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Privacy Policies
General information on data processing
Legal basis
This privacy statement explains how we collect and process personal data. This privacy statement is designed to meet the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), the Swiss Data Protection Act ("DPA") and the revised Swiss Data Protection Act ("revDSG"). However, whether and to what extent these laws apply depends on the individual case.
If we obtain the consent of the data subject for processing operations of personal data, the legal basis is Art. 4 para. 5 DSG, Art. 13 para. 1 DSG and, if applicable, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO.
Person responsible
Responsible for data processing is Chair of Management of Renewable Energies, Institute for Economy and the Environment (IWÖ-HSG), University of St.Gallen, Müller-Friedberg-Str. 6/8, CH-9000 St.Gallen. If you have any data protection concerns, you can send them to us at the following contact address energieforum(at)unisg.ch.
Description and scope of data processing
Collection and processing of personal data
We primarily process the personal data that we receive from our customers and other business partners in the course of our business relationship with them and other persons involved in it, or that we collect from their users when operating our websites, apps and other applications.
Your personal data will only be stored for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed or until the expiry of any guarantee, warranty, limitation and statutory retention periods.
It may be necessary to pass on your personal data to contractual partners, suppliers, insurance companies or legal representatives in order to process enquiries you have made or services you have commissioned.
Data security
Within the website visit, we use the widespread SSL/TLS procedure in connection with the highest encryption level supported by your browser.
In addition, we use other appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against unauthorised access by third parties.
Provision of the website
Each time our website is accessed, our system automatically collects data and information from the computer system of the accessing computer.
The following data is collected: Information on the browser type and version used, the operating system used, the internet service provider, the IP address, date and time of access, internet pages via which our site is accessed.
We store this information (log files) for a maximum period of 24 hours. This information is stored for data security reasons in order to ensure the stability and operational reliability of our system.
Cookies
We use cookies on our website to make our offer user-friendly. Cookies are small files that are automatically created by your browser and stored on your end device (laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.) when you visit our site. The cookies remain stored until you delete them. This allows us to recognise your browser the next time you visit.
If you do not wish this, you can set up your browser so that it informs you about the setting of cookies and you allow them in individual cases. However, we would like to point out that deactivating cookies will mean that you will not be able to use all the functions of our website.
Contact form
If you fill in a contact form or send us an e-mail or other electronic message, your details will only be stored for the purpose of processing the enquiry and any further questions that may arise in connection with it, and will only be used in the context of the enquiry.
When you contact us, you consent to the processing of the data you have entered (Art. 4 para. 5 DSG, Art. 13 para. 1 DSG and, if applicable, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). If this involves special categories of data pursuant to Art. 3 lit. c DSG or Art. 9 para. 1 DSGVO, you also consent to the processing of this data (Art. 4 para. 5 DSG or Art. 9 para. 2 lit. a DSGVO). In addition, we process the data on the basis of Art. 13 para. 1 DSG, Art. 13 para. 2 DSG and Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO to protect our legitimate interests in the provision, quality assurance and process optimisation of our service. The legal basis for processing your request is Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b DSGVO.
Your details will be stored by us for future enquiries.
Newsletter
If you register for our newsletter, we will immediately send an e-mail containing a hyperlink to the e-mail address you provided. By clicking on this link, you confirm your newsletter registration (double opt-in procedure). If this registration confirmation is not received within 48 hours, we will delete the e-mail address from our temporary list and registration will not have taken place.
If you confirm the newsletter registration, you give your consent to the storage of your e-mail address including the date of registration, IP address and the list name of the desired newsletter. We use your e-mail address and the personal data collected at the same time, such as title, surname, first name, address, etc., only for the administration and sending of the newsletter you have requested.
We also include visible and invisible image elements in our newsletters and other marketing emails in part and to the extent permitted, by retrieving which we can determine whether and when you have opened the email so that we can also measure and better understand how you use our offers and tailor them to you. Storage may also be with a newsletter provider.
Each newsletter contains a note on how you can unsubscribe from the newsletter.
Login area
Based on your registration, we process the data collected from you to manage your access. We store the data permanently so that the protected area is available to you.
File downloads
We do not require any personal information from you in order for you to download files from our website.
External links
This website contains links to third-party websites (external links). These websites are subject to the liability of the respective operators. We have no influence whatsoever on the design and content of the linked sites.
On our websites we use several services of Google, Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA ("Google"). General information on data protection at Google can be found at https://policies.google.com/privacy .
Google Analytics
On our websites, we use the web analysis service Google Analytics from Google. Google Analytics uses cookies, which are stored on your computer and allow an analysis of the website usage. The information generated by the cookie about the use of the website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.
In addition, we may use "Google Signals" within Google Analytics. By using "Google Signals", we are able to carry out the above-described analysis of website usage across devices. This is so-called cross-device tracking. Google collects user data (demographic characteristics of Google Account users) as soon as they agree to personalised advertising. We as the site operator will then receive the anonymised data collected by Google in a GA4 report, provided we have activated Google Signals.
Google will use this information on our behalf for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services to website operators relating to website activity and internet usage.
You can prevent the collection of the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the online offer to Google as well as the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. For more information on terms of use and data protection, please visit https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/de/ or https://policies.google.com/.
Google Web Fonts
Our websites use so-called web fonts (https://fonts.google.com/) to display the font. To do this, your browser loads the required web font into your browser cache when you call up our site. This is necessary so that your browser can also display a visually improved representation of our texts. If your browser does not support this function, a standard font will be used by your computer for display. Further information on Google Web Fonts can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?hl=de-DE&csw=1.
Google Maps
We use the Google Maps API service on our microsites. Our websites use Google Maps to display map information. When using Google Maps, Google also processes and uses data about the use of the Maps functions. By integrating the service on our site, at least the following data is transmitted to Google: IP address, time of the visit to the website, screen resolution of the visitor, URL of the website (referrer), the identifier of the browser (user agent) and search terms. The data transfer takes place irrespective of whether you have a user account with Google via which you are logged in or whether you do not have a user account. If you are logged in, this data is directly assigned to your account. If you do not wish the data to be assigned to your profile, you must log out before activating the button and delete any cookies that have been set. Google stores this data as a usage profile and uses it for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or tailoring its website to your needs. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles; to exercise this right, you must contact Google.
YouTube videos
We have integrated YouTube videos on our website, which are stored on "www.youtube.com" and can be played directly from our website. These are integrated in the so-called "extended data protection mode" (see https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/171780?hl=de). By calling up the plugin, YouTube cookies may be stored on your computer and at least the following data may be transmitted to Google as YouTube operator: IP address and cookie ID, the specific address of the page called up from us, language setting of the browser, system date and time of the call-up as well as identifier of your browser. The data transfer takes place irrespective of whether you have a user account with Google via which you are logged in or whether you do not have a user account. If you are logged in, this data is directly assigned to your account. YouTube or Google stores this data as a user profile and uses it for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or designing its website to meet user needs. Such an evaluation is carried out in particular (also for users who are not logged in) to provide needs-based advertising and to inform other users about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles, and to exercise this right you must contact Google as the operator of YouTube.
If you do not want YouTube to be able to associate your visit to our website, you can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account and deleting any cookies that have been set. You can find further information on the handling of user data in YouTube's privacy policy: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy
This site uses social plugins from the Twitter social network, which is operated by Twitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07, Ireland ("Twitter"). You can recognise the Twitter plugin by the bird symbol. The content of the plugin is transmitted by Twitter directly to your browser and integrated into the website by it. By integrating the plugin, Twitter receives the information that you have accessed the corresponding website of our internet presence. If you are logged in to Twitter at the time you use one of the plugins, Twitter can assign the visit to your account. If you interact with the plugins, for example by clicking a "tweet" button, the corresponding information is transmitted directly from your browser to Twitter and stored there. If you are not a member of Twitter or have logged out of Twitter before visiting our website, it is still possible that Twitter will learn and store your IP address. For the purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing and use of the data by Twitter, as well as your rights in this regard and setting options for protecting your privacy, please refer to Twitter's privacy policy: https://twitter.com/privacy.
If you are a Twitter member and do not want Twitter to collect data about you via our website and link it to your data stored on Twitter, you must log out of Twitter and delete any cookies set before visiting our website.