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Version effective as of September 2023
With this Privacy and Cookies Policy we, Earth Resource Investments AG (hereinafter ERI, we or us), describe how we collect and further process personal data. This Privacy and Cookies Policy is not necessarily a comprehensive description of our data processing. It is possible that other data protection statements (eg. Asset management or advisory agreements) are applicable to specific circumstances. The term “personal data“ in this Privacy and Cookies Policy means any information that identifies, or could reasonably be used to identify any person, particularly by using our website.
Personal data refers to all information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person (eg. Name, date of birth, address and email address).
If you provide us with personal data of other persons (such as investors, family members), 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 we are a Swiss Company the GDPR is 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. We have therefore aligned this Data Protection statement with their standard as well as the new FADP.
1. Controller (Responsible Person)
The “controller” of data processing as described in this data protection statement (i.e. the responsible person) is ERI, unless we have informed you otherwise in certain cases. You can notify us of any data protection-related concerns using the following contact details: Dorfstrasse 1 / 6300 Zug / Switzerland / Tel: +41 41 72888 48 / info@earth-investment.com.
2. Collection and Processing of Personal Data
We primarily process personal data that we obtain from our fund investors, prospectives and other business partners as well as other individuals or that we collect from users when operating our websites, apps and other applications. We use data during any offer phases or in communication with you in accordance with the applicable legal provisions. We need this data in particular to check and assess whether funds are suitable for investors and to answer any questions you may have.
In order to use our website, it is generally not necessary for you to disclose personal data. Personal data is generally processed if you place an electronic request on our website or if you subscribe to a newsletter.
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 contractual relationships and their employees, from authorities, or other third parties (such as e.g., opposing parties or business partners of our fund investors). 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, information about you in correspondence and discussions with third parties, credit rating information, 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, powers of attorney, subscription forms), information regarding legal regulations such as anti-money laundering, 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).
3. Purpose of Data Processing and Legal Grounds
We primarily use collected data in order to conclude and process contracts with our business partners, in particular in connection with providing services and the procurement of products and services from our suppliers and subcontractors (e.g., foreign and domestic 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 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:
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.
4. Cookies / Tracking and Other Techniques Regarding the Use of our Website
We typically use “cookies” and similar techniques on our websites 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 to the website (“session cookies”), we may use cookies in order to save user configurations and other information for a certain time period (e.g., three years) (“permanent cookies”). Nevertheless, 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 in order to understand how you use our services and content. If you block cookies, it is possible that certain functions (such as e.g., language settings) are no longer available to you.
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 LLC is in the U.S., 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. The service provider does not receive (and does not retain) any personal data from us, but the service provider may track your use of the website, combine this information with data from other websites you have visited and which are also tracked by the respective service provider, and may use this information for its own purposes (e.g., controlling advertisements). 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 with any personal information on you).
We use cookies and other tracking technology in our marketing communications (which helps us to appraise whether marketing e-mails have been opened, replied or forwarded and links followed, etc. We may also use a plugin for LinkedIn. If you interact with the LinkedIn platform, the relevant information will be forwarded and your visit recognized by LinkedIn.
5. Data Transfer and Transfer of Data Abroad
In the context of our business activities and in line with the purposes of the data processing set out in Section 3 (Purpose of Data Processing and Legal Grounds), 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 or for disclosing any conflicts of interest. In particular, the following categories of recipients may be concerned:
(together the Recipients).
Certain Recipients may be within Switzerland but they may be located in any country worldwide (mainly in the domicile countries of the funds or of partners). In particular, data may be transferred to countries, in which our investors, their affiliates, opposing parties or business partners are located as well as countries in which service providers (such as experts) are located or where our investors and affiliate companies are doing business. 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 (Controller (Responsible Person)) above. However, we reserve the right to redact copies for data protection reasons, reasons of secrecy or to produces excerpts only.
Your personal data will mainly be disclosed and stored in Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom (UK).
6. Retention Periods for your Personal Data
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 (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 one year, apply for operational data (e.g., system logs).
7. Data Security
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. ERI reserves the right to send emails in unencrypted form, unless you expressly prohibit this.
8. Obligation to Provide Personal Data to Us
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).
9. Your Rights
In accordance with and as far as provided by applicable law, you have the right to access, rectify and erase your personal data, the right to restriction of processing or to object to our data 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. 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 (Purpose of Data Processing and Legal Grounds) above. Please further note that the exercise of these rights may be in conflict with your contractual obligations (as eg. fund documents or agreements) 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 (identity document or passport) 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 (Controller (Responsible Person)) 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 (Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern, http://www.edoeb.admin.ch).
10. Amendments to this Data Protection Statement
We may amend this Data Protection Statement at any time without prior notice. The current version published on our website shall apply. If the Data Protection Statement is part of an agreement with you, we will notify you by e-mail or other appropriate means if there is an amendment.
