Privacy policy for the Swiss Society for Spinal Surgery

General Information

We value your privacy and therefore handle personal data strictly in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection of June 19, 1992 (DSG), the revised Data Protection Act effective September 1, 2023, and, where relevant, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy from time to time. With each new visit to the website, the current, accessible version applies.

By using our website, you consent to the collection, processing, and use of data as described below. This Privacy Policy applies only to our website and not to other websites to which we merely refer by hyperlink.

How to Contact Us

If you have questions regarding the processing of your personal data or wish to exercise your rights as a data subject, feel free to contact our office at office@spinesociety.ch or by phone at 062 832 34 72.

What Personal Data Do We Collect and Process?

The Swiss Society for Spinal Surgery may collect, process, and use the following types/categories of data:

  • Personal details (e.g., name, address, date of birth)
  • Application data (e.g., resume, sponsorship letters, motivation letters)
  • Contact data (e.g., phone, email)
  • Contract details (e.g., contract relationships, product or contract interests)
  • Billing and payment data (e.g., salary, travel expenses)
  • IT usage data (e.g., UserID, passwords, roles)
  • Bank data (e.g., bank account, credit card number)

Personal data includes information that can identify you or can otherwise be linked to you. We process personal data that you voluntarily provide, particularly when you communicate with us by email, phone, or other channels.

How and for What Purposes Do We Generally Use Your Data?

We use your personal data to manage our customer relationship with you, for communication purposes, and to maintain our contacts.

When Do We Share Your Data with Third Parties?

We do not sell your personal data or otherwise transfer it to third parties without your consent. The Swiss Society for Spinal Surgery may engage service providers for data processing, website management, or to provide requested products and services. These service providers are obligated to uphold the same level of security and data protection as the Swiss Society for Spinal Surgery.

If the level of data protection in a foreign country does not meet Swiss or EU standards, we will perform a prior risk assessment and ensure contractually that the same protection is guaranteed as in Switzerland or the EU (e.g., using standard contractual clauses). If our risk assessment yields a negative result, we will implement additional technical measures to protect your data. Exceptionally, we may transfer your data abroad without equivalent data protection or standard contractual clauses, for instance, if you expressly consent to such a transfer. If we disclose personal data globally, we will explicitly inform you in this Privacy Policy.

Additionally, your data may be disclosed if the Swiss Society for Spinal Surgery is legally, administratively, or judicially required to do so or if it is necessary for the enforcement of legal claims.

How Do We Protect Your Data?

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures, including using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption to protect your personal data against loss and unauthorized access. We regularly review our security policies and procedures to ensure our systems remain secure.

How Long Do We Retain Your Data?

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, as required by law, or if there is a legitimate interest in retaining it (e.g., for evidence purposes or IT security).

How Do We Use Your Data for the Newsletter?

For our newsletter, we collect personal data such as title, first and last name, language, country, company, and email address. We use the collected data exclusively for sending and personalizing the newsletter. We do not share this data with third parties without your consent.

We use the MailXpert tool for sending the newsletter, hosted by mailXpert GmbH, 8050 Zurich, at its own data center in Switzerland. By subscribing to the newsletter, you consent to data transfer to mailXpert GmbH.

In MailXpert, your newsletter data is linked with your contact details from project inquiries and existing relationships.

Should you no longer wish to receive newsletters from us, you can revoke your consent at any time.

How Do We Use Your Data in Email Communication?

If you contact us by email, the personal data you provide will be stored. We do not share this data with third parties without your consent and only collect the data to address your concerns.

Please note, however, that data transmission over the internet (e.g., communication by email) can have security vulnerabilities. Complete protection of data from third-party access is not possible.

How Do We Use Your Data on the Online Portal?

The Swiss Society for Spinal Surgery provides an online portal for its members.

Our website includes a login option. You receive the login following your membership application. To create an account, we require information such as title, first and last name, address, country, and email. The collected data is used exclusively for account creation and to ensure its proper usage by you.

You can update your personal information via your personal login. In addition, automatic deletion occurs in the following cases: membership termination or death.

How Do We Use Cookies?

When visiting the Swiss Society for Spinal Surgery’s website, we collect statistical visitor data about which parts of the web offering you and other users visit most frequently. We collect data on browser, operating system, web logs, and other connection data. In this context, it may be necessary to use cookies. Cookies are small files stored on your computer or mobile device when you use one of our websites. The cookies we use ensure our websites’ functionality. Additionally, we use cookies to tailor our web offerings to your preferences and make browsing as convenient as possible. The collected data is anonymous or sufficiently anonymized to prevent personal identification.

Most internet browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you can instruct your browser not to accept cookies or prompt you each time a cookie is requested. You can also delete cookies on your computer or mobile device by using your browser’s relevant function. If you choose not to accept our cookies, you may not see certain information on our website, and some functions designed to enhance your visit may not work.

How Do We Use Web Analysis Tools?

Google Analytics

To continuously improve and optimize our website, we use Google Analytics as a web analysis tool. Google Analytics provides us with statistics and graphics to understand the usage of our website. These data, including shortened IP addresses, are transferred to servers abroad, making it impossible to identify individual devices. We rely on the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission when transferring this data to Google. The IP address transmitted by your browser within Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google Analytics data. Data transfer by Google Analytics to third parties occurs only due to legal requirements or as part of data processing orders.

You can prevent the collection of data generated by cookies and related to your use of the website by Google and the processing of these data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at this link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

If you do not want the provider to collect data about you via cookies, you can select the “Block third-party cookies” setting in your browser. In this case, the browser will not send cookies to the server when embedding content from other providers. However, this setting may also disable other functions on our website.

What Are Your Rights Concerning Your Personal Data?

You have the right to access your stored personal data at any time, request its release or transfer, rectify or supplement your data, request restricted processing, and exercise your right to data portability. You can also withdraw any consent you have provided and object to the processing of your personal data or request its deletion, provided it is not required for service provision, legal claims, or legal retention obligations. Finally, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

When Can You Object to Data Processing or Withdraw Consent?

If your personal data is processed based on legitimate interests, you have the right to object to this processing if there are reasons arising from your particular situation or if it concerns direct marketing. In the case of direct marketing, you have a general right to object, implemented without requiring a particular reason.

If your personal data is processed based on your consent, you can withdraw this consent at any time, with effect from the time of withdrawal.