PRIVACY POLICY FOR
The Swiss Society of Surgery

Date: 20.07.2023

General information

We value your privacy. Therefore, we process personal data only in accordance with applicable data protection law, including the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection of June 19, 1992 (FADP), the fully revised Data Protection Act valid on September 1, 2023 and, where relevant, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We reserve the right to revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. Each time you call up or visit the website, the current, retrievable version applies.

By using our website, you consent to the collection, processing and use of data in accordance with the following description. This privacy policy only applies to our website. It does not apply to other websites to which we merely refer via a hyperlink.

How can you contact us?

If you have any questions regarding the processing of your personal data or wish to assert your rights as a data subject, you are welcome to contact our office at info(at)sgc-ssc.ch.

What personal data do we collect and process?

The following types/categories of data may be collected, processed and used by the Swiss Society of Surgeons

  • Personal master data (e.g. surname, first name, address, date of birth)

  • Application data (e.g. curriculum vitae, training certificates and letters of motivation)

  • Communication data (e.g. telephone, e-mail)

  • Contract master data (e.g. contractual relationship, product or contract interest)

  • Contract billing and payment data (e.g. salary, travel expenses, etc.)

  • IT usage data (e.g. user ID, passwords and roles)

  • Bank data (e.g. account details and credit card number)

Personal data is data that can be used to identify you or that we can otherwise assign to you. We process personal data that you provide to us voluntarily, namely when you communicate with us by e-mail, contact form, telephone or other channels.

How and for what purposes do we use your data in general?

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

When do we pass on your data to third parties?

We do not sell your personal data and do not pass it on to third parties in any other way without your consent. The Swiss Society of Surgery is also entitled to use service providers for data processing, website administration or in other ways and for the provision of the products and services you have requested. The service providers concerned are obliged to comply with the same level of security and data protection as the Swiss Society of Surgery.

If the level of data protection abroad does not correspond to that of Switzerland or, if applicable, the European Union, we will carry out a prior risk assessment and ensure by contract that the same level of protection is guaranteed as in Switzerland or the European Union (e.g. by means of standard contractual clauses). If our risk assessment is negative, we take additional technical measures to protect your data. In exceptional cases, we may also disclose your data abroad without the level of data protection corresponding to ours and without standard contractual clauses, for example if you expressly consent to the disclosure. If we disclose personal data worldwide, we will expressly inform you of this in this privacy policy.

In addition, your data may be passed on if the Swiss Society of Surgery is obliged to do so by law, by the authorities or by the courts, or if this is necessary to enforce legal claims.

How do we protect your data?

We use suitable technical and organizational measures, the use of an SSL procedure (Secure Socket Layer) for the encryption of data transmission in order to protect your personal data from loss and unauthorized access. We regularly review our security policies and procedures to ensure that our systems are secure.

How long do we keep your data?

We retain your personal data for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, for as long as we are required to do so by law, or for as long as we have a legitimate interest in retaining it (e.g. for evidentiary purposes or for IT security).

How do we use your data in relation to the newsletter?

For our newsletter, we collect the following personal data: title, first name and surname, language, country, company and e-mail address. We use the data collected exclusively for sending and personalizing the newsletter. We do not pass this data on to third parties without your consent.
We use the MailXpert tool for sending the newsletter, which is hosted by mailXpert GmbH, 8050 Zurich in its own data center in Switzerland. By subscribing to the newsletter, you consent to the transfer of data to mailXpert GmbH. MailXpert links your newsletter data with your contact details from project inquiries and existing relationships. If you no longer wish to receive newsletters from us at a later date, you can withdraw your consent at any time.

How do we use your data in the context of e-mail communication?

If you contact us by e-mail, the personal data you send us will be stored. We do not pass this data on to third parties without your consent. We only collect the data in order to process your request.

However, we would like to point out that data transmission over the Internet (e.g. when communicating by e-mail) may be subject to security vulnerabilities. Complete protection of data against access by third parties is not possible.

How do we use your data in relation to the online portal?

We at the umbrella organization Swiss College of Surgeons (SCS) provide an online portal (MYSCS) for the members of our affiliated specialist societies.

You can create your own account for our online portal on the websites of the respective specialist societies; you will also find a corresponding login on our website. You will receive the login from us as part of your membership application. To create an account, we need the following information from you: title, first and last name, address, country, e-mail address and date of birth. We use the data collected exclusively to create the login and to ensure that you can use it properly.

You can update your personal details via your personal login. In addition, we will automatically delete your data in the following cases: termination of membership, death.

Membership of several professional associations:

If you are a member of several specialist societies under the umbrella of the SCS, you will only be entered once in the online portal. If you update your details in your online account, these changes will be made automatically for all the specialist societies to which you belong.

Data exchange and cooperation between different umbrella companies:

Data exchange or collaboration can also take place between different umbrella organizations with regard to the data stored in the online portal. For example, if your specialist society is a member of both the SGC and another umbrella organization, your online account is linked to both umbrella organizations or an overarching online portal can be operated and managed by both umbrella organizations. If you update your details in your online account, these changes will be made automatically for all umbrella organizations to which your specialist society belongs.

How do we use cookies?

When you visit the website of the Swiss Society of Surgery, we collect statistical visitor data about which parts of the website you and all other users visit particularly frequently. In doing so, we collect data regarding the browser used, operating system, weblogs and other connection data. In this context, it is sometimes necessary to use so-called cookies. Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer or mobile device when you use one of our websites. The cookies we use serve to guarantee the functions of our websites. We also use cookies to customize our website to your wishes and to make your browsing experience as convenient as possible. The data collected does not contain any personal references or is sufficiently anonymized so that no conclusions can be drawn about your person.

Most Internet browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you can instruct your browser not to accept cookies or to prompt you each time before accepting a cookie from a website you visit. You can also delete cookies from your computer or mobile device by using the appropriate function in your browser. If you choose not to accept our cookies, you may not see certain information on our website and you may not be able to use some features designed to enhance your visit.

How do we use web analytics tools?

Google Analytics

In order to constantly improve and optimize our website, we use Google Analytics as a web analysis tool. This provides us with statistics and graphics that give us information about the use of our website. This data on the use of the website is transferred by Google Analytics to servers abroad with a shortened IP address, which prevents the identification of individual devices. When transferring this data to Google, we rely on the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics is not merged with other Google Analytics data. A transfer of this data by Google Analytics to third parties only takes place due to legal regulations or in the context of order data processing.

You can prevent Google from collecting the data generated by cookies and relating to your use of the website and from processing this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available at the following link (http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de).

If you do not want the provider to collect data about you via cookies, you can select the "Block third-party cookies" function in your browser settings. The browser will then not send any cookies to the server for embedded content from other providers. With this setting, other functions of our website may no longer work.

How do we use social media?

We use LinkedIn and Twitter to communicate with you and inform you about news.

When you visit our online presence on social media, your data may be automatically collected and stored for market research and advertising purposes. This data is used to create so-called user profiles using pseudonyms. These can be used, for example, to place advertisements within and outside the platforms that presumably correspond to your interests. Cookies are generally placed on your device for this purpose. Visitor behavior and user interests are stored in these cookies.

You can find detailed information on the processing and use of data by the providers on their pages as well as a contact option and your rights in this regard and setting options to protect your privacy, in particular opt-out options, in the providers' data protection notices linked below.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/de/privacy

LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy?trk=homepage-basic_footer-privacy-policy

What rights do you have in relation to your personal data?

You have the right to obtain information about your stored personal data at any time, to request the disclosure or transfer of your stored personal data, to correct or supplement your personal data, to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data and you have the right to data portability. In addition, you can revoke your consent once given to us at any time and object to the processing of your personal data or request the deletion of your personal data, insofar as it concerns personal data that is not required by us for the provision or processing of services, is necessary for the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims or must be retained due to legal requirements. Finally, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

When can you object to data processing or withdraw your consent?

If your personal data is processed on the basis of legitimate interests, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data if there are reasons for this arising from your particular situation or if the objection is directed against direct advertising. In the latter case, you have a general right to object, which we will implement without you having to specify a particular situation.

If your personal data is processed on the basis of your consent, you can revoke this consent at any time with effect from the time of revocation.

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