Privacy statement

This data protection statement provides information on the personal data we process in connection with our activities and operations, including our naturemade.ch website. In particular, we provide information on what for, how and where we process personal data. We also provide information about the rights of persons whose data we process.

Further data protection declarations and other legal documents such as general terms and conditions (GTC), terms of use or conditions of participation may apply to individual or additional activities and operations.

1. Contact adresses

Responsibility for the processing of personal data:

Association for Environmentally Sound Energy (VUE)
Molkenstrasse 21
8004 Zurich

communication@naturemade.ch

We point out if there are other persons responsible for processing personal data in individual cases.

2. Terms and legal bases

2.1 Terms

Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable person. A data subject is a person about whom personal data is processed.

Processing includes any handling of personal data, regardless of the means and procedures used, in particular the storage, disclosure, acquisition, collection, deletion, storage, modification, destruction and use of personal data.

2.2 Legal basis

We process personal data in accordance with Swiss data protection law such as, in particular, the Federal Data Protection Act (FADP) and the Ordinance to the Federal Data Protection Act (FDPA).

3. Nature, scope and purpose

We process those personal data that are necessary to be able to carry out our activities and operations in a permanent, user-friendly, secure and reliable manner. In particular, such personal data may fall into the categories of inventory and contact data, browser and device data, content data, meta or marginal data and usage data, location data, sales data and contract and payment data.

We process personal data for the period of time necessary for the relevant purpose(s) or as required by law. Personal data whose processing is no longer required is anonymised or deleted.

We may have personal data processed by third parties. We may process personal data jointly with third parties or transmit it to third parties. Such third parties are, in particular, specialised providers whose services we use. We also guarantee data protection for such third parties.

As a matter of principle, we only process personal data with the consent of the data subject, unless the processing is permitted for other legal reasons, for example to fulfil a contract with the data subject and for corresponding pre-contractual measures, to protect our overriding legitimate interests, because the processing is evident from the circumstances or after prior information.

In this context, we process in particular information that a data subject voluntarily and self-submits to us when contacting us - for example, by letter, email, instant messaging, contact form, social media or telephone - or when registering for a user account. We may store such information, for example, in an address book or with comparable tools. If we receive data about other persons, the transmitting persons are obliged to ensure data protection with respect to such persons and to ensure the accuracy of such personal data.

We also process personal data that we receive from third parties, obtain from publicly available sources or collect in the course of our activities and operations, if and to the extent that such processing is permitted for legal reasons.

4. Personal data abroad

We process personal data in Switzerland as a matter of principle. However, we may also disclose or export personal data to other countries, in particular in order to process it or have it processed there.

We may disclose personal data to all states and territories on earth as well as elsewhere in the universe, provided that the law there guarantees adequate data protection in the opinion of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) or in accordance with a decision of the Swiss Federal Council.

We may disclose personal data to countries whose laws do not ensure adequate data protection, provided that adequate data protection is ensured for other reasons, for example through appropriate contractual agreements, on the basis of standard data protection clauses or with other appropriate safeguards. Exceptionally, we may export personal data to countries without adequate or appropriate data protection if the special data protection requirements are met, for example the express consent of the data subjects or a direct connection with the conclusion or performance of a contract. We will be happy to provide data subjects with information about any guarantees or a copy of any guarantees on request.

5. Rights of data subjects

Data subjects whose personal data we process have the rights under Swiss data protection law. These include the right to information as well as the right to correction, deletion or blocking of the personal data processed.

Data subjects whose personal data we process have a right of appeal to a competent supervisory authority. The supervisory authority for data protection in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).

6. Data security

We take suitable technical and organisational measures to ensure data security appropriate to the respective risk. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee absolute data security.

Access to our website is via transport encryption (SSL / TLS, in particular with the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, abbreviated HTTPS). Most browsers indicate transport encryption with a padlock in the address bar.

Our digital communication - like all digital communication in principle - is subject to mass surveillance without any reason or suspicion, as well as other surveillance by security authorities in Switzerland, the rest of Europe, the United States of America (USA) and other countries. We cannot directly influence the corresponding processing of personal data by secret services, police agencies and other security authorities.

7. Use of the website

7.1 Cookies

We may use cookies. Cookies - our own cookies (first-party cookies) as well as cookies from third parties whose services we use (third-party cookies) - are data that are stored in the browser. Such stored data need not be limited to traditional cookies in text form.

Cookies can be stored in the browser temporarily as "session cookies" or for a certain period of time as so-called permanent cookies. "Session cookies" are automatically deleted when the browser is closed. Permanent cookies have a specific storage period. Cookies make it possible in particular to recognise a browser the next time it visits our website and thus, for example, to measure the reach of our website. Permanent cookies can also be used for online marketing, for example.

Cookies can be completely or partially deactivated and deleted in the browser settings at any time. Without cookies, our website may no longer be fully available. We actively request your express consent to the use of cookies - at least if and to the extent necessary.

For cookies used for performance and reach measurement or for advertising, a general objection ("opt-out") is possible for many services via AdChoices (Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada), the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), YourAdChoices (Digital Advertising Alliance) or Your Online Choices (European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance, EDAA).

7.2 Server log files

We may collect the following information for each access to our website, provided that this information is transmitted by your browser to our server infrastructure or can be determined by our web server: Date and time including time zone, Internet Protocol (IP) address, access status (HTTP status code), operating system including user interface and version, browser including language and version, individual sub-page of our website accessed including amount of data transferred, website last accessed in the same browser window (referer or referrer).

We store such information, which may also constitute personal data, in server log files. The information is required to provide our website in a permanent, user-friendly and reliable manner and to ensure data security and thus in particular the protection of personal data - also by third parties or with the help of third parties.

7.3 Tracking pixel

We may use tracking pixels on our website. Tracking pixels are also known as web beacons. Tracking pixels - including those from third parties whose services we use - are small, usually invisible images that are automatically retrieved when you visit our website. Pixel counters can be used to collect the same information as server log files.

8. Notifications and messages

We send notifications and communications by email and through other communication channels such as instant messaging or SMS.

8.1 Success and reach measurement

Notifications and messages may contain web links or tracking pixels that record whether an individual message has been opened and which web links have been clicked on. Such web links and tracking pixels may also track usage of notifications and communications on a personal basis. We need this statistical recording of usage for performance and reach measurement in order to be able to send notifications and messages effectively and in a user-friendly manner based on the needs and reading habits of the recipients, as well as permanently, securely and reliably.

8.2 Consent and objection

As a matter of principle, you must expressly consent to the use of your e-mail address and other contact addresses, unless such use is permitted for other legal reasons. For any consent, we use the "double opt-in" procedure where possible, i.e. you receive an e-mail with a web link that you must click to confirm so that no misuse by unauthorised third parties can take place. We may log such consents including Internet Protocol (IP) address, date and time for evidence and security reasons.

In principle, you can object to receiving notifications and communications such as newsletters at any time. With such an objection, you can simultaneously object to the statistical recording of use for performance and reach measurement. Necessary notifications and communications in connection with our activities and operations remain reserved.

8.3 Service provider for notifications and messages

We send notifications and messages with the help of specialised service providers.

We use in particular:

  • Mailgun: Transactional email platform; provider: Mailgun Technologies Inc. (USA) together with subsidiaries ("Mailgun Group"); Data protection information: Privacy policy.

9. Social Media

We are present on social media platforms and other online platforms in order to communicate with interested persons and to inform them about our activities and operations. In connection with such platforms, personal data may also be processed outside of Switzerland.

The General Terms and Conditions (GTC) and Terms of Use as well as data protection declarations and other provisions of the individual operators of such platforms also apply in each case. These provisions inform in particular about the rights of data subjects directly vis-à-vis the respective platform, which includes, for example, the right to information.

10. Third party services

We use services provided by specialised third parties in order to carry out our activities and operations in a durable, user-friendly, secure and reliable manner. With such services, we can, among other things, embed functions and content in our website. In the case of such embedding, the services used record the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the users at least temporarily for technically compelling reasons.

For necessary security, statistical and technical purposes, third parties whose services we use may process data related to our activities and operations in an aggregated, anonymised or pseudonymised manner. This is, for example, performance or usage data in order to be able to offer the respective service.

We use in particular:

10.1 Digital infrastructure

We use services from specialised third parties to provide us with the digital infrastructure we need in connection with our activities and operations. These include, for example, hosting and storage services from selected providers.

We use in particular:

10.2 Audio and video conferences

We use specialised audio and video conferencing services to communicate online. For example, we can use them to hold virtual meetings or conduct online lessons and webinars. For participation in audio and video conferences, the legal texts of the individual services such as data protection declarations and terms of use apply in addition.

Depending on the life situation, we recommend muting the microphone by default when participating in audio or video conferences, as well as blurring the background or having a virtual background superimposed.

We use in particular:

10.3 Social media functions and social media content

We use third party services and plugins to embed features and content from social media platforms and to enable sharing of content on social media platforms and in other ways.

We use in particular:

10.4 Map material

We use third party services to embed maps on our website.

We use in particular:

10.5 Advertising

We use the option of displaying targeted advertisements for our activities and operations on third parties such as social media platforms and search engines.

We would like to use such advertising in particular to reach people who are already interested in our activities and operations or who might be interested in them (remarketing and targeting). For this purpose, we may transmit corresponding - possibly also personal - information to third parties who enable such advertising. We can also determine whether our advertising is successful, i.e. in particular whether it leads to visits to our website (conversion tracking).

Third parties with whom we advertise and where you are registered as a user may be able to assign the use of our online services to your profile there.

We use in particular:

11. Success and reach measurement

We use services and programmes to determine how our online offering is used. For example, we may measure the success and reach of our activities and operations and the impact of third party links to our website. However, we can also, for example, test and compare how different versions of our online offer or parts of our online offer are used ("A/B test" method). Based on the results of the success and reach measurement, we can in particular correct errors, strengthen popular content or make improvements to our online offer.

When using services and programmes for performance and reach measurement, the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of individual users must be stored. IP addresses are always shortened ("IP masking") in order to follow the principle of data economy through the corresponding pseudonymisation and thus to improve the data protection of users.

When using services and programmes for performance and reach measurement, cookies may be used and user profiles may be created. User profiles include, for example, the pages visited or content viewed on our website, information on the size of the screen or browser window and the - at least approximate - location. As a matter of principle, user profiles are only created pseudonymously. We do not use user profiles to identify individual users. Individual services of third parties with which users are registered may be able to assign the use of our online services to the user account or user profile of the respective service.

We use in particular:

12. Final provisions

We have created this data protection declaration with the data protection generator of Datenschutzpartner.

We can adapt and supplement this data protection declaration at any time. We will inform about such adjustments and additions in an appropriate form, in particular by publishing the respective current data protection declaration on our website.

This privacy statement is an unofficial translation of the original German version.