Data Protection Statement of DocNet

Version effective as of 31.07.2026

With this Data Protection Statement we, DocNet (hereinafter DocNet, we or us), describe how we collect and further process personal data. This Data Protection Statement is not necessarily a comprehensive description of our data processing. It is possible that other data protection statements are applicable to specific circumstances.

The term “personal data” in this Data Protection Statement shall mean any information that identifies or could reasonably be used to identify any person.

If you provide us with personal data of other persons (such as family members, work colleagues), please make sure the respective persons are aware of this Data Protection Statement and only provide us with their data if you are allowed to do so and such personal data is correct.

This Data Protection Statement is aligned with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection of 25 September 2020 («FADP», in force since 1 September 2023) and, where applicable in the individual case, the EU General Data Protection Regulation («GDPR»). However, the application of these laws depends on each individual case.

  1. Controller

The “controller” of data processing as described in this data protection statement (i.e. the responsible person) is the association Verein DocNet (Dufourstrasse 50, 9000 St. Gallen), represented by its board. DocNet has not appointed a data protection officer or advisor (Art. 10 FADP) and has not designated an EU representative (Art. 27 GDPR). You can notify us of any data protection related concerns using the following contact details: Verein DocNet, Dufourstrasse 50, 9000 St. Gallen; board@docnet-hsg.ch.

  1. Collection and Processing of Personal Data

We primarily process personal data that we obtain from our members and other business partners as well as other individuals in the context of our membership relationship with them or that we collect from users when operating our websites, and other applications.

Apart from data you provided to us directly (e.g. during membership registration, registration for one of our events or with the submission of an online form), the categories of data we receive about you from third parties include, but are not limited to, information about you found in the media or internet (insofar as indicated in the specific case, e.g. in connection with media reviews, marketing/sales, etc.), data in connection with your use of our websites (e.g., IP address, information regarding your device and settings, cookies, date and time of your visit, sites and content retrieved, applications used, referring website, localization data).

  1. Purpose of Data Processing and Legal Grounds

The personal data collected by DocNet is directly related to the purpose of the association and the associated tasks. Both are stipulated in DocNet’s statutes. We only process personal data that is necessary for the information and support of members, the functionalities of the website and as a registry of membership in the association.

We collect and generate information when you sign up for a DocNet membership and/or subscribe to the newsletter or events. This includes personal data (name, address, telephone, email, other information about you), whereby the data marked as mandatory during registration is required in order to provide the requested services.

In addition, in line with applicable law and where appropriate, we may process your personal data and personal data of third parties for the following purposes, which are in our (or, as the case may be, any third parties’) legitimate interest, such as:

– providing and developing our products, services and websites, apps and other platforms, on which we are active;

– communication with third parties and processing of their requests;

– organizing and conducting events (see Section 4 for details);

– advertisement and marketing (including organizing events), provided that you have not objected to the use of your data for this purpose (if you are part of our customer base and you receive our advertisement, you may object at any time and we will place you on a blacklist against further advertising mailings);

– asserting legal claims and defense in legal disputes and official proceedings;

– prevention and investigation of criminal offences and other misconduct (e.g. conducting internal investigations, data analysis to combat fraud);

– ensuring our operation, including our IT, our websites, apps and other appliances.

If you have given us your consent to process your personal data for certain purposes (for example when registering to receive newsletters), we will process your personal data within the scope of and based on this consent, unless we have another legal basis, provided that we require one. Consent given can be withdrawn at any time, but this does not affect data processed prior to withdrawal.

  1. DocNet-Events

When you register for one of our events, we process the personal data provided in the registration (e.g., name, e-mail address) for the purpose of organizing and conducting the respective event.

Participant list: We may share your name with the other participants of the same event, for example in the form of a participant list. Your e-mail address and other contact details are not disclosed to other participants. You may ask us at any time (e.g., upon registration) not to be included in the participant list.

Partner events: Certain events are organized together with an event partner (e.g., a corporate partner). In the case of such partner events, we may disclose your name to the respective event partner for the purpose of organizing and conducting the event; your e-mail address and other contact details are not disclosed by us to the event partner. The respective event partner is identified in the event announcement or in the registration form. To the extent the event partner processes personal data for its own purposes, it does so as a separate controller under its own data protection statement.

Photographs and video recordings: At our events, photographs and video recordings may be made in the form of overview and atmosphere shots of the event, in which individual persons are not the focus of the recording. Recordings in which individual persons are the focus (e.g., portrait shots) are used for marketing purposes only with the consent of the persons concerned. We may use such recordings for our public relations and marketing purposes (e.g., on our website, in our newsletter and on our social media channels). In the case of partner events, such recordings may also be shared with the respective event partner for its event-related communications. If you do not wish to appear in recordings, you may inform us or the photographer on site at any time; you may further request at any time that recordings in which you are identifiable are not used or are removed (see Section 10). Where recordings have been shared with an event partner, we will forward such removal requests to the event partner.

Dietary information: If you voluntarily provide us with dietary requirements or allergy information when registering for an event, we process this information exclusively for the organization of the respective event and disclose it to the service providers involved (e.g., caterers) only to the extent necessary. As such information may reveal sensitive personal data (e.g., data concerning health or religious beliefs), by providing it you expressly consent to this processing and disclosure.

  1. Cookies / Tracking and Other Techniques Regarding the Use of our Website

We typically use “cookies” and similar techniques on our website, which allow for an identification of your browser or device. A cookie is a small text file that is sent to your computer and automatically saved by the web browser on your computer or mobile device, when you visit our website. If you revisit our website, we may recognize you, even if we do not know your identity. Besides cookies that are only used during a session and deleted after your visit of the website (“session cookies”), we may use cookies in order to save user configurations and other information for a certain time period (e.g., two years) (“permanent cookies”). Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may configure your browser settings in a way that it rejects cookies, only saves them for one session or deletes them prematurely. Most browsers are preset to accept cookies. We use permanent cookies for the purpose of saving user configuration (e.g., automated log in). Certain cookies are sent to you from us, others from business partners with which we collaborate. If you block cookies, it is possible that certain functions (such as, e.g., language settings, shopping basket, ordering processes or log-in status) are no longer available to you.

In accordance with applicable law, we may include visible and invisible image files in our newsletters and other marketing e-mails. If such image files are retrieved from our servers, we can determine whether and when you have opened the e-mail, so that we can measure and better understand how you use our offers and customize them. You may disable this in your e-mail program, which will usually be a default setting.

Where and insofar as required by applicable law, we use cookies and similar techniques that are not strictly necessary only with your prior consent (e.g., via a consent banner on our website). You may withdraw your consent or object to these techniques at any time, in particular by configuring your browser or e-mail program accordingly.

We may use Google Analytics or similar services on our website. These are services provided by third parties, which may be located in any country worldwide (in the case of Google Analytics Google Ireland Ltd. (located in Ireland), Google Ireland relies on Google LLC (located in the United States) as its sub-processor (both «Google»), www.google.com) and which allow us to measure and evaluate the use of our website (on an anonymized basis). For this purpose, permanent cookies are used, which are set by the service provider. We have configured the service so that the IP addresses of visitors are truncated by Google in Europe before forwarding them to the United States and then cannot be traced back. We have turned off the «Data sharing» option and the «Signals» option. It cannot be excluded that Google may be able to draw conclusions about the identity of visitors based on the data collected, create personal profiles and link this data with the Google accounts of these individuals for its own purposes. If you have registered with the service provider, the service provider will also know your identity. In this case, the processing of your personal data by the service provider will be conducted in accordance with its data protection regulations. The service provider only provides us with data on the use of the respective website (but not any personal information of you). Google LLC is certified under the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (see Section 6).

  1. Data Transfer and Transfer of Data Abroad

DocNet can have personal data processed by third parties commissioned by it or processed jointly with third parties and with the help of third parties or transmitted to third parties (e.g. service providers such as printing companies, IT support, newsletter providers; in the case of partner events, also the respective event partner, see Section 4). We select our partners and processors carefully and only when there are sufficient guarantees that they have appropriate technical and organizational measures in place in accordance with legal requirements. These third parties are contractually obliged to protect personal data and, where they act as processors, to process it only on our instructions and in accordance with applicable data protection law (Art. 9 FADP). We do not sell, rent or publish addresses without the express consent of the data subjects. The disclosure of participant names in connection with events is limited to the scope described in Section 4. DocNet contracts with third parties to regulate cooperation and compliance with data protection law.

Recipients of personal data may be located in Switzerland or abroad, in particular in the EU/EEA and the United States (e.g., Google, see Section 5). If we disclose personal data to a country that does not ensure an adequate level of data protection from a Swiss perspective, we rely on appropriate safeguards within the meaning of Art. 16 para. 2 FADP, in particular the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission as recognized in Switzerland, or on an exception pursuant to Art. 17 FADP (e.g., your consent, the performance of a contract with you, or the establishment, exercise or enforcement of legal claims). Disclosures to U.S. companies certified under the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework are deemed to be made to a country with an adequate level of data protection; Google LLC is certified under this framework.

  1. Retention Periods for your Personal Data

We process and retain your personal data as long as required for the performance of our contractual obligation and compliance with legal obligations or other purposes pursued with the processing, i.e. for the duration of the entire membership relationship (from the initiation, during the performance of the contract until it is terminated) as well as beyond this duration in accordance with legal retention and documentation obligations. Personal data may be retained for the period during which claims can be asserted against the association or insofar as we are otherwise legally obliged to do so or if legitimate business interests require further retention (e.g., for evidence and documentation purposes). As soon as your personal data are no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, they will be deleted or anonymized, to the extent possible. In general, shorter retention periods of no more than twelve months apply for operational data (e.g., system logs).

  1. Data Security

We have taken appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized access and misuse such as encryption of data carriers.

  1. Obligation to Provide Personal Data To Us

In the context of our business and membership relationship you must provide us with any personal data that is necessary for the conclusion and performance of this relationship and the performance of our contractual obligations (as a rule, there is no statutory requirement to provide us with data). Without this information, we will usually not be able to enter into or perform the membership or contractual relationship with you (or the entity or person you represent). In addition, the website cannot be used unless certain information is disclosed to enable data traffic (e.g. IP address).

  1. Your Rights

In accordance with and as far as provided by applicable law  – including the FADP (in particular Art. 25 on access, Art. 32 on rectification and Art. 28 on data portability) and, where applicable, the GDPR –, you have the right to access, rectification and erasure of your personal data, the right to restriction of processing or to object to our data processing, in particular for direct marketing purposes, for profiling carried out for direct marketing purposes and for other legitimate interests in processing in addition to the right to receive certain personal data for transfer to another controller (data portability). Please note, however, that we reserve the right to enforce statutory restrictions on our part, for example if we are obliged to retain or process certain data, have an overriding interest (insofar as we may invoke such interests) or need the data for asserting claims. Requests for access under Art. 25 FADP are in principle free of charge and will be answered within 30 days. If exercising certain rights will incur costs on you, we will notify you thereof in advance. We have already informed you of the possibility to withdraw consent in Section 3 above. Please further note that the exercise of these rights may be in conflict with your contractual obligations and this may result in consequences such as premature contract termination or involve costs. If this is the case, we will inform you in advance unless it has already been contractually agreed upon.

In general, exercising these rights requires that you are able to prove your identity (e.g., by a copy of identification documents where your identity is not evident otherwise or can be verified in another way). In order to assert these rights, please contact us at the addresses provided in Section 1 above.

In addition, every data subject has the right to enforce his/her rights in court or, where the GDPR applies, to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority. In Switzerland, violations of data protection law may be reported to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch).

  1. Amendments of this Data Protection Statement

We may amend this Data Protection Statement from time to time. The current version published on our website shall apply. In the event of material changes, we will inform you in an appropriate manner (e.g., by a notice via our newsletter or by e-mail).