Privacy Policy

I. What is this Privacy Policy about?

In the course of our business activities, we, Wenger Plattner, a law, notary, and tax advisory firm organized as a partnership with locations in Basel, Bern, and Küsnacht-Zurich (hereinafter "we" or "Wenger Plattner"), collect and process personal data in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP").

This Privacy Policy informs you about how we collect and process personal data. This Privacy Policy does not provide a comprehensive description; other privacy-related statements may address specific matters.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party websites that can be accessed via this website. We have no influence over the data processing by these third parties and disclaim any responsibility for ensuring that the websites linked to our website comply with data protection regulations. The use of external links from our website is at your own risk.

II. Who is responsible for data processing?

Wenger Plattner, with locations at Aeschenvorstadt 55 in 4010 Basel, Jungfraustrasse 1 in 3000 Bern, and Seestrasse 39 in 8700 Küsnacht (ZH), is responsible for the data processing described in this Privacy Policy.

Data protection inquiries can be sent at any time via email to datenschutz@wenger-plattner.ch or by mail to the above addresses.

III. Who is this Privacy Policy addressed to?

In the course of our business activities, we may collect and process personal data from our clients, associated individuals, opposing parties and their legal representatives, guarantors, experts, informants, visitors to our website www.wenger-plattner.ch (hereinafter "website") and our social media appearances (hereinafter "social media appearances"), participants in events, recipients of newsletters and other communications, job applicants, courts and authorities, correspondence law firms, professional and other associations, service providers and other contractual partners, as well as other entities or their respective contact persons and employees (hereinafter "you").

IV. What categories of personal data do we collect and process?

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data in particular:

  • Personal details (e.g., name and first name);
  • Contact details and personal information (e.g., address, email address, telephone number);
  • Communication and content data;
  • Contract and master data;
  • Business documents;
  • Bank and payment information;
  • Financial and asset data (e.g., collection data, debt collection information, income);
  • Information about third parties;
  • Application documents, references, notes, or recommendations;
  • Preference data (e.g., when using our website or social media appearances);
  • Information for access control systems and their recordings;
  • Recordings from cameras in buildings;
  • Photo, video, and audio recordings of events or meetings;
  • Other information

We receive most personal data directly from you (e.g., when communicating with you). However, we may also collect personal data from third parties (e.g., from persons authorized by you or from banks, authorities, credit agencies, etc.) or from publicly accessible sources (e.g., telephone directory, commercial register, media) or generally from the internet, as far as this is legally permissible.

If you disclose personal data about other people to us (e.g., about contact persons, family members, employees), we assume that you are authorized to do so, that this personal data is accurate, and that you have informed the relevant third parties about this Privacy Policy within the legal deadline. This is confirmed by you when disclosing personal data about other people.

You are not obliged to disclose your personal data to us. However, it may be that we cannot provide certain contractual services without specific information, or our website or social media appearances cannot be fully used.

V. For what purposes do we process your personal data?

We may process your personal data primarily for the following purposes:

  • Communication with you;
  • Implementation of pre-contractual measures;
  • Contract conclusion and execution (e.g., provision and documentation of our legal advisory services);
  • Invoicing and collection;
  • Payment of invoices;
  • Operation of our infrastructure, website, and social media appearances;
  • Analysis of the use of our website and social media appearances;
  • Marketing and relationship management using all means of communication (e.g., email, social media, mail, or telephone) to inform about publications, events, news, services, or other topics that may be of interest (e.g., newsletters) or to conduct events (e.g., client events);
  • Processing of inquiries;
  • Assertion, exercise, or defense of legal claims;
  • Fulfillment of legal and regulatory obligations (e.g., conducting KYC clarifications);
  • Security and ensuring our operations;
  • Security and protection of our employees, clients, and the information and values entrusted to us (e.g., IT, building, facility, and workplace security);
  • Other operational or administrative purposes;
  • Corporate transactions (e.g., purchase of business units or companies, sale of our company or parts thereof, other corporate transactions);
  • Other purposes according to separate information or as apparent from the circumstances.

For job applicants, we process personal data for the purpose of reviewing the application, conducting the application process, and, in the case of successful applications, preparing and concluding a corresponding contract.

We generally do not perform profiling or automated individual decisions. If we make a decision about you in an individual case that is based solely on automated processing and has legal consequences for you or significantly affects you, we will inform you accordingly. In this case, you will have the right to request a review of the relevant automated individual decision by a natural person.

VI. On what legal basis do we process personal data?

We may process your personal data based on the following legal grounds, provided a legal basis is required under applicable law:

  • The processing is necessary for pre-contractual measures or the fulfillment of a contract to which you are a party;
  • The processing is necessary for the fulfillment of legal obligations;
  • The processing is based on your consent;
  • The processing is necessary to protect legitimate interests (e.g., ensuring attorney-client privilege, security and protection of our business secrets, assets, systems, and buildings; organization of our business operations; operation of our website and social media presence; compliance with legal requirements and our internal regulations; prevention of misconduct and crimes; handling claims and demands against us; assertion, exercise, or defense of legal claims).

VII. To whom is personal data disclosed?

We may disclose your personal data to other recipients as necessary for the purposes mentioned above, possibly with your separate consent. Disclosure may particularly occur to the following categories of recipients:

  • Service providers who process personal data on our behalf and for our purposes (e.g., IT providers);
  • Clients;
  • Counterparties and their legal representatives, as well as other involved persons (e.g., guarantors, experts, informants, etc.);
  • Correspondence law firms;
  • Business partners with whom our legal services may need to be coordinated;
  • Third parties who collect personal data about visitors to our website or social media presence via our website or social media presence (e.g., using cookies and similar technologies);
  • Legal representatives;
  • Authorities, courts, and other public bodies;
  • Other possible third parties.

The disclosure of personal data to the relevant authorities and courts as part of our business services is at the discretion of the acting attorney.

VIII. Is personal data also transferred abroad?

In principle, we process your personal data within our area of responsibility in Switzerland or in other countries with equivalent regulations for the protection of personal data (i.e., particularly EU and EEA countries). However, some of our service providers (e.g., IT providers) and other recipients listed above may also be located in the EU or in any country worldwide, including those that do not guarantee a level of data protection comparable to Swiss law. If personal data is transferred to a country without adequate data protection, we ensure adequate protection through the use of sufficient guarantees (e.g., EU standard contractual clauses) or rely on one of the legal exceptions (e.g., consent).

IX. Data collection when using our website and newsletters

1. Cookies

Cookies are used on our website. For more information on the use of cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy .

2. Log files

Our website is hosted and processed on servers in Switzerland. When accessing our website, the following information is collected:

  • IP address (Internet Protocol address) of the device from which this website is accessed;
  • Internet address of the website from which the online offer is accessed (so-called origin or referrer URL);
  • Name of the service provider through which access to the online offer is made;
  • Name of the files or information accessed;
  • Date and time as well as duration of access;
  • Amount of data transferred;
  • Operating system and information about the internet browser used, including installed add-ons (e.g., for a password manager);
  • HTTP status code (e.g., "request successful" or "requested file not found").

This information, which may also constitute personal data, is stored in server log files. The information is necessary to ensure reliable operation and data security. We do not have access to this technical data.

3. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is used on this website. It is a web analysis service offered by Google Ireland Ltd., Ireland ("Google"). Google's privacy policy can be accessed at: https://policies.google.com/privacy .

With the help of Google Analytics, we are able to collect and analyze data about the use of our website by visitors.

Google uses cookies to provide the services. The information collected by the cookie about the use of the website is stored on Google's servers. Although we can assume that the information shared with Google does not constitute personal data, it cannot be ruled out that Google may draw conclusions about the identity of visitors based on the information derived from the cookies, create personal profiles, and link this data with the Google accounts of these individuals for its own purposes, to the extent permitted by law. If you have registered with Google, Google will also know your identity. In this case, the processing of your personal data by Google is their responsibility according to their privacy policy. By agreeing to the use of Google Analytics, you consent to such processing.

For more information, please refer to our Cookie Policy .

4. Social Media Plug-Ins and Links to Social Media Platforms

We may use social media plug-ins on our website. You can usually recognize the plug-ins by the logos of the respective social media. These offerings are deactivated by default. Once you activate them (e.g., by clicking a switch), the respective providers can determine that you are on our website. If you have an account with the respective provider, they can associate your visit to our website with your user account. The processing of your personal data by the respective provider is then their responsibility according to their privacy policies. For more information on data processing by social media providers, please refer to the privacy policies of the respective providers. Currently, we include the following social media plug-ins:

This website may also contain links to social media platforms. These links are displayed as logos on this website and serve only as links to the respective social media platform. Personal data of the visitor is only transmitted to the respective social media platform when the visitor clicks the link and is redirected to the respective social media platform. Currently, we include links to the following social media platform:

  • LinkedIn: The responsible entity for operating the platform for users in Europe is LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Dublin, Ireland. Their privacy policy can be accessed at https://de.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy .
5. Other Third-Party Services

We may also use our own tools and other third-party services on our website, which may also use cookies (e.g., for integrating videos on our website, to create statistics, or to improve the functionalities of our website). Currently, the following third-party offerings may be used on our website:

6. Newsletter

The email address you provided when signing up for the newsletter will be used to send you information about our offerings. You can object to this use at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the email.

X. Our Presence on Social Media

We may operate our own presences on third-party social media. If you communicate with us through such social media presences or comment on or share content, we may collect relevant information.

We have the right, but not the obligation, to review content before or after its publication and to delete content without notice, as far as technically possible, or to report it to the provider of the relevant platform. In case of violation of decency and conduct rules, we may also report the relevant user account to the platform provider.

When visiting our social media presences, data may also be directly transmitted to the relevant provider or collected by them and processed together with other data already known to that provider. This data processing is the sole responsibility of the relevant provider. Further information on data processing by social network providers can be found in the privacy policies of the respective social networks. Currently, we use the following platforms:

  • LinkedIn: The responsible entity for operating the platform for users from Europe is LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Dublin, Ireland. Their privacy notice can be accessed at https://de.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy .
  • YouTube: YouTube is part of Google LLC, USA. Their privacy notice can be accessed at  https://policies.google.com/privacy .
  • Google Business Profile: Google Business Profile is a service of Google LLC, USA and is therefore subject to the privacy policy and principles of Google LLC, USA. Their privacy notice can be accessed at https://policies.google.com/privacy .

XI. How long are your personal data stored?

Unless otherwise agreed, we store personal data only as long as necessary for the processing purpose, or as long as a legal retention or documentation period exists (for notaries, there is an unlimited retention obligation), a statute of limitations applies, or an overriding private or public interest exists. Once the personal data we have collected are no longer required for the mentioned purposes, they are generally deleted or anonymized as far as possible. An agreement with you to the contrary, whereby the personal data can be stored for a longer period, remains reserved.

The above also applies to job applicants, i.e., once the personal data we have collected are no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, particularly if no employment relationship is established between us and you, the relevant personal data are generally deleted or anonymized as far as possible. An agreement with you to the contrary, whereby the application documents can be stored for a certain period in view of a possible further open position, remains reserved. Upon conclusion of an employment contract between us and you, the application documents become part of the personal data of employees and the corresponding privacy policy for employees applies.

XII. How do we protect your personal data?

We take appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data from loss, accidental disclosure, unauthorized or unlawful processing, misuse, or unauthorized access by third parties.

We use certain IT services and communication tools that may be associated with data security risks (e.g., email, video conferences). If you communicate with us via these communication tools, it is up to you to inform us of your desire for special security measures.

XIII. What rights do you have?

Within the framework of applicable law and subject to the corresponding prerequisites, you have the following rights:

  • Right to information about the personal data we process about you;
  • Right to correction of incorrect personal data;
  • Right to deletion of your personal data;
  • Right to restriction of the processing of your personal data;
  • Right to object to the processing of your personal data;
  • Right to receive the personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format (data portability);
  • Right to withdraw consent to the processing of your personal data at any time with effect for the future, if the processing of personal data is based on your consent.

Please note that there are prerequisites, exceptions, and restrictions for these rights. As far as legally permissible or required, we may refuse or restrict requests to exercise these rights. Thus, we may or must retain or otherwise continue to process personal data despite a request for deletion or restriction of their processing for legal reasons.

Requests related to these rights should be directed in writing or by email, including proof of identity, to the contact point mentioned at the beginning.

You are also free to complain to the competent data protection authority. In Switzerland, this is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).

XIV. Changes to the Privacy Policy

We may adjust this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. Changes apply from the announcement of the amended privacy policy. The version published on the website is valid.

 

(As of October 2024)


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