Privacy Policy

The following is a brief summary of (but not a replacement for) this Privacy Notice: 

• As part of our operation of the Services, we may collect personal data which is provided to us by you, our customers, or which we collect automatically when you interact with the Services (see section 4);

• We process such personal data in compliance with Swiss laws and other laws applicable to us, mainly for the purpose of providing our Services, in particular to operate the Platforms and for the other legitimate purposes indicated in this Privacy Notice (see section 7, as well as sections 5 and 6);

• If we receive personal data from one of our customers, we will process it as a processor for our customer, in accordance with our agreement with our customer. This Privacy Notice does not address how our customers collect and use your personal data or how we process your data when we act as processor for our customers. If we process your personal data because it was provided to us by one of our customers, you must refer to that customer’s privacy policy for information about its processing activities (see section 8).

• Your personal data is stored in Switzerland and/or in the E.U. We do not share it with third parties or transfer it abroad unless this is both necessary for the operation of our Services and permitted by applicable laws. This may for instance be the case when we use service providers or must interact with third parties to conduct our professional activities. Some information on the Platforms is available to other users, and thus worldwide (see sections 8 and 10);

• We do not store your personal data for longer than necessary for us to fulfill the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice (see section 11);

• We apply security measures and strive to protect your personal data. However, no IT infrastructure is completely secure and we cannot guarantee that our is (see section 12);

• Except when we act as processor (as described above) ColabON AG is responsible for the processing, as controller, of your personal data (see section 3). You may contact us (info@colabon.com) to exercise your rights pertaining to your personal data (see sections 14 and 15).

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3. Who is responsible for the processing of your personal data

ColabON AG, Sandmattstrasse 21, 4532 Feldbrunnen, Switzerland, is responsible for the processing, as controller, of your personal data. You will find our contact details below in Section 13.

This Privacy Notice only applies to processing undertaken by or on behalf of us. Whilst we may provide links to third party websites, contents, or services, we are not responsible for their policies in relation to personal data. In such circumstances, the collection and use of your personal data are governed by the privacy policy of those third party providers, which you should carefully review to learn more about their personal data processing practices.

As further detailed in this Privacy Notice, we may process your personal data in connection with the professional Services we provide to your employer, respectively the organization to which you are affiliated in any other way (each an Organization). This Privacy Notice does not govern how your Organization process your personal data through the Services. You must refer to your Organization’s policies. Please see section 8 below for additional information in this respect.

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4. How we collect your personal data

We collect the personal data that you or your Organization provide to us.

We collect the personal data that you or your Organization provide to us when using our Services, for example when you use our Platforms, communicate with us, when you/we create and/or manage your account, through web forms you fill, or when you subscribe to our newsletter.

Some information is mandatory and some is optional.

It is mandatory that you complete the data fields identified as such (for instance by using an asterisk). If one or more mandatory data fields are not completed, we will not be able to provide access to our Services. You are not required to complete the optional data fields in order to access our Services.

Certain personal data are also collected in an automated manner.

In connection with our Website (but not with the ColabON App), we also automatically collect personal data, including by means of tools, web forms, cookies and other active elements, as further described in this Privacy Notice. You may define certain authorizations relating to the automatic collection of your personal data when you configure your device or your internet browser according to available functionalities. You may also define certain settings for the automated collection of your personal data through the cookies setting plugin available on our Website.  For more detailed information, please see the cookie section below (section 13).

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5. How we process your personal data

We process your personal data by automated means for the purposes indicated in this Privacy Notice and in accordance with applicable law.

We process your personal data in compliance with applicable law, in particular Swiss data protection laws and, to the extent they apply to us, other data protection legislations, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or its equivalent in the United Kingdom, using computers or computer tools, in line with the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice. 

We do not process your personal data to create a profile about you (profiling) and do not make decisions exclusively on the basis of an automated processing which have legal effects on the data subjects or affect them significantly (automated individual decision).

We take the technical and organizational appropriate security measures to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, alteration or destruction of your personal data, as specified in Section 12 below.

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6. On which legal ground do we process your personal data

We process your personal data only if we have a valid legal ground to do so.

We will only process your personal data if we have a valid legal ground for doing so. Unless we must process your personal data for one of the reasons listed below, we will process your personal data as data processor for the providing of our Services to our customers (see section 8):

Depending on the processing activity carried out, we may also process your personal data if:

• The processing is necessary to fulfill our contractual obligations to you or to take pre-contractual steps at your request (Contractual Necessity);

This is the case in particular when processing your personal data is strictly required to provide you with the Services, as further specified in section 7 below. When the GDPR applies, Contractual Necessity is based on Article 6(1)(b) GDPR;

• The processing is necessary for the fulfillment of our legitimate interests, and only to the extent that your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms do not require us to refrain from processing (Legitimate Interest);

Our Legitimate Interests include in particular (i) ensuring that our Services are provided in an efficient and secure way (e.g. through internal analysis of the Services’ stability and security, updates and troubleshooting, as well as support services); (ii) improving and developing the Services (including monitoring the use of our Services, and for statistical purposes); (iii) benefiting from cost-effective services (e.g. we may opt to use certain services offered by suppliers rather than undertaking the activity ourselves); and (iv) achieving our corporate goals. When the GDPR applies, Legitimate Interest is based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR;

• We have obtained your prior consent in a clear and unambiguous manner (Consent);

When the GDPR applies, Consent is based on Article 6(1)(a) GDPR;

• The processing is necessary to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations (Legal Obligation);

Finally, we will process your personal data if we are required by law to do so, as further specified in section 7 below. When the GDPR applies, Legal Obligation is based on Article 6(1)(c) GDPR.

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7. Purposes for which we process your personal data?

We process your personal data for legitimate and clearly identified purposes:

Your personal data is collected and processed for the purpose of operating the Services and for the other legitimate purposes explicitly specified below, only to the extent relevant to achieve these purposes, and is not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with them.

We process your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide our Services to you or your Organization

We mainly process your personal data to provide the requested Services to your Organization and you, including operating the ColabON App and providing the requested functionalities such as creating and maintaining a user account, interacting with you and other users (including for allowing other users to view your shared content), providing the requested information and Services, and customer and user management purposes.

When we provide those Services to your Organization, our processing of your personal data is governed by a contract between us and your Organization, and your use of the Services is subject to your Organization’s policies (see section 8). If your use of our Services is not related to an Organization, our basis for processing the data is our Contractual Necessity.

When you use our Platforms, in addition to the information which you or your Organization provide to us, we automatically collect technical information about your interactions with the Platforms which is necessary for us to operate them in a secure way, such as IP address, the content that was accessed, date and time of access, information about your web browser, your preferences, or other information related to your interaction with the Platforms, including your navigation details on the Platforms. We do so to establish a connection with your device over the internet, to identify you when you use the Platforms, control the use of the Platforms and manage their stability and security, based on our Legitimate Interest to do so. Log files are automatically deleted or anonymized 30 days after their collection, unless we must retain them for a valid reason.

To contact you and respond to your queries.

You have the option of contacting us via the Platforms. In this context, we process the data which you provide to us (including your contact information and the subject-matter of the request). This data is used for the purpose of providing you with the requested information and services, based on our Contractual Necessity.

The retention period depends on the reason for your request and its context. Requests are, as a rule, retained for 3 months, unless there is legal ground for retaining them longer (such as evidentiary or tax purposes).

To send you our newsletter and other advertising information.

If you subscribe to our newsletter, we will collect your contact details (name and email address) and use it to provide you with our newsletter, based on your Consent. You may unsubscribe from the newsletter service at any time, in which case your contact details will be deleted. We may use the services third party services of to provide our newsletter service (such as Mailchimp), which will have access to your login data in order to provide you with the service.

Independently from your subscription to our newsletter, we may also contact you by email to inform you about our activities if you have previously subscribed for the use of our Services, if you have not objected to the corresponding use of your email address. You can object to the use of your email address for this purpose at any time by contacting us (see contact detail in section 15). The legal basis for the corresponding processing of your data is our Legitimate Interest to advertise certain sales offers and activities relating to our previous interactions with you.

To operate and improve our Website, provide you with the requested functionalities as well as targeted information or advertisements based on your interactions with the Platforms.

This section applies in addition to the other sections of this Privacy Notice to our activities in relation to our Website. It does not apply to the use of the ColabON App.

When you access and use our Website, we mainly process your personal data to operate it and provide you with the requested functionalities, as stated above in this Privacy Notice, based on our Contractual Necessity. We further process your personal data:

• For internal analysis and statistical purposes in order to improve our Services:

Unless you object to such processing, we may process your personal data, in particular data relating to your use of our Services and your habits and preferences (e.g. the content you accessed, date and time of access and your preferences), for internal analysis and statistical purposes, in order to better understand the needs of our users, to optimize their experience, and in general to improve the ergonomics and functionality of our Services. You may object to such processing activities at any time (see section 14 below for additional information on your rights).

We do not link this information to you or your account. We use analytics tools provided by known market providers – such as Google Analytics, and other – which provide to us only aggregated, non-identifiable data. You will find additional information in section 13 in relation to the use of cookies for this purpose, including on the duration for which data collected this way are stored, as well as links to the privacy policy of the service providers we use, which is applicable in this context.

• To provide you with targeted information or advertisements:

Provided we have collected your valid Consent, we use as part of our operation of the Website the services of third parties, such as Google Ads and LinkedIn, which may place cookies on your device in order to provide you with personalized advertisements based on your interaction with our Website. The privacy policies of those providers are applicable in relation to their activities. You may withdraw your Consent at any time (see section 14 below for additional information on your rights).

You will find additional information in section 13 in relation to the use of cookies for the above purposes in connection with the operation of our Website, including on the duration for which data collected this way are stored, and the link to the privacy policies of those external service providers, which is applicable in this context.

To comply with our other Legal Obligations or for other Legitimate Interests.

We may further process your personal data if we have a Legal Obligation to do so or for other Legitimate Interests. This will for instance be the case if we need to disclose certain information to public authorities or retain such information for tax or accounting purposes, or for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.

The personal data that we process for this purpose are those that we collected for one of the purposes indicated elsewhere in this section 7. We retain the personal data for the duration of the legal obligation imposed on us. 

If we have obtained your consent.

In addition to the above, we may process your personal data if we have obtained your prior unambiguous consent for specific purposes. Consent given can be withdrawn at any time, but this does not affect data processed prior to withdrawal.

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8. Our Operations with Your Organization

If you are an end user of a Service we provide to your Organization, or if we process for any other reason your personal data on behalf of your Organization (for instance, if you are not a user, but your personal data is provided to us by your Organization), please read the following:

• In the situations described above, our processing of your personal data is governed by a contract between us and your Organization and we will process your personal data as data processor for the providing of our Services to your Organization which is our customer.

• This Privacy Notice does not address how your Organization collects and uses your personal data or how we process your data when we act as processor for your Organization. Please refer to your Organization’s privacy policy for information about its processing activities.

• Some information about you may be provided to us directly by your Organization. If this is the case, it is your Organization which is responsible for ensuring that your personal data is collected and transferred to us in accordance with all privacy and data protection laws of all relevant jurisdictions, based on an appropriate legal ground.

• If you would like to make any requests or queries regarding our processing of your personal data on behalf of your Organization, please contact your Organization directly. For example, if you wish to request to access, correct, amend, or delete inaccurate personal data that was originally transmitted by your Organization, please direct your query to your Organization. If we are requested by your Organization to remove your personal data, we will respond to such request in a timely manner upon verification and in accordance with applicable law (for example, 30 days under Swiss law or the GDPR).

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9. The circumstances in which we share your personal data with third parties

We may share your personal data with third parties if this is necessary for the operation of our Services, if there is a legal obligation or permission to do so, or if there is another valid reason to do so.

We may share your personal data with third parties in connection with the operation of the Services and with subcontractors such as IT service providers, cloud service providers, database providers, automated marketing solutions providers and consultants, including Google Cloud (cloud/storage provider) and Google Analytics (data analytics tool).

We may share your personal data with your Organization to enable it to manage the Services

If you use a Service provided by an Organization you are affiliated with, we share certain data, such as interaction data and diagnostic data to enable your Organization to manage the Services.

Some information is accessible to your organization or to other users.

Your personal data may also be made available to or other users of the Services to the extent necessary for the proper operation and provision of the Services, for example for the purpose of enabling users to interact and collaborate, or to sign documents.

We may also disclose your personal data to third parties where we have a legal obligation to do so or a legitimate interest in doing so.

We may also disclose your personal data where we have a legitimate interest in doing so, for example (i) to respond to a request from a judicial authority or in accordance with a legal obligation; (ii) to bring or defend against a claim or lawsuit; or (iii) in the context of restructuring, in particular if we transfer our assets to another company.

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10. International Transfers

Your personal data is stored in Switzerland and/or the European Union, but may in certain circumstances be disclosed in other countries.

We store your personal data on servers located in Switzerland and/or the European Union.

In principle, we do not transfer your personal data to other countries or make it available there. However, in certain circumstances, in particular in connection with the operations of our subcontractors, your personal data may be made available to recipients located abroad (e.g. Google is headquartered in the U.S, from which location some data may be available). In such cases, we will ensure that suitable safeguards are in place, in accordance with applicable data protection laws, for instance by relying on standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission.

Moreover, the information accessible to the public or to other users on the Platforms may be accessed worldwide.

If you transmit information and data to us, you are expressly deemed to consent to such data transfers. You may request additional information in this regard and obtain a copy of the relevant safeguards upon request by sending a request to the contact address indicated in section 15 below.

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11. How long we store your personal data?

Your personal data will not be stored longer than necessary. 

We will erase or anonymize personal data as soon as it is no longer necessary for us to fulfill the purposes set out in section 7 of this Privacy Notice. This period varies, depending on the type of data concerned and the applicable legal requirements. More information on each type of processing can be found in section 7 above.

Your account information is retained for as long as your account is active. If you suppress your user account, your account information will be deleted or anonymized within 30 days after such event, unless data must be retained for a valid reason (such as evidentiary or tax purposes). Please note that some information about you may have to be retained for the duration of our contractual relationship with your Organization, even if your account is terminated (see section 8).

In view of the legal obligations incumbent upon us, certain information relating in particular to the contractual relationship must be retained for at least 10 years.

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12. Security

We maintain physical, technical and procedural safeguards to keep secure your personal data.

We are committed to the security of your personal data, and have in place physical, administrative and technical measures designed to keep secure your personal data and to prevent unauthorized access to it.  We restrict access to your personal data to those persons who need to know it for the purpose described in this Privacy Notice. In addition, we use standard security protocols and mechanisms to exchange the transmission of sensitive data. When you enter sensitive information on the ColabON App, we encrypt it using Transport Layer Security (TLS) technology.

Although we take appropriate steps to protect your personal data, no IT infrastructure is completely secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that data you provide to us is safe and protected from all unauthorized third-party access and theft. We waive any liability in this respect.

The internet is a global environment. As a result, by sending information to us electronically, such data may be transferred internationally over the internet depending upon your location. Internet is not a secure environment and this Privacy Notice applies to our use of your personal data once it is under our control only. Given the inherent nature of the internet, all internet transmissions are done at your own risk.

If we have reasonable reasons to believe that your personal data have been acquired by an unauthorized person, and applicable law requires notification, we will promptly notify you of the breach by email (if we have it) and/or by any other channel of communication (including by posting a notice on the Platforms).

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13. How we use cookies or other analytical tools

In connection with our Website we use Cookies, other analytical tools and similar technologies.
The ColabON App uses no cookies or other analytical tools for marketing purposes.

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In connection with our Website, we use various types of cookies, other analytical tools or similar technologies (collectively, Cookies), some of which are capable of automatically processing data on your electronic device and/or of transferring personal data about you to us or third parties. These technologies are generally used to monitor and analyze your interactions with the Website and/or to enable us to improve the Website and its functionalities, including customizing it, depending on your interactions. We may also use Cookies to measure and monitor the traffic and use of the Website and its performance.

Cookies are generally divided in four categories:

A. Essential Cookies. Some cookies are placed on your electronic devices to make the Website capable of being used, by providing basic features such as page browsing and accessing secure areas. The Website cannot function properly without this type of Cookies.

B. Functionality Cookies. Some Cookies enable the Website to remember choices persons make, for example, user name, and language or text size. These cookies are known as “functionality cookies” and help to improve a person’s experience of the Website by providing a more personalized service.

C. Advertising Cookies. These cookies are used to better understand user interests and to display more relevant advertisements.

D. Analytics/productivity Cookies. Analytics/productivity Cookies, such as those linked to Google Analytics, help understand how users interact with the Website by anonymously collecting and reporting information.

Our use of cookies may vary depending on the section or functionalities of the Platforms you access, but we generally use the following:

NameOwnerPurpose / DescriptionDuration and expiryType

_ga
Google Analytics
(link to privacy notice)Used to compute visitor, session, campaign data and to keep track of the use of the {theWHAT?:Like This}
for {theWHAT?:Like This}
analysis reporting.
It stores a number generated randomly to identify unique visitors2 yearsAnalytics

_gidUsed to store information about the use of a website by visitors and creates an analytical report on the functioning of the website.
It stores the number of visitors, their source and the page visited in pseudonymized form.1 dayAnalytics

_gat_UA-176321100-1This cookies is installed by Google Universal Analytics to throttle the request rate to limit the collection of data on high traffic sites.1 minutePerformance

You can manage Cookies through the settings of your web browser and/or electronic device, as well as through the interface available on the Platforms.

If you do not want Cookies to be stored on your electronic device, you can configure your internet browser or electronic device to refuse and/or restrict them. You may also set the use of Cookies on the Cookie management page of the Website. However, some Cookies are essential to the functioning of the Website, and they may operate differently if you refuse or completely restrict Cookies.

For more information, please visit the website http://www.allaboutcookies.org. You can also see the help section of your internet browser or electronic device for more specific instructions on how to manage Cookies.

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14. Your rights with regard to the processing of your personal data

You have the right to access your personal data we process and may request in particular that they be removed, updated, or rectified.

If you are using a Service provided by your Organization, you should direct your privacy inquiries relating to our use of your personal data on behalf of your Organization, including any requests to exercise your data protection rights, directly to your organization’s contact person.

In other cases, you may contact us directly to exercise your rights. Unless otherwise provided by law, you have the right to know whether we are processing your personal data, to know the content of such personal data, to verify its accuracy, and to the extent permitted by law, to request that it be supplemented, updated, rectified or erased. You also have the right to ask us to cease any specific processing of personal data that may have been obtained or processed in breach of applicable law, and you have the right to object to any processing of personal data for legitimate reasons.

By accessing your user account (if you have one), you can review, update, correct or delete the personal data available within your user account.

If you request us to delete your personal data from our systems, we will do so unless we need to retain your data for legal or other legitimate reasons. Please note that any information that we have copied may remain in back-up storage for some period of time after your deletion request.

Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, we will seek your freely given and specific consent by providing you with informed and unambiguous indications relating to your personal data. You may revoke at any time such consent (without such withdrawal affecting the lawfulness of processing made prior to).

The above does not restrict any other rights you might have pursuant to applicable data protection legislation under certain circumstances. In particular, if the GDPR applies to the processing of your personal data the GDPR grants you certain rights as a data subject if the respective requirements are met:

• Right of access (Art. 15 GDPR) – you have the right to access and ask us for copies of your personal data.

• Right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR) – you have the right to ask us to rectify personal data you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

• Right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR) – you have the right to ask us to erase your personal data in certain circumstances.

• Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR) – you have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.

• Right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR) – you have the right to ask that we transfer in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format the personal data you gave us to another organization, or to you, in certain circumstances.

• Right to object to processing (Art. 21 GDPR) – you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data which is based on our Legitimate Interests, in certain circumstances. In such case, we will no longer process the personal data unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing, which override your interests, rights and freedoms or where the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

As a rule, you are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights and we will respond to your request within one month.

You will find further details of your rights in sections 5 and 7 of this Privacy Notice in connection with each processing activity we perform. If you want to exercise any of your rights, or want additional information about them, please contact us using the contact detailed listed below (see section 15).

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent authority.

If you are not satisfied with the way in which we process your personal data, you may lodge a complaint with the competent data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement, in addition to the rights described above.

Although this is not required, we recommend that you contact us first, as we might be able to respond to your request directly.

Your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

If you are a California resident using the Services, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) may provide you the right to request access to and deletion of your personal data.

If you are a California resident, you may request that we:

• disclose to you the following information covering the 12 months preceding your request:

  • the categories and specific pieces of personal information we collected about you and the categories of personal information we sold (see Sections 4 and 7 of this Privacy Notice);

  • the categories of sources from which we collected such personal information (see Section 4 of this Privacy Notice);

  • the business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information about you (see Sections 6 and 7 of this Privacy Notice); and

  • the categories of third parties to whom we sold or otherwise disclosed personal information (see Section 9 of this Privacy Notice).

• delete personal information we collected from you; or

• opt-out of any future sale of personal information about you.

In addition, users of the Services who are California residents and under 18 years of age may request and obtain removal of content they posted.

We do not sell user personal data to third parties for the intents and purposes of the CCPA. 

In order to exercise the right to request access to and deletion of your personal data, please see the contact details in section 15 below. We do not discriminate based on the exercise of any privacy rights that you might have under this section and will respond to your request consistent with applicable law.

All requests must be labeled “California Removal Request” on the email subject line. All requests must provide a description of the content you want removed and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate that content. We do not accept California Removal Requests via postal mail, telephone, or facsimile. We are not responsible for notices that are not labeled or sent properly, and we may not be able to respond if you do not provide adequate information. Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the material. For example, materials that you have posted may be republished or reposted by another user or third party.

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15. Contact Us

If you believe your personal data has been used in a way that is not consistent with this Privacy Notice, or if you have any questions or queries regarding the collection or processing of your personal data, please contact us at info@colabon.com.

16. Updates to this Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice may be subject to amendments. Any changes or additions to the processing of personal data as described in this Privacy Notice affecting you will be communicated to you through an appropriate channel, depending on how we normally communicate with you (including by email and/or via the Platforms, e.g. banners, pop-ups or other notification mechanisms). If you do not agree to the changes made, you must stop accessing and/or using the impacted Services.

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Last updated: 21.07.2021

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