Privacy policy

Contents

  1. Principle
  2. Collection and processing of personal data
  3. Purposes of data processing and legal basis
  4. Cookies/tracking and other technologies in connection with the use of our website
  5. Transfer of data to third parties
  6. Duration of personal data storage
  7. Data security
  8. Duty to provide personal data
  9. Rights of data subjects
  10. Amendments

1. Principle

We take the protection of your privacy seriously. The following privacy policy details which of your personal data we process if you visit our website, use our online services, or if we provide any services to you generally.

We carefully gather and process your personal data exclusively for the purposes described in this privacy policy and only to the extent necessary and in accordance with the applicable legal provisions. We store your personal data exclusively to the extent and for the duration necessary to provide our services, or as required by law. In close cooperation with our hosting providers, we make every effort to ensure that databases are protected from unauthorised access, loss, misuse and falsification.

This privacy policy is based, in particular, on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Although the GDPR is a regulation of the European Union, it is of significant relevance to us. The Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) is heavily influenced by EU law, and companies outside the European Union and the European Economic Area must comply with the GDPR under certain circumstances.

2. Collection and processing of personal data

Personal data is information about an identified or identifiable person. This includes names, telephone numbers, and email, postal and IP addresses. We primarily process personal data that you pass on to us by contacting us or by visiting our website. We collect and process data in the following areas:

  • Use of cookies on the website and analytical tools (Google Analytics)
  • Server log files
  • Contact
  • Conclusion of an agreement

3. Purposes of data processing and legal basis

We mainly use the personal data we collect to improve the user-friendliness of the website and to fulfil our tasks.

In addition, we also process personal data from you and other persons, to the extent permitted and deemed appropriate by us, in which we (and sometimes third parties) have a relevant legitimate interest for the following purposes:

  • Providing information about offers, services, websites and other platforms where we have an online presence
  • Communicating with third parties and processing their queries (e.g. applications, media queries)
  • Advertising and providing information about our services and offers (including conducting events and sending the annual report) if you have not refused permission for the use of your data
  • Market surveys, opinion research, media monitoring
  • Asserting and defending legal claims in the context of legal disputes and official procedures
  • Preventing and investigating crimes and other misconduct (e.g. conducting internal investigations, data analyses to combat fraud)
  • Safeguarding our operations, in particular our IT, our websites and other platforms

If you have given us consent to process your personal data for specific purposes (for example when registering for events via online forms on our website), we will process your personal data within the scope of and based on this consent if we do not have another legal basis and we need such a basis. Consent that has been given can be revoked at any time but has no effect on any data processing that has already been carried out.

4. Cookies/tracking and other technologies in connection with the use of our website

4.1 Cookies

On our website, we typically use cookies and other similar techniques which can identify your browser or your device. A cookie is a small file which is sent to your computer or stored automatically on your computer or mobile device by your web browser when you visit our website.

Necessary cookies are essential for the functionality of the website. These cookies are only used during a session, and they are deleted after your website visit (session cookies). An exception applies for the cookie that is set in the banner to reflect your choice. If you reject optional cookies, this exceptional cookie will only be saved for the current session. If you accept them, it will be saved for 365 days.

Analytical cookies are only used by our website if you agree to them. These cookies allow us to find out more about the use of our website based on anonymised data and to continually improve it. Analytical cookies (permanent cookies) are saved for a specific period (e.g. two years). If you visit the website again, we will thus be able to recognise you, even if we don’t know who you are. You can accept or reject the cookies in the cookie banner on the homepage. You can change this choice at any time via the cookie settings in our website’s footer.

You can also adjust your browser settings so that it rejects cookies, only saves them for one session, or deletes them after a set time. Most browsers are pre-set to accept cookies. If you block cookies, it is possible that certain functions (e.g. language options) will no longer work.

4.2 Google Analytics

We sometimes use Google Analytics on our web pages. This is a service by third parties that could be located anywhere in the world (in the case of Google Analytics, it’s Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA).

Google Analytics allows us to measure and evaluate the use (non-personal) of the website. For this purpose, permanent cookies are also used, which are set by the service provider. You can agree to these cookies in the cookie banner or reject them.

The service provider does not receive any personal data (and does not store any IP addresses) but can track your use of the website, combine this information with data from other websites you have visited and which are also tracked by the service provider, and use these insights for its own purposes (e.g. to tailor advertising). If you have registered yourself with the service provider, then this service provider also can identify you. The processing of your personal data by the service provider is therefore the responsibility of the service provider in accordance with its own data protection provisions. The service provider merely informs us as to how our respective website is used (no personal information about you).

We have activated IP anonymisation on this website, which means that the IP addresses of visitors to the website that must be sent to the Google Analytics server are automatically and rapidly shortened by removing the final digits. For more information, see Google Marketing Platform.

4.3 Plug-ins

We also use plug-ins on our website for social networks such as YouTube, X and LinkedIn, which are clearly indicated (usually with a corresponding icon). We have configured these elements to be disabled by default. If you activate them (by clicking on them), the operator of the corresponding social network registers that you are on our website and where you are, and can use this information for its own purposes. The processing of your personal data by the operator is therefore the responsibility of the operator in accordance with its own data protection provisions. We do not receive any information about you from the operator.

5. Transfer of data to third parties

Your personal data is neither transferred nor sold or otherwise transmitted to third parties in any form, unless this is required for the purpose of processing a contract or to fulfil our statutory tasks, or if you have expressly consented to this (e.g. to ensure the security of the forms on our website). In addition, data may be transmitted to third parties if we are under obligation to do so by law or by an enforceable official or court order.

Some recipients of such data are located in Switzerland but can also be anywhere in the world. If we transmit data to a country that does not have appropriate data protection, we ensure an appropriate level of protection by employing contracts accordingly, or we act on the basis of the following statutory/legal exemptions: consent, performance of the contract, the establishment, execution or enforcement of legal claims, overriding public interests, published personal data, or the need to protect the integrity of the persons in question.

6. Duration of personal data storage

We process and store your personal data to the extent that it is required to fulfil our contractual and legal obligations or for the purposes pursued by the processing, which means, for example, for the entire duration of the business relationship and beyond that in accordance with legal obligations for storage and documentation. It is therefore possible that personal data is stored for the period of time when claims can be made against us and to the extent that we are legally obliged or authorised to do so, or legitimate business interests necessitate this (e.g. for evidence or documentation purposes).

7. Data security

We take appropriate technological and organisational security precautions to protect your personal data against unauthorised access and misuse, such as issuing instructions, training, IT and network security solutions, access controls and restrictions, encrypting data carriers and transmissions, pseudonymisation and checks.

8. Duty to provide personal data

Within the scope of our business relationship, you must provide those items of personal information required to be able to commence and carry out a business relationship and fulfil the associated contractual obligations (you usually are not obliged by law to provide us with data).

9. Rights of data subjects

Within the scope of the applicable data protection law and to the extent required by the law (e.g. in the case of the GDPR), you have the right to information, amendment, deletion, the right to restrict the processing of data and otherwise to refuse permission to our processing of the data as well as the publication of certain personal data for the purpose of transfer to another office (known as data portability). Please note, however, that we reserve the right to enforce the restrictions required by law, for example in cases where we are obliged to store or process certain data, have an overriding interest to do so (to the extent that we may call on it) or require it to assert claims. We will inform you in advance if this incurs any costs for you.

The exercise of such rights generally requires that you clearly prove your identity (e.g. with a copy of an ID card, if your identity cannot otherwise be clearly verified). To assert your rights, you can contact us via the email or postal address in the impressum information at the bottom of the page.

Furthermore, every data subject has the right to legally enforce their claims or to submit a complaint with the responsible data protection authority. The responsible data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch/en).

10. Amendments

We may amend this privacy policy without prior notice at any time. The version published on our website is the version currently applicable.

 

June 2025