Privacy policy of Woodtrade GM

Version from 15.06.2023

In this privacy statement, we, Woodtrade GM, explain how we collect and process personal data. This is not an exhaustive description; other data protection declarations or general terms and conditions, conditions of participation and similar documents may govern specific matters. Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual.

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 share their personal data with us if you are allowed to do so and if this personal data is correct.

This privacy policy is designed to meet the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation («GDPR»), the Swiss Data Protection Act («DPA») and the revised Swiss Data Protection Act («revDSG»). However, whether and to what extent these laws are applicable depends on the individual case.

1. Person responsible / data protection officer / representative
The person responsible for the data processing we describe here is Woodtrade GM AG, Heimatstrasse 10, CH-8590 Romanshorn, unless otherwise stated in the individual case. If you have any data protection concerns, you can let us know at the following contact address: Woodtrade GM AG, Heimatstrasse 10, CH-8590 Romanshorn, Email: stefano.guidese@woodtrade-gm.com.

2. collection and processing of personal data
We primarily process the personal data that we receive from our customers and other business partners in the course of our business relationship with them and other persons involved in it, or that we collect from their users when operating our websites, apps and other applications.
Where permitted, we also take certain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. debt enforcement registers, land registers, commercial registers, press, internet) or receive such data from other companies within Woodtrade GM, from authorities and other third parties. In addition to the data about you that you give us directly, the categories of personal data that we receive about you from third parties include, in particular, data from public registers, data that we learn in connection with official and legal proceedings, data in connection with your professional functions and activities (so that we can, for example, conclude transactions with your employer with your help), and data that we obtain from you in connection with your employment. (e.g. so that we can conclude and process transactions with your employer with your help), information about you in correspondence and discussions with third parties, creditworthiness information (insofar as we process transactions with you personally), information about you which people close to you (family, advisors, legal representatives, etc.) give us so that we can conclude or process contracts with you or involving you (e.g. references, your address for deliveries, full details of your creditworthiness). References, your address for deliveries, powers of attorney, information on compliance with legal requirements such as anti-money laundering and export restrictions, information from banks, insurance companies, sales and other contractual partners of ours on the utilisation or provision of services by you (e.g. payments made, purchases made), information from the media and Internet on your person (insofar as this is appropriate in the specific case, e.g. in the context of a job application, press release, etc.).e.g. in the context of an application, press review, marketing/sales, etc.), your addresses and, if applicable, interests and other socio-demographic data (for marketing), data in connection with the use of the website (e.g. IP address, MAC address of the smartphone or computer, details of your device and settings, cookies, date and time of the visit, pages and content accessed, functions used, referring website, location details).

We use the personal data we collect primarily to conclude and process our contracts with our customers and business partners, in particular in the context of engineering contracts with our customers and the purchase of products and services from our suppliers and subcontractors, as well as to comply with our legal obligations at home and abroad. If you work for such a client or business partner, your personal data may of course also be affected in this capacity.
In addition, we also process personal data of you and other persons, to the extent permitted and deemed appropriate, for the following purposes in which we (and sometimes third parties) have a legitimate interest corresponding to the purpose:

  • Offer and further develop our offers, services and websites, apps and other platforms on which we are present;
  • Communicating with third parties and handling their enquiries (e.g. applications, media enquiries);
  • Review and optimisation of needs assessment procedures for direct client engagement and collection of personal data from publicly available sources for client acquisition;
  • Advertising and marketing (including the organisation of events), insofar as you have not objected to the use of your data (if we send you advertising as an existing customer of ours, you can object to this at any time, we will then put you on a blocking list against further advertising mailings);
  • Market and opinion research, media monitoring;
  • Assertion of legal claims and defence in connection with legal disputes and official proceedings;
  • Prevention and investigation of criminal offences and other misconduct (e.g. conducting internal investigations, data analysis to combat fraud);
  • Guarantees of our operations, in particular IT, our websites, apps and other platforms;
  • Video surveillance to maintain house rules and other measures for IT, building and facility security and protection of our employees and other persons and assets belonging to or entrusted to us (such as access controls, visitor lists, network and mail scanners, telephone recordings);
  • Purchase and sale of business units, companies or parts of companies and other transactions under company law and the associated transfer of personal data as well as measures for business management and insofar as to comply with legal and regulatory obligations as well as internal regulations of Woodtrade GM.

If you have given us consent to process your personal data for certain purposes (for example, when you register to receive newsletters or carry out a background check), we process your personal data within the scope of and based on this consent, unless we have another legal basis and we require such a basis. Consent given can be revoked at any time, but this has no effect on data processing that has already taken place.

4. Cookies / tracking and other technologies in connection with the use of our website.
We typically use «cookies» and similar technologies on our websites to identify your browser or device. A cookie is a small file that is sent to your computer or automatically stored on your computer or mobile device by the web browser you are using when you visit our website. This allows us to recognise you when you return to this website, even if we do not know who you are. In addition to cookies that are only used during a session and deleted after your visit to the website («session cookies»), cookies can also be used to store user settings and other information for a certain period of time (e.g. two years) («permanent cookies»). However, you can set your browser to reject cookies, save them for one session only or otherwise delete them prematurely. Most browsers are preset to accept cookies. We use persistent cookies to remember user preferences (e.g. language, autologin), to help us better understand how you use our services and content, and to show you offers and advertisements tailored to you (which may also happen on other companies› websites; however, they will not learn from us who you are, if we even know, because they will only see that the same user is on their website who was on a particular page with us). Some of the cookies are set by us, and some are set by contractors with whom we work. If you block cookies, certain functionalities (such as language selection, shopping cart, ordering processes) may no longer work.
By using our websites and agreeing to receive newsletters and other marketing emails, you consent to the use of these techniques. If
you do not wish to do so, you must set
your browser or e-mail programme accordingly.
We sometimes use Google Analytics or similar services on our websites. This is a service provided by third parties who may be located in any country in the world (in the case of Google Analytics, it is Google Ireland (based in Ireland), Google Ireland relies on Google LLC (based in the USA) as an order processor (both «Google»)Google LLC in the USA, www.google.com), which enables us to measure and evaluate the use of the website (on a non-personal basis). Permanent cookies set by the service provider are also used for this purpose. We have configured the service so that the IP addresses of visitors are shortened by Google in Europe before being forwarded to the USA and thus cannot be traced. We have switched off the «Data sharing» and «Signals» settings. Although we can assume that the information we share with Google is not personal data for Google, it is possible that Google can draw conclusions about the identity of visitors from this data for its own purposes, create personal profiles and link this data to the Google accounts of these individuals. Insofar as you have registered with the service provider yourself, the service provider also knows you. The processing of your personal data by the service provider then takes place under the responsibility of the service provider in accordance with its data protection regulations. The service provider only informs us how our respective website is used (no information about you personally).
We also use so-called plug-ins from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest or Instagram on
our websites. This is visible to you in each case (typically via corresponding icons). We have configured these elements so that they are deactivated by default. If you activate them (by clicking on them), the operators of the respective social networks can register that you are on our website and where and can use this information for their purposes. The processing of your personal data is then the responsibility of this operator according to its data protection regulations. We do not receive any information about you from him.

5. Data transfer and data transmission abroad
We also disclose data to third parties within the scope of our business activities and the purposes set out in section 3, insofar as this is permitted and appears to us to be appropriate, either because they process it for us or because they want to use it for their own purposes. This concerns the following bodies in particular:

  • Service providers of us (within Woodtrade GM as well as externally, such as banks, insurance companies), including order processors (such as IT providers);
  • Dealers, suppliers, subcontractors and other business partners;
  • Customers;
  • domestic and foreign authorities, official agencies or courts;
  • Media;
  • public, including visitors to websites and social media;
  • Competitors, industry organisations, associations, organisations and other bodies;
  • Acquirers or parties interested in acquiring business divisions, companies or other parts of Woodtrade GM;
  • other parties in potential or actual legal proceedings;
  • Other companies of Woodtrade GM;

all recipients together.

These recipients are partly domestic, but can be anywhere in the world. In particular, you should expect your data to be transferred to all countries where Woodtrade GM is represented by group companies, branches or other offices, as well as to other countries in Europe and the USA where the service providers we use are located (such as [Microsoft], [SAP], [Amazon], [Salesforce.com]).
If a recipient is located in a country without adequate legal data protection, we contractually oblige the recipient to comply with the applicable data protection (for this purpose, we use the revised standard contractual clauses of the European Commission, which can be accessed here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?), unless the recipient is already subject to a legally recognised set of rules to ensure data protection and we cannot rely on an exemption. An exception may apply in particular in the case of legal proceedings abroad, but also in cases of overriding public interests or if the performance of a contract requires such disclosure, if you have consented or if it is a matter of data made generally accessible by you, the processing of which you have not objected to.

6. Duration of the retention of personal data
We process and store your personal data as long as it is necessary for the fulfilment of our contractual and legal obligations or otherwise for the purposes pursued with the processing, i.e. for example for the duration of the entire business relationship (from the initiation and processing to the termination of a contract) as well as beyond that in accordance with the statutory retention and documentation obligations. In this context, it is possible that personal data will be retained for the time during which claims can be asserted against our company and insofar as we are otherwise legally obliged to do so or legitimate business interests require this (e.g. for evidence and documentation purposes). As soon as your personal data is no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, it will be deleted or anonymised as a matter of principle and as far as possible. For operational data (e.g. system logs, logs), shorter retention periods of twelve months or less generally apply.

7. data security
We take appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access and misuse, such as issuing instructions, training, IT and network security solutions, access controls and restrictions, encryption of data carriers and transmissions, pseudonymisation, controls.

8. Obligation to provide personal data
Within the framework of our business relationship, you must provide us with the personal data that is required for the establishment and implementation of a business relationship and the fulfilment of the associated contractual obligations (as a rule, you do not have a legal obligation to provide us with data). Without this data, we will generally not be able to enter into or perform a contract with you (or the entity or person you represent). Also, the website cannot be used if certain traffic-securing information (such as IP address) is
not disclosed.

9. Profiling
We process your personal data partly automatically with the aim of evaluating certain personal aspects (profiling). We use profiling in particular to be able to inform and advise you about products in a targeted manner. In doing so, we use evaluation tools that enable us to provide needs-based communication and advertising, including market and opinion research.
For the establishment and implementation of the business relationship and also otherwise, we generally do not use fully automated automatic decision-making (such as regulated in Art. 22 DSGVO). Should we use such procedures in individual cases, we will inform you separately about this, insofar as this is required by law, and inform you about the associated rights.

10. Rights of the data subject
You have the right to information, correction, deletion, the right to restrict data processing and otherwise to object to our data processing, in particular for the purposes of direct marketing, profiling for
direct advertising and other legitimate interests in processing, as well as to the release of certain personal data for the purpose of transfer to another body (so-called data portability). Please note, however, that we reserve the right to enforce the restrictions provided for by law, for example if we are obliged to retain or process certain data, have an overriding interest in doing so (insofar as we are entitled to rely on this) or require it for the assertion of claims. If you incur costs, we will inform you in advance. We have already informed you about the possibility of revoking your consent in section 3. Please note that exercising these rights may conflict with contractual agreements and may have consequences such as premature termination of the contract or costs. We will inform you in advance if this is not already contractually agreed. The
exercise of such rights generally requires that you clearly prove
your identity (e.g. by means of a copy of your identity card where your identity is otherwise not clear or cannot be verified). To exercise your rights, you can contact us at the address given in section 1.
Every data subject also has the right to enforce his or her claims 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 (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch).

11. Changes
We may amend this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. The current version published on our website will apply. Insofar as the data protection declaration 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.