Privacy policy
General information
The protection of your personal data is very important to us, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as "FiBL").
We are committed to handling your personal data responsibly and consider it a matter of course to comply with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (DSG), the Data Protection Ordinance (DSV) and, in particular for our European companies within the FiBL Group, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other applicable data protection regulations.
In this privacy policy, we explain how and for what purposes we will process your personal data and what rights you have in this regard.
Name and address of the controller
FiBL– Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
Ackerstrasse 113 / Postfach 219
CH-5070 Frick
+41 (0)62 865-7272
info.suisse(at)fibl.org
EU representative
The EU representative for the European locations is:
FiBL Projekte GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
datenschutz.de(at)fibl.org
The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in Frick (Switzerland) is responsible for this website.
If you have any questions about the handling of your personal data, please contact dataprotection(at)fibl.org.
What personal data do we process and where does it come from?
We use personal data that you provide to us, that we collect about you or that we have received from third parties. This includes, in particular, personal data:
- that we receive in the course of our business relationships from customers, future customers, interested parties, service providers, suppliers, business partners or other persons involved in the business relationships;
- which we receive from job applicants;
- which we receive from visitors to our locations or participants in our seminars and events;
- that we are legally or contractually obliged to collect;
- which we collect when you use our website;
- which we obtain from publicly accessible sources (media, internet) or public registers (debt collection registers, commercial registers, etc.);
- which we receive from authorities and other third parties (address brokers, credit agencies).
Depending on the nature of the relationship, we process personal data from you such as:
- Contact and identification data such as surname, first name, address, email address, telephone number;
- Contract data such as services used, type of contract, contract content, type of products and services, applicable terms and conditions, contract start date, contract term, invoice data, names of contact persons;
- Application data such as cover letter, CV and photo, employment references, diplomas, training certificates, third-party references, interview notes;
- Financial data such as account information, payment information, payment history, average revenue;
- Donor data such as details of the time and amounts and values donated or contributed;
- Telecommunications data such as telephone number, value-added service numbers, date, time and duration of the connection, type of connection, location data, IP address, device identification numbers such as MAC address;
- Interaction and usage data such as correspondence, preferences and target group information, device type, device settings, operating system, software, information from the assertion of rights;
- Website information: IP address, cookie information, browser settings, frequency and duration of visits to the website, search terms, clicks on content, originating website.
What purposes is the data processed for?
We use the personal data we collect primarily to conclude and execute contracts with our customers and business partners. In addition, we process personal data to optimise our services and for marketing purposes.
We also rely on the processing of personal data for the purchase of products and services from our suppliers and subcontractors. If you work for a customer or business partner, you may also be affected in this capacity.
In addition, we process personal data from you and other individuals, to the extent permitted and as we deem appropriate, for the following purposes, in which we (and sometimes third parties) have a legitimate interest:
- Communication and processing of enquiries (e.g. via contact forms, e-mail, job applications, media enquiries, telephone, letter post, blogs);
- In the context of cooperation with customers, suppliers and partners;
- For the fulfilment of contracts, order processing and in the pre-contractual phase;
- Offering and further developing our products, services and websites and other platforms on which we are present;
- Optimisation of our internet presence (adapting the website to your needs);
- Compilation of usage statistics;
- Administration of donations (e.g. acknowledgements, donation receipts, payment recording);
- Fundraising, advertising and marketing (including the organisation of seminars and events), newsletter distribution, provided you have consented to the use of your data;
- Prevention and investigation of criminal offences and other misconduct (e.g. conducting internal investigations, data analysis to combat fraud, defence against and recording of hacking attacks);
- Assertion of legal claims and defence in connection with legal disputes and official proceedings;
- Reviewing and processing job applications;
- Ensuring our operations, in particular our IT and our website.
The legal basis for processing your personal data is generally:
- your consent (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR), insofar as you have given us your consent to process your personal data for specific purposes (e.g. when you register to receive newsletters). You can revoke your consent at any time, but this will not affect any data processing that has already taken place.
- the conclusion or fulfilment of a contract with you or your request in advance (e.g. by submitting a job application; Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b GDPR ).
- a balancing of interests (e.g. if your professional contact details are recorded when you contact us on behalf of your employer, implementation of marketing measures; Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR ).
- a legal obligation (e.g. for the storage of documents by us or for data processing within the framework of a public contract; Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. c GDPR ).
Is the data disclosed to third parties?
We treat your personal data as confidential and only pass it on if you have explicitly given your consent to this, if we are required to do so by law, or if this is necessary in the context of using the website or for the provision of services requested by you, or if this is necessary for the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures.
We also disclose personal data to third parties within the scope of our business activities and for the above-mentioned purposes, insofar as this is permitted and appropriate, either because they process it for us (contract data processing) or because they wish to use it for their own purposes (data disclosure). This applies in particular to:
- Service providers, including contract processors;
- IT service operators (e.g. web hosting providers, e-mail delivery service providers, suppliers);
- Retailers, suppliers and other business partners;
- Insurance companies;
- Banking institutions and payment service providers;
- Public authorities;
- Government agencies and courts.
In doing so, we naturally comply with the legal provisions governing the transfer of personal data to third parties. If we use processors to provide our services, we take appropriate legal precautions and technical and organizational measures to ensure that your personal data is protected in accordance with the relevant legal provisions. Among other things, processing by processors is limited to the contractually agreed purposes, they are obliged to protect your privacy to the same extent as we do, and they may only process your personal data in accordance with our instructions.
Some of the recipients are located in the United Kingdom, while others are located abroad.
Where is the data processed?
We generally process personal data in Switzerland or in an EU/EEA country or in another country that has an adequate level of data protection. With regard to certain processing operations, you must expect your data to be transferred to other countries within and outside Europe, where some of the IT service providers we use are located. If we disclose data to a country that does not have an adequate level of legal data protection, we require the recipient to take appropriate measures to protect your privacy (e.g. by agreeing to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, the current version of which is available here, or other precautions) or we rely on justifications such as your consent.
How long do we retain your data?
We process personal data for as long as it is necessary to fulfil our contractual obligations or for the purposes pursued with the processing, for example for the duration of the entire business relationship and beyond, in accordance with the statutory retention and documentation obligations. It is possible that personal data may be retained for the period during which claims can be asserted against us and insofar as we are otherwise legally obliged to do so or legitimate 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 generally be deleted or anonymised.
In addition, we will delete your data if you request us to do so at the email address mentioned above and we have no legal or contractual obligation to retain or otherwise secure this data.
What are your rights?
You have the following rights under the data protection law applicable to you and to the extent provided for therein:
Right to information: You have the right to request access to your personal data stored by us at any time if we process it.
Right to rectification: You have the right to have inaccurate or incomplete personal data corrected.
Right to erasure: You have the right to have your personal data erased under certain circumstances. In individual cases, in particular in the case of statutory retention obligations, the right to erasure may be excluded. In this case, the data may be blocked instead of erased if the relevant conditions are met.
Right to data portability: You have the right to request that we disclose certain personal data in a commonly used electronic format or transfer it to another controller.
Right of withdrawal: You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. However, processing activities based on your consent in the past will not become unlawful as a result of your withdrawal.
Right to object: You have the right to object to the processing of your data, in particular for the purposes of direct marketing, profiling for direct advertising and other legitimate interests in processing.
Right to further information: You have the right to request further information necessary for the exercise of these rights.
Automated individual decisions: You have the right to express your point of view in the case of automated individual decisions and to request that the decision be reviewed by a natural person.
Right to lodge a complaint: You also have the right to enforce your claims in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority.
To exercise these rights, please send us an email to the email address mentioned in the introduction. Please note that these rights are subject to certain conditions, exceptions or restrictions (e.g. if we are obliged to store or process certain data, have an overriding interest in doing so (insofar as we are permitted to invoke this) or need it to assert claims). We will inform you accordingly if necessary.
Use of the website by minors
The website is intended for an adult audience. Minors, in particular children under the age of 16, are prohibited from transmitting personal data to us or registering for a service. If we discover that such data has been transmitted to us, it will be deleted from our database. The child's parents (or legal representative) can contact us and request deletion or deregistration. To do so, we require a copy of an official document that identifies you as a parent or legal guardian.
How is your data protected?
We take technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data against manipulation, loss, destruction or access by unauthorised persons and to ensure the protection of your rights and compliance with the applicable data protection regulations.
The measures taken are designed to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of your data and to guarantee the long-term availability and resilience of our systems and services when processing your data. They are also intended to ensure the rapid restoration of the availability of your data and access to it in the event of a physical or technical incident.
Our security measures also include encryption of your data. When your data is transmitted to us, it is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS) / HTTPS. All information you enter online is transmitted via an encrypted transmission channel. This means that this information cannot be viewed by unauthorised third parties at any time.
Our data processing and security measures are continuously improved in line with technological developments.
We also take our own internal data protection very seriously. Our employees and the service providers we commission are obliged to maintain confidentiality and comply with data protection regulations. Furthermore, they are only granted access to personal data to the extent necessary.
Contact / Site information
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Switzerland
Ackerstrasse 113, Postfach 219
CH-5070 Frick
Telephone +41 62 8657-272
info.suisse(at)fibl.org
www.fibl.org
Managing Director: Dr. Jürn Sanders
VAT Reg. No.: CHE-107.938.089
National VAT No.: CHE-107.938.089 MWST
Contact for questions regarding data protection and the processing of personal data: dataprotection(at)fibl.org
Copyright notice
The contents of this website are owned by FiBL and protected by copyright law. We retain all rights over this material.
Liability notice
All articles contained in these Internet pages were produced using the best information available to us and with the greatest possible care. Nevertheless, errors cannot be ruled out entirely. Hence all information is provided ‘as is’ without any obligation or guarantee on the part of the publisher, and no liability whatsoever is accepted for any inaccuracies it may contain. In particular, this applies to all links provided to other websites, directly or indirectly.
Note on links to other sites
FiBL assumes no responsibility for the content and availability of any third party websites accessed via links on this site. FiBL has no control over the present and future design and content of linked/connected third party WWW sites, and therefore assumes no liability whatsoever for their content. FiBL assumes no guarantee as to the up-to-datedness, correctness, completeness, or quality of the information provided via links to other sites. This declaration applies to all links and references to other sites in FiBL’s Internet offerings. The respective authors are responsible for the content of other sites accessed via links on FiBL sites.
