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Privacy Policy for our Website & Services

This Privacy Policy ("Policy") describes how We, 42matters AG, a company registered in Switzerland under the company number CHE-224.961.109 and having its registered office at Rötelstrasse 84, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland ("42matters", "We", or "Us") handle Personal Information of natural persons ("You" or "User") collected or otherwise processed when using Services (as defined below) of 42matters.

Last update: September, 2023

Basically, the data processing operations by Us can divided into the following areas of application:

  • General information on data protection, data processing procedures and data subject rights, which applies to all data processing procedures carried out by Us, can be found in Section A below.
  • In connection with our Website or comparable external online presences (such as our social media profiles), and our Services, We process Personal Information exchanged between Your internet-enabled terminal devices and the server operated by Us, as well as Personal Information communicated to Us within the framework of the use of the respective Service. Details can be found in Section B of this Privacy Policy.
  • For the purpose of providing our Commercial Services and their functionalities, after subscription, more information on this can be found in Section C.
  • You can find more information about Personal Information We collect from publicly available sources and third party Services in Section D.

Please visit each section for quick and contextual information on specific processing situations.

As a company based in Switzerland We are primarily subject to Swiss data protection law (Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP)) and to the control of the Swiss data protection supervisory authorities. To the extent that our Services are offered to an international group of users, 42matters will also use its reasonable efforts to comply with the requirements of applicable data protection law, including without limitation the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU), the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) of Switzerland, and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA).

Please note that some of the Services mentioned in this Privacy Policy may not be available to Users in certain geographic regions, due to local laws, in particular applicable data protection laws.

A) General Information on Data Protection and Your Rights Under Applicable Data Protection Law

1) Meaning of Terms used in this Privacy Policy

1.1) When this Policy uses the term "Information" or "Personal Information" in capital letters, We mean information that identifies a particular individual, such as your full name, email address or IP Address.

1.2) When this Policy uses the term "Website", We mean the content provided under the URL https://42matters.com.

1.3) When this Policy uses the term "Account", We mean the email and any information related to the user that has been provided by You during the registration process on the Website. Such registration is a prerequisite to subscribe to our Commercial Services.

1.4) When this Policy uses the term "Commercial Services", We mean any Service provided by Us against the payment of fees.

1.5) When this Policy uses the term "Services", We refer to all of what We provide to our Users free of charge or against remuneration, i.e. the Website and our Commercial Services.

2) Responsible Entity, Contact Details, How We Deal With Your Information in General

2.1) The responsibility for data processing lies with Us, i.e.

42matters AG
Rötelstrasse 84
8057 Zürich, Switzerland
Tel: +41 44 586 77 42
E-Mail: privacy@42matters.com

If You have any question or inquiry relating to our use of Your Personal Information or in case You want to issue a request for access, rectification, restriction on processing, portability, objection to processing, or deletion of personal information, or exercise any other data subject right available to You under applicable data protection laws, You may contact Us by way of e-mail to the following address: privacy@42matters.com or using our web form.

2.2) We use your Personal Information for the purposes described herein below, and do not share it with third parties, unless explicitly set out otherwise by Us in this Privacy Policy, or our Terms of Service, or other contractual documents applicable, or our Services. For example, We may share your Personal Information with business partners on an as needed basis to render the Services, like our payment provider (Stripe) for collecting fees payable for the Commercial Services, our accounting service provider (Freeagent), our mail provider We use to stay in contact with You (Hubspot and Mailchimp), our customer support platform to help You with your request (Hubspot), as further described below in more details. The Information We share with these business partners is limited to your name, surname, company name, industry, phone number, your website (optional), and e-mail address and, with respect to our payment solution providers and accounting provider, your postal address.

2.3) In the event that We sell our business, i.e. all or substantially all of our assets are sold or transferred to or merged with another party, all Personal Information that has been collected and stored may be one of the business assets We transfer.

2.4) In the event We are required to respond to subpoenas, court orders or other legal process your Personal Information may be disclosed pursuant to such subpoena, court order or legal process, which may be without notice to You.

2.5) The data of a user may be transferred to, and stored or otherwise processed at, a destination outside Switzerland or outside the European Economic Area (EEA), as further identified in this Privacy Policy.

3) What Rights Do You Have With Regard to Your Personal Information?

If Your Personal Information is processed, You are a "data subject". Under applicable data protection law, You may be entitled to the rights described below.

3.1) Right of Access: Under applicable data protections law You may request confirmation from Us as to whether Personal Information relating to You is being processed by Us and to what extent We are processing your data.

3.2) Right to Rectification: If Personal Information concerning You is incorrect or incomplete, You may have a right to correction and/or completion.

3.3) Right to Erasure: If the requirements under applicable data protections law are met, You may demand that We erase your data if We process it unlawfully or if the processing disproportionately interferes with your legitimate protection interests. Please note that there may be reasons that prevent an immediate erasure, e.g. in the case of legally regulated storage obligations.

Irrespective of the exercise of Your right to erasure, We will immediately and completely erase Your data in order to fulfil our statutory obligations to erase after the processing purpose has ceased to apply, provided there is no legal or statutory retention period to the contrary.

3.4) The Right to Restriction of Processing: Under applicable data protections law, You may request Us to restrict the processing of your data. If You have restricted the processing of Your Personal Information, this data - apart from its storage - may only be processed with your consent or for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims or for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person or for reasons of an important public interest.

3.5) Right to Data Portability: Under applicable data protections law You may have the right to have data provided by You, which We process automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfilment of a contract, transferred to You or to a third party in a common, machine-readable format. If You request the direct transfer of the data to another responsible person, this will only be done as far as it is technically feasible. The right to data transfer does not apply to the processing of Personal Information necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority assigned to the person responsible.

3.6) Right to Object: If We process your data on the basis of a legitimate interest, You may object to this data processing under applicable data protections law, at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation. This might also apply to profiling based on these provisions. If You file a legitimate objection under applicable data protections law, We will no longer process your Personal Information concerned unless We can prove compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests as a data subject or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Where You object to the processing of your data for direct marketing purposes, your data shall no longer be processed for such purposes. This also applies to profiling insofar as it is connected with such direct advertising. If You object, your Personal Information will no longer be used for direct marketing purposes. You can object to the processing of your data for the purpose of direct marketing at any time without giving reasons.

3.7) Right to Withdraw Consent Under Applicable Data Protection Law: Some data processing operations are only possible with your express consent, according to applicable data protections law. You can withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future. The withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. Please note that even after withdrawing your consent, it may still be possible to process the data concerned in whole or in part on the basis of other legal principles.

3.8) Right to Lodge a Complaint with a Supervisory Authority: Without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, every data subject may have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, under applicable data protections law, in particular in the Country or State of his or her habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if the data subject considers that the processing of Personal Information relating to him or her infringes applicable data protection law.

4) I Am a California, US resident: What Rights Do I Have With Regard to My Personal Information Under the CCPA?

If You are a California, US resident, You may request (a) a notice disclosing the categories of Personal Information about You that We have collected, and/or have shared with third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year, (b) in case that We sell your Personal Information that We stop selling your Personal Information and (c) that We delete any Personal Information We have collected about You. To request one or more of these actions, please submit your request by way of e-mail to the following address: privacy@42matters.com or using our web form. Please allow 30 days for a response.

5) How Long Will Your Personal Information Be Stored?

We only retain Personal Information for a limited period of time as long as We need it to fulfil the purposes for which We have initially collected it (for example as long as the related account is active We therefore retain your Personal Information for the purpose of fulfilling our contract), unless otherwise required by law.

In general, We will retain and use information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, security, and enforce our agreements as follows:

  • The contents of closed accounts are deleted within 30 days of the date of closure (e.g. when a User decides to delete his or her account on our Website).
  • Backups are kept for 3 months.
  • Billing information is retained for a period of 7 years as of their provision in accordance with 42matters' local accounting and taxation laws.

B) What Information We Collect When You Visit or Use Our Services (e.g. Our Website)

1) Hosting and Creation of Log Files and Security

1.1) We use, on the basis of our legitimate interests and, where necessary, subject to the conclusion of data processing agreements , the following third party services to host our Websites, Services, data (including Personal Information) and files:

Each time You access our Website, or use our Services our system automatically collects connection data from the computer system of the accessing device, which your Internet browser automatically transmits to Us or our web host (so-called log files). This is especially the case when You log in to your Account, or when You upload or download data via our Website. These server log files contain IP addresses or other data that enable an assignment to a User. The following Personal Information may be collected:

  • The browser type and version used
  • The User's operating system and version
  • The Country of the User
  • The IP address of the User
  • Date and time of access
  • Websites from which the User's system accesses our Website (e.g. referrer)
  • Web Pages accessed by the User while browsing through our Website

This data is not stored together with any other Personal Information of the User.

The temporary storage of data and log files is in our legitimate interest to enable delivery of the Website to the User's devices. For this purpose, the User's IP address has to remain stored for the duration of the session. Furthermore, data is stored in log files to ensure the functionality of the Website. The data is also used to optimize the Website and to ensure the security of our information technology systems.

The data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer necessary to achieve the purpose for which they were collected. In the case of the collection of data for the purpose of providing the Website, this is the case when the session in question has ended.

In the case of storage of data in log files, this is the case after 14 days at the latest. We do not store data beyond this. In this case the IP addresses of the Users are deleted or alienated, so that an assignment of the calling client is no longer possible.

The collection of data for the provision of the Website and the storage of Personal Information in log files is mandatory for the operation of the Website. Consequently, there is no possibility for the User to object.

1.2) We use reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures to protect Personal Information within our organization (for example: data transfer encryption over HTTPS, and account authentication and data rest encryption for our computer and databases storing Personal Information). Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If You have reason to believe that your interaction with Us is no longer secure (for example, if You feel that the security of your Account has been compromised), please contact Us immediately by way of e-mail to the following address: privacy@42matters.com or using our web form.

2) Use of Cookies

Our Websites and some of our Services use cookies (a small text file that is stored on a user's computer or mobile device for record-keeping purposes) and web beacons (electronic images that deliver cookies and help to count visits) to uniquely identify your browser and to gather information about how You interact with the Websites and Services.

Please consult our Cookie Policy for more information about the type of cookies and tracking technologies that We use on this Website the purposes thereof, and how to accept and reject them. Your consent can also be given in the settings of the tool We implemented on our Website for obtaining consent for the use of certain categories of cookies ("cookie consent-tool"). This tool blocks all categories of cookies that are not essential for the proper operation of the Website, unless You give your consent to the use of cookies beyond this category. Your consent can be adjusted or revoked at any time via our website by clicking here. The current status of your cookie-settings and which categories of cookies are enabled in your session can be checked here.

The legal basis for the processing of Personal Information using necessary cookies is our legitimate interests in the best possible functionality and security of the website and a customer-friendly and effective design of the site visit. Other cookies are used with the User’s consent accordingly. Your consent consists in your chosen settings in our cookie consent tool.

The purpose of using technically necessary cookies is to simplify the use of websites for users. Some functions of our Website cannot be offered without the use of cookies. For these functions it is necessary that the browser is recognized also after a page change.

Cookies are stored on the User's computer and transmitted to our Website by the User. Therefore, You as a User have full control over the use of cookies. You can deactivate or restrict the transmission of cookies by changing the settings in your internet browser. Cookies that have already been saved can be deleted at any time. This can also be done automatically. However, You can therefore use the functionalities of the Cookie Consent-Tool We have integrated, by clicking here.

If Cookies are deactivated for our Website, it is possible that all functions of the Website can no longer be used to their full extent.

3) Information You Submit to Register an Account

3.1) If You register an Account on our Website which is a prerequisite to subscribe to our Services, We request your name, surname, company name, industry, phone number, your website (optional), and e-mail address. We collect this Personal Information to be able to verify your Account and contact You and to send You information relating to the use of our Services.

3.2) We may share and disclose information (including your Personal Information) to third party services to help operate our Services. With these third party services We share the minimum amount of Information (as mentioned in Section A Paragraph 2.2) required to provide You with our Services, offer You support and other business activities related to our Services.

We provide your information to such third party service providers to enable Us to fulfill our contractual duties or on the basis of our legitimate interests. Where necessary according to applicable data protection laws, We conclude additional agreements on data protection with our third party service providers (hereinafter referred to as „Data Processing Agreement“ or „DPA“) which ensure that our Personal Information is processed on our behalf as a controller and exclusively on our instructions.. If necessary, We also conclude additional safeguards with these third party service providers for data transfers to third countries, that do not provide an adequate level of data protection under applicable data protection laws.

Therefore, some of our third party service providers are certified under the Swiss/US Privacy Shield applicable for data subjects located in Switzerland.

The primary third party services We use are:

You will find more details with respect to our third party service providers in the relevant privacy policy linked above and/or further below in this Privacy Policy.

3.3) Marketing Communication (Hubspot)

We would like to inform our Users at regular intervals about our products, services, webinars, innovations or news by email or other electronic notifications (hereinafter referred to as "Newsletter"). We require your email address for this purpose. In the respective newsletter registration forms, further information may be requested to provide You with personalized content tailored to your interests.

You can subscribe to our newsletters by using the appropriate function of a subscription form, or during a registration process by ticking a box (so-called opt-in). For this purpose, We provide various options on our websites or in the context of registration to register for our (possibly topic-specific) newsletters. The details to the respective contents of the newsletters are described concretely in the respective registration form. This description is decisive for your consent.

Following your registration to our newsletter, You will receive an email from Us in which You will be asked to confirm your newsletter subscription once again (so-called double opt-in procedure), if needed under applicable data protection law. If applicable, this confirmation is necessary to exclude the possibility that someone else has misused your email address to subscribe to our newsletter at a different address. Only with activation of the hyperlink sent in the email your email address will be activated for sending the newsletter. For verification purposes, the IP address, and the registration date ("timestamp") are stored in addition to your email address and name for the newsletter dispatch.

The legal basis for the dispatch of newsletters is the consent given by You as the recipient, or if consent is not required under applicable data protection law (e.g. for existing customers), on the basis of our legitimate interest in direct marketing.

The logging in the registration procedure is based on our legitimate interests in a secure and targeted newsletter system that meets both our business distribution interests and the ideas and needs of the recipients, as well as the verifiability of the consents given.

For the delivery of our general newsletter We use Hubspot, a Customer Relations Management (CRM) platform by HubSpot Inc. 25 First Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA, which is offered in Europe by HubSpot Ireland Limited, 2nd Floor 30 North Wall Quay, Dublin 1, Ireland (hereinafter: "Hubspot") on the basis of our legitimate interest.

Further information on data protection at HubSpot can be found at the HubSpot Privacy Policy.

You can object to the dispatch of the newsletter at any time or revoke your consent to receive the newsletter in whole or in part. You will find an unsubscribe link at the end of each newsletter. Once clicked, this unsubscribe link will unsubscribe You from Our newsletter. You can also contact by way of e-mail to the following address: privacy@42matters.com or using our web form.

By unsubscribing from the newsletter, the business communication is not affected. Your data will be stored by Us for the purpose of contracted processing, our support and Services. In addition, We reserve the right to store necessary proofs of consent until the statutory limitation periods have expired in order to provide evidence of a legally compliant newsletter mailing.

3.4) CRM System (Hubspot)

We use the functionalities of the Customer Relations Management (CRM) system HubSpot. HubSpot is a software solution of HubSpot Inc. 25 First Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA, which is offered in Europe by HubSpot Ireland Limited, 2nd Floor 30 North Wall Quay, Dublin 1, Ireland. We use HubSpot to control and implement inbound marketing related to various functionalities of our Services. The information stored is stored on HubSpot servers. The Personal Information processed may be used by Us to gain detailed insight into the way our Services are used, to interact with Users of our Services and to determine what Services may be of interest to them.

HubSpot uses so-called "web beacons" (invisible graphics or code) and cookies, which are embedded in websites or emails and stored on the user's end devices. The IP address, geographical location, type of browser, duration of the visit and the pages called up are recorded here.

HubSpot also collects the Personal Information entered by the User if he/she (a) subscribes to our newsletter, (b) registers to our Website, (c) writes a message, (d) completes one of our contact forms, or (e) sends Us an email at info@42matters.com or privacy@42matters.com.

Further information on data protection at HubSpot can be found at the HubSpot Privacy Policy.

We use all information collected about HubSpot on the basis of our legitimate interests in the optimization of our marketing and analysis of the use of our online presences as well as their continuous optimization and user-friendly design. Furthermore, We use Personal Information on the same basis to inform our Users in a more targeted manner and for sales purposes related to our Services.

4. You Need More Information or Have Inquiries concerning the Visit or Use of Our Services (e.g. Our Website)?

If You have any question or inquiry relating to our use of your Personal Information or in case You want to issue a request for access, rectification, restriction on processing, portability, objection to processing, or deletion of personal information, or exercise any other data subject right available to You under applicable data protection laws, especially under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) of Switzerland, or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), You may contact Us by way of e-mail to the following address: privacy@42matters.com or using our web form.

C) Information You Submit to Subscribe to Our Commercial Services

1) Which Personal Information Is Processed and For What Purpose?

If You wish to subscribe to one or more of our Commercial Services, We request your billing address as well as your VAT ID (optional) in order to be able to invoice You correctly. Your payment records will be stored for the term requested by mandatory law applicable to Us. We may use, share and disclose information (including Your personal information) to third party services in order to process payments for our Services as identified below on the basis of our legitimate interests and, where necessary, subject to the conclusion of a DPA.

2) Who Receives Personal Information After Subscription to Our Commercial Services?

2.1) We use Stripe, a third party payment provider (Stripe, USA - Privacy Policy - Certified under the EU-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield), to collect credit card payments to be made for our fees and refer You during the payment process to the third party payment provider. The only Information We share with the payment provider is your e-mail address, postal address, Your name, invoice amount and currency, along with the information provided during the order process. Any additional information, such as credit card details, will be requested from You directly from the payment provider and provided by You directly to the payment provider. We have no access to such data and do not store your credit card details. Your Personal Information will only be passed on for the purpose of payment processing.

2.2) We use FreeAgent, a third party accounting software (FreeAgent, United Kingdom - Privacy Policy), to issue invoices and manage wire transfer payments to be made for our fees. The only Information We share with the accounting software is your e-mail address, postal address, Your name, Your company name and VAT ID (optional).

2.2) We use Chart Mogul, a third party revenue reporting software (ChartMogul, United Kingdom - Privacy Policy), for reporting of revenues for our subscription businesses. The only Information We share with the revenue reporting software is your e-mail address, postal address, Your name, Your company name and VAT ID (optional).

3) You Need More Information or Have Inquiries Concerning the Subscription to Our Commercial Services?

If You have any question or inquiry relating to our use of your Personal Information or in case You want to issue a request for access, rectification, restriction on processing, portability, objection to processing, or deletion of personal information, or exercise any other data subject right available to You under applicable data protection laws, especially under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) of Switzerland, or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), You may contact Us by way of e-mail to the following address: privacy@42matters.com or using our web form.

D) Information We Collect from Publicly Available Sources and Third Party Services

1) Which Personal Information is Processed and for what Purpose?

Based on our legitimate interests We may collect publicly available data about mobile apps ("Publicly Available App Data") as publicly available on app stores as described in Section 3 of our Terms of Service. In some cases, such Publicly Available App Data may contain Personal Information, like the name of a publisher, or developer or copyright owner. We might also collect publicly available contact information of third party companies (e.g. support email address, company name, company address) as described in Section 3 of our Terms of Service.

2) You Need More Information Or Have Inquiries Concerning the Collection of Information from Publicly Available Sources and Third Party Services?

If You have any questions regarding the collection, processing and use of Personal Information or the correction, deletion or blocking of such data, or to assert the data subject rights to which You are entitled under applicable law, in connection with our aforementioned collection of Publicly Available App Data, please contact Us by way of e-mail to the following address: privacy@42matters.com or using our web form.

F) Miscellaneous

1) Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may edit this Privacy Policy from time to time. Please check this Privacy Policy regularly for any changes. We will post all changes here, and if We make any substantial changes We may also notify You by email.

2) Contact Us

If You have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact Us at privacy@42matters.com, using our web form, or at:

42matters AG
Rötelstrasse 84
8057 Zürich
Switzerland

3) Communication with Us

We prioritize Your privacy and security. Communications from Our company will only be sent from email addresses ending in "42matters.com" or "42matters.io". Ensure that You validate these emails, and be aware that we will never contact You through other domain addresses or unconventional channels.