Version: June 2025
This Privacy Statement is issued in light of the Swiss Data Protection Act (DPA).
The purpose of this Privacy Statement is to describe how we collect, process and protect personal data relating to you or the following persons (collectively, the “Data Subject”):
(i) prospects
(ii) clients
(iii) individuals or entities for whom personal data is provided to us by
a prospect or the client or which comes to our knowledge in connection with the services we provide, such as an administrator, employee, trustee, family member, representative or agent (“Related Persons”).
This Privacy Statement also informs the Data Subject of their rights. These rights may also be communicated to you by other means (e.g. with forms or specific contractual clauses).
1. Data controller
The data controller is:
Borel & Barbey
PO Box 6045
1211 Geneva 6, Switzerland
dataprotection@borel-barbey.ch
2. Data processed
We process personal data (i.e. data that directly or indirectly identifies natural persons) that you or third parties provide to us as part of the contractual relationship with us and the related services (the “Assignment”), when you contact us (e.g. in a pre-contractual context or for events that we organise) or when you browse our website. The same applies to data that we collect ourselves.
When you browse our website, contact us in writing or verbally (e.g. by letter, e-mail, website or telephone) or in the performance of the Assignment, certain personal data is provided to us by you (or other persons concerned). This may include the name, contact details or information on the role of the person concerned within the company or organisation for which you (or the respective contact persons) work, or on whose behalf you (or they) contact us. Depending on the Assignment or the relationship between us, additional personal
data may be collected and processed. This may include for example, identity documents, contractual documents or deeds, information on income, assets, excerpts of criminal records and debt enforcement, family situation, bank details or state of health.
We also process personal data that we collect from our correspondence with Data Subject or third parties (in particular adverse parties, authorities, courts, their respective employees or other contact persons) as well as from public sources (such as public registers or websites).
Any data from Related Persons or other third parties that you provide to us constitutes processing of personal data for which you act as an independent data controller, assuming all the obligations and responsibilities provided for. We assume that you have the necessary authorisations for this transmission and that the data provided to us is accurate. We also assume that you have fulfilled all information obligations with regard to the persons concerned, particularly by communicating this Privacy Statement to them where the applicable law requires it.
3. Purpose of processing and recipients
With regard to the purposes for which we process personal data, these are primarily to enable us to perform the Assignment or any other relationship between us (including in a pre-contractual context or events organised by us), in particular to provide the services you have requested (such as legal services), to document them and to invoice them. We also process personal data to comply with applicable laws and regulations, as well as to be able to communicate with you or any other Data Subject.
To achieve these processing purposes, personal data is or may be transmitted to the following categories of recipients: service providers for the management of the IT system and communications networks, electronic document management service providers, cloud providers, trust company, legal service providers, adverse parties and their legal representatives, as well as the relevant authorities, courts and administrations. Depending on the nature of the services relating to the Assignment and / or on the instructions of one of the Data Subject, it may also be necessary to transmit data to recipients (particularly Related Persons, external advisers or authorities) who in turn process personal data in other countries, which may not guarantee a level of protection comparable to Swiss law. In the latter case, appropriate measures will be implemented (for example, transmissions based on consent or standard contractual clauses).
The same applies if the transfer of data is essential for the performance of the Assignment or to assert legal claims.
Finally, we may process the data of the Data Subject, their employees or Related Persons for marketing purposes (using any means of communication such as e-mail, newsletters, social media, post or telephone) in order to provide information on publications, news or legislative changes, events, new services or products that may be of interest to them. You may refuse such communications or revoke your consent to such communications at any time.
For risk management purposes (e.g. to protect against criminal activity) and to ensure the smooth operation, continuous improvement and technical optimisation of our website and electronic services (particularly newsletters, online platforms and social network profiles), we collect and analyse personal data and/or data relating to your use of our website or services. This may include, among other things, information about your preferences, interactions with our content and browsing behaviour.
Access to certain functions or services may require prior registration. If this is the case, any personal data that you provide during registration will be processed for the purposes of managing and providing the relevant service. Additional data may also be collected when you use these services.
The aforementioned purposes are based on consent and / or a legitimate interest in the processing of personal data. Some processing is also necessary for us to perform certain tasks and fulfil our pre-contractual and/or contractual obligations to you, as well as the legal and regulatory obligations to which we are subject.
4. Duration of treatment
Personal data is processed for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes of the processing, subject to a longer retention period necessary to comply with legal retention periods, to safeguard legitimate interests, such as use for documentation and evidence purposes, for as long as there is an overriding private or public interest, or for as long as claims can be asserted against us or backup is technically necessary.
If there is no legal or contractual obligation to do so, the data will be deleted or anonymised at the end of the retention period as part of our usual procedures.
5. Place of storage and data security
We take appropriate and proportionate measures to protect personal data against loss, unauthorised modification or unlawful access by third parties. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that we use external IT service providers or cloud providers with servers in Switzerland to carry out the Assignment given and the services requested. In such cases, we use certain IT services or means of communication that may involve data security risks (e.g. e-mail and video conferencing). If you would like us to take special security measures, please let us know.
6. GDPR
We assume that the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) does not apply to our Firm. However, should this exceptionally be the case for certain data processing operations, we want to point out that, in accordance with art. 6 para. 1 lit. a) to c) and f) RGPD, the processing of data is necessary for the purposes set out in Section 3, with the duration of processing specified in Section 4 above.
7. Rights of the Data Subject
Data Subjects have in particular the right to obtain information on the personal data processed about them, to find out what it is used for, to rectify it, to delete it, to restrict its processing and to object to it being processed, and to have recourse to a supervisory authority. These also have the right to the transmission or portability of their data.
If you wish to exercise your rights in relation to us, please contact us using the details provided in Section 1. To prevent any misuse, we may need to identify you (e.g. with a copy of your identity card, if necessary).
Please note, however, that these rights are subject to conditions and exceptions. To the extent permitted or required by law, certain requests may be refused. For example, we may or may have to retain personal data or continue to process it in another way for legal reasons (in particular to protect third parties or trade secrets, or because of professional secrecy), despite a request to delete or restrict data processing.
8. Cookies
The use of our website (including the newsletter and other digital offers) generates data which is stored in log files (in particular technical data). In addition, we may use cookies and similar techniques (e.g. pixel tags or browser fingerprints) to recognise visitors to the site, evaluate their behaviour and identify their preferences. A cookie is a small file, transmitted between the server and your system that enables a specific device or browser to be recognised.
You can set up your browser to automatically accept, refuse or delete cookies. You can also deactivate or delete cookies on a case-by-case basis. For information on managing cookies in your browser, refer to your browser’s help menu.
As a general rule, the technical data and cookies we collect do not contain any personal data. However, the data that we or third-party suppliers commissioned by us record about you (e.g. if you have a user account with us or these suppliers) may be associated with the technical data or information recorded in and obtained from cookies, and therefore can be possibly, linked to you.
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This declaration constitutes information on the nature, scope and purpose of the data processed by Borel & Barbey. The latter reserves the right to unilaterally modify the content of this declaration at any time and without prior notice, so you are invited to consult it regularly. Please contact the data controller if you have any questions about this declaration or about the protection of data processed by Borel & Barbey.