IT services);
    • Distributors: we share Personal Information with our distributors to help facilitate our services;
    • Business Transaction or Reorganization: we may disclose Personal Information to a third party if we take part in or are involved with a corporate business transaction, for example if we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your Personal Information to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets; if First Solar or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case Personal Information held by it will be one of the transferred assets;
    • Legal Obligations and Rights: we may disclose Personal Information to third parties, such as legal advisors and law enforcement, if we are under a duty to disclose or share your Personal Information in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements; to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our users, or others; or as otherwise required by applicable law. See the Legal Disclaimer below; and
    • Consent: we may disclose Personal Information about you to certain other third parties with your consent.
  5. SECURITY

    First Solar endeavors to maintain appropriate safeguards and precautions to protect Personal Information in our possession from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially reasonable means to protect the Personal Information we receive, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. Moreover, we are not responsible for the security of information you transmit to the Website over networks that we do not control, including the Internet and wireless networks.

  6. COOKIES AND ONLINE ADS

    As is the case with many websites, we automatically collect certain types of usage and device information when you visit our Website, read our emails or otherwise engage with us online. We typically collect this information through the use of tracking technologies, such as cookies, pixels, Locally Stored Objects such as Flash cookies, web beacons, log file information and similar technology (collectively, “tracking technologies”), and we may utilize third party services to collect this information. For example, we collect information about your device and its software, such as your IP address, browser type, device type, date and time stamp, a unique ID that allows us to uniquely identify your browser, mobile device or your account, your precise geolocation (or we may approximate your location) and other such information. We also collect information about the way you use our Website, such as the pages you visit, the links you click, whether you open emails or click the links contained in emails, whether you access the Website from multiple devices, and other actions. We may collect analytics data, or use third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics, to help us measure traffic and usage trends for the Website and to understand more about the demographics of our users. You can learn more about Google’s practices at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and view its currently available opt-out options at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

    We, or our third-party partners, use or may use the data collected through tracking technologies to: (a) remember information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit the site; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information, including targeted content and advertising; (c) identify you across multiple devices; (d) provide, monitor and improve the effectiveness and functionality of our Website and services; (e) monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, traffic, usage, and demographic patterns on our Website; (f) diagnose or fix technology problems; and (g) otherwise to plan for and enhance our Website and service.

    COOKIES
    At several points, the Website delivers so-called “cookies” (including "session" cookies that are automatically deleted upon termination of your session when you close your browser). Cookies are small text files that are delivered to the user’s browsing device (such as a computer or smartphone) and are stored by the web browser that help to make our web content more user-friendly, effective, and secure.

    What do we use cookies for?
    The cookies we use are categorized into four groups:

    Strictly Necessary cookies - these cookies are used for technical reasons and are necessary to enable the Website to operate efficiently so that you can navigate the Website with ease and use specific features. These include, for example, cookies that help us to debug any errors. If these cookies are blocked or disabled, some of the Website may not operate effectively.

    Performance cookies - these cookies are used to obtain statistics about the number of users of the Website and how such users interact with the Website. These cookies collect Personal Information that is aggregated and therefore cannot be used to ascertain an individual's identity. Such Personal Information allows us to continuously improve the Website to provide users with a better online.

    Functionality cookies - these cookies are used to improve the functionality of the Website and make it easier to use. They help us to identify you as a repeat user of the Website and help us remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region), improving your user experience.

    We may share Personal Information that we collected through cookies, in aggregated form, with carefully selected third parties for the purposes set forth above, unless you disable or block cookies as set forth below.

    If you would prefer not to accept cookies, most browsers will allow you to control or reject cookies or other tracking technologies. You may also set your email options to prevent the automatic downloading of images that may contain technologies. Depending on your device and operating system, you may not be able to delete or block all cookies and you may not be able to block non-cookie tracking technologies. In addition, options you select relating to cookies and other tracking technologies are specific to your particular browser or device. You must exercise these choices on each browser or device you may use. Some web browsers may transmit “do-not-track” (“DNT”) signals to the websites with which the user communicates. Although we do our best to honor the privacy preferences of our visitors, we are not currently able respond to DNT signals at this time. Please be aware that if you decide to disable or block cookies, parts of the Website may not function correctly or at all.

    You may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.youronlinechoices.eu for more information on managing cookies.

    Such consent will be made by acknowledgement of a cookies-related pop-up banner or your decision to proceed with entry into the Website.

    ONLINE ADVERTISING
    We engage in interest-based advertising to deliver online advertising and permit third party online advertising networks, social media companies, and other third party services to collect information about your use of our website over time so that they may play or display ads on other websites, apps, or services you may use, and on other devices you may use. We and our third party partners use this information to make the advertisements you see online more relevant to your interests, as well as to provide advertising-related services such as reporting, attribution, analytics, and market research.

    We support the self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising (“Principles”) published by the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”). This means that we allow you to exercise choice regarding the collection of information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites for online interest-based advertising purposes. More information about these Principles can be found at www.aboutads.info. If you want to opt out of receiving online interest-based advertisements on your internet browser from advertisers and third parties that participate in the DAA program and perform advertising-related services for us and our partners, please follow the instructions:

    If you want to opt out of receiving online interest-based advertisements on mobile apps, please follow the instructions at http://www.aboutads.info/appchoices.

    Please note that when you opt out of receiving interest-based advertisements, this does not mean you will no longer see advertisements from us or on our online services. It means that the online ads that you do see from DAA program participants should not be based on your interests. We are not responsible for the effectiveness of, or compliance with, any third party’s opt-out options or programs or the accuracy of their statements regarding their programs. In addition, third parties may still use cookies to collect information about your use of our online services, including for analytics and fraud prevention as well as any other purpose permitted under the DAA’s Principles.

  7. LINKS TO OTHER SITES

    If individuals click on a link to a third-party site, they will leave the Website they are visiting and go to the site selected. First Solar does not control the activities of third parties and therefore is not responsible for use of Personal Information by such third parties and does not guarantee that these third parties will adhere to the same privacy practices as First Solar. We encourage individuals to review the privacy statements of any other service provider from whom they request services. If individuals visit a third-party website that is linked to our site, they should read that site’s privacy statement before providing any Personal Information.

  8. DATA INTEGRITY

    First Solar takes reasonable steps (including depending on third parties to provide accurate information) to ensure that the Personal Information we collect is used in ways that are compatible for which it was collected or the individual subsequently authorized. First Solar also takes reasonable steps to ensure the Personal Information we collect is accurate, complete, and current.

  9. RETENTION

    First Solar will only retain your Personal Information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which we collected it, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

    The criteria used to determine the period for which Personal Information about you will be retained varies depending on the legal basis under which we process the Personal Information:


    Legitimate Interests

    Where we are processing Personal Information based on our legitimate interests, we generally will retain such information for a reasonable period of time based on the particular interest, taking into account the fundamental interests and the rights and freedoms of data subjects

    Consent

    Where we are processing Personal Information based on your consent, we generally will retain the information for the period of time necessary to fulfill the underlying agreement with you, subject to your right, under certain circumstances, to have certain of your data erased (please see Region-Specific Disclosures section below)

    Contract

    Where we are processing Personal Information based on contract, we generally will retain the information for the duration of the contract plus some additional limited period of time that is necessary to comply with law or that represents the statute of limitations for legal claims that could arise from the contractual relationship

    Legal Obligation

    Where we are processing Personal Information based on a legal obligation, we generally will retain the information for the period of time necessary to fulfil the legal obligation

    Legal Claim

    We may need to apply a “legal hold” that retains information beyond our typical retention period where we face threat of legal claim. In that case, we will retain the information until the hold is removed, which typically means the claim or threat of claim has been resolved.

    In all cases, in addition to the legal bases, to determine the appropriate retention period for Personal Information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the Personal Information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your Personal Information, the purposes for which we process your Personal Information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

    For additional information on retention periods, please contact us using the details provided at the end of this Privacy Notice.

  10. REGION-SPECIFIC DISCLOSURES

    We may choose or be required by law to provide different or additional disclosures relating to the processing of Personal Information about residents of certain countries, regions or states. Please refer below for disclosures that may be applicable to you.

    Upon request, First Solar may grant individuals reasonable access to the Personal Information that it holds about them. First Solar aims to take reasonable steps to permit individuals to correct, amend, or delete Personal Information that is demonstrated to be inaccurate or incomplete. Please see our contact information below.

    EEA-Specific Disclosure: If you are based in the European Economic Area or the UK (“EEA”), you have a number of rights in relation to how we process your Personal Information. These include:

    • the right to access the Personal Information that we may hold about you;
    • the right to rectify any inaccurate Personal Information that we may hold about you;
    • the right to require us to limit the purposes for which we process your Personal Information if the continued processing of the Personal Information in this way is not justified, such as where the accuracy of the Personal Information is contested by you;
    • the right to have your Personal Information erased in certain circumstances, for example, where it is no longer necessary for us to process your Personal Information to fulfill our processing purposes, or where you have successfully exercised your right to object to the processing;
    • the right to object to the processing of your Personal Information which may be exercised in certain circumstances, for example, where we are processing your Personal Information for direct marketing purposes, or where your own legitimate interests outweigh ours; and
    • the right to obtain a copy of your Personal Information in an easily accessible format and the right to have your data ported to another data controller if you no longer wish to use the services.

    You can exercise any of these rights any time by contacting us at Datenschutz@firstsolar.com. If you are based outside of the EEA, you may have similar rights, which are exercisable by contacting us. 

    No fee usually required.

    You will not have to pay a fee to access your Personal Information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

    What we may need from you.

    We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your Personal Information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that Personal Information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

    Time limit to respond.

    We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

    EU-US Data Privacy Framework Principles.

    First Solar complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (“EU-U.S. DPF”) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. First Solar has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (“EU-U.S. DPF Principles”) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF.

    If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (“DPF”) Program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/. The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over First Solar’s compliance with the EU-US DPF.

    In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF, First Solar commits to cooperate and comply with the advice of the panel established by the EU Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) with regard to unresolved complaints concerning our handling of human resources data received in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF in the context of the employment relationship.

  11. WHERE WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

    The Personal Information that we collect from you will be transferred to and stored within the US. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Notice. All Personal Information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers.

  12. LEGAL DISCLAIMER

    We reserve the right to disclose Personal Information as required by law and when that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our website, or when otherwise requested by law enforcement.

    First Solar maintains contracts with third parties that process Personal Information within the scope of the DPF Principles. The contracts restrict their access, use, and disclosure of Personal Information in compliance with First Solar’s EU-US DPF obligations. First Solar may be liable for damages if such third parties fail to comply with their contractual obligations.

  13. DISPUTE RESOLUTION

    Any questions or concerns regarding the use or disclosure of Personal Information should be directed to First Solar at the address given below. First Solar will investigate and attempt to resolve complaints and disputes regarding the use and disclosure of Personal Information in accordance with the principles contained in this Notice.

    First Solar commits to refer unresolved Data Privacy Framework complaints to the International Centre for Dispute Resolution – American Arbitration Association (ICDR-AAA), an alternative dispute resolution provider located in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment for your complaint from First Solar, or if First Solar has not addressed your complaint to your satisfaction, please contact or visit ICDR-AAA at https://go.adr.org/dpf_irm.html for more information or to file a complaint. The services of ICDR-AAA are provided at no cost to you. Under certain conditions, you may be able to invoke binding arbitration.

    EEA Users only: Should you have cause to complain about how we handle your Personal Information, please contact us in the first instance. We will do our best to resolve your concern. Alternatively, you may prefer to submit a complaint directly to the national supervisory authority within your jurisdiction.

  14. LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES

    Adherence by First Solar to these data privacy principles may be limited (a) to the extent required to respond to a legal obligation; and (b) to the extent expressly permitted by an applicable law, rule, or regulation.

  15. CONTACT INFORMATION

    Questions or comments regarding this Notice should be submitted to First Solar by E-mail to Datenschutz@firstsolar.com or DataProtection@firstsolar.com

  16. DATA PROTECTION OFFICERS:

    For the First Solar companies, a Data Protection Officer has been appointed. The responsibility of the Data Protection Officer is to monitor compliance with data protection in all areas. If individuals should have any questions or suggestions with respect to data protection law, then they may contact our Data Protection Officer at any time at the following:

    Europe

    First Solar GmbH*

    Group Data Protection Officer
    Amelia-Mary-Earhart-Strasse 8
    60549 Frankfurt am Main
    Germany

    *(for this entity and all other European affiliates of First Solar, Inc.)
    Telephone:  +49 69 643 5772 71
    OR send an e-mail to Datenschutz@Firstsolar.com

    United States

    First Solar, Inc.

    Data Protection Compliance
    28101 Cedar Park Blvd
    Perrysburg, Ohio 43551
    USA
    OR send an e-mail to DataProtection@firstsolar.com

    California Consumers only (CCPA Related Matters)
    Please refer to the California Privacy Notice below.

  17. CHANGES TO PRIVACY NOTICE:

    If First Solar decides to change our privacy practices, we will change the “Last Updated” date at the beginning of this Privacy Notice. If we make material changes to this Privacy Notice, we may post those changes to this Privacy Notice, the Website home page, and may notify individuals by email or other appropriate communication channels.

    We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Notice at any time, so please review it frequently. If you do not wish for your Personal Information to be processed in the way described under any updated Privacy Notice, please do not continue to use the Website or any services we offer.

CALIFORNIA PRIVACY NOTICE

This California Privacy Notice applies solely to individual residents of the State of California (“consumers” or “you”). This California Privacy Notice provides additional information about how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise process personal information of consumers, either offline or online, within the scope of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), as amended by the California Consumer Rights Act (“CPRA) (collectively, “California Privacy Law”). If you are a California resident, please review this section below as it is applicable to your Personal Information ("California Personal Information"). If you are having difficulty viewing or navigating this California Privacy Notice, please contact us at Datenschutz@firstsolar.com with "Privacy Notice Accessibility" in the subject line.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, all terms in this California Privacy Notice have the same meaning as defined in our Privacy Notice or as otherwise defined in the CCPA.

For the purposes of this California Privacy Notice, California Personal Information does not include:

  • Publicly available information from government records;
  • Deidentified, aggregated or anonymized information that is maintained in a form that is not capable of being associated with or linked to you;
  • Lawfully obtained, truthful information that is of public concern;
  • Information excluded from the CCPA's scope; and
  • Information reflecting communications or transactions between us and representatives of our business customers and other third-party entities in connection with us considering, providing or receiving a product or service to or from the business customer or other third-party entity.
  1. California Personal Information We Collect and Disclose for Business and Commercial Purposes 

    In the past 12 months, we have collected the following categories of California Personal Information from the categories of sources and for the business and commercial purposes set forth below:

    • Identifiers
    • California Customer Records
    • Commercial Information
    • Internet / Network Information
    • Geolocation information
    • Inferences
    • Other Personal Information

    Certain California Personal Information that First Solar collects about you may be considered sensitive personal information within the meaning of California Privacy Law, including credit card information (for billing and transactional purposes in connection with providing products and services). First Solar only uses and discloses sensitive personal information as necessary in connection with the performance of services and the provision of goods, compliance with federal, state, or local laws, and as otherwise permitted by California Privacy Law.

  2. Sources of Personal Information

    We collect this California Personal Information about you from one or more of the following categories of sources:

    • Directly from you (e.g., when you provide information as part of a business transaction);
    • Indirectly from you;
    • Your browser or device;
    • Social media companies;
    • Our business partners;
    • Website analytics companies;
    • Other First Solar entities; and
    • Government entities/law enforcement.

    Please note: In addition to the categories of sources identified above, we may collect information from publicly available sources and other third-party information providers in order to supplement the information we have otherwise collected about you.

  3. Purposes for Collecting Personal Information

    We collect, use, or disclose California Personal Information about you for the following business and commercial purposes:

    • Business purposes, including:
      • Auditing related to our interactions with you;
      • Detecting and protecting against security incidents, fraud, and illegal activity;
      • Debugging;
      • Performing services (for us or our service providers) such as account servicing; processing orders and payments, and analytics;
      • Internal research for technological improvement;
      • Activities to maintain and improve our services; and
      • Fulfillment of services.

     

    • Commercial purposes, including:
      • Marketing;
      • Advertising; and
      • Identity resolution.
  4. Disclosure of Personal Information

    As described in our Privacy Notice, we disclose California Personal Information to a variety of parties for business or commercial purposes.
    We disclose California Personal Information for the business purposes described above to:

    • First Solar brands (for example, we may disclose California Personal Information between and among First Solar and its current and future parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, brands and other companies under common control or ownership);
    • Service providers;
    • Potential purchasers and other parties in the context of a corporate transaction;
    • Public or government entities, such as law enforcement and third parties pursuant to legal request; and
    • Others to the extent necessary to comply with law and as otherwise permitted under California Privacy Law.

    We disclose Identifiers, Internet, or other electronic network activity information, and Geolocation information for the commercial purposes described above to:

    • Analytics providers;
    • Social media companies; and
    • Trusted business partners.

    We do not sell (as this term is defined under California Privacy Law) the California Personal Information of consumers we know to be less than 16 years of age, unless we receive affirmative authorization from either the minor who is between 13 and 16 years of age, or the parent or guardian of a minor less than 13 years of age.

  5. Retention Period for California Personal Information

    Consistent with the above, First Solar retains your California Personal Information for as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained; in order to comply with our legal and contractual obligations; or to protect ourselves from any disputes, all in accordance with our data retention policy. When establishing retention duration for California Personal Information, First Solar takes into consideration various criteria such as the amount, nature, and potential risk of harm of an unauthorized use or disclosure of personal data, tax and legal requirements for the retention of records, and legitimate business needs.

  6. Your Rights Regarding California Personal Information

    Subject to certain exceptions detailed in California Privacy Law, as a California resident, you have the right to request: (i) deletion of your California Personal Information; (ii) correction of inaccurate California Personal Information; (iii) to know/ access the categories of California Personal Information that we collect about you, including the specific pieces of California Personal Information; (iv) the categories of California Personal Information disclosed for a business purpose; and (v) information about the categories of California Personal Information about you that we have sold or shared (as such terms are defined under California Privacy Law) and the categories of third parties to whom the California Personal Information was sold or shared.

  7. How to Exercise Your California Privacy Rights

    To exercise any of the above rights, please contact us using the following information and submit the required verifying information, as further described below:

    • By phone at 877-880-8473; or
    • By using our online web form below:

    To Exercise Your Right to Opt Out of the Selling and/or Sharing of Your California Personal Information: California residents have the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of their California Personal Information, as such terms are defined under California Privacy Law. We do not “sell” California Personal Information as most people would typically understand that term. However, we do share certain California Personal Information with trusted business partners, as well as allow certain third party advertising networks and other third party businesses to collect your California Personal Information directly from your browser or device through cookies and related technologies for advertising, attribution, analytics and research purposes. These third parties may use such California Personal Information for their own purposes in accordance with their own privacy statements, which may include reselling this information to additional third parties. By visiting www.privacyrights.info CCPA Opt Out Tool (privacyrights.info), you can opt out from sales of this type of personal information by businesses that participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) CCPA App-based Opt-Out Tool.

  8. Verification Process and Required Information

    Note that we may need to request additional information from you to verify your identity or understand the scope of your request, although you will not be required to create an account with us to submit a request or have it fulfilled. In order to verify your identity, we will generally either require the successful login to your account or the matching of sufficient information you provide us to the information we maintain about you in our systems. In certain circumstances, we may decline a request, particularly where we are unable to verify your identity.

  9. Authorized Agent

    In certain circumstances, you may designate an authorized agent to make a California Privacy Law request on your behalf where (i) you provide sufficient evidence to show that the requestor is an authorized agent with written permission to act on your behalf and (ii) you successfully verify your own identity with us. Please use the online webform below.

     and emailing or mailing the completed form to:

    DataProtection@firstsolar.com

    United States
    First Solar, Inc.
    Data Protection Compliance
    28101 Cedar Park Blvd
    Perrysburg, Ohio
    43551
    USA

    By phone at 877-880-8473

MALAYSIA PRIVACY NOTICE

This Malaysia Privacy Notice supplements the information contained in our Privacy Notice and applies solely to the data subjects (hereinafter defined) in Malaysia. This Malaysia Privacy Notice provides additional information about how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise process personal information of consumers, either offline or online, within the scope of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (“PDPA”).

Language of this Privacy Notice

In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between the English version and Malay version, the English version shall prevail.

Definitions

 

  1. “Data Subject” means an individual who is the subject of the personal data;
  2. “Sensitive Personal Data” meaning any personal data consisting of the following information pertaining to the data subject:
    1. physical or mental health or condition;
    2. political opinions;
    3. religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature;
    4. the commission or alleged commission by the data subject of any offence; or
    5. any other personal data as the Minister of Communications and Multimedia may determine by order published in the government gazette.

Provision of Personal Data

The provision of your Personal Data is mandatory for the purposes of updating the Company on your health risk status on a daily basis to comply with the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) by the Government of Malaysia and Ministry of Health Malaysia.

Rights of Data Subjects

  1. Right of access: You have the right to request access to and obtain a copy of information of your personal information that we have collected and is being processed by or on behalf of us. We reserve the right to impose a fee for access of your personal information in the amounts as permitted under law.

    When handling a data access request, we are permitted to request for certain information to verify the identity of the requester to ensure that he/she is the person legally entitled to make the data access request.
  2. Right of correction: You may request for the correction of your personal information. When handling a data correction request, we are permitted to request for certain information to verify the identity of the requester to ensure that he/she is the person legally entitled to make the data correction request.
  3. Right to limit processing of your personal data: You may request to limit the processing of your personal information by using the contact details provided below. However, this may affect our performance of the contract with you.

Parental and Guardian Consent

This Privacy Notice can only be accepted by adults of legal age of majority, who are at least eighteen (18) years of age. In the event you are agreeing to this Privacy Notice in order for a minor (individuals who are below eighteen (18) years of age) to access our Website or services, you hereby personally accept and agree to be bound by the terms of this Privacy Notice. Further, you hereby agree to take responsibility for the actions of such minor, and that minor’s compliance with this Privacy Notice.

Contact Information

In the event you wish to limit the processing of your personal data, or to access or correct your data as provided in this Privacy Notice, or if you have any inquiries or complaints in respect of the processing of your personal data, please contact:

First Solar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
Data Protection Officer
8, Jalan Hi-Tech 3/3 (First Solar Blvd),
Zon Industri Fasa 3, Kulim High Tech Park (KHTP)
09000 Kulim,
Kedah, Malaysia
Telephone number: 1800887760
perlindungandata@firstsolar.com

In respect of your right to access and/or correct your personal data, we have the right to refuse your request to access and/or make any correction to your personal data for the reasons permitted under law, such as where the expense of providing access to you is disproportionate to the risks to your or another person’s privacy.