PvB Pernet von Ballmoos AG (“PvB” and/or “we” and/or “us”) is the operator of the website www.pvb.swiss and the services offered thereon and is therefore responsible for the collection, processing, and use of your personal data and for compliance of data processing with applicable data protection law.

1. Data Protection – General Information

Your trust is important to us; therefore, we take the topic of data protection seriously and ensure appropriate security. Naturally, we comply with the statutory provisions of the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP), the Ordinance to the Federal Act on Data Protection (OFADP), the Telecommunications Act (TCA), and other potentially applicable data protection provisions of Swiss or EU law, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We hereby inform you how we process your data and which claims and rights you are entitled to under data protection regulations. If you do not agree with these provisions, access to further pages of this website must be discontinued.

As a data subject (natural person), it is in your personal interest to protect the system(s) you use (PC, laptop, etc.) against unauthorized access by third parties, to provide them with adequate password protection and not to pass on the password to third parties, as well as to install a market-recognized virus protection (“Internet Security”) and keep it up to date.

2. Collection of General Data and Information

When you visit our website, our servers record every access in a log file. The following technical data are collected and stored by us without your intervention, as is generally the case with every connection to a web server:

• the name of the owner of the IP address range (generally your Internet access provider),
• the date and time of access,
• the website from which access was made (referrer URL), if applicable with the search term used,
• the name and URL of the retrieved file – the status code (e.g. error message),
• the operating system of your computer – the browser you use (type, version, and language),
• the transmission protocol used (e.g. HTTP/1.1).

The collection and processing of this data are carried out for the purpose of enabling the use of our website (establishing a connection), ensuring long-term system security and stability, enabling the optimization of our online offering, and for internal statistical purposes. This constitutes our legitimate interest in data processing within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR.

3. Collection of Individual Data and Information

PvB collects personal data (e.g. name, gender, address, e-mail address, telephone number) if you provide them to us, for example when entering data on a registration page or when you register for an e-mail news service. We use your personal data:

• for purposes of technical administration as well as research and further development of the website,
• for customer and user administration and marketing,
• to inform you about PvB, and
• for all other purposes specified.
• The legal basis for processing the data for this purpose is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.

4. Disclosure of Data to Third Parties

For the operation of our website, we may engage internal and external service providers in Switzerland and abroad or commission other persons to carry out tasks such as letter or e-mail dispatch on our behalf. These persons have access to the personal data that you provide to us via our website and may use such data solely for the performance of their duties. The aforementioned persons may not use your personal data for any other purposes. If the level of data protection in a country does not correspond to that of Switzerland or the European Union, we ensure contractually that the protection of your personal data always corresponds to that in Switzerland or the EU.

We or our information providers do not automatically collect personal data from visitors to our website unless we are obliged to do so under applicable laws or regulations. We will not disclose personal data to other persons unless (a) we are legally obliged to do so by law, authorities, or private entities in the context of proceedings, subpoenas, investigations, similar processes, or audits, (b) applicable laws or regulations must be complied with, (c) such claims are asserted, or (d) we use such information together with our affiliated companies or service providers to offer services to you. In these cases, and if you authorize us to do so, we may disclose such information.

We or our information providers neither sell customers’ e-mail addresses nor make personal data available to third parties for their marketing purposes. Without your prior consent, we or our information providers will not send you e-mails unless you have given your consent to electronic transmission of information as part of our electronic transmission system. It is part of our business policy that you can cancel such consent-based programs at any time. We recommend that you do not transmit any personal data to us via unsecured communication channels. These include public electronic communication channels such as e-mail over the Internet, as these are generally not secure.

In the event of a sale or merger of part or all of PvB’s business units, shares, or assets with another business entity, we will transfer all or part of your data to this new entity in order to continue providing services to you. You will be informed about such corporate events, and the new company will inform you of any changes to this privacy policy. If the new company intends to use your data for additional purposes, you may object at the appropriate time.

5. Third-Party Websites

PvB may establish links from its website to one or more third-party websites. PvB has no control over these websites, their content, or the products/services offered thereon. Visiting and using such websites accessible via these links are subject to the terms and privacy policies of those websites and are at your own risk. PvB disclaims any responsibility for the privacy policies and customer information of third-party Internet websites that are accessible via a link from our website.

6. Cookies

The Internet pages, including those of PvB, sometimes use so-called cookies. Cookies are small text files that are stored in the working memory and on the hard drive of your computer when you visit certain websites. They are used to enable the functionality of websites or to provide information to the owners of a website.

PvB uses cookies on the website for the following purposes:

Analysis purposes:
Analysis cookies make it possible to recognize, evaluate, and record visits of website visitors. This helps PvB to improve and further develop the functioning of the website, for example by checking whether visitors can easily find information or by identifying the areas of the website that are of greatest interest to visitors.

Usage preferences:
Some cookies on the website are activated when visitors make a choice regarding their use of the website. The website remembers the settings of the respective user. This allows areas of the website to be tailored to individual users.

Terms of use:
PvB uses cookies on the website to record when a website visitor has read a policy, such as this one, or has given consent, for example consent regarding the terms of use on the website. This helps to improve the website user experience, for example by avoiding repeatedly asking for consent to the same terms of use.

Session management:
The software that controls our website uses cookies for technical reasons that are necessary for the internal processes of our servers. For example, we use cookies to distribute requests across multiple servers, authenticate users and determine which website features they can access, verify the origin of requests, record information about a user’s session, and determine which options or pages must be displayed for the website to function.

Functional purposes:
Cookies for functional purposes store information that our applications require for processing and operation. For example, if transactions or requests within an application involve multiple workflow stages, cookies are used to temporarily store information from each stage, facilitating the completion of the entire transaction or request.

Some websites contain content intended for display with the Adobe Flash Player, such as animations, videos, and tools. Local Flash storage (often referred to as “Flash cookies”) may be used to improve your experience as a website user. Flash storage is stored on your device in a manner almost identical to standard cookies but is managed directly by your Flash software. If you wish to disable or delete information stored locally in Flash storage, please consult the documentation for your Flash software, available at www.adobe.com. Please note that disabling Flash cookies may result in some website features being unavailable.

Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies. However, you can configure your browser so that no cookies are stored on your computer or so that a notice always appears when you receive a new cookie. On the following pages you will find explanations on how to configure cookie processing for the most common browsers:

• Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer Mobile
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome for Desktop
• Google Chrome for Mobile
• Apple Safari for Desktop
• Apple Safari for Mobile

Disabling cookies may result in you not being able to use all functions of our website.

7. Tracking Tools

7.1. General

For the purpose of designing our website according to requirements and continuously optimizing it, we use the web analysis service Google Analytics. In this context, pseudonymized usage profiles are created and small text files stored on your computer (“cookies”) are used. The information generated by cookies about your use of this website is transmitted to the servers of the service providers, stored there, and processed for us. In addition to the data listed under Section 1, we may receive the following information:

• navigation path taken by a visitor on the site,
• time spent on the website or subpage,
• the subpage on which the website is exited,
• the country, region, or city from which access occurs,
• end device (type, version, color depth, resolution, width and height of the browser window), and
• returning or new visitor.

The information is used to evaluate the use of the website, to compile reports on website activities, and to provide further services related to website and Internet usage for purposes of market research and needs-based design of this website. This information may also be transmitted to third parties if required by law or if third parties process these data on our behalf.

7.2. Google Analytics

The provider of Google Analytics is Google Inc., a company of the holding company Alphabet Inc., based in the USA. Prior to transmission of the data to the provider, the IP address is shortened within the member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area by activating IP anonymization (“anonymizeIP”) on this website. The anonymized IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. In these cases, we ensure through contractual guarantees that Google Inc. maintains an adequate level of data protection. According to Google Inc., the IP address will in no case be associated with other data relating to the user.

Further information about the web analytics service used can be found on the Google Analytics website. Instructions on how to prevent the processing of your data by the web analytics service can be found at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

8. Notice Regarding Data Transfers to the USA

For the sake of completeness, we inform users residing or domiciled in Switzerland that surveillance measures by U.S. authorities exist in the USA that generally allow the storage of all personal data of all persons whose data have been transferred from Switzerland to the USA. This occurs without differentiation, limitation, or exception based on the objective pursued and without an objective criterion that would make it possible to limit the access of U.S. authorities to the data and their subsequent use to very specific, strictly limited purposes capable of justifying the interference associated with both access to and use of these data. Furthermore, we point out that in the USA there are no legal remedies available to affected persons from Switzerland that would allow them to gain access to the data concerning them and to have such data corrected or deleted, nor is there effective judicial protection against general access rights of U.S. authorities. We explicitly inform affected persons of this legal and factual situation so that they can make an informed decision regarding consent to the use of their data.

Users residing in a member state of the EU are informed that, from the perspective of the European Union, the USA does not have an adequate level of data protection, among other reasons due to the issues mentioned in this section. Insofar as we have explained in this privacy policy that recipients of data (such as Google) are based in the USA, we will ensure either through contractual arrangements with these companies or by ensuring their certification under the EU or Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield that your data are protected at an adequate level with our partners.

9. Your Data Protection Rights

Under certain conditions, you may assert your data protection rights against us:

Right to withdraw consent: 
If you have given consent for certain types of processing activities, you may withdraw this consent at any time with effect for the future. However, such withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing prior to the withdrawal of your consent or where processing can be justified on another legal basis.

Right of access:
You have the right to obtain information from us about your data stored with us in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR.

Right to rectification:
Upon request, we will rectify data stored about you in accordance with Art. 16 GDPR if they are incorrect or inaccurate.

Right to erasure:
If you so request, we will delete your data in accordance with the principles of Art. 17 GDPR, provided that no other statutory provisions (e.g. statutory retention obligations) or overriding interests on our part (e.g. for the defense of our rights and claims) prevent this.

Right to restriction of processing:
Subject to the conditions of Art. 18 GDPR, you may request that we restrict the processing of your data.

Right to object:
You may also object to the processing of your data pursuant to Art. 21 GDPR. This right to object exists if certain reasons arise from your particular situation and only for data processing whose lawfulness is based on a balancing of interests, that involves profiling, or that is carried out for purposes of direct marketing. In this case, we will no longer process your data unless we are legally entitled to reject your objection. An objection to direct marketing, including profiling, is binding on us, and we may no longer process your data for these purposes. If you have given your consent for direct advertising and no longer wish to receive such advertising, you must withdraw your consent.

Right to data portability:
You also have the right to receive your data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format in accordance with Art. 20 GDPR or to have them transmitted to a third party.

Complaint to a data protection authority:
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with any competent data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR). However, we recommend that you first address a complaint to our data protection officer so that we can resolve your concern as quickly as possible and in a customer-oriented manner. For prompt processing, please submit your requests regarding the exercise of your rights in writing to the department of PvB Pernet von Ballmoos AG responsible for data protection matters.

PvB Pernet von Ballmoos AG
Data Protection
Zollikerstrasse 226
8008 Zurich

10. Retention of Data

PvB stores personal data only for as long as is necessary to use the tracking and analysis services mentioned above as well as the other processing activities within the scope of legitimate interest. Contract data are retained by PvB for a longer period, as this is required by statutory retention obligations. Retention obligations requiring PvB to retain data arise from accounting and tax law provisions. According to these provisions, business communications, concluded contracts, and accounting documents must be retained for up to 10 years. To the extent that these data are no longer required to perform services for you, the data are blocked. This means that the data may then only be used for accounting and tax purposes.

11. Scope of Your Obligation to Provide Data to PvB

There is no legal obligation to provide your data to PvB. However, if you do not provide your data, you will not be entitled to the benefits and services resulting from visiting the PvB website (www.pvb.swiss). The provision of your data is entirely voluntary. You will not suffer any legal disadvantages if you do not provide your data.

12. Miscellaneous

This data protection information was last updated on 24.08.2020.

PvB reserves the right to change, amend, supplement, or delete parts of this privacy policy at any time and without stating reasons. Any changes shall apply as of the date of publication. PvB therefore recommends that you review this privacy policy regularly for changes. You can access the current version of this privacy policy via the link at the bottom of each page of the website. By visiting the website after the publication of any changes, you accept the new terms of the amended privacy policy.