Calista GmbH privacy policy

Version of 29.08.2023

In this privacy policy we, Calista GmbH, explain how we collect and process personal data. This is not an exhaustive description; if necessary other privacy policies will regulate specific issues. Personal data is understood as all information that relates to an identified or identifiable person.

If you provide us with personal data of other persons (e.g. family members, data of work colleagues), please make sure that these persons are aware of this privacy policy, and only share their personal data with us if you are allowed to do so and if this personal data is correct.

This privacy policy is designed to comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the Swiss Data Protection Act (“DSG”) and the revised Swiss Data Protection Act (“revDSG”). If and to what extent these laws apply depends on the individual case.

1. Controller/data protection officer/representative

Luc Joosen, Altweg 12, 8500 Frauenfeld is responsible for the data processing set out here by us. If you have any data protection concerns, you can pass these on to us at the following contact address: Calista GmbH, Altweg 12, 8500 Frauenfeld,

2. Collection and processing personal data

We primarily process personal data that we receive from our customers and other business partners in the course of our business relationship with them and other persons involved in it, and which we collect from their users when operating our websites, apps and other applications.

To the extent permitted, we also take certain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. debt collection registers, land registers, commercial registers, press, internet), from authorities and other third parties. In addition to the data about you that you give us directly, the categories of personal data that we receive about you from third parties include, in particular, information from public registers, information that we learn in connection with official and legal proceedings, information in connection with your professional roles and activities (so that we can, for example, conclude and process transactions with your employer with your help), information about you in correspondence and meetings with third parties, creditworthiness information (insofar as we conduct business with you personally), information about you which people close to you (family, advisors, legal representatives etc.) give us so that we can conclude or process contracts with you or involving you (e.g. references, your address for deliveries, powers of attorney, information on compliance with legal requirements such as anti-money laundering and export restrictions, information from banks, insurance companies, sales and other contractual partners of ours on the utilisation or provision of services by you (e.g. payments made, purchases made), information from the media and on the internet about you (if this is indicated in the specific case, e.g. in the context of an application, press review, marketing/sales etc.), your addresses and, if applicable, interests and other socio-demographic data (for marketing), data in connection with the use of the website (e.g. IP address, MAC address of the smartphone or computer, information about your device and settings, cookies, date and time of visit, pages and content accessed, functions used, referring website, location details).

3. Purpose of the data processing and legal basis

We primarily use the personal data we collect to conclude and perform our contracts with our customers and business partners, including in the course of providing our services to customers, purchasing products and services from our suppliers and subcontractors, and complying with our legal obligations at home and abroad. If you work for one of these customers or business partners, your personal data may also be affected in this capacity.

Moreover, we also process personal data about you and other individuals, where permitted and where we consider it appropriate, for the following purposes in which we (and sometimes third parties) have a legitimate interest that corresponds to this purpose:

  • Offering and further developing our offers, services and websites, apps and other platforms we are present on;
  • Communicating with third parties and handling their enquiries (e.g. applications, media enquiries);
  • Reviewing and optimising needs assessment procedures for direct client engagement and collecting personal data from publicly available sources for client acquisition;
  • Advertising and marketing (including organising events), insofar as you have not objected to the use of your data. (If we send you advertising as an existing customer of ours, you can object to this at any time. We will then put you on a block list for further advertising emails);
  • Market and opinion research, media monitoring;
  • Asserting legal claims and defending ourselves in legal disputes and official proceedings;
  • Preventing and investigating criminal offences and other misconduct (e.g. conducting internal investigations, data analysis to combat fraud);
  • Guaranteeing our operations, in particular IT, our websites, apps and other platforms;
  • Video surveillance to maintain domiciliary rights and other measures for IT, building and facility security and protection of our employees and other persons and assets belonging to or entrusted to us (such as access controls, visitor lists, network and email scanners, telephone recordings);
  • Purchasing and selling business units, companies or parts of companies and other transactions under company law and the associated transfer of personal data and measures for business management, and to comply with legal and regulatory obligations as well as internal regulations of Calista GmbH.

If you have given us consent to process your personal data for specific purposes (for example, when you register to receive newsletters or carry out a background check), we process your personal data within the scope of and based on this consent, unless we have another legal basis and we require one. Consent given can be revoked at any time, but this has no effect on data processing that has already taken place.

4. Cookies/tracking and other technologies related to the use of our website

We generally use “cookies” and similar technologies on our website to identify your browser or device. A cookie is a small file that is sent to your computer or automatically stored on your computer or mobile device by the web browser you are using when you visit our website. If you visit this website again, we can recognise you in this way, even if we do not know who you are. In addition to cookies that are only used during a session and deleted after your website visit (“session cookies”), cookies can also be used to store user settings and other information for a certain period of time (e.g. two years) (“permanent cookies”). However, you can set your browser to reject cookies, save them for one session only or otherwise delete them early. Most browsers are preset to accept cookies. We use permanent cookies to store user preferences (e.g. language, autologin), to help us better understand how you use our offers and content, and to show you offers and advertising tailored to you (which may also happen on other companies’ websites; however, they will not find out from us who you are, if we ourselves know at all, because they will only see that the same user is on their website who was on a particular page with us). Some of the cookies are set by us, and some are also set by contractors we work with. If you block cookies, certain functionalities (such as language selection, shopping basket, ordering processes) may no longer work.

We also, sometimes and where permitted, include visible and invisible image elements in our newsletters and other marketing emails. By retrieving these from our servers we can determine whether and when you have opened the email so that we can also measure and better understand how you use our offers and tailor them to you. You can block this in your email program; most are preset to do this.

By using our website, and consenting to receive newsletters and other marketing emails, you consent to the use of these practices. If you do not want this, you must set your browser or email program accordingly.

Using data from the contact form:

Information from the contact for, is sent to us by email. We use this only to answer your enquiry and do not pass this on to third parties. You can revoke your consent at any time by emailing  or the contact details given in the legal notice.

YouTube

We use plugins from the video portal YouTube (YouTube LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA) on our websites. YouTube is a subsidiary of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. We use this plugin to improve the user experience through videos.

Each time you access a page that offers one or more YouTube video clips, a direct connection is established between your browser and a YouTube server in the USA. Information about your visit and your IP address is stored. When the YouTube plugins are interacted with (e.g. clicking the start button), this information is also transmitted to YouTube and stored by YouTube. If you have a YouTube user account and do not want YouTube to collect data about you via this website and link it to your membership data stored with YouTube, you must log out of YouTube before visiting this website.

In addition, YouTube calls up the Google Analytics analysis tool via an iFrame in which the video is accessed (cf. Section 4.1.). This is YouTube’s own tracking, which we have no access to. You can prevent tracking by Google Analytics by using the deactivation tools that Google offers for some internet browsers.

The legal basis for the aforementioned data processing is our legitimate interest in the economic operation of our online offer (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

For more information on how YouTube collects and uses your data, please refer to the privacy policy of YouTube or Google: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Newsletter (Brevo)

We use Brevo to send newsletters. Brevo is a service provided by Sendinblue GmbH, Köpenicker Str. 126, 10179 Berlin, Germany, hereinafter referred to as “Brevo”.

If you register to receive our newsletter, the data requested during the registration process (your e-mail address) will be processed by Brevo. In addition, your IP address and the date and time of your registration will be stored. As part of the further registration process, your consent to the sending of the newsletter will be obtained, the content will be described in detail and reference will be made to this data protection declaration.

In addition, Brevo offers under

https://www.brevo.com/de/legal/privacypolicy/
https://www.brevo.com/de/informationen-newsletter-empfaenger/?rtype=n2go

further information on data protection.

The newsletters sent by Brevo contain technologies that enable us to recognise in the analyses whether and when an email has been opened and whether and which links contained in the newsletter have been followed. We store this data in addition to the technical data (system data and IP address) so that the respective newsletter can be optimally tailored to your wishes and interests. The data collected in this way is thus used to constantly improve the quality of our newsletters. The legal basis for the newsletter dispatch and analysis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a.) DSGVO.

In accordance with Art. 7 (3) DSGVO, you can revoke your consent to the sending of newsletters at any time with effect for the future. To do so, you only need to inform us of your revocation or click on the unsubscribe link contained in each newsletter.

5. Passing on data and transferring data abroad

In the course of our business activities and for the purposes set out in section 3, we also disclose information to third parties, insofar as this is permitted and we believe it to be appropriate, either because they process the information for us or because they want to use it for their own purposes. This involves the following roles in particular:

  • Service providers of ours, including order processors (such as IT providers);
  • Dealers, suppliers, subcontractors and other business partners;
  • Customers;
  • Domestic and foreign authorities, official agencies or courts;
  • Media;
  • The public, including visitors to websites and social media;
  • Competitors, industry organisations, associations, organisations and other bodies;
  • Acquirers or parties interested in acquiring business units, companies or other parts of Calista GmbH;
  • Other parties in potential or actual legal proceedings;

Together, jointly, recipients.

Some of these recipients are domestic, but can be located anywhere on earth. In particular, you must expect your data to be transferred to all countries where the service providers we use are located.

If a recipient is located in a country without adequate legal data protection, we contractually obligate the recipient to comply with the applicable data protection (for this purpose, we use the revised standard contractual clauses of the European Commission, which can be accessed here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?), insofar as it is not already subject to a legally recognised set of rules to ensure data protection and we cannot rely on an exemption clause. An exception may apply in the case of legal proceedings abroad, but also in cases of overriding public interest or if the performance of a contract requires such disclosure, if you have consented or if the matter concerns data that you have made generally accessible and you have not objected to its processing.

6. Duration of the retention of personal data

We process and store your personal data as long as it is necessary for the fulfilment of our contractual and legal obligations or otherwise the purposes pursued with the processing, i.e. for example for the duration of the entire business relationship (from the initiation, processing to the termination of a contract) as well as beyond that in accordance with the statutory retention and documentation obligations. In doing so, it is possible that personal data will be retained for the time during which claims can be made against our company and insofar as we are otherwise legally obligated to do so or legitimate business interests require this (e.g. for evidence and documentation purposes). As soon as your personal data is no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, it will be erased or made anonymous as far as possible. For operational data (e.g. system logs, logs), shorter retention periods of twelve months or less generally apply.

7. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access and misuse, such as IT and network security solutions.

8. Obligation to provide personal data

Within the scope of our business relationship, you must provide the personal data that is required for the establishment and implementation of a business relationship and the fulfilment of the associated contractual obligations (as a rule, you are not legally obligated to provide us with data). Without this data, we will not normally be able to enter into or perform a contract with you (or the entity or person you represent). In addition, the website cannot be used if certain traffic security details (such as IP address) are not disclosed.

9. Profiling

We process some of your personal data automatically with the aim of evaluating certain personal aspects (profiling). We use profiling in particular to provide you with targeted information and advice about products. In doing so, we use evaluation tools that enable us to provide needs-based communication and advertising, including market and opinion research. To establish and implement the business relationship and also otherwise, we generally do not use fully automated automatic decision-making (as regulated, for example, in Art. 22 GDPR). If we use these procedures in individual cases, we will inform you separately about this, insofar as this is required by law, and inform you about the associated rights.

10. Rights of data subjects

You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, the right to restrict data processing and otherwise object to our data processing, in particular for the purposes of direct marketing, profiling for direct advertising and other legitimate interests in the processing, as well as to the release of specific personal data for the purpose of transfer to another body (so-called data portability), within the framework of the data protection law applicable to you and where provided for therein (such as in the case of the GDPR). Please note, however, that we reserve the right to assert the restrictions provided for by law on our part, for example if we are obligated to retain or process certain data, have an overriding interest in doing so (insofar as we are entitled to rely on this) or require it for the assertion of claims. If there are any costs to you, we will inform you in advance. We have already informed you about the option to revoke your consent in section 3. Note that the exercise of these rights may conflict with contractual arrangements and may have consequences such as early termination of the contract or costs. We will inform you in advance if this is not already contractually agreed. The exercise of these rights usually requires that you clearly prove your identity (e.g. by means of a copy of your ID where your identity is otherwise not clear or cannot be verified). To exercise your rights, you can contact us using the address given in section 1. In addition, all data subjects have the right to enforce their claims in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch).

11. Amendments

We can adapt this privacy policy at any time without prior notification. The current version published on our website will apply. Where the privacy policy forms part of an agreement with you, we will notify you of any amendment by email or other appropriate means in the event of an update.

This privacy policy is based on DSAT.ch.
Authors: David Rosenthal, Katrina Frame. All rights reserved.
Editing: David Rosenthal (), David Vasella ().
Licence: Creative Commons “Attribution 4.0 International” (attribution: «Based on DSAT.ch.»)