Privacy Policy by Vanguard Voices (“VV”)

By using our website, you consent to the privacy policy. We take the protection of your privacy seriously. In the following, we show you how we use your personal data, use cookies, safeguard the security of your data and much more.

  1. Principle

    We take the protection of your privacy seriously. The following privacy policy details which of your personal data we process if you visit our website, use our online services, or if we provide any services to you generally.

    We gather and process your personal data carefully and exclusively for the purposes described in this privacy policy and only to the extent necessary within the framework of applicable legal provisions. We store your personal data exclusively to the extent and for the duration necessary to provide our services, or as required by law. In close cooperation with our hosting providers, we make every effort to ensure that databases are protected from unauthorised access, loss, misuse and falsification.

  2. Collection and processing of personal data

    We collect and process the following data:

    • Data voluntarily provided by the user by completing fields on this website (e.g. when subscribing to the newsletter or registering for our community).
    • Data provided voluntarily to us by the user upon request for participation in promotions organized by us or as a participant in a survey for research purposes.
    • Details on the visits to this website, including, among others, traffic data, connection and address data such as e.g. IP address, host name of the computer, browser information and domain data of reference sites, web logs.

  3. Purpose of using the user data

    We will use the collected data for the following purposes:

    • To provide surveys regarding satisfaction with the services and products of VV and general experience with VV.
    • To prevent abuse or non-compliant use of the services and maintain the security of this website.
    • To ensure operation of the website.
    • To understand how this website is used to design it in line with the user’s needs and in a user-friendly way, to improve it in general, and for marketing purposes.

  4. Cookies/tracking and other technologies in connection with the use of our website

    1. 4.1 Cookies und figurative elements

      We typically use cookies and other similar techniques which can identify your browser or your device. A cookie is a small file which is sent to your computer or stored automatically on your computer or mobile device by your web browser when you visit our website. If you visit this website again, we can then recognise you even if we do not know who you are. In addition to cookies which are only used for one session and are deleted after your visit to the website ("session cookies"), permanent cookies can also be used to save your user settings and other information for a specific duration of time (e.g. two years). However, you can adjust your browser settings so that it rejects cookies, only saves them for one session, or deletes them after a set time. Most browsers are pre-set to accept cookies. We use permanent cookies to better understand how you use our offers and content. If you block cookies, it is possible that certain functions (e.g. language options) will no longer work.

    2. 4.2 Newsletters and marketing emails

      By using our websites and giving your consent to receive newsletters and other marketing emails, you agree to the use of these techniques. If you do not want this, you must adjust the settings of your browser and email program accordingly.

    3. 4.3 Google Analytics

      We sometimes use Google Analytics on our websites, which is a service by third parties that could be located anywhere in the world (in the case of Google Analytics, it is Google LLC in the USA, www.google.com).

      Google Analytics allows us to measure and evaluate the use (non-personal) of the website. For this purpose, permanent cookies are also used, which are set by the service provider. The service provider does not receive any personal data (and does not store any IP addresses) but can track your use of the website, combine this information with data from other websites you have visited and are also tracked by the service provider, and use these insights  for its own purposes (e.g. to tailor advertising). If you have registered yourself with the service provider, then this service provider also can identify you. The processing of your personal data by the service provider is therefore the responsibility of the service provider in accordance with its own data protection provisions. The service provider merely informs us as to how our respective website is used (no personal information about you).

    4. 4.4 Plug-ins

      We also use plug-ins on our websites for social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Xing and LinkedIn, which are clearly indicated (usually with a corresponding icon). We have configured these elements to be disabled by default. If you activate them (by clicking on them), the operator of the corresponding social network registers that you are on our website and where you are, and can use this information for its own purposes. The processing of your personal data by the operator is therefore the responsibility of the operator in accordance with its own data protection provisions. We do not receive any information about you from the operator.

  5. Transfer of data to third parties

    Your personal data is neither transferred nor sold or otherwise transmitted to third parties in any form, unless this is required for the purpose of processing a contract or to fulfil our statutory tasks, or if you have expressly consented to this (e.g. to ensure the security of the entry forms on our website). In addition, data may be transmitted to third parties if we are under obligation to do so by law or by an enforceable official or court order.

    Some recipients of such data are located in Switzerland but can also be anywhere in the world. If we transmit data to a country that does not have appropriate data protection, we ensure an appropriate level of protection by employing contracts accordingly, or we act on the basis of the following statutory/legal exemptions: consent, performance of the contract, the establishment, execution or enforcement of legal claims, overriding public interests, published personal data, or the need to protect the integrity of the persons in question.

  6. Duration of personal data storage

    We process and store your personal data to the extent that it is required to fulfil our contractual and legal obligations or for the purposes pursued by the processing, which means, for example, for the entire duration of the business relationship (from the initiation and performance of a contract to its conclusion) and beyond that in accordance with legal obligations for storage and documentation.

  7. Data security

    We take appropriate technological and organisational security precautions to protect your personal data against unauthorised access and misuse, such as issuing instructions, training, IT and network security solutions, access controls and restrictions, encrypting data carriers and transmissions, pseudonymisation and checks.

  8. Rights of the person in question

    Within the scope of the applicable data protection law and to the extent required by the law, you have the right to information, amendment, deletion, the right to restrict the processing of data and otherwise to refuse permission to our processing of the data as well as the publication of certain personal data for the purpose of transfer to another office (known as data portability). Please note, however, that we reserve the right to enforce the restrictions required by law, for example in cases where we are obliged to store or process certain data, have an overriding interest to do so (to the extent that we may call on it) or require it to assert claims.

    The exercise of such rights generally requires that you clearly prove your identity (e.g. with a copy of an ID card, if your identity cannot otherwise be clearly verified). To assert your rights, you can contact us via the address provided under Section 2.

  9. Amendments

    We may amend this privacy policy without prior notice at any time. The version published on our website is the version currently applicable. Where appropriate, we will update you about amendments via email or in another suitable manner.

    April 2022