Introduction

The Swiss National Bank (hereinafter 'SNB') attaches great importance to the protection and security of your personal data and safeguarding your privacy. For this reason it has designed its website and processes to keep the personal data collected and processed to a minimum. 'Personal data' means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, including data about their surfing and communication behaviour on the internet.

This privacy statement provides information on how personal data collected by the SNB via this website are processed. Further information can be found in the 'General privacy statement of the SNB', which also applies to personal data collected and processed via this website.

Purpose of use and consent

The SNB uses the personal data collected mainly to:

• offer features, content and services online;
• process enquiries, as well as notifications defined by the user;
• conduct anonymous statistical analysis of usage trends to improve the SNB's online offering;
• comply with legal obligations;
• be able to assess risks;
• perform duties in the public interest.

 

Unless there is a statutory or contractual obligation to retain them, personal data are generally deleted as soon as the purpose for which they were being processed has been fulfilled and they are no longer needed.

Data collection and storage

Every time the SNB website is viewed and used, the following data in particular are saved automatically (the list is not exhaustive):

• IP address;
• webpage visited;
• access timestamp;
• resource requested;
• files downloaded;
• volume of data transmitted;
• duration of data transmission;
• country from which the page was accessed;
• search terms used;
• name and version of the browser software used.

 

These technical data are used to optimise the website and provide information on how it is used and how visitors inform themselves about the SNB.

If you provide specific information about yourself on a registration page or sign up for a notification service, these personal data are collected directly from the user. The following personal data can be collected on the basis of the information entered by users on the website (the list is not exhaustive):

• organisation;
• last name;
• first name;
• address;
• landline and mobile phone number;
• email address.

 

Personal data from email enquiries will be used in particular to answer the enquiry in question.

Information material, notifications or brochures will be sent to you after you have supplied the required information. The data will be used by the SNB in connection with processing your enquiry. You can object to the sending of information at any time.

Data that do not relate to you

If you disclose personal data to us that relate to other persons rather than to you yourself (hereinafter 'personal data of third parties'), we assume that you are entitled to do so and that the data are correct. By transmitting these personal data of third parties, you confirm that this is the case and that you have notified the third parties concerned of the information in this privacy statement. If this is not the case, you may not disclose personal data of third parties to us.

Where personal data are mentioned below, if applicable this always also includes personal data that have not been collected from the data subject.

Recipients of personal data and disclosure abroad

The terms of the 'General privacy statement of the SNB' apply. In connection with personal data collected via this website, analysis data such as IP addresses, devices used, browsers (from request header) and website activity are stored at external service providers. Personal data which become known when registering and sending SNB forms are also disclosed to external service providers for processing.

As regards cookies and other technologies when using the SNB website, the information provided by the relevant third-party providers applies. See the information below under 'Detailed information on cookies by category'. Please note that in some cases personal data may also be disclosed abroad - worldwide.

Data security

The SNB takes appropriate technical and organisational security precautions (e.g. SSL encryption of SNB websites) to protect your personal data from unauthorised access and processing as well as from misuse. When selecting and instructing external service providers, the SNB makes sure that the recipients of personal data comply with the relevant data protection requirements by taking appropriate technical and organisational measures.

Despite regular checks, however, complete protection from all the risks inherent in the internet as a universally accessible medium is not possible.

Protection of minors

People under 18 years of age should not transmit any personal data to the SNB without the consent of their parents or legal guardians. The SNB does not request personal data from children or young people. Such data are not knowingly collected and are not passed on to third parties.

Links to websites of other providers

The SNB website may contain links to websites of other providers not covered by this data protection policy. The SNB has no influence on these providers' compliance with the relevant data protection rules. In this respect, the data protection policies of the respective websites must be observed.

Cookies, analytics tools and other technologies when using the SNB website

The web servers of the service provider hosting the SNB website automatically record details of visits to the website, as described above under 'Data collection and storage'. Cookies are sometimes used to distinguish between individual users. Cookies are small files that are stored on the user's computer or mobile device to track their use of the website and navigation and to save settings (e.g. selected language). For more information on cookies, see 'Detailed information on cookies by category' below.

The SNB uses software hosted on the servers of a service provider in Switzerland for the anonymised statistical evaluation of website use. By using this software, the SNB can, among other things, collect statistical data on the frequency and time of use of individual areas of the website and use this information to further develop the website, in particular to make it useful and user friendly.

You can set and prevent the use of cookies and the collection of your data for analytical purposes. To do so, open the link below:

Of course, you also have the option to block cookies via your browser by default.

Detailed information on cookies by category

Required cookies

These cookies (e.g. for storing your IP address) cannot be rejected as they are necessary to ensure the operation of the website. These data are not evaluated further. The following cookies are used:

SNB website generally: The SNB does not use cookies to identify users. Users are identified via their IP address, which is stored on the service provider's web servers for a maximum of 14 months.

SNB website generally: Stores your cookie settings; expires after 6 months (local storage).

SNB News Alert: Ensures that you remain logged in while using the SNB News Alert (session cookie).

Analytics cookies

The SNB does not use cookies for analytical purposes (although such cookies may be used by third parties - details on this can be found below). However, data such as IP address, location, device information, browser version and site visitor behaviour are collected. These data are evaluated for the SNB's internal purposes and are kept for two years.

Third-party cookies and data processing

For more information, please refer to the privacy policy and terms and conditions of the relevant provider:

YouTube: Regarding the use of cookies and the processing of personal data that occurs when calling up pages containing embedded YouTube videos, Google's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

MovingImage: Regarding the use of cookies and the processing of personal data that occurs when calling up pages containing embedded Web TV or Research TV videos MovingImage's Cookie Policy as well as its Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions of Use apply. You will also find information about the cookies used on MovingImage's website. The SNB website uses the 'HTML5 Player (Old Player)' and the data are saved in local storage.

Akamai is also used to deliver Web TV and Research TV videos. For information on the associated data analytics, use of cookies and other technologies, please refer to Akamai's Privacy Statement.

Duration of storage of personal data

The SNB stores personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil contractual as well as national and international legal obligations, to pursue business interests, or for the purposes for which processing is used.

Personal data may be retained for as long as claims can be asserted against the SNB or insofar as the SNB is otherwise legally obliged to do so or justified business interests require it. As soon as stored personal data is no longer required, it is erased as far as possible or anonymised.

No automated decision-making

In some cases the SNB processes your personal data on an automated basis with the aim of evaluating certain personal aspects, but it does not use automated evaluation tools (profiling).

Rights of data subjects

Data subjects may request information free of charge on whether their personal data are being processed by the SNB.

In principle, data subjects have the right to object to data processing, the right to have their personal data corrected or erased, the right to restrict data processing and the right to data transferability (so-called data portability). In cases where the SNB processes personal data on the basis of consent, this consent can be revoked at any time; however, this has no effect on data processing already carried out. Incorrect data can be corrected upon request.

These rights may be restricted by legal or regulatory provisions (e.g. the SNB's reporting, archiving or retention obligations).

Changes and amendments

As new technologies are implemented and services are improved for you, changes to this data protection policy may become necessary. The SNB may at any time and without prior notice modify this data protection policy and any content on the SNB website. The SNB therefore recommends that you reread this policy from time to time.

Further information and contact

The SNB is responsible for processing your personal data as described in this data protection policy. If you have any questions about the processing of your data, you can contact the SNB at the following address:

Swiss National Bank
Data Protection Office
Börsenstrasse 15
8022 Zurich

You can contact the SNB's Data Protection Officer using the same contact details, or by email at datenschutz@snb.ch.

Date

October 2023