GECN Data Protection and Privacy Policy (the “Policy”)

Overview

The GECN and the firms within the GECN are committed to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations on data protection and privacy, including those from Switzerland, where the GECN is headquartered, and from the EU whenever these are applicable in respect of any of our activities.

This Policy applies to www.gecn.com which is operated by the GECN. This Policy explains the GECN data protection and privacy approach.

Any data collection or processing by each firm part of the GECN is subject to such firms’ separate data protection and privacy policy. Please see “Our Team” for the list of legal entities in question.

The terms “we”, “us”, “our” or “GECN” refers to the GECN, a Swiss-incorporated “Verein”.

What personal data do we collect and why? What’s the legal basis?

This website is not a transactional website and it collects only limited data as further described below.

To the extent that gecn.com collects any personal data, the basis is your consent as it may be expressed in the manners outlined below as well as legal provisions where these permit or require such collection and processing.

The purpose for the collection and processing of personal data is to communicate with you and best serve you in accordance with your requests, applicable laws, and this Policy, as well as to meet legal obligations.

More specifically, this website may collect and process personal data to provide you information, studies, news, etc., such as:

      • When you attend our events, download our studies or similar, or express otherwise that you wish to be in touch with us, we generally collect only your name, address (postal and/or email), telephone/fax number, company name, job title, and other information that you supply to us, or which we gathered from public sources. We may use this information to inform you of future events, studies, etc.
      • In connection with our surveys and studies, we may also collect and process anonymized or otherwise non-personally attributable information.
      • To determine who may be interested in particular aspects of our services, studies, or events, we may process and analyze the data we collect. We may do this manually or by using automated processes. This allows us to tailor the mailing lists and reduce the chances that we send you information in which you may be less interested.

How do we collect your personal data?

We collect personal data, for example when:

    • you communicate with us via e-mail, telephone, online, or by means of other channels;
    • you complete a request for or download one of our studies, or similar;
    • you sign up for and/or attend an event;
    • you otherwise give us your data and indicate that you wish to be in touch with us or receive information from us.

We may also gather information from public sources, such as through the internet, search engines, social media, and your company’s website, and may use this information to complement the information you have provided us.

what information do we collect on our website?

Our website, www.gecn.com may be accessed without entering any personal data.

If you visit our website, we receive and store certain information about the access on our server (e.g. date, time, and pages accessed). We may use “cookies”, which are unique identifiers that we transfer to your device to enable our systems to provide features of our website services, provide access to you, allow you to visit our website without re-entering your username and/or password, verify that you have the authorization needed for the services requested, personalize and improve your experience, record your preferences, customize functionalities for your devices, and improve the functionality and user-friendliness of our services.

On our website, some pages permit you to contact us, send us information, or download information, such as studies and similar. In such cases, we collect the information you provide us in this context.

Sharing your personal data

We treat data that is personal as confidential and restrict access to it to the GECN and firms part of the GECN.

    • Other than as indicated below, we do not share your personal data with third parties outside of GECN, except with your additional consent.
    • We do not sell your personal data to any third party.

To the extent necessary in connection with providing you information, invitations, and services, we may need to provide access to and share your personal data with the following categories of entities and individuals, some of which may be located outside of Switzerland and the EU. Some data may be stored on their local servers. In all such cases, these parties are under a legal obligation to protect the confidentiality of your data and not share it further:

    • firms part of GECN which are listed in “Our Team” on this website;
    • third-party consultants, legal and other advisors, auditors, and service providers who assist us in providing our services and communications to you, including hosting and/or managing our website, managing our mailings, collecting information on emails opened or documents downloaded, conducting research, carrying out marketing activities, processing and collecting payments, maintaining information management and data storage systems, giving IT and security support, detecting and dealing with data breaches, illegal activities, and similar;
    • governmental and legal authorities to the extent required by them, to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, and to bring claims or respond to claims and otherwise protect our legal rights or those of our clients.

How long do we keep your personal data? How to unsubscribe?

We will store and use your personal data for the purposes mentioned above for as long as necessary to provide you the services, invitations, and information, and as long as required by law.

You can request at any time to unsubscribe from our mailing lists if you no longer wish to receive our emails and other communications. You could do so by writing to info@gecn.com. To unsubscribe from any mailing list of any firm part of the GECN, please write to said firm.

If you unsubscribe, we will delete your personal data within a reasonable time, except as we may be required legally to do otherwise or as is necessary for purposes of defending against or bringing a claim, or otherwise to protect our legal rights.

Data Security

GECN has implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures to help protect your personal data against loss and to safeguard against access by unauthorized persons.

Your Rights

In addition to the right to unsubscribe at any time as described above, you may ask us by writing to info@gecn.com what personal data we collect and process about you, as well as request a copy. You may also request to have any incorrect personal data about you corrected. You may also request that certain personal data about you not be collected, processed, or stored. You also have all rights ascribed by Swiss law and by the EU’s GDPR, including those under Article 13 of the latter. You may also have the right to lodge a complaint under relevant data protection authorities.

Website Content; Liability; External Links

The entity responsible for content on our website and the collection of information thereunder is: GECN, a Swiss Verein, Muehlebachstrasse 54 CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland, email info@gecn.com. The content and works published on our website (except for that in external links and except where indicated otherwise) are the property of the GECN and are protected by and subject to the copyright and related laws of Switzerland.

All transmission of data via the internet, including through websites and email, carries certain security risks. As it is impossible to safeguard data completely against such risks, GECN assumes no liability for any damage arising as result of or in connection with any security breaches.

Our website may contain links to the websites of third parties and social media. We do not use these links to transmit personal data about you. However, as the content and services of these websites is not under GECN’s control, sole liability for such websites, including in respect of data protection, lies with the provider of such websites, and GECN assumes no liability in respect thereof.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this Policy or how we process personal data, or to unsubscribe from our mailing lists, contact us at info@GECN.com.