INTRODUCTION

DHL AG and its subsidiaries operating under the brand DHL (hereinafter called 'DHL') is pleased that you have visited our website and are interested in our company, products, and services. It is important to us to protect your personal data during handling throughout the entire business process.


In the following, we explain what personal data DHL collects when you visit our website, and how this data is processed and for what specific purposes.

 

WHAT IS PERSONAL DATA?

Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person ('data subject'); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person. This includes information such as your real name, address, telephone number and date of birth. Information which cannot be linked to your real identity - such as favorite websites or number of users of a site - is not considered personal data.

 

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

This Privacy Notice applies to the data processing carried out by:
DHL AG
Charles-de-Gaulle-Straße 20
53113 Bonn
Germany

Data Protection Officer Controller; contact details:
DHL AG
Global Data Protection
53250 Bonn
Germany

Digital Contact: Data Protection Contact - DHL - Germany

 

If you have queries regarding the processing of your personal data, please get in touch with the Data Protection Officer.

If you have queries regarding data protection in connection with our website or the services offered there, please get in touch with us at: developer-support@dhl.com

 

WHAT ARE THE PURPOSES OF AND THE LEGAL BASIS FOR THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA?

Visiting our website

DHL is committed to preserving the privacy of users of our websites. When you visit our web pages, the following data are collected: IP address, hostname of the accessing computer, website from which you accessed this website, a list of the sites you visited within the scope of our overall internet presence, the date and duration of your visit, notification of whether the visit was successful, volume of data transferred, information about the identification data of the browser type and operating system used by you.  Temporary storage of this data is necessary during your visit to the website in order to allow the website to be delivered to you. Further storage in log files is performed to ensure the functionality of the website and the security of our IT systems. The legal basis for the processing of the aforementioned data categories is Art. 6 (1) (f) of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Due to the said purposes, in particular to guarantee security and a smooth connection setup, we have a legitimate interest in processing this data.

Additional personal information, such as your name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address, is not collected unless you provide this data voluntarily, e.g., while completing an online contact form, as part of a registration, survey, competition, or an information request.

The data are deleted as soon as they are no longer needed to achieve the purpose for which they were collected. For the provision of the website, this is the case when the session terminates. The log files (access logs) are kept for administrators to access directly and exclusively for a period of 24 hours. After that, they are only available indirectly through a restore from backups and are permanently deleted after 30 days.

 

Performance of a contract

For pre-contractual and contractual reasons, we also need personal data to provide our services and comply with the obligations arising from contractual agreements concluded with you.

On https://developer.dhl.com, we offer the following services:

 

Log in as a DHL Group employee

If you log in as a DHL employee, your name, your username, and your email address are processed. The legal basis for this is the employment contract (Art. 6 (1) b) GDPR).

 

Create a developer account

As a customer with a “developer account,” you can access more in-depth information and start managing your access to the various APIs and DHL Services we are offering. To this end, i.e., to sign up, we ask for your full name, your email address, your company name, and the country you are located in. We further ask you to choose a username. It is not possible to create a personal account without this information being supplied. Once the sign-up process has been completed, we will send you an email to verify your application. The aforementioned data are necessary to create your account and to let you start managing your access to the APIs and the DHL Services. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 (1) b) GDPR, the performance of the contract with you, respectively the pre-contractual relationship with you.

Your email address and your company name will also be used for our internal reporting and accounting purposes. The legal basis for the processing of the aforementioned data categories is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. Due to the said purposes, we have a legitimate interest in processing this data, and since this processing benefits the contractual relationship we have with you, an opposing interest is not evident.

Once your account is active, you can log in by using your username and a password you have chosen.

 

Use of and Access to the respective API and DHL Service

Depending on the respective API and DHL Service you wish to integrate, additional authentication features may be required. Each API and DHL Service is provided to you by a different DHL business unit (“DHL Service Provider”) as named in the Services Specifics for the relevant API. You will find more information in the “legal terms” linked to each API/DHL Service.

 

Submit a ticket

As a registered user with a developer account, you also have the option to submit a ticket in case of questions, technical problems or other issues. In order to provide support to you as soon and as well as possible, we ask you for your name, the subject matter, a description, and, if you like, you can also upload a document. The respective data processing serves solely for the purpose of solving your request as a registered user and is therefore based on the (pre-)contractual relationship with you (Art. 6 (1) b) GDPR).

 

Processing for advertising purposes

If you are an existing customer, your data (name and email address) will be processed to contact you in order to provide you with the latest information about our offers, news, products and services. Apart from existing consent, we will process your e-mail address exclusively in order to provide you with information regarding our products and services where it is legally allowed.

Legal basis for the aforementioned processing is Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR. The processing of customer data for own direct marketing purposes is regarded as carried out for a legitimate interest.

You have the right to object at any time to the said processing. To exercise your right, get in touch with us by using the contact details mentioned under "Who is Responsible".

If you register for one of our newsletters, we are entitled to use your email address for this purpose. You may unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time by clicking the relevant link at the bottom of the newsletter.

In case you file an objection or unsubscribe from our newsletter, the respective data will be removed from the mailing list, or blocked, respectively deleted and no longer be processed for such purposes.

 

ONLINE PRESENCE AND WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION

We use tracking software to determine how many users visit our website and how often. We do not use this software to collect personal data or individual IP addresses. The data is used solely in anonymous and summarized form for statistical purposes and for making improvements to the website.

 

USE OF COOKIES

This website uses cookies and similar technologies (hereafter “technologies”), which enable us, for example, to determine how frequently our internet pages are visited, the number of visitors, to configure our offers for maximum convenience and efficiency, and to support our marketing efforts.

When you access our website, a Privacy Preference Center will inform you that technically necessary cookies are set and, in addition, that your consent is required for the use of certain technologies, such as analytical cookies or similar technologies.

The processing of data by means of technically necessary cookies is based on our legitimate interest according to Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR to ensure that you can use our website in the best possible way, to ensure that our website operates correctly and to guarantee a convenient and undisturbed user experience. These kinds of cookies are stored exclusively for the duration of your visit to our website. They are automatically deleted when you close your browser.

In addition, you will be informed via the Privacy Preference Center  that we use other technologies  (performance, functional or analytics technologies) for storing information about visitors who repeatedly access one of our internet pages. The purpose of using these technologies is to be able to offer you optimal user guidance as well as to "recognize" you and thus be able to present (as much as possible) diversified internet pages and new contents during repeated use. These technologies will only be processed based on your prior given consent according to Art. (1) a) GDPR.

You will find more information under the Privacy Preference Center  including the option to revoke a given consent.

 

JOBS & CAREER AT THE DHL GROUP

Career opportunities within the DHL Group are as diverse as our teams all over the world. With approximately 590,000 employees in over 220 countries, we connect people, improving their lives. If you would like to apply for one of our open jobs, you will find more information here and also on data protection here.

 

WILL MY DATA BE PASSED ON TO THIRD PARTIES?

DHL does not share, sell, transfer or otherwise disseminate your personal data to third parties and will not do so in future, unless required by law, unless required for the purpose of the contract or unless you have given explicit consent to do so.

However, in the context of the data processing as described in this Privacy Notice and the respective legal basis given, DHL will transfer your data to the following categories of recipients:

  • DHL Group companies: transfer is required within the DHL Group, its legal entities and shared service centers in order to manage our relationship with you, in particular in cases where APIs are affected which are provided by our business units.
  • Third party business partners: The transfer to third party business partners is limited to what is required by applicable law and/or in order to fulfill our contractual obligations.
  • Third party processors: which process data are contractually obliged to maintain strict confidentiality as per Art. 28 GDPR. DHL retains responsibility for safeguarding your personal data in such circumstances. The business partners follow the instructions of DHL and this is guaranteed by technical and organizational measures, as well as by means of checks and controls. As for the DHL API Developer Portal, this is Google Cloud’s Apigee API Management Service, which is a platform for developing, maintaining, and administering APIs.
  • Public authorities: transfer is required by applicable law (e.g. to fulfil a legal obligation during shipment processing).

Your data is only transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to other DHL Group companies, third-party business partners or public authorities when permitted by applicable data protection law. In such cases, we will make sure that appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure the transfer of your data (e.g. our binding corporate rules, standard contractual clauses).

 

WHAT IS THE DHL GROUP DATA PRIVACY POLICY?

The DHL Data Privacy Policy regulates the Group-wide standards for data processing with a special focus on so-called third country transfers, meaning transfers of personal data to countries outside the EU, which do not have an adequate level of data protection.

If you are interested in learning more about the DHL Data Privacy Policy, please use the following link: Privacy Notice - DHL - Germany

 

WHAT ARE MY DATA SUBJECT’S RIGHTS?

Overview

Apart from the right to obtain, you have the following rights:

  • You can request information as to what personal data is stored
  • You can request that we correct, delete or block your personal data provided these actions are permitted by law and in compliance with existing contractual conditions.
  • You can request to receive personal data you have provided in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
  • You may lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. For the European Union, you can find your competent data protection authority here:

https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en

Right to object

The right to object applies to all processing of personal data which is based on Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR.

To exercise your right, simply get in touch with us by using the contact details mentioned above under "Who is responsible".

 
HOW ABOUT INFORMATION SECURITY?

DHL takes the security of your data very seriously. We have implemented various strategies, controls, policies and measures to keep your data secure. We keep our security measures under close review. We use safeguards such as firewalls, network intrusion systems, and application monitoring. Where appropriate, we secure your data by using pseudonymization and encryption techniques when storing and transferring your data. For instance, your data is saved in a secure operating environment which is not accessible to the public. In certain cases, your personal data is encrypted by Secure Socket Layer technology (SSL) during transmission. This means that an approved encryption procedure is used for communication between your computer and the DHL servers if your browser supports SSL. We ensure that there are strict physical access controls in our buildings and certified data centers.

As a part of our security strategy, we have set up auditing programs to make sure that our systems and services comply with the DHL information security policy, and by extension the ISO 27001 standard.

In addition, we are taking a number of ongoing measures to reduce risk, such as (but not limited to) training our employees regularly and organizing incident simulation exercises by our Cyber Defense Center.

Should you wish to contact DHL by e-mail or contact forms, we would like to point out that the confidentiality of the information sent cannot be guaranteed. The contents of (e-mail) messages can be read by third parties. We therefore recommend you send us confidential information only by post.

 
CHANGES TO PRIVACY NOTICE

We keep our Privacy Notice under regular review. DHL reserves the right to change its Privacy Notice at any time with or without prior notice. Please check back frequently to be informed of any changes. By using DHL’s websites, you agree to this Privacy Notice.

This Privacy Notice was last updated on 31.08.2026.