Thank you for your interest in the services of excent AG, CH-8832 Wollerau, Switzerland – hereinafter “excent”. As a trust, consulting and outsourcing company, data protection is of a particularly high priority for excent. The use of the Internet pages of excent is possible without any indication of personal data. However, if a data subject wants to use services of excent, processing of personal data could become necessary. If the processing of personal data is necessary, our data protection declaration shall apply unless otherwise required by law.

The processing of personal data of a data subject shall always be in line with the General Data Protection Regulation and in accordance with the country-specific data protection regulations applicable to excent.

As the controller, excent has implemented numerous technical and organizational measures to ensure the most complete protection of personal data processed.

In the following data protection declaration, we, excent AG (UID CHE-112.887.977) (hereinafter referred to as excent, we or us), describe how we collect and process personal data. This data protection declaration is not an exhaustive description; other declarations relating to data protection may regulate specific matters. For the purposes of this privacy policy, personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual.

1. responsible party and contact

Responsible for the data processing we describe here is excent unless otherwise stated in individual cases. Inquiries regarding data protection can be sent to us by letter or e-mail, enclosing a copy of the user’s ID or passport for identification purposes:

excent AG
Sihleggstrasse 23
8832 Wollerau
Switzerland

Tel.: +41 44 787 15 00
E-mail: info@excent.ch
Website: www.excent.ch

Any data subject may contact our data protection officer directly at any time with any questions or suggestions regarding data protection.

2. collection and processing of personal data

We process personal data in the following categories of processing in particular.

• Customer data of customers for whom we provide or have provided services.
• Personal data that we have received indirectly from our customers in the course of providing services.
• When visiting our website
• When using our newsletter
• When participating in an event of ours.
• When we communicate or a visit takes place.
• In the case of any other contractual relationship, e.g. as a supplier, service provider or consultant.
• When we receive applications.
• When we are required to do so for legal or regulatory reasons.
• When we are exercising our due diligence or other legitimate interests, e.g., to avoid conflicts of interest, prevent money laundering or other risks, ensure data accuracy, check creditworthiness, ensure security, or enforce our rights.

For more detailed information, please refer to the description of the respective categories of processing in section 5.

3. categories of personal data

The personal data that excent processes depends on your relationship with us and the purpose for which we process it. In addition to your contact data, we also process other information about you or about persons who have a relationship with you. This information may also be particularly sensitive personal data.

We collect the following categories of personal data, depending on the purpose for which we process it:

• Contact information (e.g., last name, first name, address, phone number, email).
• Customer information (e.g. date of birth, nationality, marital status, profession, title, job title, passport / ID number, AHV number)
• Risk assessment data (e.g. credit rating information, commercial register data)
• Financial information (e.g. data on bank details)
• Mandate data, depending on the mandate (e.g. tax information, statutes, minutes, projects, contracts, employee data (e.g. salary, social security), accounting data, beneficial owners, ownership)
• Website data (e.g. IP address, device information (UDI), browser information, website usage (analysis and use of plugins, etc.)
• Job application data (e.g., resume, employment references)
• Marketing information (e.g. newsletter registration)
• Security and network data (e.g. visitor lists, access controls, network and mail scanners, telephone call lists)

To the extent permitted, we also take certain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. debt collection registers, land registers, commercial registers, press, Internet) or receive such data from our clients and their employees, from authorities, (arbitration) courts 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, information from public registers, information that we learn in connection with official and legal proceedings, information in connection with your professional functions and activities (so that we can, e.g. (e.g. so that we can conclude and process transactions with your employer with your help), information about you in correspondence and meetings with third parties, creditworthiness information, information about you that people close to you (family, advisors, legal representatives, etc.) give us so that we can conclude or process contracts with you or with the involvement of you (e.g. references, your address for deliveries, full addresses, etc.). 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 use or provision of services by you (e.g. payments made, purchases made), information from the media and Internet about you (if this is appropriate in the specific case, e.g. in the context of a job application, etc.). your addresses and, if applicable, interests and other sociodemographic data (for marketing), data in connection with the use of the website (e.g. IP address, MAC address of the smartphone or computer, information about your device and settings, cookies, date and time of visit, pages and content accessed, functions used, referring website, location information).

4.1 Provision of services

We primarily process the personal data that we receive from our clients and other business partners in the course of our client relationships and other contractual relationships with them and other persons involved in them.

The personal data of our clients is in particular the following information:

• Contact information (e.g., last name, first name, address, telephone number, email, other contact information).
• Personal information (e.g. date of birth, nationality, marital status, profession, title, job title, passport / ID number, AHV number, family circumstances, etc.)
• Risk assessment data (e.g. credit rating information, commercial register data, sanctions lists, specialized databases, data from the Internet)
• Financial information (e.g. data on bank details, investments or shareholdings)
• Mandate data, depending on the mandate, e.g. tax information, articles of association, minutes, employee data (e.g. salary, social security), accounting data, etc.
• Particularly sensitive personal data: These personal data may also include personal data requiring special protection, such as data on health, religious beliefs or social assistance measures, especially if we provide payroll processing or accounting services.

These personal data are processed by excent for the described purposes on the basis of the following legal grounds:

• Conclusion or execution of a contract with the data subject or for the benefit of the data subject, including contract initiation and possible enforcement (e.g. consulting, fiduciary services)
• Fulfillment of a legal obligation (e.g., when we perform our duties as auditors or are required to disclose information)
• Safeguarding legitimate interests, (e.g., for administrative purposes, to improve our quality, ensure safety, manage risk, enforce our rights, defend against claims, or to review potential conflicts of interest)
• Consent (e.g., to send them marketing information).

4.2 Indirect data processing from service provision

When excent provides services to its customers, we may also process personal data that we have not collected directly from the data subjects or personal data from third parties. These third parties are usually employees, contacts, family members or persons who have a relationship with the customers or data subjects for other reasons. We need this personal data to fulfill contracts with our customers. We receive this personal data from our customers or from third parties engaged by our customers. Third parties whose information we process for this purpose are informed by our customers that we process their data. Our customers may refer to this privacy statement for this purpose.

The personal data of persons who have a relationship with our customers is in particular the following information:

• Contact information (e.g., last name, first name, address, phone number, email, other contact information, marketing data).
• Personal information (e.g. date of birth, nationality, marital status, profession, title, job title, passport / ID number, AHV number, family circumstances, etc.)
• Financial information (e.g. data on bank details, investments or shareholdings)
• Mandate data, depending on the mandate, e.g. tax information, articles of association, minutes, employee data (e.g. salary, social insurance), accounting data
• Personal data requiring special protection: These personal data may also include personal data requiring special protection, such as data on health, religious beliefs or social assistance measures, especially if we provide payroll processing or accounting services.

We process this personal data for the described purposes based on the following legal grounds:

• Conclusion or execution of a contract with the data subject or for the benefit of the data subject (e.g., when we perform our contractual obligations)
• Fulfillment of a legal obligation (e.g., when we perform our duties as auditors or are required to disclose information)
• Safeguarding legitimate interests, in particular our interest in providing optimal service to our customers.

4.3 Use of the website

No personal data need to be disclosed in order to use our website. However, the server collects a series of user information with each call, which is temporarily stored in the server’s log files.

When using this general information, no assignment to a specific person takes place. The collection of this information or data is technically necessary to display our website and to ensure its stability and security. This information is also collected in order to improve the website and analyze its use.

In particular, this involves the following information:

• Contact information (e.g. surname, first name, address, telephone number, e-mail).
• Other information that you transmit to us via the website
• Technical information automatically transmitted to us or our service providers, information on user behavior or website settings (e.g. IP address, UDI, device type, browser, number of clicks on the page, opening of the newsletter, click on links, etc.).

We process this personal data for the purposes described based on the following legal grounds:

• Safeguarding legitimate interests, (e.g. for administrative purposes, to improve our quality, analyze data or publicize our services).
• Consent (e.g. to the use of cookies or the newsletter).

4.4 Newsletter use

To the extent that you subscribe to a newsletter from excent, we will use your email address and other contact information to send you the newsletter. You can subscribe to our newsletter with your consent. Mandatory data for sending the newsletter are your full name and your e-mail address, which we store after your subscription. The legal basis for the processing of your data in connection with our newsletter is your consent to the sending of the newsletter. You can revoke this at any time and unsubscribe from the newsletter.

4.5 Participation in events

If you participate in an event organized by us, we collect personal data in order to organize and conduct the event and, if necessary, to send you additional information afterwards. We also use your information to inform you of other events. It is possible that you will be photographed or filmed by us at these events and that we will publish this footage internally or externally.

In particular, this involves the following information:

• Contact information (e.g., last name, first name, address, phone number, email).
• Personal information (e.g. profession, function, title, employer company, eating habits)
• Pictures or videos
• Payment information (e.g., bank account information).

We process this personal data for the purposes described based on the following legal grounds:

• Fulfillment of a contractual obligation with the data subject or for the benefit of the data subject, including contract initiation and possible enforcement (enabling participation in the event).
• Safeguarding legitimate interests (e.g. holding events, disseminating information about our event, providing services, efficient organization)
• Consent (e.g. to send them marketing information or to create visual material)

4.6 Direct communication and visits

If you contact us (e.g. via telephone, e-mail or chat) or if we contact you, we process the personal data required for this purpose. We also process this personal data when you visit us. In this case, you may be required to leave your contact details before visiting us or at reception. We keep this information for a certain period of time to protect our infrastructure and information.

To conduct conference calls, online meetings, video conferences and/or webinars (“Online Meetings”), we use the service “Zoom”, “Microsoft Teams” or another service suitable for communication.

In particular, we process the following information:

• Contact information (e.g., last name, first name, address, phone number, email).
• Boundary data for communication (e.g. IP address, duration of communication, communication channel)
• Recordings of conversations, e.g. during video conferences
• Other information uploaded, provided or created by the user during the use of the video conferencing service, as well as metadata used for the maintenance of the service provided Additional information about the processing of personal data by “Zoom” or Microsoft Teams can be found in their privacy statements.
• Personal information (e.g., occupation, position, title, employer company).
• Time and reason for visit.

We process this personal data for the purposes described based on the following legal grounds:

• Fulfillment of a contractual obligation with the data subject or for the benefit of the data subject, including contract initiation and possible enforcement (provision of a service).
• Safeguarding legitimate interests (e.g. security, traceability and processing and administration of customer relationships).

4.7 Applications

You can submit your application for a position at excent by mail, via the e-mail address provided on our website or via a contact form. The application dossier and all personal data disclosed to us in connection with it will be treated as strictly confidential, will not be disclosed to any third party and will be processed only for the purpose of processing your application for employment with us. Without your consent to the contrary, your application file will either be returned to you or deleted/destroyed after the application process has been completed, unless it is subject to a legal obligation to retain it. The legal basis for processing your data is your consent, the fulfillment of the contract with you and our legitimate interests.

In particular, we process the following information:

• Contact information (e.g. surname, first name, address, telephone number, e-mail).
• Personal information (e.g. profession, function, title, employer company)
• Application documents (e.g. letter of motivation, certificates, diplomas, curriculum vitae)
• Assessment information (e.g. assessment by personnel consultants, reference information, assessments)

We process this personal data for the purposes described based on the following legal grounds:

• Safeguarding legitimate interests (e.g. hiring new employees).
• Consent.

4.8 Suppliers, service providers, other contractual partners

If we enter into a contract with you to provide a service for us, we process personal data about you or your employees. We need this data to communicate with you and to use your services. We may also process this personal data in order to check whether there could be a conflict of interest in connection with our activities as consultants or auditors and to ensure that we do not enter into any unwanted risks, e.g. with regard to money laundering or sanctions, through our cooperation.

In particular, we process the following information:

• Contact information (e.g. surname, first name, address, telephone number, e-mail).
• Personal information (e.g. profession, function, title, employer company).
• Financial information (e.g. data on bank details).

We process this personal data for the purposes described based on the following legal grounds:

• Conclusion or execution of a contract with the data subject or for the benefit of the data subject, including contract initiation and possible enforcement.
• Safeguarding legitimate interests (e.g. avoidance of conflicts of interest, protection of the company, enforcement of legal claims).

5. tracking technologies

We use cookies on our website. These are small files that your browser automatically creates and that are stored on your end device (laptop, tablet, smartphone or similar) when you visit our site.

In the cookie, information is stored that arises in each case in connection with the specific end device used. This does not mean, however, that we thereby gain direct knowledge of your identity. The use of cookies serves on the one hand to make the use of our offer more pleasant for you. For example, we use so-called session cookies to recognize that you have already visited individual pages of our website. These are automatically deleted after you leave our site.

In addition, we also use temporary cookies to optimize user-friendliness, which are stored on your terminal device for a certain fixed period of time. If you visit our site again to use our services, it is automatically recognized that you have already been to our site and which entries and settings you have made so that you do not have to enter them again. On the other hand, we use cookies to statistically record the use of our website and to evaluate it for the purpose of optimizing our offer for you. These cookies enable us to automatically recognize that you have already been to our site when you visit it again. These cookies are automatically deleted after a defined period of time.

The data processed by cookies are necessary for the purposes mentioned. Most browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you can configure your browser so that no cookies are stored on your computer or a message always appears before a new cookie is created. However, the complete deactivation of cookies may mean that you cannot use all the functions of our website.

6.1 Web and newsletter analysis, Google Analytics

In order to obtain information about the use of our website, to improve our Internet offering and to be able to address you with advertising on third-party websites or on social media, we use various web analysis tools and re-targeting technologies, including Google Analytics.

These tools are provided by third-party vendors. As a rule, the information collected for this purpose about the use of a website is transmitted to the third-party provider’s server through the use of cookies or similar technologies. Depending on the third-party provider, these servers may be located abroad.

The transmission of the data usually takes place with shortening of the IP addresses, which prevents the identification of individual end devices. A transmission of this information by third-party providers only takes place due to legal regulations or in the context of order data processing.

We use Google Analytics [[if applicable]], the web analytics service of Google LLC, Mountain View, California, USA, responsible for Europe is Google Limited Ireland (“Google”) on our websites. To disable Google Analytiscs, Google provides a browser plug-in at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. Google Analytics uses cookies. These are small text files that make it possible to store specific information related to the user on the user’s terminal device. These enable an analysis of the use of our website offer by Google. The information collected by the cookie about the use of our website (including your IP address) is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. Google may associate your IP address with other data held by Google. For data transfers to the USA, Google has undertaken to sign and comply with the EU standard contractual clauses.

6.2 Google Maps

On our website, we use Google Maps (API) from Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; responsible for Europe is Google Limited Ireland, “Google”). Google Maps is a web service for displaying interactive (land) maps in order to visually present geographical information. By using this service, our location is displayed to you and a possible journey is made easier. Already when calling up those sub-pages in which the map of Google Maps is integrated, information about your use of our website (such as your IP address) is transmitted to Google servers in the USA and stored there. This occurs regardless of whether Google provides a user account through which you are logged in or whether no user account exists. If you are logged in to Google, your data will be directly assigned to your account. If you do not want the assignment with your profile at Google, you must log out before activating the button. Google stores your data (even for users who are not logged in) as usage profiles and evaluates them.

For data transfers to the USA, Google has undertaken to sign and comply with the EU standard contractual clauses.

6.3 Social media plugins

So-called social media plugins (“plugins”) from third-party providers are used on our website. The plugins are recognizable by the logo of the respective social network. Through the plugins, we offer you the opportunity to interact with the social networks and other users. We use the following plugins on our website: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, XING, YouTube, etc. When you visit our website, your browser establishes a direct connection to the servers of the third-party provider. The content of the plugin (e.g. YouTube videos) is transmitted directly to your browser by the respective third-party provider and integrated into the page.

The data transfer for the display of content (e.g. publications on Twitter) takes place regardless of whether you have an account with the third-party provider and are logged in there. If you are logged in to the third-party provider, your data collected by us will also be directly assigned to your account with the third-party provider. If you activate the plugins, the information will also be published on the social network and displayed to your contacts there. The purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing and use of the data by the third-party providers, as well as your rights in this regard and setting options for protecting your privacy, can be found in the data protection notices of the third-party providers. The third-party provider stores the data collected about you as usage profiles and uses them for purposes of advertising, market research and/or demand-oriented design of its website. In particular, such an evaluation is also carried out for non-logged-in users for the display of needs-based advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. If you would like to prevent the third-party providers from assigning the data collected via our website to your personal profile in the respective social network, you must log out of the corresponding social network before visiting our website. You can also completely prevent the loading of the plugins with specialized add-ons for your browser, such as “Ghostery” (https://www.ghostery.com/) or “NoScript” (http://noscript.net/).

6.4 Newsletter tracking

We may use tracking software to send our newsletters. With this software, newsletters can be sent and analyzed. To perform this analysis, we collect device and access data. To collect these, the newsletter contains a pixel. The newsletter or the websites accessible from this newsletter are also tracked with cookies. A pixel is an image file that is stored on the recipient’s device.

With the help of these technologies, we receive the information whether the newsletter has arrived, has been opened and which content has been clicked on. We use this information to improve our newsletter and our offers.

The setting of a pixel can be prevented by deactivating HTML in the mail program (varies depending on the mail program).

7. data disclosure and data transfer

We will only disclose your data to third parties if this is necessary to provide our service, if these third parties provide a service for us, if we are required to do so by law or by the authorities, or if we have an overriding interest in disclosing the personal data. We will also disclose personal data to third parties if you have given your consent or requested us to do so.

Not all personal data is transmitted in encrypted form as standard. Unless explicitly agreed otherwise with the customer, accounting data, salary administration data, salary slips and salary statements are transmitted unencrypted.

The following categories of recipients may receive personal data from us:

Branch offices, parent, subsidiary or sister companies.
Service providers (e.g. IT service providers, hosting providers, suppliers, consultants, lawyers, insurance companies).
Third parties within the scope of our legal or contractual obligations, authorities, government institutions, courts.

We conclude contracts with service providers who process personal data on our behalf, which oblige them to ensure data protection or are certified accordingly. The majority of our service providers are located in Switzerland or in the EU / EEA. Certain personal data may also be transferred to the USA (e.g. Google Analytics data) or in exceptional cases to other countries worldwide. If a transfer of data to other countries that do not have an adequate level of data protection is necessary, this will be done on the basis of the EU standard contractual clauses (e.g. in the case of Google) or other appropriate instruments.

8. duration of the retention of personal data

We process and store your personal data as long as it is necessary for the fulfillment of our contractual and legal obligations or otherwise the purposes pursued with the processing, i.e. for example for the duration of the entire business relationship (from the initiation, 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 (i.e. in particular during the statutory limitation period) and to the extent that 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 anonymized 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 apply in principle.

9. data security

We take appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized access and misuse, such as the issuance of directives, training, IT and network security solutions, access controls and restrictions, encryption of data carriers and transmissions, pseudonymization and controls.

In principle, data processing takes place on our own excent servers in Switzerland. For certain services (DeepBox, AbaNinja, etc.), third-party servers may be used whose location is in CH.

10. obligation to provide personal data

In the context of our business relationship, you must provide such personal data as is necessary for the establishment and performance of a business relationship and the fulfillment of the related contractual obligations (you generally do not have a legal obligation to provide us with data). Without this data, we will 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.

11. your rights

You have the following rights in connection with our processing of personal data:

• Right to information about personal data stored about you by us, the purpose of processing, the origin and about recipients or categories of recipients to whom personal data is disclosed.
• Right to rectification if your data is incorrect or incomplete.
• Right to restrict the processing of your personal data
• Right to request the deletion of the processed personal data
• Right to data portability
• Right to object to data processing or to withdraw consent to the processing of personal data at any time without giving reasons.
• Right to complain to a competent supervisory authority, if provided for by law.

To exercise these rights, contact us at the address provided in Section 1.

Please note, however, that we reserve the right to assert the restrictions provided for by law on our part, 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 costs are incurred by you, we will inform you in advance.

12. subcontracted processors of excent

excent currently works with the following sub-processors:

• cyon GmbH, hosting of our website (https://www.cyon.ch/legal/datenschutzerklaerung/)
  Data processing: CH | Audits: ISAE 3402, SSAE16 Typ II
• Abacus Resarch AG, data processing (https://www.abacus.ch/datenschutz/)
  Data processing: excent Server CH or CH
• DeepCloud AG; data processing (https://www.deepcloud.swiss/de/datenschutz/)
  Data processing: CH | Audits: ISO9001, ISO/IEC 27001:2013
• DIAG Dienstleistungen AG, information technology and data processing (https://diag.ch/datenschutz/)
  Data processing: excent Server CH or CH | Audits: ISO/IEC 27001
• Fidevision AG, informatics (https://fidevision.ch/datenschutz/)
  Data processing: excent Server CH

13. Amendment of the data protection declaration

Should individual parts of this data protection declaration be invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the rest of the declaration. Due to the further development of our offer or due to changed legal or official requirements, it may become necessary to change this data protection declaration. The current data protection declaration can be called up and printed out at any time on a website linked from http://www.excent.ch.

Last change (adaptation to nDSG): 01.08.2023