Data protection

Privacy policy

Welcome to our website and thank you for your interest in our company. We take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy.

Although the GDPR is a regulation of the European Union, it is important to us. The Swiss Data Protection Act (DPA) is heavily influenced by EU law, and companies outside the European Union or the EEA must comply with the GDPR under certain circumstances.

Responsible acc. Art. 4 para. 7 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

Columbus Treppen AG
Head office, production and exhibition

Industry Haslen 12
9245 Oberbüren SG

+41 71 955 96 00

info@columbus.ch

www.columbus.ch

Personal data

Personal data is all data that can be related to you personally, e.g. name, address, e-mail addresses, user behavior.

The use of our website is generally possible without providing personal data. Insofar as personal data is collected, this is done on a voluntary basis. This happens, for example, when you contact us by e-mail. The data you provide (your e-mail address, possibly your name and telephone number) will be stored by us in order to answer your request. The data collected in this context will be deleted after storage is no longer necessary or processing will be restricted if there are statutory retention obligations.

The legal basis for data processing for the purpose of contacting us is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR on the basis of your voluntarily given consent.

If we use contracted service providers for individual functions of our offer or would like to use your data for advertising purposes, we will inform you in detail below about the respective processes. We also state the specified criteria for the storage period.

Rights of data subjects

You have the following rights regarding your personal data at any time:

– Right to information, Art. 15 GDPR
– Right to rectification or erasure, Art. 16, 17 GDPR
– Right to restriction of processing, Art. 18 GDPR
– Right to data portability. Art. 20 GDPR
– Right to object to the processing, Art. 21 GDPR

Objection or revocation against the processing of your data

If you have given your consent to the processing of your data, you can revoke this at any time. Such a revocation affects the permissibility of processing your personal data in the future. You can object to the processing of your personal data for advertising and data analysis purposes at any time. You can inform us of your objection at info@columbus.ch.

If the legal basis for the processing of your personal data is our legitimate interest, you can object to the processing. We ask you to state the reasons why we should not process your personal data as we have done. In the event of your justified objection, we will examine the situation and either discontinue the data processing or point out to you our compelling legitimate grounds on the basis of which we will continue the processing. You also have the right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority about the processing of your personal data by us.

Collection of personal data when visiting our website

When you visit the website, if you do not fill out a contact form or provide other information, only the personal data that your browser transmits to our server will be stored. In this case, only the data that is technically necessary for us to display our website to you and to ensure stability and security is collected:

– IP address
– Date and time of the request
– Time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
– Content of the request (specific page)
– Access status/HTTP status code
– Amount of data transferred in each case
– Website from which the request comes
– Browser
– Operating system and its interface
– Language and version of the browser software

The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1f GDPR, the legitimate interest.

Server log files

The website operator or site provider collects data about access to the site and stores it as server log files. The following data is logged in this way:

– Visited website
– Time at the time of access
– Amount of data sent in bytes
– Source/reference from which you reached the page
– Browser used
– Operating system used
– IP address used (if applicable: in anonymized form)

The data collected is only used for statistical evaluations to improve the website. However, the website operator reserves the right to check the server log files retrospectively if there are concrete indications of unlawful use.

The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR is the fulfillment of a contract or pre-contractual measures.

Use of cookies

In addition to the aforementioned data, cookies are stored on your computer when you use our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser. They serve to make the website more user-friendly, effective and secure.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called session cookies. They are automatically deleted when you close the browser and store a so-called session ID, with which various requests from your browser can be assigned to the shared session. This allows your computer to be recognized when you return to our website.

You can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and only allow cookies in individual cases, exclude the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or in general and activate the automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser.

If cookies are deactivated, the functionality of this website may be restricted.

To manage the cookies and similar technologies used (tracking pixels, web beacons, etc.) and the associated consents, we use the “Real Cookie Banner” consent tool. Details on how “Real Cookie Banner” works can be found at https://devowl.io/rcb/data-processing/.

The legal basis for the processing of personal data in this context is Art. 6 (1) lit. c GDPR and Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in the management of the cookies and similar technologies used and the associated consents.

The provision of personal data is neither contractually required nor necessary for the conclusion of a contract. You are not obliged to provide the personal data. If you do not provide the personal data, we will not be able to manage your consents.

Flash cookies / HTML5 storage objects

The Flash cookies are not recorded by your browser, but by your Flash plug-in. We also use HTML5 storage objects, which are stored on your end device. These objects store the required data independently of the browser you are using and have no automatic expiration date. If you do not want Flash cookies to be processed, you must install an appropriate add-on, e.g. Better Privacy for Mozilla Firefox or the Adobe Flash Killer cookie for Google Chrome. You can prevent the use of HTML5 storage objects by setting your browser to private mode. We also recommend that you regularly delete your cookies and browser history manually.

SSL or TLS encryption

For security reasons and to protect the transmission of content, this site uses an SSL or SSL-encrypted connection. TLS encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from http:// to https:// and by the lock symbol in your browser line.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

With your consent (by providing your e-mail address), you can subscribe to our newsletter, which we use to inform you about our current interesting offers. We use the so-called double opt-in procedure to register for our newsletter. After your registration you will receive a confirmation e-mail to your specified e-mail address. You will be asked again to confirm your subscription to the newsletter. If confirmation is not received within 48 hours, your information will be blocked and automatically deleted after one month.

In addition, we store the IP addresses you use and the times of registration and confirmation. The purpose of the procedure is to verify your registration and, if necessary, to be able to clarify any possible misuse of your personal data. The only mandatory information for sending the newsletter is your e-mail address. The provision of further, separately marked data, e.g. name, is voluntary and is used to be able to address you personally. After your confirmation, we will save your e-mail address for the purpose of sending you the newsletter.

The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1a GDPR.

You can revoke your consent to the sending of the newsletter at any time and unsubscribe from the newsletter. You can declare your revocation by clicking on the link provided in every newsletter e-mail.

The legal basis for this is your express consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR.

Evaluation of user behavior

Your user behavior is evaluated when the newsletter is sent. The e-mails sent contain so-called web beacons or tracking pixels, which are one-pixel image files that are stored on our website. For the evaluations, we link the data mentioned under “Collection of personal data when visiting our website” and the web beacons with your e-mail address and an individual ID.

Links received in the newsletter also contain this ID. The data is collected exclusively in pseudonymized form, i.e. the IDs are not linked to your other personal data, and a direct reference to your person is excluded. You can object to this tracking at any time by sending an e-mail to info@columbus.ch. The information is only stored for as long as you have subscribed to the newsletter. After unsubscribing, we store the data purely statistically and anonymously. Such tracking is also not possible if you have deactivated the display of images in your e-mail program by default. In this case, the newsletter will not be displayed in full and you may not be able to use all functions.

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. This is used to analyze the surfing behavior of users, which helps us to improve our offer for you and to make our website more interesting.

Google Analytics uses cookies (see above for details), which are stored on your computer and enable your use of the website to be analyzed. The information obtained about your use of this website is usually stored on a Google server in the USA. However, if IP anonymization is activated on this website, your IP address will be shortened by Google beforehand within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services relating to website activity and internet usage to the website operator.

The IP address transmitted from your browser by Google Analytics in this context will not be merged with other Google data. You can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and only allow cookies in individual cases, exclude the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or in general and activate the automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. If cookies are deactivated, the functionality of this website may be restricted.

You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie 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 address: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

This website uses Google Analytics with the extension _anonymizeIp(). As a result, IP addresses are further processed in abbreviated form, so that they cannot be linked to a specific person. Insofar as the data collected about you has a personal reference, this is therefore immediately excluded and the personal data is therefore immediately deleted.

We have concluded a contract with Google for commissioned data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

The legal basis for the use of Google Analytics is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1f GDPR.

Information from the third-party provider:
Google Dublin, Google Ireland Ltd, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, Fax: +353 (1) 436 1001.
User conditions: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html,
Overview of data protection: http://www.google.com/intl/de/analytics/learn/privacy.html, as well as the privacy policy: http://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.
Google has submitted to the EU-US Privacy Shield, https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.

Cross-device analysis
This website also uses Google Analytics for a cross-device analysis of visitor flows. The analysis is carried out via a user ID. You can deactivate cross-device analysis in your customer account under: My data, personal data to deactivate the cross-device analysis of your usage.

Google Maps

On this website we use Google Maps to show you interactive maps directly on the website. By visiting the website, Google receives the information that you have accessed the corresponding subpage of our website. Additional data is also transmitted. This takes place regardless of whether you have a Google user account and are logged in or whether no user account exists. If you have an account and are logged in, your data will be assigned directly to your account. You can prevent this by logging out before activating the button. Google stores your data as usage profiles and uses them for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or the needs-based design of its website. Such an evaluation is carried out in particular (even for users who are not logged in) to provide needs-based advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. The data is transmitted to a server in the USA. You have the right to object to this, which you must address to Google.

The legal basis for the use of Google Maps is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR the legitimate interest. The integration of Google Maps makes it easier to find our company and makes our website more interesting for you.

Further information about the provider:
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
Rights and settings options: http://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.
Google has submitted to the EU-US Privacy Shield: https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework