Privacy Policy
With this privacy policy, we inform you about the personal data we process in connection with our activities, including our website. We specifically inform you about the purpose, how, and where we process personal data. Additionally, we inform you about the rights of individuals whose data we process.
Additional privacy policies or other legal documents, such as general terms and conditions (GTC), terms of use, or participation conditions, may apply for certain activities.
1. Contact Information
Responsible for the processing of personal data:
Travis Simlinger
Rheingutstrasse 15
8253 Diessenhofen
Switzerland
Email: hc.gnihcaoc-evissergorp@ofni
We will notify you in individual cases if other entities are responsible for the processing of personal data.
2. Terms and Legal Bases
2.1 Terms
Personal data refers to any information related to an identified or identifiable individual. A data subject is a person whose personal data is being processed.
Processing refers to any handling of personal data, regardless of the tools or methods used, including collecting, storing, modifying, or deleting personal data.
2.2 Legal Bases
We process personal data in accordance with Swiss data protection law, including the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and the Ordinance on Data Protection (DPO).
3. Type, Scope, and Purpose
We process only the personal data necessary to ensure the secure, reliable, and user-friendly execution of our activities. Such personal data may include contact data, browser and device data, content data, metadata, usage data, location data, sales data, and contractual and payment data.
We process personal data for the duration required for the specific purpose or as mandated by law. Data that is no longer needed is either anonymized or deleted.
We may process personal data with the help of third parties. We ensure that any third party involved adheres to the same data protection standards. We process personal data only with the consent of the data subject, unless processing is legally permitted for other reasons.
We particularly process information provided by individuals who voluntarily contact us, for example, via mail, email, instant messaging, contact form, social media, or phone. We store such information in systems like an address book or CRM system. If we receive data about other individuals, the person providing such data must ensure compliance with data protection regulations and the accuracy of the data.
We may also process personal data obtained from third parties, public sources, or collected during the performance of our activities, as legally permitted.
4. Personal Data Abroad
We generally process personal data in Switzerland, but we may transfer it to other countries if adequate data protection is guaranteed there. This includes both countries with equivalent data protection and, in exceptional cases, countries without equivalent protection, provided that other legal safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses, are in place. We will provide information on specific safeguards upon request.
5. Rights of Data Subjects
5.1 Data Protection Rights
Data subjects have the following rights:
- Access: Request confirmation about whether we process personal data and obtain a copy of the processed data.
- Correction and Restriction: Request the correction of incorrect data or the restriction of its processing.
- Deletion and Objection: Request the deletion of personal data or object to its future processing.
- Data Transfer: Request the transfer of personal data to another controller.
We may delay or deny the exercise of these rights in accordance with applicable law. For example, requests for information may be refused if they violate business secrets or the rights of others. We may also refuse to delete data subject to legal retention obligations.
We reserve the right to charge a fee for the exercise of data subject rights in certain cases. We will inform data subjects in advance of any potential costs.
Data subjects must cooperate in verifying their identity before exercising their rights.
5.2 Right to Complain
Data subjects may enforce their rights through the legal system or by filing a complaint with the competent data protection authority.
In Switzerland, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) is the supervisory authority for private data controllers.
6. Data Security
We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure data security. However, we cannot guarantee absolute data security.
Access to our website is protected by transport encryption (SSL/TLS, also known as HTTPS). Most browsers indicate transport encryption with a padlock icon in the address bar.
Digital communications are subject to mass surveillance by security authorities in Switzerland, Europe, the USA, and other countries. We have no control over the processing of personal data by intelligence agencies, police forces, or other security authorities.
7. Use of the Website
7.1 Cookies
We may use cookies to optimize the functionality of our website. Cookies are small data files stored in the browser, either as session cookies (temporarily) or permanent cookies (for a specific time). Cookies help us recognize returning users and measure the reach of our website. Permanent cookies may also be used for online marketing purposes.
Cookies can be disabled or deleted in the browser settings, but this may reduce the functionality of the website. We may ask for explicit consent before using certain cookies.
For cookies used in marketing or reach measurement, general opt-out options are available via platforms like AdChoices (Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada), the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), and Your Online Choices (European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance, EDAA).
7.2 Server Log Files
We may collect and store certain data in server log files for each access to our website. This data includes the IP address, date, and time of access, the requested resource, operating system details, browser information, and the referring URL.
These records help us ensure the secure, reliable, and user-friendly operation of our website and may be used for security purposes.
7.3 Web Beacons
We may use web beacons (also known as tracking pixels) on our website. These are small, usually invisible images that are automatically retrieved when visiting our website and allow us to track similar information to that captured by server log files.
8. Notifications and Communications
We send notifications and communications via email or other communication channels, such as instant messaging or SMS.
8.1 Success and Reach Measurement
Notifications and communications may contain tracking links or web beacons to assess whether an email has been opened and which links were clicked. This allows us to measure the success and reach of our communications, ensuring they are tailored to the needs of recipients.
8.2 Consent and Objection
We generally require explicit consent for the use of email addresses and other contact details, unless legally permitted. For consent, we use a “double opt-in” procedure, in which recipients must confirm their consent via a link in a follow-up email.
Recipients can object to the receipt of notifications and communications, such as newsletters, at any time. With such an objection, recipients can also refuse to allow tracking for success and reach measurement.
8.3 Service Providers for Notifications and Communications
We use specialized service providers to send notifications and communications.
We specifically use:
- Mailchimp: Communications platform; Provider: The Rocket Science Group LLC DBA Mailchimp (USA), a subsidiary of Intuit Inc. (USA); Data privacy details: Intuit Privacy Policy, including Country and Region-Specific Terms, Mailchimp and EU data transfers, and Cookie Policy.
9. Social Media
We are present on social media platforms to communicate with interested individuals and inform them about our activities. Data may be processed outside of Switzerland in connection with such platforms.
Each platform’s terms of use and privacy policies apply, particularly regarding user rights.
10. Third-Party Services
We use services from third-party providers to ensure the smooth and secure operation of our website and services. These providers may collect and process user data, such as IP addresses.
For security, statistical, and technical purposes, some third-party services process data in an aggregated, anonymized, or pseudonymized manner. These providers include services like hosting and web management.
10.1 Appointment Scheduling
We use third-party services to facilitate online appointment scheduling, such as for meetings. In addition to this privacy policy, the terms and conditions or privacy policies of the specific services may apply.
10.2 Audio and Video Conferencing
We use specialized services for audio and video conferencing to communicate online. These services allow us to hold virtual meetings, online classes, and webinars. The privacy policies and terms of use of the specific services used for these conferences apply.
10.3 Fonts
We use standard fonts provided by the Astra template for the design and layout of our website. These fonts are integrated directly into our website and do not require the use of third-party font services.
11. Website Extensions
We use extensions on our website to enable additional functionalities.
We specifically use:
- Google reCAPTCHA: Spam protection (to differentiate between legitimate comments by people and unwanted comments by bots or spam); Provider: Google; Google reCAPTCHA-specific details: What is reCAPTCHA?.
12. Success and Reach Measurement
We strive to measure how our online offering is used. This includes evaluating the success and reach of our activities, the impact of third-party links to our website, and comparing different versions of our online offerings (“A/B testing”). Based on the results, we aim to fix errors, strengthen popular content, or improve our online services.
For success and reach measurement, the IP addresses of individual users are generally stored, though these are usually shortened (“IP masking”) to follow data minimization principles.
Cookies may be used in success and reach measurement, and user profiles may be created. These profiles typically include visited pages, viewed content, and general device information like screen size. Such profiles are generally pseudonymized and not used to identify specific individuals. If users are logged into services provided by third parties, such as Google, their use of our online offering may be linked to their user account or profile with the respective service.
We specifically use:
- Google Analytics: Success and reach measurement; Provider: Google; Google Analytics-specific details: Cross-device tracking across various browsers and devices using pseudonymized IP addresses. Full IP addresses are only transferred to Google in the USA in exceptional cases. Data Privacy, Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on.
- Google Tag Manager: Embedding and managing other services for success and reach measurement and additional services from Google and third parties; Provider: Google; Google Tag Manager-specific details: Data collected by Google Tag Manager. Further data privacy details are provided by the individual services embedded and managed via Google Tag Manager.