Data Protection Statement - National Advisory Commission in Biomedical Ethics (NCE)

Version dated 21.07.2022

1. Introduction

We respect your privacy. This means that any information which you provide will be handled carefully and responsibly at all times, in compliance with the relevant data protection regulations and in accordance with this Data Protection Statement.

In general, the offerings on our website (www.nek-cne.admin.ch) are subject to the terms and conditions applicable for the use of Swiss Confederation websites, which are available here: https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/terms-and-conditions.html. In particular, these offerings are governed by Swiss data protection legislation, as well as any international data protection regulations which may be applicable, e.g. those of the European Union (General Data Protection Regulation).

2. Body responsible

The body responsible for the processing of personal data is:

National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics NCE
c/o Federal Office of Public Health BAG
Schwarzenburgstrasse 157
CH-3003 Bern
info(at)nek-cne.admin.ch

If you have any queries concerning the protection of your personal data, you can contact the above body in writing.

3. Personal data

“Personal data” means any information concerning an identified or identifiable natural person. This includes all the basic data provided to us, such as, in particular, your name, address, e-mail, telephone number and IP address. It does not cover statistical data or anonymised data which cannot be directly associated with you as an individual.

“Data subject” means a natural person whose personal data is processed; “processing” means any operation involving personal data (for example by combining data with an identifier such as a name, an identification number or location data).

4. Legal basis and purposes of data collection/processing

We collect, process and store personal data in order to fulfil our legal responsibilities and to comply with any contractual obligations.

In addition to the above-mentioned legal basis for data processing, we process data in pursuit of overriding interests – in particular, economic and legal interests. Our overriding interest lies, in particular, in the optimisation of our online offerings and of our website. Data is collected and processed for the purpose of enabling use of our website (establishment of a connection), ensuring sustained system security and stability, and permitting optimisation of our online offerings, as well as for internal statistical purposes. The IP address and country are analysed only in the event of attacks on the network infrastructure of the website, or for statistical purposes.

5. Newsletter

You will receive an electronic newsletter only if this is explicitly requested. For this, we require your contact data (in particular, a valid e-mail address). For distribution of the electronic newsletter, we use the so-called double opt-in procedure, i.e. we will only send you a newsletter by e-mail if you have given prior explicit confirmation that we should activate the newsletter service. After you have signed up, we will send you an e-mail inviting you to confirm (by clicking on the appropriate link) that you wish to receive our newsletter. When you subscribe to the newsletter, your e-mail address will be used, with your consent, for internal promotional purposes (e.g. news about FOPH information campaigns or apps) until you unsubscribe from the newsletter. After being granted, consent can be revoked at any time, although this has no effect on data processing which has already occurred. We are authorised to engage third parties for technical operations and may pass on your data for this purpose. Your data cannot, however, be passed on for other purposes without your consent.

6. Contact

For queries of any kind, we offer you the option of contacting us via email at info(at)nek-cne.admin.ch. This requires you to provide, in particular, a valid e-mail address and contact data (e.g. surname, first name), so that we know who has submitted the query. Further details may be provided voluntarily. Data processing which enables you to make contact with us is undertaken on the basis of your voluntary consent. Should the matter you raise need to be dealt with by the FOPH, the query will be forwarded via an automatically generated e-mail to the unit responsible within the FOPH.

7. Transmission

We will only pass on your personal data if we are legally obliged to do so, if you have given your explicit consent, or if this is necessary to uphold our rights – in particular, to uphold claims arising from any contractual relationship. In addition, we will only pass on your data to third parties insofar as this is required for performance of a contract. For this purpose, we will transmit the requisite data to other federal bodies, to printers responsible for distribution, or to other service providers. These service providers will use your data exclusively for performance of the assignment and not for other purposes. It is ensured that these service providers will treat your data confidentially and in accordance with the applicable legal requirements, and that your data will only be used for the purpose of the service in question.

We are also authorised, in pursuit of our economic, legal and non-material interests (e.g. for marketing purposes or to improve our online offerings) to pass on your data to external service providers. With regard to software tools, we use services provided by the companies listed below. The data collected in connection with the use of these software tools will only be transmitted to servers in Switzerland.

More detailed information on the data collected and transmitted is available at:

• Matomo: https://matomo.org/privacy-policy/

To prevent the transmission of data relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) to, and the processing of such data by, the above-mentioned companies, you can download and install browser add-ons which block these software tools.

8. Retention period

We will retain your personal data for as long as is necessary or appropriate to comply with the relevant legal requirements, or for as long as it is needed to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected. As far as possible, we will always anonymise or delete your personal data as soon as it is no longer required, or at the latest at the end of the legally specified maximum retention period.

You can yourself request erasure of your personal data at any time by sending an appropriate application to the body specified in Section 2. We will comply with your request immediately, provided that we are not required to retain the data further on other grounds (e.g. a legal data retention obligation).

9. Rights of the data subject

9.1 Information

On written request, we will inform you at any time as to what personal data is stored when you visit our website.

9.2 Rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, right to object

You may have personal data which is stored when you visit our website rectified, blocked or erased by us. In addition, you may object to the disclosure of certain personal data. Exempt from erasure is data which we require to complete outstanding tasks or to uphold existing rights and claims, as well as data which we are legally obliged to retain.

9.3 Data disclosure and transfer

On written request, you have the right to receive personal data which is stored when you visit our website in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (e.g. PDF file). You also have the right to request the return of data provided to us when visiting our website.

9.4 Right to withdraw consent

Insofar as, in using our website or availing yourself of our services, you have given consent to the collection, storage, use, etc., of personal data, you may withdraw this consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent can be sent, by e-mail or in writing, to the body specified in Section 2. The effects of the withdrawal of consent are restricted to the storage and use of personal data which may not already, on legal grounds, be stored and used even without your consent. In addition, the withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of previous processing based on your consent.

9.5 Supervisory authority

The supervisory authority responsible for data protection matters is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home.html).

9.6 Exercising these rights

To exercise your rights, please contact the body specified in Section 2, providing proof of your identity (copy of ID, passport or other official document). Please note that your rights may be restricted insofar as this is legally provided for or necessary on account of overriding public or private interests. For example, the right to data transfer is not applicable in particular for the processing of personal data which is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.

10. Data concerning children

Insofar as is ascertainable, we only collect, process and use personal data concerning children with the consent of their authorised representative. Persons under 16 years of age must obtain permission from their authorised representative before transmitting personal data to us. Accordingly, persons under 16 years of age require their parents’ consent to use our website.

11. Liability for links

We have no influence whatsoever on the current or future design or content of any sites linked or referred to. This applies to all links and references included on our own website. Liability for illegal, inaccurate or incomplete content – and in particular for damage arising from the use or non-use of such information – rests solely with the operator of the site to which reference is made, and not with the operator of the site merely making reference (via links) to the publication in question. To the extent legally permissible, any liability is excluded.

12. Use of cookies

On our website, we use so-called cookies and similar technologies to allow your browser or device to be identified. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer when you visit our website. A cookie can only contain information which we send to your computer – it cannot be used to read out private data. If you accept cookies from our pages, we do not have any access to your personal information, but with the aid of these cookies we can identify your computer. No personal data is stored in the cookies used, so that, using the cookies technology, we cannot draw any conclusions as to your identity. 

We use session-specific, temporary cookies. These cookies are required technically for the operation of the website, but they do not remain on your computer. When you leave our website, the temporary cookies are discarded. With the aid of the information gathered, we can analyse website usage patterns and structures, and optimise the site by improving content, personalisation and usability.

We also use permanent cookies: these remain on your computer to permit user-specific personalisation and registration services on subsequent visits. These cookies may record, for example, which brochure you have chosen to order, while you continue to browse in the online shop. In addition, for websites where a log-in is required, you will only have to enter your password once. Permanent cookies can be manually deleted by the user. 

Most browsers (e.g. Firefox, Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, etc.) accept cookies by default. In the privacy/security settings, you can allow or block temporary and/or permanent cookies. The data stored in our cookies is not linked to your personal data (name, address, etc.) without your explicit consent.

13. Data security

On our website, for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential information, we use SSL or TLS encryption. You can recognise an encrypted connection by the fact that the browser’s address line changes from “http://” to “https://” and the padlock icon is displayed. Once SSL or TLS encryption is activated, data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

14. Amendments

We reserve the right to amend this Data Protection Statement at any time. The latest version published on our website is applicable. If you are directly affected by an amendment to the Data Protection Statement (for example, if you use a newsletter service), you will be informed about such an amendment in an appropriate manner. The Data Protection Statement does not establish any contractual or other formal legal relationship with or on behalf of any party.

Bern, (20.07.2022)