Privacy Policy

General information

Based on Art. 13 BV (Swiss Federal Constitution) and the data protection provisions of the Swiss Confederation (Federal Act on Data Protection, FADP), every person has the right to protection of their privacy and to protection against misuse of their personal data. The operator of the Future Areas platform "www.future-areas.swiss" (the "Platform") takes the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this Privacy Policy.

In cooperation with our hosting providers, we make every effort to protect the databases as effectively as possible against unauthorised access, loss, misuse and corruption.

We would like to point out that data transmission on the internet (e.g. communication by e-mail) can have security gaps. Complete protection of data against access by third parties is not possible.

By using this website, you consent to the collection, processing and use of data as described below. This website can generally be visited without the need to register. Data such as pages accessed or the name of the file accessed, date and time are stored on the server for statistical purposes without this data being directly related to your person. Personal data, in particular name, address or e-mail address, is collected on a voluntary basis as far as possible. No data will be shared with third parties without your consent.
 

Who we are

Etalco AG, Seefeldstrasse 69, 8008 Zürich, is responsible for your personal data. References in this Privacy Policy (the "Policy") to "Future Areas", "we" or "us" are references to Etalco AG.

If you have any questions about data protection, you can contact us by e-mail at:
contact@future-areas.swiss
 

Personal data that we process

Personal data that we process about you includes:

  • Your name and contact details (e.g. name, address, telephone number or e-mail address), information about the company you work for, your position or title and/or your relationship to a person, and other basic information);
  • Identification and background information that you provide to us or that is collected from you as part of our onboarding process;
  • Financial information, such as payment information;
  • Information disclosed to us by or on behalf of our users or created by us as part of our services for users;
  • Information provided to us for the purpose of attending meetings, seminars or events;
  • Information relating to documents and communications that we send to you electronically, such as your use of promotional e-mails;
  • Any other information relating to you that you provide to us.

We collect and record this information when you interact with us, for example when you communicate with our staff, register on the Platform with an account to receive information by e-mail or use the Platform, or when you attend a meeting, seminar or other event. We also collect or create personal data as part of our offering on the Platform and when we obtain personal data from other sources – by consulting publicly available sources to update your information, for example.
 

How we process your personal data

We process your personal data:

  • to communicate with you;
  • to provide and improve our services for you and our users, including third-party personal data disclosed to us or collected by us on behalf of our clients, such as the processing of identification and background information as part of our onboarding process, financial- related data and data as part of our administrative and marketing processes/work;
  • to manage the business relationship with you and our users;
  • to maintain, provide and improve our websites and the Platform, including monitoring and evaluating their use;
  • to promote our services, including the sending of publications, alerts, updates, invitations to events, etc.; and
  • to comply with our legal, regulatory and risk management obligations, including the assertion, enforcement and defence of legal claims.

We process personal data for these purposes on the following basis: when it is necessary for us to perform a contract, such as contacting an individual to provide services, or to assert, enforce or defend legal claims, or (in) legal proceedings; to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, to protect legitimate interests, including those mentioned and listed above; and/or based on consent.
 

Use of the Platform and our websites, communication

When you access and use our Platform or website, we automatically collect and store relevant log data and device-specific information for a limited period of time. This information includes, but is not limited to, specific information about how you use our website, the IP address, access dates and times, hardware and software information as well as device-specific and other similar information. We process this information based on this and as necessary for us to operate, maintain and improve our websites.

We may use your name and e-mail address(es) to send you publications, alerts, updates, invitations to events and other information and will ask for your prior consent to do so unless we have received your contact details as part of our services and you have not opted out of receiving such promotional communications. If you no longer wish to receive promotional communications from us, you may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the relevant e-mail. Please note that we use personal data to track whether you read our e-mails and whether you click on links contained in them.
 

Who we share your personal information with

We may share your personal information with trusted third parties, including:

  • Providers to whom we have outsourced certain support services such as translation work or document reviews (see below);
  • IT service providers;
  • Our auditors;
  • Third parties who are also involved in the delivery or organisation of events and seminars.

For the purposes set out in this Policy and where deemed necessary, we may disclose personal data to courts, prosecution authorities, regulatory and government authorities, law enforcement authorities, and enforcement agencies. We may also be required to share your personal information to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
 

How we store your personal data

We store your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and for as long as we have a legitimate interest in retaining personal data, for example to enforce or defend legal claims or for archiving purposes and IT security. We will also retain your personal data if and for as long as required by a legal obligation to retain it.
 

Your rights

You have the right to request detailed information about what personal data we hold about you and how we process it, as well as a copy of your personal data, and to request the transfer of certain personal data to another body (data portability). You can also have your data corrected or erased, restrict our processing activities concerning this information and object to the processing of your personal data. You may also choose to withdraw your consent. Please note that even if you choose to withdraw your consent, we may continue to process your personal data to the extent required or permitted by law. You may also lodge a complaint with a local supervisory authority, such as the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner in Switzerland.
 

Use of cookies

This website uses cookies. These are small text files that make it possible to store specific information related to the user on the user's end device while the user is using the website. Cookies make it possible, in particular, to determine the frequency of use and number of users of the pages, to analyse behaviour patterns of website use, but also to make our offering more customer-friendly. Cookies remain stored beyond the end of a browser session and can be retrieved when you visit the site again. If you do not wish this, you should set your internet browser to refuse the acceptance of cookies.

A general objection to the use of cookies used for online marketing purposes can be declared for a large number of services, especially in the case of tracking, via the US site http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or the EU site http://www.youronlinechoices.com/. Furthermore, the storage of cookies can be achieved by deactivating them in the browser settings. Please note that you may then not be able to use all the functions of this online offering.
 

Use of SSL/TLS encryption

This website uses SSL/TLS encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as enquiries that you send to us as the site operator. You can recognise an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from "http://" to "https://" and by the lock symbol in your browser line.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties (see also "Use of SSL/TLS encryption").
 

Use of server log files

The provider of this website automatically collects and stores information in server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:

  • Browser type and browser version
  • Operating system used
  • Referrer
  • Host name of the accessing computer
  • Time of the server request

This data cannot be assigned to specific persons, neither is it merged with other data sources. We reserve the right to check this data retrospectively if we become aware of concrete indications of illegal use.
 

Use of the contact form

If you send us enquiries via the contact form, your details from the enquiry form, including the contact details you have provided there, will be stored by us for the purpose of processing the enquiry and in the event of follow-up enquiries. We do not share this data without your consent.

Use of newsletter data

If you would like to receive the newsletter offered on this website, we require an e-mail address from you as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the e-mail address provided and that you agree to receive the newsletter. No further data will be collected. We use this data exclusively for sending the requested information and do not share it with third parties.

You can revoke your consent to the storage of the data, the e-mail address and their use for sending the newsletter at any time – by clicking the "unsubscribe link" in the newsletter, for example.

Use of service providers under the EU/CH-US Privacy Shield (USA)

In its ruling of 16 July 2020, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared the agreement previously applicable to data traffic between Europe and the USA, the EU-US Privacy Shield, invalid. The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) also declared in a statement published on 8 September 2020 that the USA does not meet the requirements of adequate data protection within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 FADP for personal data processing by US companies, which were unobjectionable under the previous regime of the CH-US Privacy Shield. This has consequences for the following service providers and tools we use:

  • Google (Google reCAPTCHA)
  • Mapbox (map service)
  • All other companies based outside the EEA, the UK, Israel, Canada and New Zealand.

Accordingly, the transfer of personal data outside of these countries is questionable under data protection law and is prohibited without further safeguards. In order to continue to enable legally compliant data transfer, a contractual guarantee is necessary in which the individual services or companies declare that they will ensure appropriate data protection in accordance with European standards. This is achieved, among other things, by means of standard contractual clauses (SCCs) of the European Commission (https://germany.representation.ec.europa.eu/news/datentransfers-innerhalb-und-ausserhalb-der-eu-kommission-gibt-unternehmen-standardvertragsklauseln-2021-06-04_de).

As of 12 August 2020, the European Commission's standard contractual clauses will apply at Google for the transfer of data for online advertising as well as personal data originating from the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (further information is available at: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/10042247?hl=en).

For more information, please see the relevant service provider section below.

Use of Google reCAPTCHA

This website uses the reCAPTCHA service of Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland – "Google"). The purpose of the query is to distinguish whether the input is made by a human or by automated, machine processing. The query includes the sending of the IP address and possibly other data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service to Google. For this purpose, your input is transmitted to Google and used there. However, your IP address will be shortened beforehand by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the European Economic Area Agreement. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of this service. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of reCAPTCHA will not be merged with other Google data. Your data may also be transmitted to the USA. The processing is based on Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR with your consent. You can revoke your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of the processing carried out based on the consent until revocation.

You can find more information on Google reCAPTCHA and the associated privacy policy at: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.

Mapbox map data

Our website uses Mapbox Tiles on some pages to display interactive maps. The Mapbox Tiles API is a mapping service provided by Mapbox Inc ("Mapbox"). By using the Mapbox Tiles API, information about your use of this website, including your IP address, may be transmitted to Mapbox in the USA.

When you visit a page that contains Mapbox Tiles maps, your browser establishes a direct connection with the Mapbox servers. The map content is transmitted by Mapbox directly to your browser, which then integrates it into the website. Therefore, we have no influence on the extent of the data collected by Mapbox in this way.

Mapbox stores the IP address of the visitor, the address of the page visited, the date and time, and the pages accessed. According to Mapbox, this information is used exclusively to improve the service provided for diagnostic and analysis purposes. Mapbox does not share personal data with third parties.

In addition, you have the option to prevent cookies from Mapbox by disabling third-party cookies in your browser settings.

If you do not want Mapbox to collect, process or use data about you via our website, you can deactivate JavaScript in your browser settings. In this case, however, you will not be able to use the map display.

You can find more information about Mapbox and the associated privacy policy at:
https://www.mapbox.com/legal/privacy.

Countries to which we transfer your personal data

We may transfer your personal data to recipients abroad, including countries which do not guarantee a level of data protection equivalent to Swiss laws (in particular the USA). Normally, we will make such a transfer if it is necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject(s), for a contract with a data subject or for the performance of a contract concluded in their interest, as well as for the assertion, enforcement or defence of legal claims.

If we transfer data to a country without adequate data protection laws, we will ensure, as required by the law, the use of appropriate contracts (in particular, those based on the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission) or Binding Corporate Rules, or solely transfer personal data if such a transfer is justified by the legal exceptions of consent, contract completion, the establishment, exercising or enforcement of legal claims, overriding public interests, the published personal data, or the protection of the integrity of the data subjects. You can request a copy of the aforementioned contractual guarantees from us at any time; however, we reserve the right to black out copies for reasons of data protection or confidentiality.

Use of processors

For processing purposes, the data controllers may arrange for the data to be shared with one or more processors (e.g. CleverReach, Payrexx, etc.) who also use the personal data exclusively for an internal use attributable to the data controllers. The following processors process personal data in third countries of the controllers (partly outside Switzerland and outside the European Union):

CleverReach

Our e-mail newsletters are sent via the technical service provider CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG, Schafjückenweg 2, 26180 Rastede ("CleverReach"), with whom we share the data provided by you when you subscribe to the newsletter. The data you enter for the purpose of receiving the newsletter (e.g. e-mail address) will be stored on CleverReach's servers in Germany or Ireland.

CleverReach uses this information to send and statistically evaluate the newsletters on our behalf. For the evaluation, the e-mails sent contain web beacons or tracking pixels, which are single-pixel image files that are stored on our website. This makes it possible to determine whether a newsletter message has been opened and which links, if any, have been clicked on. With the help of conversion tracking, it can also be analysed whether a predefined action has taken place after clicking on the link in the newsletter. In addition, technical information is recorded (e.g. time of retrieval, IP address, browser type and operating system). The data is collected exclusively in pseudonymised form and is not linked to any other personal data of the users; a direct personal reference is excluded. This data is used exclusively for the statistical analysis of newsletter campaigns. The results of these analyses can be used to better adapt future newsletters to the interests of the recipients.

Further information on data protection at CleverReach can be found at:
https://www. www.cleverreach.com/en-de/privacy-policy/.

Payrexx

If the data subject decides to pay with the online payment service provider Payrexx during the ordering process (e.g. when paying by credit card, etc.), contact, order and transaction data will be transmitted to Payrexx and their card issuer as part of the order triggered in this way. Payrexx is an offering of Payrexx AG, Burgstrasse 20, 3600 Thun, Switzerland ("Payrexx"). The data controllers have concluded a data processing agreement with Payrexx with the purpose of ensuring adequate protection of personal data in situations where this data is transferred by the data controllers to Datatrans as processor for the purpose of processing this data on behalf of the data controllers. Furthermore, this agreement supports the parties in complying with the regulations applicable in Switzerland and the European Union regarding the processing of personal data.

Further information on data protection at Payrexx can be found at:
https://www.payrexx.ch/en/legal/.

Copyrights

The copyright and all other rights to the content, images, photos or other files on the website are owned exclusively by the operator of this website or by the specifically named rights holders. Reproduction of any files is subject to the prior written consent of the copyright holder.

Anyone who commits a copyright infringement without the consent of the respective copyright holder may be liable to prosecution and possibly payment of damages.

General disclaimer

All information on our website has been carefully checked. We make every effort to ensure that the information we provide is up to date, accurate and complete. Nevertheless, the occurrence of errors cannot be completely ruled out, which means that we cannot guarantee that the information, including journalistic and editorial information, is complete, correct and up to date. Liability claims regarding loss or damage caused by the use of any information provided, including any kind of information which is incomplete or incorrect, will therefore be rejected unless it can be proven that this was caused wilfully or by gross negligence.

The publisher may change or delete texts at their own discretion and without notice and is not obliged to update the contents of this website. Use of or access to this website is at the visitor's own risk. The publisher, their principals and partners are not responsible for loss or damage, such as direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive loss or damage, allegedly caused by the use of this website and consequently assume no liability for such loss or damage.

The publisher also accepts no responsibility or liability for the content and availability of third-party websites that can be accessed via external links on this website. The operators of the linked websites are solely responsible for all content on their websites. The publisher therefore expressly distances itself from all third-party content that may be relevant under criminal or liability law or that may offend common decency.

Amendments

We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time without prior notice. The current version published on our website shall apply. Insofar as the Privacy Policy is part of an agreement with you, we will inform you of any amendments by e-mail or other suitable means in the event of an update.

Questions to the data protection officer

If you have any questions regarding data protection, please send us an e-mail using the contact details provided at the beginning of the Privacy Policy (“Who we are”).

Etalco AG
Seefeldstrasse 69
CH-8008 Zürich