Privacy policy
1. Controller
Chip-Tools SRL, Bld. Basarabia nr. 256G, Biroul 7.1.B, Et. 9, Sector 3, București, România, VAT RO48467311, email shop@chip-tools.com ("we"). For privacy questions write to shop@chip-tools.com.
2. Data we process
- Account data: name, company, email, phone and WhatsApp number, address, VAT number and the result of its check with the EU VIES system or the Romanian tax authority (ANAF), language.
- Job data: vehicle data (make, model, engine, VIN, ECU), the files you upload (ECU readings, data logs, photos) and our modified files, messages and notes about the job, appointments.
- Payment data: credit movements, invoices, top-ups. Card data is entered only on Stripe's payment page and never reaches us.
- Technical data: IP address, browser, time of access and error logs, kept by our hosting provider for security for a short time.
3. Purposes and legal bases (Art. 6 GDPR)
- Providing the file service, your account, support, notifications by email and WhatsApp: performance of the contract (Art. 6(1)(b)).
- Invoicing, accounting, VAT checks: legal obligations (Art. 6(1)(c)).
- Security, abuse prevention, service statistics, improving our database of engines and ECUs with technical data that does not identify you: legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)).
4. Automatic translation and assistant
Messages between you and our technicians are translated automatically by an AI model; the original text is always kept and visible. On WhatsApp an automatic assistant answers questions about your jobs using only the job data, marks its replies as automatic and passes anything else to a technician. No decisions with legal effect on you are taken automatically (Art. 22 GDPR).
5. Recipients
We use the service providers listed below, bound by data processing agreements. Data is not sold and not used for advertising.
| Provider | Purpose | Location / safeguards |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare, Inc. / Cloudflare Ltd. | Hosting, database, file storage, security, automatic translation and assistant (Workers AI), transactional email | EU/USA (global network) EU-US Data Privacy Framework, EU Standard Contractual Clauses |
| Sendinblue SAS (Brevo) | Transactional email | France (EU) EU |
| WasenderAPI (WhatsApp gateway) / WhatsApp Ireland Ltd. | Sending and receiving WhatsApp messages about your jobs (only if you give a WhatsApp number) | EU / third countries EU Standard Contractual Clauses |
| Superblock LLC (Pushover) | Internal notifications to the technicians' phones | USA EU Standard Contractual Clauses |
| Chip-Tools ECU Atlas / vehicle data providers | Vehicle identification from the VIN (make, model, engine, ECU) | EU EU |
6. Transfers outside the EU
Some providers may process data outside the EU (mainly USA). Transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, otherwise on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
7. How long we keep data
- Account data: while your account exists and up to 3 years after your last activity, then deleted or anonymised.
- Job files and messages: while your account exists; on request we delete them earlier unless we still need them for open claims.
- Invoices and accounting records: as long as required by tax and accounting law (generally 5 to 10 years).
- Technical logs: a few days, at most 30 days.
8. Cookies and browser storage
We use only cookies that are strictly necessary for the portal, so no consent banner is needed. No analytics, no advertising, no third-party cookies.
- cts: keeps you logged in (session, or 60 days with "remember me").
- lang: remembers the language you chose (1 year).
- ref: remembers the partner portal through which you registered, so your account is assigned to it (up to 1 year).
- Browser session storage: remembers the scroll position when a page refreshes itself.
Stripe sets its own cookies only on its payment page, under its own privacy policy.
9. Your rights
You can ask for access, correction, deletion, restriction, data portability and object to processing based on legitimate interests: write to shop@chip-tools.com. You can also complain to a data protection authority, in particular the one of your country or, for Chip-Tools SRL, the authority of România.
10. Security
Encrypted connections (TLS), hashed passwords, access only for authorised staff, separate data for each portal.
11. Changes
We update this policy when the service changes; the date below shows the current version.
Version of 2026-11-03 · Legal notice · Privacy · Terms