Data Protection

As at: February 2024

We, Flossbach von Storch AG, Zurich, appreciate your visit to this website and your interest in our company. The security and protection of your personal data is of the utmost importance to us. We want you to feel secure when you visit our website. Please note that this website is primarily designed for residents of Switzerland. However, if you are accessing it from the EU, we will be happy to inform you about the processing of your personal data in accordance with the applicable data protection regulations.

Flossbach von Storch AG in Cologne, Germany, collects, stores, and processes personal data on our behalf. As a result, these data protection provisions refer to the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") and to Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of natural persons regarding the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC ("GDPR").

Below we explain which processes we use and how you can respond to them.


1. Name and contact person of the responsible body

Flossbach von Storch AG, Fraumünsterstrasse 21, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland, telephone +41 44 217 37 00

Management: Maximilian Spiess

You can reach the data protection officer at: datenschutz.ch@fvsag.com


2. Data security

SSL encryption is used when accessing our website. You can recognise whether encryption is active by the lock symbol in the browser line; the corresponding address lines begin with https://

SSL encryption is used to prevent third parties from reading data transmitted between the servers. In addition, we take care to implement the latest technical and operational measures to protect the security of your data against loss, accidental or intentional manipulation, destruction, and unauthorised access by third parties or unauthorised disclosure.


3. Collection and processing of personal data

  1. When visiting the website of Flossbach von Storch AG, Zurich, every access and every retrieval of a file stored on the website is logged. The following are logged: name of the retrieved file, date and time of retrieval, amount of data transferred, notification of successful retrieval, web browser and requesting domain. In addition, the IP addresses of the requesting computers are logged in anonymised form. The logging is carried out in pursuit of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR) to ensure a smooth connection setup, optimisation of our websites and to ensure system stability. The data will not be used to draw any further conclusions about your person.
     

  2. The contact forms on our website allow you to contact us or order newsletters and publications.

    We will use your data for the specific purpose of processing your message and communicating with you (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR). Typical purposes include responding to enquiries about our products and services, maintaining business relationships and processing job applications. If necessary, we will use your data to take steps that are necessary for the initiation of a contract (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR).

    If you register for a newsletter on our website, we will expressly ask you to consent to us using your e-mail address to send you the newsletter on a regular basis. After registering, you will receive an initial e-mail with a link to confirm your e-mail address and its use as a mailing address.

    We would also like to point out that newsletters and publications may contain advertising for products and services from us and other Flossbach von Storch companies and are used for marketing purposes. With each subsequent newsletter, you have the option to unsubscribe via a corresponding link. This does not affect the legality of data processing until cancellation.

    In all cases, your personal data will only be stored for as long as the stated purposes exist or as required by statutory retention obligations and periods. After that, they will be deleted.
     

  3. If you apply to us by e-mail, we will process your data in our IT systems. Please note that your message may be transmitted unencrypted via the Internet.

4. Transmission of data / use of cloud services

We have outsourced the electronic collection, storage, and processing of personal data to Flossbach von Storch AG, Cologne, Germany, which acts as a processor bound by instructions.

The transfer of personal data to third parties is only intended under certain conditions. These conditions include the existence of legal regulations, the necessity to fulfil contractual agreements, your consent to this or the pursuit of legal claims, insofar as the pursuit does not conflict with the legitimate interests of third parties.

To ensure smooth business operations and improve IT security, we use selected processors in accordance with Art. 28 GDPR. This concerns, among other things, customer relationship management, firewall/IT security, website hosting, sending publications by post or sending newsletters. The servers on which data is processed for these purposes are hosted in the EU. Individual service providers reserve the right to transfer data to the USA in individual cases to ensure quality standards. In accordance with the data protection provisions that form part of the service contracts, the partners used are certified under the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, among others, and are obliged to implement the DPA and GDPR standards. Taking into account the technological status and the costs of implementation, we are committed to implementing appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security commensurate with the risk. Among other things, this includes the pseudonymisation and encryption of personal data, depending on the purpose. Other data recipients may be entities for which you have released Flossbach von Storch AG, Switzerland, from confidentiality obligations by declaration or consent.

The data transfers resulting from the use of cookies, analysis tools and social plugins can be found in the information under points 5 and 6.


5. Cookies and analysis tools

  1. Some of the web pages use so-called cookies. Cookies do not damage your computer and do not contain viruses. Cookies are used to make our website more user-friendly, effective, and secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser.

    Most of the cookies we use are so-called “session cookies”. They are automatically deleted at the end of your visit. Other cookies remain stored on your end device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognise your browser on your next visit. You can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and only allow cookies in individual cases, exclude the acceptance of cookies for certain cases, or in general, or activate the automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. If cookies are deactivated, the functionality of this website may be restricted.

    Follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer of your Internet browser to find out how you can control, switch off or delete cookies:

    Explorer: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement
    Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en
    Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/firefox/protect-your-privacy
    Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac
    Opera: https://help.opera.com/en/latest/web-preferences/#cookies

    Click here to deactivate all tracking cookies on our website. This will set a security cookie that suppresses tracking. Please note that if you delete the cookie or change your browser settings, tracking will be reactivated, and you will have to reactivate the security cookie by clicking on the link.

  2. The web analysis service Google Analytics. (Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) also uses cookies. This text information is stored on your computer with your consent and enables your use of the website to be analysed. The information generated by the cookies about your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. You can find more information on how Google Analytics handles user data in Google's privacy policy: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en

  3. By downloading and installing the browser plugin available from the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=enyou can also prevent Google from collecting data generated by cookies and associated with your use of the website (including your IP address). It will also prevent Google from processing this data.

    There is a contract with Google for order data processing. The strict data protection regulations are fully implemented when using Google Analytics.

    We would also like to draw your attention to the following points regarding Google Analytics:

    - Google Analytics creates demographic profiles of site visitors in terms of age, gender, and interests. The provider receives this data from its own interest-based advertising and visitor data from third parties. It is not possible to link this data to specific individuals.

    - Google Remarketing enables targeted advertising to users who have already shown an interest in our online offering. Cookies are also used for this, which can be switched off here .

    - Google Tag Manager uses simple website tags instead of cookies. No personal data is collected here, but this tool can trigger other tags that may collect data that the Google Tag Manager does not access.

    Further information on Google's privacy policy and terms of use can be found at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en 


6. Rights to information and objection

You have the right to free information about your stored personal data, its origin and recipients and the purpose of data processing as well as a right to rectification, blocking, transfer, or deletion of this data at any time (Art. 15-22 GDPR). Data can only be deleted if the deletion does not conflict with any legal or contractual obligations to collect data.

If data has been collected based on a legitimate interest, you have the option of objecting to the processing of it.

You can contact the data protection officer at any time by email at datenschutz.ch@fvsag.com if you have any further questions on the subject of personal data. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authorities. As a rule, this is the authority responsible for you in your home country.