Privacy Policy

Based on Article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution and the data protection provisions of the Swiss Confederation (Data Protection Act, DSG), every person has the right to protection of his or her privacy and to protection against misuse of his or her personal data. We comply with these provisions. Personal data is treated as strictly confidential and is neither sold nor passed on to third parties.

General privacy policy
The protection of your personal data is very important to us. Therefore, your personal data will always be treated confidentially and always in accordance with the current legal data protection regulations. By visiting our website, you agree to the collection, processing and use of data in accordance with the following description.

 

Collection of access data and log files when visiting our website.
Based on our legitimate interests (ensuring the proper operation of the website), we collect data about accesses to the server on which our website is located (so-called server log files). In these log files, information is stored such as the name of the website accessed, file, date and time of access, amount of data transferred, notification of successful access, browser type (including version), the user's operating system, referrer URL (the previously visited page), IP address and the requesting provider. Log file information is collected for security reasons (e.g. for the clarification of abuse or fraud) and stored as long as this is necessary for evidentiary purposes. This is anonymous data that is only used by us to optimize our web presence and thus provide our customers with a better online experience.

 

References and links
We do not accept any liability for direct or indirect references to external websites (via so-called hyperlinks) that lie outside our area of responsibility. We hereby expressly declare that at the time the links were created, no illegal content was identifiable on the linked pages. We have no influence on the current and future design, content or authorship of the linked pages. Therefore, we hereby expressly dissociate ourselves from all contents of all linked/connected pages that were changed after our link was set. For illegal, incorrect or incomplete contents and especially for damages resulting from the use or non-use of such information, only the provider of the linked page is liable.

 

Handling personal data
Personal data means all information that relates to a specific or identifiable person. A data subject is a person about whom personal data is processed. Processing means any handling of personal data, regardless of the means and procedures used, in particular the storage, acquisition, disclosure, storage, deletion, modification, use or destruction of personal data.  Association STEP Geneva processes personal data in accordance with Swiss data protection law. Data will only be handled by us if:

• we have received your express consent to do so;
• the processing of your data is necessary for the execution of a contract with you; and
• the processing of your data is necessary due to a legal obligation.

A transfer of your data to third parties - apart from the above-mentioned purposes - does not take place.

 

Storage period of your data
We will retain your information for as long as is necessary for us to fulfill the purposes set forth in this Privacy Policy. In addition, we will retain your information for such additional period as may be permitted or necessary to, among other things, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. We will delete your data wherever and whenever required by applicable law.

 

Users' right to information
As a user, you have the right to request information free of charge at any time about the personal data that has been stored about you. In addition, you have the right to correct incorrect data, block and delete your personal data (unless this conflicts with a legal obligation to retain data) and object to the future processing of your personal data in accordance with legal requirements.

If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy policy or your personal data, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can do so by sending an email to secretariat@step-geneva.org

 

Cookie usage
We use cookies on our website to measure information about the use and reach of our website. This is done on the basis of a legitimate interest (optimization of our online offer and the associated user experience). Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and enable an analysis of your use of the website. This gives us the opportunity to make our offer more customer-friendly. Cookies remain stored beyond the end of a browser session and can be retrieved when you visit the site again.

You can deactivate the use of cookies on our website and/or third-party providers at any time in your browser settings or allow/block them individually. Please note that disabling cookies may mean that you can no longer use certain functions of our (and other) sites in the same mase.

 

SSL Encryption
This site uses SSL encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as requests that you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from "http://" to "https://" and by the lock symbol in your browser line. If SSL encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

 

Newsletter
If you would like to receive the newsletter offered on the website, we require an e-mail address from you as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the e-mail address provided.

Further data will not be collected. We use this data exclusively for sending the requested information and do not pass it on to third parties. You can revoke your consent to the storage of the data, the e-mail address and their use for sending the newsletter at any time by unsubscribing from our mailing list.

 

Use of Google Tag Manager
Within our website, we use the Google Tag Manager of the company Google Inc. In the European area, the company "Google Ireland Limited" based in Ireland is responsible for this. With the help of the Google Tag Manager, we manage various code snippets of different tracking tools.

These code snippets are referred to as "tags" in technical jargon. Mostly they come from Google products like Google Ads, GA4 but also social media tags (like Pinterest and Facebook) can be managed within the Tag Manager. These then collect browser data, set cookies or can track users across websites. We use Tag Manager within our company to be able to manage and control these code snippets in one central location. The Tag Manager itself does not set cookies or store data; it effectively serves as a manager of the tags it contains. Data is collected from the individual tags that are managed. You can find out what data these respective tags collect in the respective sections on the various tools in this privacy policy.

The data that is stored by Google in this context is mostly located on Google's own servers, which are distributed all over the world. However, most of them are located in the USA. The following link will tell you where the servers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=en

 

Use of Google Analytics
Our website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. To disable Google Analytiscs, Google provides a browser plug-in at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. GA uses cookies. These are small text files that make it possible to store specific information related to the user on the user's terminal device. These enable an analysis of the use of our website offer by Google.

The information collected by the cookie about the use of our pages (including your IP address) is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. In the event that IP anonymization is activated, however, your IP address will be truncated beforehand by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. IP anonymization is active on our website.

We use the data collected by GA to perform analyses on user and user behavior and, as a result, to optimize our website and thus improve the user experience on our website. The collected data will be kept confidential at all times and will not be shared with third parties.

You can disable the use of GA at any time by installing a simple browser addon. You can find the addon at the following
link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/?hl=en.

 

Use of Google Ads
Within our website we use Google Conversion Tracking. This means that if you reach our website via an ad placed by Google, a cookie is set on your computer by Google Adwords. These cookies lose their validity after a predefined duration and are not used for personal identification. If you visit certain pages of our website again and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google can recognize that you have clicked on an ad and were redirected by it. Cookies are different depending on the customer, each receives an individual one. With the help of this conversion (cookie) tracking, we learn the total number of users who clicked on an ad and were redirected to a corresponding page. However, we do not receive any personal information, so you cannot be identified as an individual. If you do not want tracking, you can set a Do Not Track cookie or set your browser to block cookies from certain domains.

 

Use of Bing Ads
In addition to Google Ads, we also use Bing Ads. The provider here is the American company Microsoft Corporation. As with Google, with Bing Ads you access our website via ads that have been placed and paid for by us, whereby Microsoft Bing Ads sets a cookie on your computer. Using this cookie, we can recognize that you have clicked on ads and which corresponding pages you have visited on our website or whether you have performed certain actions, such as downloading a PDF. Again, no personal information is shared, so you cannot be identified as an individual. If you do not want conversion tracking, you can set this in your browser settings.

 

Use of social media tools
We operate publicly accessible profiles on social networks. You can find out exactly what these are further down in this section. Social networks such as Facebook and Co. can analyze your user behavior when you visit their website or websites with integrated social media content. Data collection occurs automatically when you are logged in with your user profile via the app or browser. In some cases (to track their behavior outside of Facebook), data collection may then also occur through the use of cookies (which are stored on your terminal device) or through the collection of your IP address. With the help of this collected data, it is possible for us to show you interest-based advertising inside and outside of social media platforms. If you have an account on the respective platforms, the advertising can be displayed to you on all devices on which you are or were logged in.

The data collected by us via the social media presence will be deleted from our systems as soon as the purpose for storing it no longer applies, we are personally requested to delete it or you revoke your consent to its storage. We have no influence on the storage period of the data stored by the operators of the respective social networks for their own purposes. For more information, please visit the privacy policy of the respective social network.

Social networks used by us incl. their privacy policy:

• LinkedIn: We have a profile with LinkedIn Incorporated, based in Sunnyvale (California) in the USA. The privacy policy of LinkedIn can be found here: https://linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy

 

Contact form
On our website, we offer all visitors the possibility to contact us via a contact form. When using the corresponding forms, personal information such as name, e-mail address and the corresponding messages are collected and stored. We use this information to process incoming inquiries and orders or to filter spam requests. By filling out the contact form, your data is immediately forwarded to us via e-mail and stored in our CRM system. Your data will not be disclosed to third parties and will be treated confidentially.

 

 

Version: Sept 23