Privacy Policy
Friedli & Schnidrig attorneys-at-law privacy policy
Version of November 1, 2019
In this privacy policy we, Friedli & Schnidrig attorneys-at-law, Bahnhofplatz 5, 3001 Bern (hereinafter Friedli & Schnidrig, we or ourselves), explain how we collect and otherwise process personal data. This is not an exhaustive description; other privacy policy may regulate specific circumstances. Personal data means all information relating 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 provide us with their personal data if you are allowed to do so and this personal data is correct.
This privacy policy is based on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Although the GDPR is a regulation of the European Union (EU), it is of importance to us. The Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) is strongly influenced by EU law, and companies outside the European Union or the European Economic Area (EEA) must comply with the GDPR under certain circumstances. Therefore, we have aligned this privacy statement to their standard.
Person in charge
Collection and processing of personal data
Purposes of data processing and legal bases
Cookies | Tracking und and other technologies related to the use of our website
Data transfer and data transmission abroad
Duration of the storage of personal data
Data security
Obligation to provide personal data
Rights of the data subject
Changes
1. Person in charge
Friedli & Schnidrig is responsible for the data processing, which we describe here, as far as nothing else is indicated in individual cases. If you have any concerns regarding data protection, you can send them to us at the following contact address: Friedli & Schnidrig attorneys at law, Bahnhofplatz 5, 3001 Bern | Switzerland | Tel: +41 (0)41 326 50 00 | info@fslaw.ch.
2. Collection and processing of personal data
We primarily process the personal data that we receive from our clients and other parties involved in our client relationships and other contractual relationships with business partners, or that we collect from users of our websites and other applications while operating them.
To the extent permitted, we also extract certain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. debt collection registers, land registers, commercial registers, press, internet) or receive such data from our clients and their employees, from authorities, (arbitration-) courts and other third parties (e.g. counterparties, business partners and contractual partners of our clients). In addition to the information you provide directly to us, the categories of personal information we receive about you from third parties include, but are not limited to, information from public registers, information obtained in connection with governmental and judicial proceedings, information related to your professional functions and activities (e.g. to conclude and conduct business 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 persons from your environment (family, advisor, legal representative, etc.) give us so that we can conclude or conduct contracts with you or with your involvement (e.g. references, your address for deliveries, powers of attorney) information on compliance with legal requirements, such as the fight against money laundering and export restrictions, information from banks, insurance companies, sales and other contractual partners of ours on the use or provision of services by you (e.g. payments made, purchases made), information from the media and the Internet on your person (if this is indicated in the specific case, e.g. this includes your addresses and, if applicable, your interests and other socio-demographic data (for marketing purposes), 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 the visit, pages called up and content, functions used, referring website, location information).
3. Purposes of data processing and legal bases
We use the personal data collected by us primarily for the purpose of concluding and processing our contracts with our clients and business partners, in particular in connection with the provision of legal services to our clients and the purchase of products and services from our suppliers and auxiliary persons (such as, in particular, lawyers and law firms consulted or experts in and outside Switzerland), as well as to fulfil our legal obligations in and outside Switzerland. If you work for such a client or business partner, your personal data may also be affected in this function.
In addition, we process personal data from you and other persons, to the extent permitted and appears to us as appropriate, also for the following purposes in which we (and sometimes also third parties) have a legitimate interest corresponding to the purpose:
offer and further development of our offers, services and websites and other platforms on which we are present; communication with third parties and processing of their enquiries (e.g. applications, media enquiries);
advertising and marketing (including the organization of events), provided that you have not objected to the use of your data (if we send you advertising from us as an existing customer, you can object to this at any time, we will then put you on a blocking list against further advertising mailings);
market research and opinion research, media monitoring;
assertion of legal claims and defense in connection with legal disputes and official proceedings;
prevention and clarification of criminal offences and other misconduct (e.g. conducting internal investigations, data analyses to fight against fraud);
continuation of our operations, in particular IT, our websites and other platforms;
any transactions under company law and the associated transfer of personal data as well as measures for business management and to the extent necessary to comply with legal and regulatory obligations and internal regulations of Friedli & Schnidrig.
If you have given us your consent to process your personal data for certain purposes (for example, when you register to receive newsletters (Bulletin of Friedli & Schnidrig) or carry out a background check), we process your personal data within the framework of and based on this consent, unless we have another legal basis and we need one. A given consent can be revoked at any time, but this has no effect on data processing that has already taken place.
4. Cookies | Tracking und and other technologies related to the use of our website
We use Google Analytics or comparable services on our websites. This is a service provided by third parties, which may be located in any country of the world (in the case of Google Analytics, it is Google Inc. in the USA, www.google.com), with which we can measure and evaluate the use of the website (not personal). Permanent cookies set by the service provider are also used for this purpose. The service provider does not receive any personal data from us (nor does it keep any IP addresses), but can track your use of the website, combine this information with data from other websites that you have visited and which are also tracked by service providers, and use this information for its own purposes (e.g. advertising control). If you have registered with the service provider yourself, the service provider will also know you. The processing of your personal data by the service provider is then the responsibility of the service provider in accordance with its data protection provisions. The service provider merely informs us how our respective website is used (no information about you personally).
Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will generally be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. However, if IP anonymization is activated on this website, Google will shorten your IP address in advance within member states of the European Union or in other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
Only in exceptional cases, the full IP address is transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics is not combined with other data from Google.
You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.
5. Data transfer and data transmission abroad
In the context of our business activities and the purposes set out in section 3, we also disclose to third parties, to the extent permitted and deemed appropriate, either because they process them for us or because they wish to use them for their own purposes. This applies in particular to the following positions:
service providers from us (e.g. banks, insurance companies), including third party processors (e.g. IT providers);
dealers, suppliers, auxiliary persons (such as in particular lawyers and law firms consulted and experts in and outside Switzerland) and other business partners;
clients as well as their affiliated companies and their counterparties in and outside Switzerland;
domestic and foreign authorities, official bodies or courts as well as arbitration tribunals;
media, public, including visitors to websites and social media;
any counterparties or interested parties within the framework of corporate transactions;
other parties in possible or actual legal proceedings;
all common recipients.
These recipients are partly domestic, but can be in any country in the world. In particular, the data may be transferred to countries in which our clients, their affiliated companies, counterparties or business partners as well as service providers or experts consulted are located or in which our clients and their group companies are involved in proceedings.
6. Duration of the storage of personal data
We process and store your personal data for 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 legal storage and documentation obligations. It is possible that personal data may be stored for the period in which claims can be asserted against our company (i.e. in particular during the statutory limitation period) and to the extent that we are otherwise legally obliged to do so or justified business interests require it (e.g. for purposes of proof and documentation). As soon as your personal data are no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, they will be deleted or anonymized as far as possible.
7. Data security
We take the technical and organizational security precautions appropriate to our industry to protect your personal data from unauthorized access and abuse, such as issuing instructions, training, IT and network security solutions, access controls and restrictions, encryption of data carriers and transmissions, pseudonymization, controls.
8. Obligation to provide personal data
As part of our business relationship, you must provide the personal information necessary to establish and conduct a business relationship and to fulfill the contractual obligations associated therewith (you do not normally have a legal obligation to provide us with information). Without this information, we will generally not be able to enter into or complete a contract with you (or the entity or person you represent). The website can also not be used if certain information to secure data traffic (such as IP address) is not disclosed.
9. Rights of the data subject
You have the right to information, correction, deletion, the right to restrict data processing and otherwise object to our data processing and to the surrender of certain personal data for the purpose of transfer to another location (so-called data portability) within the framework of the data protection law applicable to you and to the extent provided for therein (such as in the case of the GDPR). Please note, however, that we reserve the right to assert the statutory restrictions on our part, for example if we are obliged to store or process certain data, if we have an overriding interest in it (to the extent that we may invoke it) or if we need it for the assertion of claims. If you incur any costs, we will inform you in advance. We have already informed you about the possibility of withdrawing your consent in section 3. Please note that the exercise of these rights may conflict with contractual agreements and this may have consequences such as premature termination of the contract or cost consequences. In this case, we will inform you in advance if this has not already been contractually agreed.
The exercise of such rights usually requires that you prove your identity unambiguously (e.g. by a copy of your identity card, where your identity is otherwise not clear or cannot be verified). To exercise your rights you may contact us in writing by e-mail or post at the address set out in section 1.
We may refuse to provide information to the extent permitted or required by data protection law or other laws, in particular attorney-client privilege.
Every data subject also has the right to have his or her rights enforced in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (www.edoeb.admin.ch).
10. Changes
We may change this privacy policy statement at any time without notice. The current version published on our website applies. If the privacy policy is part of an agreement with you, we will inform you of the change by e-mail or other suitable means in the event of an update.