In the course of its global business, Swisspearl Group AG and its affiliated companies and subsidiaries is collecting and using personal data. The Swisspearl entities, that use your information, are data controllers. Swisspearl acts as representative for all the Swisspearl entities . For information on these Swisspearl entities, which is responsible for collecting and processing data in your respective countries, please consult the contact details below (refer to point 1.10).
This website is owned and managed by Swisspearl Group AG Eternitstrasse 3, 8867 Niederurnen, Switzerland ("Swisspearl" or "we").
In the subsequent points mentioned below, we explain how we process the personal data of which you leave footprints via providing your explicit consent and/or that you provide your permissions when you visit our website (“Website”) and use the various services on the Website or data about you as a contact person employed at a customer, vendor or cooperation partner that we have entered into or prospectively will enter into a contract with.
1. Collection of personal data
Website
Swisspearl is the data controller of personal data collected via the Website. You will always be informed before we collect personal data about you. The personal data collected by us may include, for instance, your name, email address, telephone number and similar identification data as well as information about your IP address, branch/business area, interests, etc.
Personal data about you will be collected in one or more of the below cases:
- When you visit and browse our site
- When you sign up to receive Swisspearl’s newsletter
- When you communicate with Swisspearl
- When you make use of Swisspearl’s other functions and services
- When ordering samples
- When filling out Swisspearl request forms
Contact person
We also process data about you as a contact person employed at a customer, vendor or another cooperation partner , we process your personal data when you communicate with us e.g. via emails in connection with our existing contractual basis with the company you are employed with or in connection with the conclusion or termination of a contract with the company you are employed with. We also process personal data about you as a contact person employed at a potential customer or existing customer if we market our products. We process ordinary personal data about you, including your name, work email address, telephone number, address, your position with the company, customer ID, etc.
2. Purpose and legal basis
Website
Swisspearl limits its processing of personal data to situations where the processing is necessary for a specific purpose.
Personal data is collected and used for the following purposes:
- Newsletters and other promotional communication
- Promotional marketing in general
- Completion of requests received from you
- Providing customer support and communication
- Product and service development
- Statistics and analytics
The processing will in some cases be necessary to comply with requests from you. In addition, the processing of your personal data may be based on our legitimate interest in conducting marketing activities and to develop and evaluate our products and services as well as conducting statistics.
We note that Swisspearl shall only use your personal data in order to send you product information, newsletters and other marketing material via e-mail if you have provided your prior and explicit consent here to , unless applicable legislation allows us to contact you without such consent.
Swisspearl keeps statistics of which areas of the websites are visited by our users and of which products, services the users prefer including other preferences. This data does not include personal data. Using the collected data, Swisspearl builds knowledge of the use of the Website. This information is used to improve the Website. However, we use data on the navigation of all our users to be able to understand how our users as a total group use the Website and against this background we attempt to improve the Website and our digital services in general. We cannot see where you come from or go to on the Internet when you leave our Website. In addition, we collect information about which products our users as a total group prefer. This information is also used to improve the Website.
We are using an IP tracker solution from a third-party provider for all Swisspearl websites. This IP tracker tells us which company your IP address is associated with. We use the information to keep statistics about the companies that visit our website. Our marketing department can also use the information to make contact by telephone with the associated company. If your IP-address is linked to you as a private person, we will not receive personal data on you or contact you by telephone.
The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is that it is our assessment that our legitimate interests override your interests. We refer to article 6(1)(f) in the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"). Our legitimate interest is to provide parties that are interested in our company with a good experience when visiting the Website. Furthermore, the legal basis for processing in relation to sending marketing material via e-mail is based on explicit consent. We refer to article (1)(a) in the GDPR.
Contact person
The processing of your personal data is necessary in order for us to fulfil our contractual obligations towards your employer, cf. article 6(1)(b). Your personal data are also processed for the purpose of direct marketing of our products. The legal basis for such processing of your personal data is that it is our assessment that our legitimate interests override your interests, cf. article 6(1)(f) in the GDPR.
Our legitimate interests constitute fulfilment of our contractual obligations, maintaining and enhancing customer relationships, invoicing for the services your company provides to Swisspearl and/or vice versa, communicating with you if you have any questions related to our services or vice versa, direct marketing of our products, and for documentation purposes in the event we agree on something relating to our services in writing via gdpr@swisspearl.com
In certain cases, the processing of personal data is necessary in order to comply with a legal obligation, e.g. in relation to the national legislation. In such cases, the legal basis for the processing will be article 6(1) (c) in the GDPR.
3. With whom will my personal data be shared
In certain cases, if it is deemed necessary, we disclose your personal data to affiliates, vendors, cooperation partners or other third parties.
In order to pursue the above listed purposes, your personal data may also be made available to third parties providing relevant services under contract as a data processor to Swisspearl as such, but not limited to IT hosting and maintenance providers. Such service providers will only process the personal data in accordance with our instructions.
In certain circumstances and according to legislation it may be necessary to disclose data to the authorities. We may also disclose your personal data in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.
In the event of re-organization or total or partial sale of the business, disclosure, if any, will in such connection take place in accordance with the legislation applicable from time to time governing such processing of personal data.
Your personal data is not disclosed to a third party without your permission except as described above.
4. The duration of the processing
Your personal data will be deleted when we no longer need to process the data to fulfil one or more of the purposes mentioned above. However, your data may be processed and stored for a longer period in anonymized form or if we are required to do so by law.
Website
- For information on storage of your personal data in relation to visiting the Website, we refer to our Cookie Policy
Contact person
As a contact person employed at a customer, vendor or another cooperation partner, we store your personal data until the termination of the contractual relationship between Swisspearl and the company that you are employed by, or as long as we communicate with you.
In certain cases, we store your personal data for a longer period, for instance, if processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims towards your employer. In these cases, we will store your personal data as long as it is necessary for these specific purposes. Hereafter, we will delete your personal data.
5. Transfer of personal data to countries outside of EU and EEA
In certain cases, Swisspearl will transfer your personal data to third countries outside of EU/EEA, for instance, UK or USA. If your personal data are transferred to such third countries, Swisspearl ensures that such transfer will be carried out in accordance with the applicable data protection laws. If the transfer is not carried out to recipients established in so-called "safe" third countries, approved by the EU-Commission, we ensure this by, for instance, entering into the EU-Commission's standard contractual clauses.
You can obtain a copy of the relevant information on third country transfers by contacting gdpr@swisspearl.com
6. Cookies
We use cookies on our Website. Please read more about the use of cookies in our Cookie Policy on our Website.
The purposes of processing data collected by the use of cookies, are the following:
- to operate, improve and optimize the performance and user experience of the website and its services;
- perform customer and user analysis and segmentation in order to improve our understanding of our users, and provide better and tailored services to users, including you;
- statistical purposes.
7. Security
We have implemented security measures to ensure that our internal procedures meet our high security policy standards. Accordingly, we use our best endeavors to protect the quality and integrity of your personal data.
8. Your rights
You have a right of access to the personal data, which we process and store about you, subject to certain statutory exceptions. Furthermore, you have the right to object to the collection and request restriction of the processing of your personal data. In addition, you also have the right to require us to rectify or erase your personal data, if necessary.
You have the right to information about the personal data, which we process and store about you, subject to certain statutory exceptions.
Under certain circumstances, you may also request that we provide you with an overview of your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and request us to transmit such data to another data controller.
You may at all times object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes.
9. Additional Information for US Residents
This section applies to individuals who are residents of the United States.
Categories of Personal Information
We collect the following categories of personal information: identifiers (such as name, email address, IP address, telephone number), commercial information (such as products or services requested), internet or network activity information (such as browsing history and interactions with our Website), and professional or employment-related information (such as your position and employer).
Sale or Sharing of Personal Information
We do not sell personal information as that term is defined under applicable U.S. state privacy laws. We may share personal information with third-party service providers as described in Section 3 above for business purposes.
Your Rights as a U.S. Resident
Depending on your residence, you may have the following rights:
- Right to Know: You may have the right to request that we disclose to you the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources from which we collected the personal information, the business or commercial purposes for collecting the personal information, and the categories of third parties with whom we share personal information.
- Right to Delete: You may have the right to request that we delete personal information we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions.
- Right to Correct: You may have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
- Right to Opt-Out of Sales or Sharing: Although we do not sell personal information, you may have the right to opt-out if we were to do so in the future.
- Right to Opt-Out of Targeted Advertising: Where applicable, you may have the right to opt-out of the processing of your personal information for purposes of targeted advertising.
- Right to Opt-Out of Profiling: Where applicable, you may have the right to opt-out of profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
- Right to Data Portability: Where applicable, you have the right to obtain a copy of your personal information in a portable and readily usable format.
How to Exercise Your Rights
To exercise any of the rights described above, please contact us using the contact information provided in Section 11 below. We will verify your request using the information associated with your account or by requesting additional information. You may also designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. To do so, you must provide the authorized agent with written permission to act on your behalf, and we may require that you verify your identity directly with us.
Non-Discrimination
We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights under applicable US state privacy laws, including by denying you goods or services, charging you different prices or rates, or providing you a different level or quality of goods or services.
Appeal Rights
If we decline to take action regarding your request, you may appeal our decision by contacting us using the contact information provided in Section 11 below and specifying that you wish to appeal. We will respond to your appeal in accordance with applicable law.
Opt-Out Preference Signals
Some U.S. state privacy laws require businesses to recognize opt-out preference signals, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC). If we detect such a signal from your browser, we will treat it as a request to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information and targeted advertising with respect to that particular browser or device.
10. Withdrawal of consent
You may at any time withdraw any consent you may have given. Should you wish to withdraw your consent you may contact us at gdpr@swisspearl.com.
With respect to newsletters and other electronic marketing material, you may also use the “unsubscribe link” in the email or other communications which you receive from us.
Please note that the withdrawal of your consent will not affect the lawfulness of past processing conducted prior to the withdrawal.
11. How to contact us?
If you want us to update, rectify or delete the personal data that we have recorded about you, or if you want access to the personal data being processed about you, or if you have any questions concerning the above guidelines, you may contact us at gdpr@swisspearl.com.
You can also write to us at the following address:
Swisspearl Group AG
Eternitstrasse 3 8867 Niederurnen, Switzerland
12. Complaints
Should you want to complain about the processing of your personal data, you may contact us via email, telephone or letter as indicated in clause 9 above.