Data privacy

With this Data Protection Statement we, SchochMaierPartner, 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 means 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 if such personal data is correct.

This Data Protection Statement is in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Although the GDPR is a European Union (EU) regulation, it may be relevant for us. The Swiss data protection legislation (FADP) is heavily influenced by EU law . In addition, companies outside the European Union or the European Economic Area (EEA) must comply with the GDPR in certain cases.

The "controller" of data processing as described in this data protection statement (i.E. the responsible person) is SchochMaierPartner, unless we have informed you otherwise in certain cases. You can notify us of any data protection-related concerns using the following contact details:

SchochMaierPartner
Bogenstrasse 9
9000 St. Gallen
Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0)71 274 19 19
info@schochmaier.ch

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

Insofar as it is permitted to us, we obtain certain personal data from publicly accessible sources (e.g.,, debt registers, land registries, commercial registers, press, internet) or we may receive such information from our clients and their employees, from authorities, courts, arbitral tribunals or other third parties (such as e.g., opposing parties or business partners of our clients). Apart from data you provided to us directly, the categories of data we receive about you from third parties include, but are not limited to, information from public registers, data received in connection with administrative or court proceedings, information in connection with your professional role and activities (e.g., in order to conclude and carry out contracts with your employer), information about you in correspondence and discussions with third parties, credit rating information (if we conduct business activities with you personally), information about you given to us by individuals associated with you (family, consultants, legal representatives, etc.) in order to conclude or process contracts with you or with your involvement (e.g., references, your delivery-address, powers of attorney), information regarding legal regulations such as anti-money laundering and export restrictions, bank details, information regarding insurance, our distributors and other business partners for the purpose of ordering or delivering services to you or by you (e.g.,, payments made, previous purchases), information about you found in the media or internet (insofar as indicated in the specific case, e.g., in connection with job applications, media reviews, marketing|sales, etc.), your address and any interests and other socio-demographic data (for marketing purposes), data in connection with your use of our websites (e.g., IP address, MAC address of your smartphone or computers, information regarding your device and settings, cookies, date and time of your visits, sites and content retrieved, applications used, referring website, localization data).

We primarily use collected data in order to conclude and process contracts with our clients and business partners, in particular in connection with providing legal services to our clients and the procurement of products and services from our suppliers and subcontractors (e.g., foreign and domestic lawyers and law firms or experts), as well as in order to comply with our domestic and foreign legal obligations. You may be affected by our data processing in your capacity as an employee of such a client or business partner.

In addition, in line with applicable law and where appropriate, we may process your personal data and the 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 the processing of their requests (e.g., job applications, media inquiries);
• advertising 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);
• market and opinion research, media surveillance;
• asserting legal claims and defense in legal disputes and official proceedings;
• the prevention and investigation of criminal offences and other misconduct (e.g., conducting internal investigations, data analysis to combat fraud);
• ensuring our business operations, including our IT, our websites, apps and other appliances;
• video surveillance to protect the domiciliary rights and other measures to ensure the safety of our premises and facilities as well as protection of our employees and other individuals and assets owned by or entrusted to us (such as e.g., access controls, visitor logs, network and mail scanners, telephone recordings);
• possible corporate transactions and the transfer of personal data related thereto as well as measures for business management and compliance with legal and regulatory obligations as well as internal regulations of SchochMaierPartner.

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

Cookies and analysis and tracking tools

The SchochMaierPartner website uses cookies and analysis and tracking tools (such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads, Facebook Pixel). Cookies are text files that are stored on a computer system via an Internet browser. The purpose of the cookies is in particular to analyze the use of this website for statistical evaluation as well as for continuous improvements. Some cookies that we use are automatically deleted after you close your browser (session cookies). Other cookies are stored on your terminal device and make it possible for us to recognize your browser on your next visit (persistent cookies). By adjusting the corresponding settings on your end device, you can decide whether you are informed about the setting of cookies, decide on acceptance and rejection in individual cases or exclude it for certain cases or in general. However, if cookies are disabled, the functionality of our website may be limited. When using the analysis tools, data may be transferred to servers located in the USA and the data may subsequently be processed there. Please note that from the perspective of the European Union, there is no "adequate level of protection" for the processing of personal data in the USA that corresponds to EU standards. However, this level of protection can still be achieved for individual companies through certification under the so-called "EU-U.S. Privacy Shield".

Use of Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; hereinafter "Google"). Google Analytics uses cookies that enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. In the event that IP anonymization is activated on this website, however, your IP address will be truncated beforehand by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states to 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 SchochMaierPartner, Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage to the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics is not merged with other data from Google. You can prevent the collection of data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) to Google and 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). An opt-out cookie will be set, which prevents the future collection of your data when visiting this website.

For more information on terms of use and data protection, please visit www.google.com/analytics/terms/gb.html or https://policies.google.com/?hl=en. We would like to point out that on this website Google Analytics has been extended by the code "anonymizeIp" to ensure anonymized collection of IP addresses (so-called IP masking).

Use of Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager, an offering from Google, allows marketers to manage website tags through one interface. The Tag Manager tool itself (which implements the tags) is a cookie-less domain and does not collect any personal data. However, other tags are triggered, which in turn may collect data. Google Tag Manager does not have access to this data.

In the context of our business activities and in line with the purposes of the data processing set out in Section 3, we may transfer data to third parties, insofar as such a transfer is permitted and we deem it appropriate, in order for them to process data for us or, as the case may be, their own purposes. In particular, the following categories of recipients may be concerned:

• our service providers (such as e.g., banks, insurance companies), including processors (such as e.g., IT providers);
• suppliers, subcontractors (such as foreign and domestic lawyers and law firms or experts) and other business partners;
• clients as well as their affiliates and opposing parties in Switzerland or abroad;
• domestic and foreign authorities or courts as well as arbitral tribunals;
• the media;
• the public, including users of our websites and social media;
• competitors, industry organizations, associations, organizations and other bodies;
• opposing parties or parties interested in connection with corporate transactions;
• other parties in possible or pending legal proceedings;

(together the Recipients).

Certain Recipients may be within Switzerland but they may be located in any country worldwide. In particular, data may be transferred to countries, in which our clients, their affiliates, opposing parties or business partners are located as well as countries in which service providers (such as experts, foreign lawyers and law firms etc.) are located or where our clients and affiliate companies are involved in legal proceedings. If we transfer data to a country without adequate legal data protection, we ensure an appropriate level of protection as legally required by way of using appropriate contracts (in particular on the basis of the standard contract clauses of the European Commission) or binding corporate rules or we rely on the statutory exceptions of consent, performance of contracts, the establishment, exercise or enforcement of legal claims, overriding public interests, published personal data or because it is necessary to protect the integrity of the persons concerned. You can obtain a copy of the above-mentioned contractual guarantees at any time from the contact person named under Section 1 above. However, we reserve the right to redact copies for data protection reasons, reasons of secrecy or to produces excerpts only.

We process and retain your personal data as long as required for the performance of our contractual obligations and compliance with legal obligations or other purposes pursued with the processing, i.e. for the duration of the entire business 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 our company (i.d. particularly during legal prescription periods) 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 is no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, it will be deleted or anonymized, as far as possible. In general, shorter retention periods, of no more than twelve months, apply for operational data (e.g., system logs).

We have taken appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized access and misuse such as internal policies, training, IT and network security solutions, access controls and restrictions, encryption of data carriers and transmissions, pseudonymisation, inspections.

In the context of our business relationship, you must provide us with any personal data that is necessary for the conclusion and performance of a business 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 carry out a contract 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).

In accordance with and as far as provided by applicable law (as is the case where the GDPR is applicable), you have the right to access, rectify and erase of your personal data, the right to restriction of processing or to object to our data processing in addition to 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. If exercising certain rights incurs costs for 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 agreed upon contractually.

In general, exercising these rights requires that you are able to prove your identity (e.g., by a copy of identification documents when your identity is not evident otherwise or cannot 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 to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority of Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch).