Full Privacy notice DPOC and Medical Information:
When you contact MSD Animal Health Norge AS (MSD), MSD processes personal data under this Privacy Notice and in accordance with applicable legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679; the «GDPR») and other applicable national data protection laws in Norway.
MSD will collect your contact information of choice (i.e., email address and/or phone number) for the primary purpose of responding to your inquiry and documenting any Adverse Events or Product Quality Complaints reported by you. In addition, MSD will save: the details of your medical inquiry, the method used to contact us (e.g., email, phone), your role as a customer (e.g., animal owner, veterinary healthcare professional), and the product(s) and/or disease state pertaining to your question. We will also log the response we provide to the inquiry.
These data are collected for statistical purposes and enable the company to identify information gaps and future research needs as well as improve communication about our products. For quality assurance purposes, and to ensure compliance with all rules and regulations, we likewise document how we provide answers to different types of customers and the appropriateness of our responses. This information will not be linked back to you and will be saved for the above purposes as long as there is a business or regulatory need to do so.
The above information is ultimately collected based on MSD’s legitimate interest to ensure high quality customer service and enhance patient safety.
If you report an adverse event or other product experience which will need to be forwarded to regulatory authorities, we will collect relevant details about the animal (e.g., species breed, age) and product (e.g., dose and formulation). Preferably, we will gather as much complementary information as possible to better understand the circumstances of the event. For instance, it is often essential for us to inquire about the animal’s general medical history, including any prior health ailments, current conditions/diseases, and concomitant products administered. Again, the central purpose of requesting these details is to monitor the performance of our products, maximizing their safe and effective use in all patients.
The information that we collect is based on our company’s legal requirements to document adverse and other reportable events, and it is intended for the interest of public and veterinary health. You decide how much data you choose to share with us. The quality of our service in responding to your inquiry will not be compromised if you choose not to share data.
Is data transferred or disclosed to third parties?
Since MSD is a global corporation, your data may be shared internally with the business units responsible for: processing adverse event reports, managing product quality complaints, and
responding to veterinary information inquiries. These units could be located anywhere in the world.
Your data may be transferred to and processed by third parties which perform services for MSD (data processors) to enable these companies to perform the services requested by MSD. Only the personal data that is necessary for the third party to fulfill the services will be supplied to these companies. All third-party providers must adhere to applicable written data processor agreements and implement appropriate technical and organizational measures for the protection of personal data.
If applicable, your data will also be reported to global regulatory authorities in an anonymized format as required by law and for the interest of public health.
We will not disclose personal data to any other third parties unless required to do so under the Data Protection Law or other laws or in order to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Where is your data processed?
We primarily process personal data locally and on servers located in the United States, and as such we need to transfer your information outside of the EU/EEA. The regulatory standards for information protection in countries outside the EU/EEA may be less stringent than those required within the EEA. Where this is the case, we will implement appropriate measures under the GDPR to ensure that your personal information remains protected and secure.
It is important to note that MSD complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union to the United States. MSD has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles. In addition, MSD has entered into Binding Corporate Rules, which have been approved in the European Union, that permit the transfer of personal information throughout the world to any other affiliate within the MSD group of companies (which includes a MSD affiliated company in the United States).
Your rights:
You have the right to request access to the personal data which MSD processes about you. Moreover, you have the right to request that incorrect or complete personal data is corrected. You also have the right to, at any time, withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data, with future effect. If you revoke your consent, MSD will continue to process your personal data based on legal requirements of minimum criteria to report adverse events and save cases totally anonymized instead. If you do not wish to provide your data, the services provided by MSD will be unaffected to the extent possible.
Contact us:
MSD is the controller of the personal data for the purposes described above. The contact details of our offices can be found at www.msd-animal-health.no.
If you have any questions regarding MSD’s processing of personal data, please feel free to contact our data protection team at: msd_privacy_office@msd.com.
If You Have Questions:
If you have questions or concerns regarding the processing of your personal data, please contact MSD on msd_privacy_office@msd.com. MSD has also appointed a data protection officer whom you can contact on the following contact details: dpo.norway@merck.com. Naturally, you also have the right, should you wish, to lodge complaint with the Norwegian Data Inspection Board (Datatilsynet).
MSD Animal Health Norge AS, Org Nr: 978 603 769, Thormøhlensgate 55, 5006 Bergen, Norge.