Privacy policy

Data protection

Based on Article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution and the Swiss data protection laws (Data Protection Act, DSG), everyone has the right to the protection of privacy and the protection against misuse of their personal data. We comply with these provisions. Personal data is handled in strict confidentiality and is neither sold nor passed on to third parties. Working in close cooperation with our hosting providers, we make every effort to protect the databases from external attacks, losses, misuse or falsification. When accessing our pages, the following data is stored in log files: IP address, date, time, browser request and general transferred information regarding the operating system and browser. This usage data forms the basis for statistical, anonymous evaluations to identify trends so that we may improve our offerings accordingly.

Data protection declaration for the use of Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses so-called “cookies”, i.e., text files that are stored on your computer and enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information about your use of this website produced by the cookie is generally transmitted to and stored by Google on a server in the USA. If IP-anonymization is activated on this website, however, your IP address is first shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other signatory states of the Agreement of the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address transmitted by Google to a server in the USA and shortened there. Google uses this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports about the website activities for the website operator and for other services associated with the use of the website and of the internet. Google also transmits this information to third parties provided this is required by law or if third parties process this data on behalf of Google. The IP address transmitted by your browser within the scope of Google Analytics is not combined with other data from Google. You can prevent the installation of the cookies by using an appropriate setting in your browser software; we would, however, like to make you aware of the fact that you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website in this case. By using this website, you consent to the processing of the data collected about you by Google in the manner described above and for the purpose previously mentioned. In addition to the purposes explained above, the information made available by you is used in accordance with the valid Google data protection provisions (http://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/). Google may publish summarized statistics about the +1 activities of the users or pass these statistics on to our users and partners, such as publisher, advertisers or associated websites.

Contact form

By submitting the contact form, you accept that the transmitted information will be stored and additional information may be sent to you.

Newsletter

Information on the newsletter and consent (based on a template from lawyer Dr. Thomas Schwenke)

With the following information, we inform you about the content of our newsletter, the procedures regarding registration, distribution and statistical evaluation processes, as well as your right to appeal. By subscribing to our newsletter, you agree to receive it and to the procedures described.

Content of the newsletter

We only send newsletters, e-mail and other electronic notifications containing advertising material (hereafter referred to as “newsletter”) with the consent of the recipient or their legal permission. Provided the registration process for the newsletter involves a concrete description of its content, this description is the basis on which the user agrees to receive the newsletter. Our newsletter informs you about our services, projects and current news from our industry.

Double-Opt-In und Protokollierung

Registration for our newsletter takes place using a double opt-in process. This means that you receive an e-mail after registering in which you are asked to confirm your registration. This confirmation is required to ensure that nobody can register using someone else’s e-mail address.

The registrations for the newsletter are logged so that the registration process can be verified in accordance with the legal requirements. This includes the storage of the time of registration and confirmation as well as the IP address. Changes to your data stored with MailChimp are also logged.

Use of the “MailChimp” delivery service

The newsletter is sent using “MailChimp”, a newsletter delivery platform of US provider Rocket Science Group, LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE #5000, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA.

The e-mail addresses of our newsletter recipients as well as other data described in these notices are stored on the MailChimp servers in the USA. MailChimp uses this information to send and evaluate the newsletters on our behalf. According to its own information, MailChimp can also use this data to optimize or improve its own services, e.g., the technical optimization of the distribution process and display of the newsletter or for economic purposes to determine the recipients’ country of residence. However, MailChimp does not use the data of our newsletter recipients to contact them directly and does not pass this data on to third parties.

We trust the reliability and the IT and data security of MailChimp. MailChimp is certified under the US-EU “Privacy Shield” data protection agreement and is thereby committed to complying with the EU data protection requirements. Furthermore, we have concluded a Data Processing Agreement with MailChimp. This is a contract in which MailChimp commits to protect the data of our users, to process the data on our behalf in accordance with the data protection provisions of the agreement and, in particular, not to pass the data on to third parties. You can view MailChimp’s privacy policy provisions here.

Statistical survey and analyses

The newsletters contain a so-called “web-beacon”, i.e., a pixel-sized file that is downloaded from the MailChimp server when the newsletter is opened. During the download, technical information is initially recorded, such as information about the browser and your system as well as your IP address and time of download. This information is used to make technical improvements to the service based on the technical data or the target groups and their reading behavior in connection with the locations from which the file is accessed (which can be determined with the help of the IP address) or the access times.

The statistical data collections also include the determination of whether the newsletters are opened, when they are opened and which links are clicked. Although this information can be assigned to individual newsletter recipients for technical reasons, neither we nor MailChimp are interested in monitoring individual users. Rather, we use the evaluations to help us identify the reading habits of our users and to adjust our content accordingly or to send different content according to the interests of our users.

Online access and data management

There are cases in which we direct the newsletter recipients to MailChimp websites. For example, if our newsletters contain a link with which newsletter recipients can access the newsletter online (e.g., if there are problems displaying the newsletter in the e-mail program). Newsletter recipients can also correct their data, e.g., their email address, at a later date. MailChimp’s data protection declaration is also only available on their website.

In this context, we would like to point out that the MailChimp websites use cookies. Consequently, personal data is processed by MailChimp, its partners and used service providers (e.g., Google Analytics). We have no influence on this data collection. For further information, please refer to MailChimp’s data protection declaration. We also refer you to the options for objecting to data collection for advertising purposes on the websites http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ and http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ (for the European area).

Termination/cancellation

You can cancel your subscription to our newsletter at any time, i.e., revoke your consent. This will simultaneously revoke your consent to the sending of the newsletter via MailChimp and to the statistical analyses. Unfortunately, it is not possible to separately object to the sending of the newsletter via MailChimp or to the statistical analyses.

You can find the unsubscribe link at the end of each newsletter.

Legal basis data protection regulation

In accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into effect on May 25, 2018, we hereby inform you that consent is provided via the provision of e-mail addresses on the basis of Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. a, 7 GDPR as well as § 7 Sect. 2 No. 3, and. Sect. 3 of the German Act against Unfair Competition. The use of the MailChimp delivery service, conducting the statistical data collection and analysis as well as logging the registration process is based on our legitimate interest in accordance with Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR. We are interested in using a user-friendly and secure newsletter system that both serves our business interests and meets the expectations of our users.

We would also like to point out that you have the right to object to the future processing of your personal data at any time in accordance with the legal requirements of Art. 21 GDPR. The objection applies, in particular, to processing for the purposes of direct advertising.

Conversion measurement with the visitor action pixel from Facebook

With your consent, we use the “visitor action pixel” of Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (“Facebook”) within our internet presence. With its help, we can track users’ actions after they have seen or clicked on a Facebook advertisement. This allows us to measure the effectiveness of Facebook ads for statistical and market research purposes. The data collected in this way is anonymous to us, which means we do not see the personal data of individual users. This data is, however, stored and processed by Facebook, which we will inform you about according to our state of knowledge. Facebook can link this data to your Facebook account and also use it for its own advertising purposes in accordance with Facebook’s data usage guidelines (https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/). You can allow Facebook and its partners to place advertisements on and outside of Facebook. A cookie may also be stored on your computer for these purposes.

Hotjar

This website uses Hotjar, an analysis software from Hotjar Ltd. (Level 2, St Julian’s Business Centre, 3, Elia Zammit Street, St Julian’s STJ 1000, Malta, Europe; “Hotjar”). With Hotjar, it is possible to measure and evaluate the usage behavior (clicks, mouse movements, scroll heights, etc.) on our website. The information that is thereby generated about your visit to our website is transmitted to the Hotjar servers in the EU, where it is stored. Hotjar uses this information to provide us with reports about the use of our website as well as other services related to website use and internet analysis. You can reject the collection of the data by Hotjar by clicking on the following link and following the instructions provided there: https://www.hotjar.com/opt-out. You can find additional information about data protection at Hotjar here: https://www.hotjar.com/privacy.

Cookies

You can configure your browser so that you are informed if cookies are set and only permit cookies in individual cases, accept cookies only in specific cases or generally prevent them as well as activate the automatic deletion of all cookies when the browser is closed. The functionality of this website may be limited if cookies are deactivated.