In this Privacy Policy, we, the Center for Sustainable Development and Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as we, us or CDC), explain how we collect and otherwise process personal data. This is not an exhaustive description; other data protection declarations or general terms and conditions, conditions of participation and similar documents may govern specific matters. Personal data refers to all information relating to an identified or identifiable person.
This Privacy Policy is designed to meet the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the Swiss Data Protection Act (“DPA”) and the revised Swiss Data Protection Act (“revDSG”). Whether and to what extent these laws are applicable, however, depends on the individual case.
The CDC is responsible for the data processing described here, unless otherwise stated in individual cases. If you have any data protection concerns, you can send them to the following contact address: markus.schaer@bfh.ch
We primarily process the personal data that we receive from our customers and other business partners as part of our business relationship with them and other persons involved or that we collect from their users when operating our website and other applications.
Insofar as this is permitted, we also obtain certain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. debt collection registers, land registers, commercial registers, press, Internet) or receive such data from other companies, authorities and other third parties. In addition to the data that you provide to us directly, the categories of personal data that we receive about you from third parties include, in particular, information from public registers, information that we obtain in connection with official and legal proceedings, information in connection with your professional functions and activities, information about you in correspondence and meetings with third parties, information about you that people from your environment (family, advisors, legal representatives, etc.) provide to us so that we can conclude or process contracts with you or involve you.This includes information about you from the media and the Internet (where appropriate in the specific case), your addresses and, where applicable, interests and other socio-demographic data, data in connection with the use of the website (e.g. IP address, MAC address of the smartphone or computer, information about your device and settings, cookies, date and time of the visit, pages and content accessed, functions used, referring website, location data).
We use the personal data we collect primarily to conclude and process our contracts with our customers and business partners, in particular in the context of consulting activities with our customers and the purchase of products and services from our suppliers, as well as to comply with our legal obligations in Switzerland and abroad. If you work for such a customer or business partner, you may of course also be affected in this function with your personal data.
In addition, we also process personal data of you and other persons for the following purposes, where permitted and where we deem it appropriate, in which we (and sometimes third parties) have a legitimate interest corresponding to the purpose:
– Offer and further develop our products, services, websites and other platforms on which we are present;
– Communication with third parties and processing their inquiries (e.g. applications, media inquiries);
– Examination and optimization of procedures for needs analysis for the purpose of direct customer contact and collection of personal data from publicly accessible sources for the purpose of customer acquisition;
– Advertising and marketing (including the organization of events), provided you have not objected to the use of your data;
– Market and opinion research, media monitoring;
– Assertion of legal claims and defense in connection with legal disputes and official proceedings;
– Prevention and investigation of criminal offenses and other misconduct (e.g. conducting internal investigations, data analysis to combat fraud);
– Guarantees of our operations, in particular IT, our website and other platforms.
If you have given us your consent to process your personal data for specific purposes, we will process your personal data within the scope of and based on this consent, unless we have another legal basis and require one. Consent that has been given can be revoked at any time, but this has no effect on data processing that has already taken place.
We typically use “cookies” and similar technologies on our websites to identify your browser or device. A cookie is a small file that is sent to your computer or automatically stored on your computer or mobile device by the web browser you use when you visit our website. If you visit this website again, we will be able to recognize you, even if we do not know who you are. In addition to cookies that are only used during a session and are deleted after your visit to the website (“session cookies”), cookies can also be used to store user settings and other information for a certain period of time (“permanent cookies”). However, you can set your browser so that it rejects cookies, only stores them for one session or otherwise deletes them prematurely. Most browsers are preset to accept cookies. If you block cookies, certain functions may no longer work.
By using our website and agreeing to receive newsletters and other marketing emails, you consent to the use of these techniques. If you do not want this, you must set your browser or e-mail program accordingly.
We sometimes use Google Analytics on our websites. This is a third party service, which may be located in any country in the world, with which we can measure and evaluate the use of the website (non-personal). Permanent cookies set by the service provider are also used for this purpose. If you have registered with the service provider yourself, the service provider also knows you. The processing of your personal data by the service provider is then the responsibility of the service provider in accordance with its data protection provisions. The service provider only informs us how our respective website is used (no information about you personally).
We process and store your personal data for as long as is necessary for the fulfillment of our contractual and legal obligations or otherwise for the purposes pursued with the processing, i.e. for the duration of the entire business relationship (from the initiation, processing to the termination of a contract) and beyond that in accordance with the statutory retention and documentation obligations. It is possible that personal data may be retained for the period in which claims can be asserted against our company and insofar as we are otherwise legally obliged to do so or legitimate business interests require this (e.g. for evidence and documentation purposes). As soon as your personal data is no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, it will be deleted or anonymized as far as possible. For operational data (e.g. system protocols, logs), shorter retention periods of twelve months or less generally apply.
We take appropriate technical and organizational security precautions to protect your personal data from unauthorized access and misuse, such as access controls and restrictions, encryption of data carriers and transmissions or controls.
As part of our business relationship, you must provide the personal data that is necessary for the establishment and implementation of a business relationship and the fulfillment of the associated contractual obligations (as a rule, you do not have a legal obligation to provide us with data). However, the website cannot be used if certain information for securing data traffic (such as IP address) is not disclosed.
You have the right to information, correction, deletion, the right to restrict data processing and otherwise to object to our data processing as well as to the disclosure of certain personal data for the purpose of transfer to another body within the scope of the data protection law applicable to you and to the extent provided for therein. Please note, however, that we reserve the right to assert the restrictions provided for by law, for example if we are obliged to store or process certain data, have an overriding interest in doing so or need it to assert claims. If you incur any costs, we will inform you in advance. We have already informed you about the possibility of withdrawing your consent in Section. 3 informed. Please note that exercising these rights may conflict with contractual agreements and may have consequences such as premature termination of the contract or cost consequences. We will inform you in advance if this is not already contractually regulated.
The exercise of such rights generally requires that you provide clear proof of your identity. To assert your rights, you can contact us at the address given in section 1.
Every data subject also has the right to enforce their claims in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner(https://www.edoeb.admin.ch).