Privacy Policy

Effective date: January 16, 2026

Applied Membranes, Inc.
2450 Business Park Dr. Vista, CA 92081 USA
Phone: (800) 321-9321
Email (Privacy): Compliance@AppliedMembranes.com
Email (General): Sales@AppliedMembranes.com

This Privacy Policy is intended to comply with and reference applicable privacy laws, including, as relevant to your location: the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, the Swiss FADP, the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the CPRA (collectively, CCPA), other U.S. state privacy laws (e.g., Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah), and the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Where local law provides stronger protections, we will comply with those requirements.

1. Who we are

Applied Membranes, Inc. and its affiliated entities (collectively “Applied Membranes,” “AMI,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) design, manufacture, and sell water filtration and reverse osmosis systems, components, and related services worldwide. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect personal information in connection with our websites, mobile experiences, customer portals, dealer and distributor platforms, trade show activities, and other online and offline interactions (together, the “Services”).

2. When this notice applies

This notice covers personal information we process when:

• You visit our websites, portals, or social pages, use our apps, participate in webinars, or engage with our digital content
• You purchase products from us directly or through our dealer and distributor networks
• You contact our sales, customer support, or technical service teams (by phone, email, chat, SMS, or social media)
• You subscribe to newsletters, request quotes, download product literature, or register for trainings or events
• You visit our facilities, booths, or events, or otherwise interact with us as a prospect, customer, installer, dealer, distributor, supplier, or other business partner
• You apply for a warranty, product registration, or service, or participate in product quality, warranty, or safety-related investigations

If a country- or product-specific privacy notice is provided for a particular service or program, it will govern that specific processing. Where we process personal information on behalf of a business customer as their processor/service provider (for example, through a dealer portal they administer), that customer’s privacy policy controls.

3. Key terms

• “Personal information,” “personal data”: Information that identifies, relates to, describes, or can reasonably be linked to an identified or identifiable person or household (definitions vary by jurisdiction).
• “Controller” (GDPR/UK GDPR): The entity that determines the purposes and means of processing personal data. For most interactions described here, Applied Membranes is the controller.
• “Processor”/“Service Provider”/“Contractor”: An entity that processes personal information on behalf of a controller (or “business” under CCPA) and is contractually restricted from other uses.
• “Business” and “Consumer” (CCPA): A “business” determines purposes and means of processing California consumers’ personal information.
• “Sell,” “Share,” and “Targeted Advertising” (CCPA and U.S. state laws): “Sell” means disclosing personal information to a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration; “Share” means disclosing personal information to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising; “Targeted advertising” means displaying ads to a consumer based on personal information obtained from that consumer’s activities across non-affiliated websites or apps.
• “Sensitive personal information” (CCPA) / “Special category data” (GDPR): Certain data categories that receive additional protections.

4. Information we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Identifiers and contact details: Name, company, role/title, postal address, email, phone, country/region, preferred language.
• Account and profile data: Login credentials, user IDs, customer or dealer account numbers, preferences, saved quotes, wish lists, product interests, training history.
• Transaction and payment data: Orders, invoices, purchase history, delivery details, RMA/warranty claims, and limited payment details (processed by payment providers).
• Device and usage information: IP address, device identifiers, browser type, operating system, general location (derived from IP), pages viewed, links clicked, session details, keystroke or clickstream events on our sites, and interactions with our emails or ads.
• Communications: Call recordings (where legally permitted or with notice), emails, chat transcripts, and messages sent to our teams or via forms.
• Marketing and engagement data: Newsletter subscriptions, event registrations, survey responses, product feedback, and content downloads.
• Social media information: Public profile information and direct messages when you interact with our official accounts.
• Professional information: Company affiliation, business contact information, purchasing role, distributor/dealer credentials, certifications, tax IDs where needed for transactions.
• Safety, quality, and compliance information: Incident reports, product failure details, field service notes, and information necessary to manage recalls, safety notices, or warranty investigations.
• Optional demographic data: If you choose to provide it (e.g., industry segment, application type, project details).

Do not provide sensitive personal information unless we specifically request it for a defined purpose and provide appropriate disclosures. Our products are not intended to diagnose or treat medical conditions, and we do not seek health data in the ordinary course of business.

5. How we collect information

• Directly from you: When you create an account; request a quote; place an order; register a warranty; contact sales or support; download content; or attend our training, webinars, or events.
• Automatically: Through cookies, pixels, SDKs, session replay, and similar technologies when you use our Services or interact with our emails and ads.
• From business partners and third parties: Dealers, distributors, integrators, payment and logistics providers, trade show organizers, lead-generation partners, data enrichment services, and publicly available sources (e.g., professional profiles, public databases).

If you submit information about someone else (e.g., a colleague as a shipping contact), you confirm you have authority to do so.

6. How we use information

We process personal information to:

• Fulfill orders and deliver products and services
• Provide customer and technical support; manage warranties, returns, service tickets, and product registrations
• Operate, secure, repair, and improve our websites, apps, and portals
• Personalize experiences, content, and recommendations; remember preferences
• Send administrative messages (e.g., order confirmations, shipping notices, product updates, recall or safety communications)
• Communicate about products, promotions, events, and industry news; run surveys and market research
• Manage dealer/distributor relationships, certifications, and partner programs
• Conduct analytics to understand usage, performance, and effectiveness of our content and campaigns
• Detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, abuse, intellectual property infringement, and security incidents
• Enforce contracts and comply with law, including recordkeeping, tax, export controls, sanctions, and product compliance obligations
• Support mergers, acquisitions, financing, or corporate transactions
• Create de-identified or aggregated data for research, quality, and product development

Where required, we obtain your consent before using your information for certain activities (for example, certain cookies, email marketing in some jurisdictions). If we de-identify or aggregate data, we will not attempt to re-identify it.

7. Legal bases (EEA/UK/Switzerland, where applicable)

We rely on one or more of the following: performance of a contract; legitimate interests (e.g., to secure and improve our Services, manage relationships, analyze use, market our products); compliance with legal obligations; protection of vital interests; and consent where required. We do not engage in solely automated decision-making, including profiling, that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you. If this changes, we will provide required notices and your rights under GDPR/UK GDPR Articles 21–22. We do not intentionally collect special categories of data (GDPR Art. 9). If special category data is required for a specific purpose, we will provide a separate notice and obtain explicit consent or rely on another lawful basis as permitted by law.

8. How we share information

We disclose personal information as follows:

• Within the Applied Membranes group: To operate our business consistent with this notice.
• Service providers: Hosting, cloud, payment processing, logistics and fulfillment, customer support, communications, analytics, advertising/marketing, event management, security, and IT services providers under appropriate contracts. We require service providers, contractors, and processors to use personal information only to perform services for us, to protect it, and to comply with applicable privacy laws and contract terms (e.g., prohibitions on selling or sharing, restrictions on combining personal information except as permitted by law).
• Dealers, distributors, and business partners: To fulfill requests, coordinate sales and service, or when you interact with us through a partner program.
• Advertising and analytics partners: To measure and improve our content and campaigns and to show ads that may be more relevant to you, where permitted by law and your preferences.
• Corporate transactions: In connection with a sale, merger, investment, restructuring, or similar event.
• Legal and safety: When required by law, regulation, or legal process; to protect rights, safety, and property (yours, ours, or others); or to enforce agreements.
• With consent or at your direction: When you ask us to share information.

We may share de-identified or aggregated information for any lawful purpose.

9. Cookies and similar technologies

We and our partners use cookies, pixels, tags, local storage, session replay, and similar tools to:

• Enable core site features (e.g., login, cart, checkout, fraud prevention)
• Remember settings and preferences
• Analyze traffic and usage, improve performance, and detect errors
• Personalize content
• Measure and deliver advertising, including cross-context behavioral/targeted advertising where permitted by law and your preferences

Your controls:

• Consent banner and preference center: On your first visit (and periodically thereafter), you will see a banner to accept, reject, or manage cookie categories (e.g., Strictly Necessary, Functional, Analytics, Advertising). You can update preferences any time via the “Privacy Choices” or “Cookie Settings” link in our footer. We will only set non-essential cookies (e.g., analytics/advertising) with your consent where required by law (e.g., GDPR/ePrivacy, certain U.S. jurisdictions).
• Global Privacy Control (GPC) / browser signals: Where required by applicable law, we honor a valid GPC signal as an opt-out of sale/sharing or targeted advertising for that browser and site. This does not affect strictly necessary cookies.
• Platform and device settings: Use your device and platform controls (e.g., “Limit Ad Tracking,” reset advertising IDs) to manage ad personalization.
• Withdrawal of consent: You may withdraw consent to non-essential cookies at any time via “Cookie Settings.”

Third parties:

We use third-party analytics and advertising providers (e.g., Google, Adobe, social media platforms) that may set their own cookies or use similar technologies to help us analyze usage, improve our Services, and provide and measure ads. These partners process data per their privacy notices. Your cookie preferences, platform settings, and GPC signals apply as described above.

10. Advertising and analytics

We use third-party analytics and advertising platforms (e.g., Google, Adobe, social media platforms) to understand how our Services are used and to deliver and measure ads. These partners may set their own cookies or use similar technologies. Your choices are available through our cookie preferences, platform-specific controls, and, where applicable, GPC signals. For details on partner practices, see their privacy disclosures.

11. Your choices and rights

Your choices:

• Marketing communications: Unsubscribe via the link in our emails or contact us. We may still send you transactional or service messages.
• Cookies and trackers: Manage via our cookie preference tool and your browser/device settings.
• Account information: Access and update account details in your profile or contact us.

Your rights: Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:

• Access your personal information and obtain a copy (GDPR/UK GDPR/CCPA)
• Correct inaccurate personal information (GDPR/UK GDPR/CCPA)
• Delete personal information (GDPR/UK GDPR/CCPA)
• Object to or restrict processing, including for direct marketing (GDPR/UK GDPR)
• Withdraw consent where we rely on consent (GDPR/UK GDPR)
• Data portability (GDPR/UK GDPR/CCPA)
• Opt out of sale/sharing and targeted advertising (CCPA and other U.S. state laws)
• Appeal our decision if we deny your request (where applicable U.S. state law provides an appeal right)
• Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (GDPR/UK GDPR/Swiss FADP)

California and U.S. state opt-outs: You may opt out of:

• “Selling” or “Sharing” (CCPA): Use the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” and/or “Privacy Choices” link in our footer or enable a GPC signal in your browser. We treat a valid GPC signal as a request to opt out of sale/sharing for that browser.
• Targeted advertising (other U.S. state laws): Use “Privacy Choices” in our footer to opt out of targeted advertising, or enable GPC where recognized.

How to exercise rights:

Submit a request via our web form or contact us using the details in Section 19. We will verify your identity before acting on a request. You may authorize an agent to submit a request on your behalf as permitted by law.

Do Not Sell or Share; Privacy Choices / Cookie Settings

• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information (California): You may opt out of “selling” or “sharing” (as defined by the CCPA/CPRA) by clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link in our website footer and following the instructions. Where required by law, we also treat a valid Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as a request to opt out for that browser/device.
• Privacy Choices / Cookie Settings: You can manage cookies (including analytics and advertising cookies) by clicking “Privacy Choices” or “Cookie Settings” in our website footer. Where required by law, we only set non-essential cookies after you provide consent.

12. California “Shine the Light”

California residents may request information about our disclosures of certain personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. To make such a request, write to us at Compliance@AppliedMembranes.com with “Shine the Light” in the subject line or body of your message.

Non-discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising rights, including denying goods or services, charging different prices, or providing a different level or quality of goods or services, except as permitted for bona fide loyalty, rewards, or similar programs.

13. Additional disclosures for U.S. residents (including California)

• Categories of personal information: In the past 12 months we collected identifiers; commercial information; internet/network activity; geolocation (approximate IP-based); professional information; inferences; and audio/electronic records (e.g., support calls where allowed). We do not knowingly collect or use sensitive personal information for purposes beyond those allowed by applicable law.
• Sources: As described in Sections 5 and 8.
• Purposes: As described in Section 6.
• Disclosures: We disclose personal information to service providers, affiliates, partners, and others as described in Section 8 for business and operational purposes.
• “Sale” and “Sharing”: We do not exchange personal information for money. However, certain advertising and analytics practices may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” under applicable state laws. You can opt out via our “Privacy Choices” link and through GPC signals where recognized.
• Children: We do not knowingly sell or share personal information of consumers under 16.
• Opt-out mechanisms: Use our site’s “Privacy Choices” link and enable GPC in supported browsers for that device/browser.

14. Notice at Collection for California Residents

Categories collected: In the past 12 months, we collected the categories of personal information listed in this policy, including: identifiers (e.g., name, email, IP), customer records, commercial information, internet/network activity, approximate geolocation (IP-based), professional information, inferences, and audio/electronic records (e.g., customer support calls where permitted).

Purposes: See “How we use information.”

Sensitive personal information: We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes other than those permitted by CCPA (e.g., providing requested services, ensuring security and integrity, short-term transient use, performing services on our behalf, undertaking activities to verify or maintain quality or safety).

Retention: We retain each category of personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Notice, including to provide the Services, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements, and otherwise consistent with the “Retention” section.

Selling/Sharing: We do not exchange personal information for money. However, certain advertising and analytics activities may constitute “selling” or “sharing” under CCPA.

You can opt out via the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” or “Privacy Choices” link and by enabling a browser-based Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal.

15. International data transfers

We operate globally. Your personal information may be transferred to and processed in countries that may not provide the same level of data protection as your home country (including the United States). Where required by law, we implement appropriate safeguards for cross-border transfers, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (and the UK Addendum/IDTA for the UK), and, where relevant, supplementary technical and organizational measures. A copy of the applicable transfer safeguards can be requested via Compliance@AppliedMembranes.com.

16. Security

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information, including access controls, encryption in transit and at rest where appropriate, monitoring, and staff training. No system is completely secure; please use care when sharing information online.

17. Retention

We keep personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this notice, including:

• The duration of your relationship with us
• Legal, tax, accounting, and compliance requirements
• Warranty, product quality, and safety obligations
• Limitation periods for legal claims

When no longer needed, we aim to delete, de-identify, or aggregate the data according to our retention policies and applicable law.

For CCPA compliance, we retain each category of personal information for periods aligned with the purposes described in this Notice and our records schedules, generally:

• Identifiers, account/profile, commercial/transaction data: for the duration of the relationship plus up to 7 years
• Internet/network activity and analytics: 12–36 months (or shorter where required by law or your preferences)
• Communications and support records: up to 5 years (or longer if legally required)
• Warranty, safety, and compliance records: for required statutory or product lifecycle periods

Actual retention may vary based on legal, tax, safety/recall, and litigation hold requirements.

18. Children’s privacy (COPPA, GDPR, CCPA)

Our websites, apps, and products are intended for business and general consumer audiences and are not directed to children.

• Under 13 (COPPA): We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information to us, contact us at Compliance@AppliedMembranes.com and we will delete it.
• Under 16: We do not knowingly sell or share personal information of consumers under 16. Our Services are not directed to children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16.

19. How to contact us

If you have questions about this notice or our privacy practices, or if you wish to exercise your rights, please contact us at Compliance@AppliedMembranes.com or using the contact information located near the top of this notice.

20. Links and third-party services

Our Services may link to third-party websites, apps, or social platforms and may include third-party plugins or integrations. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties. Review their policies before engaging.

21. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice from time to time. The “Effective date” above indicates the latest revision. When required by law, we will obtain your consent to material changes. Changes apply to information collected after the revised notice is posted.

22. Jurisdiction-specific information (EEA/UK/Switzerland)

• Controller: Applied Membranes, Inc., and/or the relevant local affiliate interacting with you.
• Data protection rights: See Section 11. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
• Legal bases: See Section 7.
• Transfers: See Section 15 for safeguards used for cross-border transfers.
• Data Protection Officer (if applicable): We are not required to appoint a DPO, though you may still contact us at Compliance@AppliedMembranes.com with GDPR/UK GDPR inquiries.

23. Role-based processing (B2B)

When we provide products or services to our business customers (e.g., distributors, OEMs, integrators, and service providers), we may process personal information at their direction. In those cases, the customer’s privacy policy governs, and we act as their processor/service provider. Please direct any rights requests relating to such processing to the relevant customer.

24. Examples of data uses tailored to water filtration operations

• Processing quotes for custom membrane elements and systems, project sizing, and application engineering support
• Managing certifications, product documentation, SDS, technical manuals, and spec sheets downloads
• Coordinating installations, replacements, preventative maintenance schedules, and field service dispatch
• Handling warranty validation, serial number lookups, and product registration
• Monitoring product quality and performance feedback to improve designs and manufacturing
• Issuing safety notices, product updates, and recall communications where required
• Supporting dealer and distributor portals for pricing, availability, and order tracking
• Providing educational content, webinars, and training for installers, engineers, and facility managers

25. Your Privacy Choices

• Manage cookies and advertising preferences via the “Privacy Choices” or “Cookie Settings” link in our site footer.
• Enable Global Privacy Control (GPC) in your browser to opt out of certain data “sale”/“sharing” where required by law.
• Unsubscribe from marketing via the link in any marketing email or by contacting us.

If you need this Privacy Policy in another language or accessible format, please contact us.