Privacy Notice

1. What is this Privacy Notice about?

Swissgrid Ltd (also «we», «us») ensures non-discriminatory, reliable and efficient operation of the transmission system and determines cross-border transfer capacities in coordination with the grid operators of neighbouring countries. We collect and process personal data that concerns you and also other individuals («third parties»). We use the word «data» here interchangeably with «personal data».

«Personal data» means data relating to identified or identifiable individuals, which means that the relevant data, in combination with additional data, make it possible to draw conclusions about the identity of these individuals. «Sensitive personal data» is a subset of personal data that is specially protected under the applicable data protection law. This includes, for example, data revealing racial or ethnic origin, health data, religious or philosophical beliefs, biometric data for identification purposes, and information relating to trade union membership. In Section 3, you will find information about the data we process in accordance with this Privacy Notice. «Processing» means any operation that is performed on personal data, such as collection, storage, use, alteration, disclosure and erasure.

In this Privacy Notice, we describe what we do with your data when you use the Swissgrid website¹ (hereinafter the «website»), communicate with us or otherwise interact with us. In addition, we may inform you about the processing of your data separately, for example in consent forms, terms and conditions, additional privacy notices, forms and other notices.

If you disclose data to us or share data with us about other individuals, such as colleagues, etc., we assume that you are authorised to do so and that the relevant data is accurate. When you share data about others with us, you confirm that. Please make sure that such third parties are informed about this Privacy Notice.

This Privacy Notice is aligned with the requirements of the currently applicable version of the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection («FADP»).

2. Who controls the processing of your data?

Swissgrid Ltd, Bleichemattstrasse 31, 5001 Aarau («Swissgrid») is the controller for Swissgrid’s processing under this Privacy Notice.

For each processing activity there are one or several parties that are responsible for ensuring that the processing complies with data protection law. This party is called the controller. The controller is responsible, for example, for responding to access requests (Section 10) or for ensuring that personal data is processed securely and not used in an unlawful manner.

Additional parties may be joint controllers for the processing set out in this Privacy Notice if they participate in determining the purpose or means of the processing. If you wish to receive information about the controllers for a specific processing activity, you are welcome to ask us as part of your access right (Section 10). Swissgrid remains your primary contact, even if there are other joint controllers.

In Section 3, Section 6 and Section 11, you will find additional information about third parties with whom we work together and who are controllers for their processing. If you have any questions for these third parties or if you wish to exercise your rights, please contact them directly.

Your primary point of contact for data protection concerns and to exercise your rights under Section 10 is as follows:

Data Protection Advisor in accordance with Art. 10 FADP:

Swissgrid Ltd
Data Protection Advisor
Bleichemattstrasse 31
P. O. Box
5001 Aarau
Switzerland
datenschutz@swissgrid.ch

3. What data do we process?

We process various categories of data about you. The main categories of data are the following:

Technical data: When you use our website or other online offerings (for example, free Wi-Fi), we collect the IP address of your terminal device and other technical data in order to ensure the functionality and security of these offerings. This data includes logs with records of the use of our systems. We generally keep technical data from our website for 25 months. In order to ensure the functionality of these offerings, we may also assign an individual code to you or your terminal device (for example as a cookie, see Section 11). Technical data as such does not permit us to draw conclusions about your identity. However, technical data may be linked with other categories of data (and potentially with your person) in relation to user accounts, registrations, access controls or the performance of a contract.

Technical data includes the IP address and information about the operating system of your terminal device, the date, region and time of use and the type of browser that you use to access our electronic offerings. This can help us to provide an appropriate layout of the website or to show you a website customised for your region, for example. We know through which provider you access our offerings (and therefore also the region) because of the IP address, but usually this does not tell us who you are. However, this changes, for example, when you create a user account because personal data can then be linked with technical data (for example, we can know the browser you use to access an account through our website). Examples of technical data include protocols («logs») that are created in our systems (for example, the log of user logins to our website).

Registration data: Certain offerings, for example contests, login areas of our website, newsletters, free WLAN access, etc., can only be used with a user account or registration, which can be provided directly by us or through our third-party login service providers. In this regard, you must provide us with certain data, and we collect data about the use of the offering. Registration data may be required in relation to access control to certain facilities, potentially including biometric data, depending on the control system. We keep registration data for the login area of our website for six months from the date the use of the service ceases or the user account is closed.

Registration data includes the data that we may require from you before you can use certain free services, such as, for example, our WLAN service. You must also register if you wish to subscribe to our newsletter. In relation to access controls, we may need to register you with your data (access codes in badges, biometric data for identification) (see the category «other data»).

Communication data: When you are in contact with us via the contact form, by e-mail, telephone, letter or other means of communication, we collect the data exchanged between you and us, including your contact details and the metadata of the communication. If we record or listen in on telephone conversations or video conferences, for example for training and quality assurance purposes, we will tell you specifically. Such recordings may only be made and used in accordance with our internal policies. You will be informed if and when such recordings take place, for example by an indication during the video conference in question. If you do not want to be recorded, please notify us or leave the (video) conference. If you simply do not want your image to be recorded, please turn off your camera. Telephone calls with the Swissgrid Control Centre are always recorded for security and evidence purposes without you being informed separately. If we have to determine your identity, for example in relation to a request for information, a request for press access, etc., we collect data to identify you (for example, a copy of an ID document). We generally keep this data for 12 months from the last exchange between us. This period may be longer where required for evidentiary purposes, to comply with legal or contractual requirements, or for technical reasons. E-mails in personal mailboxes and written correspondence are generally kept for at least ten years.

Communication data is your name and contact details, the means, place and time of communication and usually also its content (i.e., the content of e-mails, letters, etc.). This data may also include information about third parties. For identification purposes, we may also process your ID document number or a password set by you or your press pass. For identification, the following required information must be provided for media inquiries: Name of publication, first name, surname, e-mail address and telephone number of the reporter.

Master data: With master data we mean the basic data that we need, in addition to contract data (see below), for the performance of our contractual and other business relationships, such as name and contact details, and information about, for example, your role and function. We process your master data if you are a business contact or work for one (for example, as a contact person of the business partner), or because we wish to contact you for our own purposes or for the purposes of a contractual partner (for example, with invitations to events, with newsletters, etc.). We receive master data from you (for example, as part of a registration), from parties you work for, or from third parties such as contractual partners, associations and from public sources such as public registers or the internet (websites, social media, etc.). We generally keep this data for ten years from the last exchange between us or from the end of the contract. This period may be longer if required for evidentiary purposes, to comply with legal or contractual requirements, or for technical reasons.

Master data includes data such as name, address, e-mail address, telephone number and other contact details, gender, date of birth, nationality, data about related persons, websites, photos and videos, copies of ID cards; moreover, details of your relationship with us (customer, supplier, visitor, etc.), details of our interactions with you (if applicable, a history thereof with corresponding entries).

In relation to contact persons and representatives of our suppliers and partners, master data includes, for example, name and address, information about the role or function in the company, work permit, qualifications and (where applicable) information about superiors, colleagues and subordinates, and information about interactions with these persons.

Master data is not collected comprehensively for all contacts. The data collected in an individual case depends mostly on the purpose of the processing activity.

Contract data: This means data that is collected in relation to the conclusion or performance of a contract, for example information about the contracts and the services provided or to be provided, as well as data from the period leading up to the conclusion of a contract, and information required or used for performing a contract. We generally collect this data from you, from contractual partners and from third parties involved in the performance of the contract. In individual cases, we may also collect data from third-party sources (for example, credit information providers) and from public sources. We generally keep this data for ten years from the last contract activity or from the end of the contract. This period may be longer where necessary for evidentiary purposes, to comply with legal or contractual requirements, or for technical reasons.

Contract data includes information about the conclusion of the contract, about your contracts, for example the type and date of conclusion, information from the application process and information about the relevant contract (for example, its duration) and the performance and the administration of the contracts (for example, information related to billing, technical assistance and enforcement of contractual claims).

Behavioural and preference data: Depending on our relationship with you, we try to get to know you better and to tailor our information more closely to you. For this purpose, we collect and process data about your behaviour and preferences. We do so by evaluating information about your behaviour in our domain. We collect this data by recording your behaviour. We describe how tracking works on our website in Section 11.

Behavioural data is information about certain actions, such as your response to electronic communications (for example, if and when you have opened an e-mail) or your location, as well as your interaction with our social media profile and your participation in sweepstakes, contests and similar events. For example, we may collect your location data wirelessly through unique codes that your mobile phone emits.

Preference data tell us what your needs are, which information might be of interest to you or when and how you will likely respond to messages from us. We obtain this information from the analysis of existing data, such as behavioural data, so that we can get to know you better and generally improve the information we provide.

Other data: We also collect data from you in other situations. For example, data that may relate to you (such as files, evidence, etc.) is processed in relation to administrative or judicial proceedings. We may also collect data for health protection (for example, as part of health protection concepts or in case of emergencies). We may obtain or create photos, videos and sound recordings in which you may be identifiable (for example, at events with security cameras, through drone images of the power line infrastructure and surroundings, etc.). We may also collect data about who enters certain buildings and when, or who has access rights (including in relation to access controls, based on registration data or lists of visitors, etc.), who participates in events or campaigns and who uses our infrastructure and systems and when. The retention period for this data depends on the processing purpose and is limited to what is necessary. This ranges from a few days for many security cameras to a few weeks for visitor data, which is usually kept for 28 days.

Most personal data is provided to us by you on a voluntary basis, i.e., you are not obliged or required to disclose data to us. However, we must collect and process the personal data that is necessary for the performance of a contractual relationship and the fulfilment of the obligations associated with it or that are required by law. Otherwise, we will not be able to conclude or continue the contract in question. We may also need to process data in order to fulfil our tasks as a transmission system operator.

We provide certain services to you only if you provide us with registration data, because it is a technical requirement or because we wish to communicate with you. If you or the person you represent (for example, your employer) wishes to enter into or perform a contract with us, we must collect master data, contract data and communication data from you, and we process technical data if you wish to use our website or other electronic offerings for this purpose. Similarly, we can only submit a response to a request from you if we process communication data and – if you communicate with us online – possibly also technical data. Also, the use of our website is not possible without us receiving technical data.

As far as it is not unlawful, we also collect data from public sources (for example, debt collection registers, land registers, commercial registers, the media or the internet) or receive data from public authorities and from other third parties (such as associations, contractual partners, etc.).

The categories of personal data that we receive about you from third parties include, in particular, information from public registers, information that we receive in relation to administrative and legal proceedings, information in relation to your professional functions and activities (so that we can, for example, conclude and process transactions with your employer with your assistance), information about you in correspondence and meetings with third parties, and credit information (where we conduct business with you in a personal capacity).

4. For what purposes do we process your data?

We process your data for the purposes explained below. Further information is set out in Section 11 and 12 for online services. These purposes and their objectives represent interests of us and potentially of third parties. You can find further information on the legal basis of our processing in Section 5.

We process your data to ensure the non-discriminatory, reliable and efficient operation of the transmission system. This also includes determining cross-border transfer capacities in coordination with the grid operators of neighbouring countries.

We process your data for purposes related to communication with you, in particular in relation to responding to inquiries and the exercise of your rights (Section 10) and to enable us to contact you in case of queries. For this purpose, we use in particular communication data and master data, and registration data in relation to services that you use. We keep this data to document our communication with you, for training purposes, for quality assurance and for follow-up inquiries.

The above includes all purposes in relation to which we communicate with you, whether for authentication in case the website is used, or for training and quality assurance. We further process communication data to enable us to communicate with you by e-mail and telephone, as well as through messenger services, social media and by letter. Communication with you usually takes place in relation to other processing purposes, for example so that we can respond to an access request. Our processing also serves to document the communication and its content.

We process data for the conclusion, administration and performance of contractual relationships.

We conclude various contracts with our business customers, suppliers, subcontractors and other parties, such as partners in projects or parties in legal proceedings. In particular, we process master data, contract data and communication data and, depending on the circumstances, registration data relating to the customer or the persons for whose benefit the customer has received a service.

In the run-up to a business relationship, personal data – in particular master data, contract data and communication data – is collected from potential customers or other contractual partners or results from a communication. In connection with the conclusion of a contract, we may also process data to assess creditworthiness and to start a customer relationship in individual cases. In some cases, this information is reviewed in order to comply with legal requirements.

As part of performing contractual relationships, we process data for the administration of the customer relationship, to provide and claim contractual services (which includes involving third parties, such as logistics companies, security service providers or advertising service providers). The enforcement of legal claims arising from contracts (debt collection, legal proceedings, etc.) is also part of the performance, as are accounting, termination of contracts and public communication.

We process data for marketing purposes and relationship management. This may happen in the form of newsletters and other regular contacts, through other channels for which we have contact information from you, but also as part of marketing campaigns, and may also include free services. You can object to such contacts at any time (see at the end of this Section 4) or refuse or withdraw consent to be contacted for marketing purposes.

We may also process your data for security and access control purposes.

We continuously review and improve the appropriate security of our IT and other infrastructure (for example, buildings). Like all companies, we cannot exclude data security breaches with absolute certainty, but we do our best to reduce the risks. We therefore process data, for example, for monitoring, inspection, analysis and testing of our networks and IT infrastructures, for system and error checks, for documentation purposes and in the context of backups. Access controls include electronic system access controls (for example, logging into user accounts), as well as physical access controls (for example, building access). For security purposes (to prevent and investigate incidents), we also keep access protocols and visitor lists and use surveillance systems (for example, security cameras). We will inform you about surveillance systems at the relevant locations through appropriate signage/indications. For the maintenance of our infrastructure or for security purposes, we may also take drone images in which you may be recognisable.

We process personal data to comply with laws, directives and recommendations from authorities and internal regulations («Compliance»).

We also process data for the purposes of our risk management and as part of our corporate governance, including business organisation and development.

For these purposes, we process in particular master data, contract data, registration data and technical data, but also behavioural and communication data. For example, as part of our financial management, we need to monitor our accounts receivable and accounts payable, and we need to avoid becoming victims of crime and abuse, which may require us to analyse data for relevant patterns of such activities. In the context of planning our resources and organising our operations, we may need to evaluate and process data relating to the use of our services and other offerings or share information about them with others (for example, outsourcing partners), which may also include your data. The same applies with respect to services provided to us by third parties.

We process your data in order to fulfil our duty of care, for example when contacting and providing information to emergency services (e.g. professional paramedics, hospitals, doctors, etc.) and emergency contact persons.

We may process your data for further purposes, for example as part of our internal processes and administration or for quality assurance purposes and trainings.

These further purposes include, for example, training and educational purposes, administrative purposes (such as managing master data, accounting and data archiving, and testing, managing and continuously improving IT infrastructure), protecting our rights (for example, to enforce claims in or out of court, and before authorities in Switzerland and abroad, or to defend ourselves against claims, for example by preserving evidence, conducting legal assessments and participating in court or administrative proceedings) and evaluating and improving internal processes. We may use recordings of (video) conferences for quality assurance purposes and trainings. These further purposes also include safeguarding other legitimate interests that cannot be named exhaustively.

5. On what basis do we process your data?

Where we ask for your consent for certain processing activities, we will inform you separately about the relevant processing purposes. You may withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future; see our contact details in Section 2. Where you have a user account, you may also withdraw consent or contact us also through the relevant website or other service, as applicable. Once we have received notification of your withdrawal of consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose(s) you consented to, unless we have another legal basis to do so. Withdrawal of consent does not, however, affect the lawfulness of the processing based on the consent prior to withdrawal.

Where we do not ask for consent for processing, the processing of your personal data relies on the requirement of the processing for initiating or performing a contract with you (or the entity you represent) or on our or a third-party legitimate interest in the particular processing, in particular in pursuing the purposes and objectives set out in Section 4 and in implementing related measures. Our legitimate interests also include compliance with legal regulations.

Where we receive sensitive personal data (for example, health data, data about political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, and biometric data for identification purposes), we may process your data on other legal bases, for example, in the event of a dispute, as required in relation to a potential litigation or for the enforcement or defence of legal claims. In some cases, other legal bases may apply, which we will communicate to you separately as necessary.

6. With whom do we share your data?

In relation to our services, contracts, the website, our offerings, our legal obligations or otherwise with protecting our legitimate interests and the other purposes set out in Section 4, we may disclose your personal data to third parties, in particular to the following categories of recipients:

Service providers: We work with service providers in Switzerland and abroad who process your data on our behalf or as joint controllers with us or who receive data about you from us as separate controllers (for example, IT providers, advertising service providers or login service providers).

To be able to fulfil our legal mandate efficiently and focus on our core competencies, we procure services from third parties in various areas. These include, for example, IT services. In each case, we disclose to these providers the data they require for their services, which may also concern you. In addition, we enter into contracts with these providers that include provisions to protect data, where such protection does not follow from the law. In some cases, our service providers may also process data on how their services are used and other data that is generated in the course of using their services as independent data controllers for their own legitimate interests (e.g., for statistical analysis or billing purposes). Service providers inform about their independent data processing activities in their own privacy statements.

Contractual partners: If you work for a contractual partner, we may disclose data about you to the relevant partner. These recipients also include contractual partners with whom we cooperate.

If you act as an employee for a company with which we have concluded a contract, performance of this contract may require us to tell the company, for example, how you have used our service.

Authorities: We may disclose personal data to agencies, courts and other authorities in Switzerland and abroad if we are legally obliged or entitled to make such disclosures or if it appears necessary to protect our interests. These authorities act as separate controllers.

Examples include criminal investigations, police measures (for example, health protection concepts, the fight against violence, etc.), regulatory requirements and investigations, legal proceedings, reporting obligations and pre-court and out-of-court proceedings, as well as legal obligations to provide information and to cooperate. Data may also be disclosed if we wish to obtain information from public bodies, for example in order to justify a request for information or because we need to say about whom we require information (for example, from a register).

Other persons: This means other cases where interactions with third parties follow from the purposes set out in Section 4, for example the media and associations, unions and industry organisations in which we participate, or if you are included in one of our publications, or also emergency services and emergency contacts (e.g. professional paramedics, hospitals, doctors, medical centres).

If we cooperate with the media and share materials with them (for example, photos), this may affect you depending on the circumstances. The same applies if we publish content (for example, photos, interviews, quotes, etc.), for example on our website or in our other publications. In relation to communicating with competitors, industry organisations, associations and other bodies, data may be exchanged that also affects you.

All these categories of recipients may involve third parties, so that your data may also be disclosed to them.

7. Is your personal data disclosed abroad?

As explained in Section 6, we disclose data to other parties. These are not all located in Switzerland. Your data may therefore be processed in Europe or, in exceptional cases, in any country in the world.

If a recipient is located in a country without adequate statutory data protection, we require the recipient to undertake to comply with data protection (for this purpose, we use the revised European Commission’s standard contractual clauses, which can be accessed here), unless the recipient is subject to a legally accepted set of rules to ensure data protection and unless we cannot rely on an exemption. An exemption may apply, for example, in case of legal proceedings abroad, but also in cases of overriding public interest or if the performance of a contract requires disclosure, if you have consented or if data has been made available generally by you and you have not objected to the processing.

Many countries outside of Switzerland or the EU and the EEA currently do not have laws that ensure an adequate level of data protection under the FADP. The contractual arrangements mentioned compensate for this weaker or missing legal protection to some extent. However, contractual precautions cannot eliminate all risks (namely of government access abroad). You should be aware of these remaining risks, even though they may be low in an individual case, and we take further measures (for example, pseudonymisation or anonymisation) to minimise them.

Please note that data exchanged via the internet is often routed through third countries. Your data may therefore be sent abroad even if the sender and recipient are in the same country.

8. How long do we process your data?

We process your data for as long as our processing purposes, the legal retention periods and our legitimate interests in documentation and keeping evidence require it or for as long as storage is a technical requirement. You will find further information on the respective storage and processing periods for the individual data categories in Section 3, and for cookies in Section 11. If there are no contrary legal or contractual obligations, we will delete or anonymise your data once the storage or processing period has expired as part of our usual processes.

Documentation and evidence purposes include our interest in documenting processes, interactions and other facts in view of legal claims, inconsistencies, IT and infrastructure security requirements and demonstrating good corporate governance and compliance. Retention may be a technical requirement if certain data cannot be separated from other data and we therefore need to keep it with it (for example, in case of backups or document management systems).

9. How do we protect your data?

We take appropriate security measures in order to maintain the required security of your personal data and ensure its confidentiality, integrity and availability, and to protect it against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and to mitigate the risk of loss, accidental alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access.

Technical and organisational security measures may include encryption and pseudonymisation of data, logging, access restrictions, keeping backup copies, giving instructions to our employees, entering confidentiality agreements, and monitoring. We protect your data that is sent through our website in transit by appropriate encryption. However, we can only secure areas in our control. We also require our data processors to take appropriate security measures. However, security risks can never be excluded completely; residual risks are unavoidable.

10. What are your rights?

To help you control the processing of your personal data, you have the following rights in relation to our data processing:

The right to request information from us as to whether and what data we process from you;
The right to object to the processing of your data, in particular if processing is based on a legitimate interest;
The right to have us correct data if it is inaccurate;
The right to request erasure of data;
The right to withdraw consent, where our processing is based on your consent;
The right to receive, upon request, further information that is helpful for the exercise of these rights.

If you wish to exercise the above-mentioned rights in relation to us, please contact us in writing, at our premises or, unless otherwise specified or agreed, by e-mail; you will find our contact details in Section 2. In order for us to be able to prevent misuse, we need to identify you (for example, by means of a copy of your ID card, unless identification is not possible otherwise).

You also have these rights in relation to other parties that cooperate with us as separate controllers – please contact them directly if you wish to exercise your rights in relation to their processing. You will find information on our key partners and service providers in Section 6, and additional information in Section 11.

Please note that conditions, exceptions or restrictions apply to these rights under applicable data protection law (for example, to protect third parties or trade secrets). We will inform you accordingly where applicable.

In particular, we may need to continue to process and keep your personal data in order to perform a contract with you, to protect our own legitimate interests, such as the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims, or to comply with legal obligations. To the extent legally permitted, in particular to protect the rights and freedoms of other data subjects and to safeguard legitimate interests, we may also reject a subject request in whole or in part (for example, by redacting content that concerns third parties or our trade secrets).

If you do not agree with the way we handle your rights or with our data protection practices, please let us (Section 2) know.

11. Do we use online tracking?

We use various techniques on our website that allow us and third parties engaged by us to recognise you during your use of our website, and possibly to track you across several visits. This section informs you about this.

In essence, we wish to distinguish access by you (through your system) from access by other users, so that we can ensure the functionality of the website and conduct analysis. We do not intend to determine your identity, even if that is possible where we or third parties engaged by us can identify you by combination with registration data. However, even without registration data, the technologies we use are designed in such a way that you are recognised as an individual visitor each time you access the website, for example by our server (or third-party servers ) that assign a specific identification number to you or your browser (known as a «cookie»).

Cookies are individual codes (for example, a serial number) that our server or a server of our service providers transmits to your system when you connect to our website, and that your system (browser, mobile phone) accepts and stores until the set expiration time. Your system transmits these codes to our server or the third-party server with each additional access. That way, you are recognised even if your identity is unknown.

We use these technologies on our website. You can set your browser to block certain types of cookies or alternative technologies, or to delete existing cookies. You can also add software to your browser that blocks certain third-party tracking. You can find more information on the help pages of your browser (usually with the keyword «Privacy») or on the websites of the third parties set out below.

We distinguish the following categories of «cookies» (including other technologies such as fingerprinting):

Necessary cookies: Some cookies are necessary for the functioning of the website or for certain features. For example, they ensure that you can move between pages without losing information that was entered in a form. They also ensure that you stay logged in. These cookies exist temporarily only («session cookies»). If you block them, the website may not work properly. Other cookies are necessary for the server to store options or information (which you have entered) beyond a session (i.e., a visit to the website) if you use this function (for example, language settings, consents, automatic login functionality, etc.). These cookies have an expiration date of up to 24 months.
Performance cookies: In order to optimise our website and related offers and to better adapt them to the needs of the users, we use cookies to record and analyse the use of our website, potentially beyond one session. We use third-party analytics services for this purpose. We have listed them below. Performance cookies also have an expiration date of up to 24 months. Details can be found on the websites of the third-party providers.

We currently use offers from the following service provider:

Adobe Analytics: Adobe Systems Software Ireland Limited, 6 Riverwalk, Naas Road, Dublin 24, Ireland, is the provider of the «Adobe Analytics» service. Adobe Analytics tracks how many visitors use our website. However, the behaviour of visitors to the website is not tracked and no conclusions are drawn about the identity of visitors.

12. What data do we process on our social network pages?

We may operate pages and other online presences («fan pages», «channels», «profiles», etc.) on social networks and other platforms operated by third parties and collect the data about you described in Section 3 and below. We receive this data from you and from the platforms when you interact with us through our online presence (for example, when you communicate with us, comment on our content or visit our online presence). At the same time, the platforms analyse your use of our online presences and combine this data with other data they have about you (for example, about your behaviour and preferences). They also process this data for their own purposes, in particular for marketing and market research purposes (for example, to personalise advertising) and to manage their platforms (for example, what content they show you) and, to that end, they act as separate controllers).

We receive data about you when you communicate with us through online presences or view our content on the corresponding platforms, visit our online presences or are active on them (for example, publish content, submit comments). These platforms also collect technical data, registration data, communication data, behavioural data and preference data from you or about you, among other things (see Section 3 about these terms). These platforms usually perform statistical analysis of the way you interact with us, how you use our online presences and our content or other parts of the platform (what you view, comment on, «like», forward, etc.) and combine this data with other information about you (for example, information about your age and your gender and other demographic information). In that way, they create profiles about you and statistics on the use of our online presences. They use this data and profiles to display advertisements and other personalised content to you on the platform and to manage the behaviour of the platform, but also for market and user research and to provide us and other parties with information about you and the use of our online presence.

We process this data for the purposes set out in Section 4, in particular for communication and for marketing purposes. You will find information about the applicable legal basis in Section 5. We may disseminate content published by you (such as comments on an announcement), for example on the platform or elsewhere. We or the operators of the platforms may also delete or restrict content from or about you in accordance with their terms of use (for example, inappropriate comments).

For further information on the processing of the platform operators, please refer to the privacy information of the relevant platforms. There you can also find out about the countries where they process your data, your rights of access and erasure of data and other data subject’s rights and how you can exercise them or obtain further information.

We currently use the following platforms:

Facebook, www.facebook.com/swissgridag
LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/company/swissgrid
Instagram, www.instagram.com/swissgridag
YouTube, www.youtube.com/user/swissgridag
Twitter, twitter.com/swissgridag

13. Can we update this Privacy Notice?

This Privacy Notice is not part of a contract with you. We can change this Privacy Notice at any time. The version published on this website is the current version.

Last updated: 1 September 2024

¹With the exception of the Swissgrid Recruitment Portal, which is covered by a separate Privacy Notice.