Data protection declaration

Privacy and data security are important for the SENS Foundation (“SENS”; “we”). We process your personal data responsibly in compliance with applicable legal requirements and in accordance with this privacy policy.

Contents of this privacy policy

In this privacy policy, we are informing you how we collect and process your personal data when you visit our websites at https://www.erecycling.ch OR https://www.vape-recycler.ch OR https://circular-platform.ch OR https://www.sens-city.ch OR https://ev-datenbank.ch OR https://portal.sens.ch “website”) or visit our social media pages, contact us or make use of our services.

Data controller

SENS is the data controller for the data processing described in this privacy policy.

If you have questions or if you would like to exercise your data protection rights as the data subject, contact us at datenschutz@sens.ch or write to the following address: SENS Foundation, Obstgartenstrasse 28, 8006 Zurich.

Personal data processed in the context of communication and service provision

We collect the information provided to us by you as follows:

  • when you contact us;
  • when you register as a user on the website or online platform;
  • when you order goods or services;
  • when you apply for a position with us.

This includes general personal data, such as your name and contact information as well as any information regarding your position or role in the organisation on whose behalf you are contacting us.

When you order paid goods or services, we also ask for financial information such as your preferred method of payment and your billing address.

We also process personal data that we receive from third parties. This regularly includes personal data that we receive in correspondence or in discussions with customers or business partners, such as your name and information about your role as a team member of the customer or business partner.

If necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this privacy policy, we also collect general personal data from publicly accessible registers, websites and platforms (e.g., to verify your signing authorisation) or obtain information from third parties (e.g., for reference purposes in an application process if you consent to this).

Provision and use of our website and online platform

Use for informational purposes
You can seek information about SENS and our services on the website without telling us who you are. As with any connection to a web server, the server on which we provide the website and the online platform automatically logs and stores certain technical data and saves it on the server for a brief time. This includes the IP address and the operating system of your device, the date and time of the use and the type of browser through which you access the website or online platform.

Use of our online platform
We operate the SENS portal and EV database (“online platform”). When you register as a user on the online platform, we collect the information that you provide to us. This includes general personal data such as your name and contact information as well as personal information that you or others enter, upload, generate, save or edit during the use of the online platform.

Web analytics
We use web analytics services to analyse usage of the website and gain insights that we can use to optimise it. The web analytics services we use collected and store usage data through the use of cookies. Before being transferred to a server outside of Switzerland/EU/EEA, the requesting IP addresses are truncated. We therefore do not transfer personal data to the provider of web analytics services abroad.

Advertising technologies
We use advertising technologies on the website. This allows us to show people who visit our website relevant ads when they visit other websites. The ads are shown to you on the websites you visit based on an analysis of your previous use of our website. For this purpose, the providers of the advertising technologies place cookies when you visit our website.

Social plugins
The social plugins used on our website allow you to recommend and share our content on social media. You can recognise social plugins on the website by the logos of the respective networks. When you interact with a social plugin, data is sent to the respective provider of the social network.

Resources from external websites
We integrate resources from external servers on our website. This includes visible content (e.g., images, maps, videos, music) as well as technical resources (e.g., fonts, captchas, payment tools).

The technical resources are used to improve the performance or security of our website. When these resources are accessed, the provider of the external servers receives your IP address and/or certain marginal data that is necessary for the use of the external provider’s servers.

Note regarding the use of cookies
We use cookies, tags and similar technologies on the website to offer you the best-possible user experience and to help us improve the website. Cookies are text files placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or use an app.

Some of the cookies used by us are necessary in order to provide certain functions of the website. We also use cookies to analyse use of the website and obtain information used to optimise the website. You can learn more about our use of cookies by using the cookie-preferences tool implemented on the website.

You can configure your browser to reject all cookies or to ask you each time before a cookie is placed. You can also delete cookies on your device by using the corresponding browser function. You also have the option of telling us your preferences regarding the acceptance of cookies using the cookie-preferences tool on the website.

Use of our social media pages
Our social media pages contain posts about current developments at SENS as well as our services. The social media providers collect and analyse usage data such as the number of visits and demographic information about the users of our company pages.

We receive evaluations based on that information from the social media providers. These evaluations contain only aggregated or otherwise sufficiently anonymised data. Only the respective provider can identify you based on the collected usage data. Please consult the privacy policies of the respective provider in this regard.

Use and optimisation of our newsletter
When you register for our newsletter, we collect the information that you provide to us. This includes general personal data such as your first name, last name and email address. We use analytics services to measure and analyse the use of our newsletter. The analytics services collect and analyse usage data such as the number of people who opened a newsletter or clicked on particular posts. We receive analyses based on that data. This enables us to optimise our newsletter and provide content that will be of interest to you.

You can notify us at any time that you no longer wish to receive our newsletter in the future. Please use the unsubscribe link at the end of the newsletter for this purpose. When you click this link, we will no longer measure and analyse your use of the newsletter in the future.

Purposes and basis for processing your personal data

We primarily process your personal data in order to inform you about our services and to perform, document and charge for our services in accordance with our contractual and legal requirements.

We also process your personal data for the following purposes:

  • to respond to your enquiries and communicate with you;
  • to process your registration or order;
  • to respond to applications;
  • to provide the website and the online platform;
  • analysis and optimisation of the website and the online platform;
  • to develop and improve products and services;
  • marketing and advertising;
  • to optimise our posts on our social media company pages;
  • to provide information about new developments at SENS and new services (e.g., via our newsletter; note that you can notify us at any time that you no longer wish to receive such information in the future);
  • to comply with legal obligations; and
  • to assert legal claims.

In view of the aforementioned purposes, we have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data. Some types of processing are also necessary in order to fulfil our contractual obligations to you or our legal obligations (e.g. retention obligations). We process your personal data on this basis insofar as the applicable data protection law requires a legal basis or justification to establish the legality of data processing in general or for particular processing activities.

How we store and protect your personal data

We store your personal data only to the extent and for the time period required to fulfil the purposes described in this privacy policy or to comply with legal obligations.

In the interest of the integrity and confidentiality of personal data, we undertake appropriate technical and organisational measures. Based on our risk assessment, we implement access control measures as well as procedures for regularly checking, evaluating and analysing the effectiveness of those measures.

Who else receives your personal data from us

To achieve the purposes described in this privacy policy, it may be necessary to share your personal data with other companies. This includes the following categories of recipients:

  • external service providers;
  • other customers;
  • vendors and business partners;
  • authorities and courts (if necessary).

Place of processing

We primarily store and process your personal data in Switzerland and the EU. However, we may also transfer your personal data to recipients in countries outside of Switzerland or the EU (worldwide). Data transfer to countries without appropriate data protection is conducted on the basis of standard data protection clauses or legal exceptions (e.g., necessary for contract fulfilment).

Your rights with regard to your personal data

You have the following rights with regard to personal data associated with you:

  • the right to be informed about what personal data we store about you and how we process it;
  • the right to disclosure or transfer of a copy of your personal data in a common format;
  • the right to correct your personal data;
  • the right to deletion of your personal data; and
  • the right to object to processing of your personal data.

Please note that these rights are subject to legal conditions and exceptions. To the extent legally permissible, we can refuse your request to exercise these rights. You also have the right to file a complaint with the competent data protection authority.

How we may change this privacy policy

We can change this privacy policy at any time, in particular if our data processing activities change or new legal requirements come into effect. The version provided on our website is applicable.