Privacy Policy

Version 5.1 of 17. January 2022

In this privacy policy, we, Vatorex AG, explain how we collect and process personal data in connection with the use of the Hive Manager App, the Hive Connector App and the Varroa Counter App (the "Apps"), the company's internal customer relationship management (the "CRM") and the website www.vatorex.com (the "Website"). 

Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual. 

If you provide us with personal data of other persons (e.g. data of family members or beekeeper colleagues), please make sure that these persons are aware of this privacy policy and that their personal data is correct. Please only share their personal data with us if you are allowed to do so.

1. Controller and contact details

Vatorex AG, Attikerstrasse 10, 8542 Wiesendangen, Switzerland, is the controller for the data processing described in this privacy policy. If you have any questions or concerns about data protection, you can contact us at

Vatorex AG
Klosterstrasse 34
8406 Winterthur
Switzerland

Email: privacy@vatorex.ch

2. Collection and processing of personal data 

We collect personal data in various ways, including in connection with your registration on the Website or in the Apps, your enquiries and when you use the Website or Apps.

In connection with the provision of the Website and Apps, we collect and process the following personal and usage data:

  • The data collected from you during registration and use of the Website or Apps, in particular first and last name, email address, date of registration, means of payment, purchases and payments made via the Apps or Website, the information entered by you in the Apps or via the Website.

  • Data collected automatically in connection with the use of the Website and Apps (e.g. operating system, settings, MAC address and other details of your smartphone, your location (if enabled), date and time of use, functions used).

  • Optional public profile information, in particular user name, telephone number, address data and social media profile addresses.

  • All entries in the Apps for locations, apiaries, colonies and the associated entries.

We use your personal data, where permitted, for the following purposes:

  • To provide you with the Apps and the Website and their features, and to communicate with you

  • Adaptations and further development of the Apps, the Website and our offers

  • Ensuring the operation of the Apps and the Website

  • Advertising and marketing, provided you have not objected to the use of your data for these purposes

  • Assertion and enforcement of legal claims, defence in connection with legal disputes and official proceedings, prevention and investigation of criminal offences and other misconduct

  • Surveys and user tests for market research purposes.

To the extent that we require a legal basis under applicable law for processing this personal data, we rely on the legal ground of contract fulfillment (for registration and use of the Apps and Website), your consent or our legitimate interest in being able to respond to incoming requests, offer, improve and develop our products and services (including our Apps and Website).

3. Cookies, analytics tools and other technologies related to the use of the Website and the Apps

Google Analytics

Google Analytics, a service of Google LLC ("Google"), is used within the framework of the Website to analyse user behaviour. Google processes the following information:

  • the mobile device from which you are visiting the Website,

  • browser type/version,

  • operating system used,

  • IP address,

  • time of the server request.

The information is used

  • to analyse the use of our Website,

  • to compile reports on Website activities and

  • to provide further services associated with the use of the Website and the Internet for the purposes of market research and tailored development of these Internet pages.

Google may also use this information in conjunction with other Google services, such as Google marketing services. Cookies, identifiers and cookie-like technologies are used to identify the user's device.

If you wish to object to interest-based advertising by Google marketing services, you can use the setting and opt-out options provided by Google at:
http://www.google.com/ads/preferences

For more information about Google's privacy policy, please visit:
https://policies.google.com/privacy

odoo.sh

Within the framework of the Website and for our CRM, odoo.sh, a service of Odoo S.A. ("Odoo"), is used. Odoo is used to store customer data, to provide our services and to analyse user behaviour. Odoo processes the following information:

  • Account and user data: Customer profiles used to process sales, support and customer enquiries. This includes contact information (name, address, email, phone number, website) and other relevant user data (including business sector and descriptive business variables such as size of apiary, number of colonies, comb types, and so on). By contacting us via telephone, event visit, contact form, email or online order, you voluntarily provide us with this information. For transactions, Odoo stores so-called "payment tokens" to trigger one-off or recurring payments through PCI/DSS-certified third-party partners (such as Paypal, Stripe, Ingenico). Odoo does not store credit card information.

  • Browser data: When visiting the Website, Odoo processes and stores the geo-location as well as language settings of the browser in order to provide the best possible user experience. In addition, the following data is stored for statistical and security purposes: IP address, time and date of the Website visit, browser settings, version and platform as well as the website that referred to our Website.

For more information about Odoo’s privacy policy, please visit:
https://www.odoo.com/privacy

Mailchimp

As part of our marketing activities, Mailchimp, a service of The Rocket Science Group LLC ("Rocket Science Group"), is used to send newsletters and to analyse user behaviour. The Rocket Science Group processes among other things the following information:

  • Email address

  • First and last name

  • IP address, language settings, browser information

  • Newsletter activity (openings, clicks, engagement)

The information will be used for the following purposes:

  • Sending our email messages and newsletters

  • Analysis of the use of our newsletter

  • Compilation of reports on our newsletter activities

  • other services associated with the use of the newsletter for the purposes of market research and tailored creation of this content.

You can unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time, i.e. revoke your consent. This will also terminate your consent to the sending of the newsletter via Rocket Science Group and the statistical analyses. It is not possible to separately cancel the sending of the newsletter via Rocket Science Group or the statistical analysis.

You will find a link to cancel the newsletter at the end of each newsletter.

The Rocket Science Group does not use the data from our newsletter list to write to our contacts itself or to pass the data on to third parties.

Further information on the Rocket Science Group's data protection can be found here:
https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/

Firebase

Firebase, a service of Google LLC ("Google"), is used within the framework of the Apps. Firebase processes the following data:

  • The data collected from you when registering and using the Apps, in particular first and last name, email address, passwords, type and date of registration, means of payment, purchases and payments made via the Apps, the information collected from you in the Apps.

  • Data automatically collected in connection with the use of the Apps (e.g. operating system, IP address, user agents, installation IDs, crash traces, settings, MAC address and other information about your smartphone, if applicable your location (if enabled), date, type and time of your use, functions used).

  • Data related to analytics functionality: Mobile Ad IDs, IDFVs / Android IDs, Firebase Installation IDs, Analytics App Instance IDs.

  • Optional public profile information, in particular user name, telephone number, address data and social media profile addresses.

  • All entries in the Apps for locations, apiaries, colonies and the associated entries.

The following Firebase functionalities are used:

  • Authentication: Used for user authentication, including login through Facebook, Google, Apple or via email address.

  • Firestore: Used to store user data.

  • Functions: Used to improve Apps functionality through backend functions.

  • Machine Learning: Used to develop intelligent algorithms based on user data. The data is analysed anonymously for this purpose.

  • Crashlytics: Used to analyse crashes.

  • Performance: Used to improve Apps functionality.

  • Analytics: Used to analyse user behaviour.

  • Predictions: Used for our own marketing purposes.

  • A/B Testing: Used to improve Apps functionality.

  • Cloud Messaging: Used to send messages.

  • In-App Messaging: Used to send messages.

  • Dynamic Links: Used to implement dynamic links and improve Apps functionality.

Google may use the information processed by Firebase together with other Google services, such as Google marketing services. Cookies, identifiers and cookie-like technologies are used to identify the user's device.

If you wish to object to interest-based advertising by Google marketing services, you can use the setting and opt-out options provided by Google at:
http://www.google.com/ads/preferences

For more information about Google's privacy policy, please visit:
https://firebase.google.com/support/privacy and https://policies.google.com/privacy

4. Disclosure of personal data to third parties and transmission abroad


We disclose personal data to third parties in the course of our business activities and for the purposes set out in sections 2 and 3, to the extent permitted by law. Such third parties are in particular the following entities: 

  • Service providers of ours, in particular the service providers pursuant to section 3 (Google, Rocket Science Group and Odoo) and other IT providers;

  • Acquirers or parties interested in acquiring business divisions, affiliates or other parts of Vatorex AG.

These recipients can be anywhere in the world. In particular, you should expect your data to be transferred to other countries in Europe and the USA, where our service providers are located. The hosting of the Apps and your data take place on Google servers in Frankfurt/Germany. The Website, CRM and your data are hosted on Odoo servers in France and/or Belgium.

We take the legally required precautions to protect personal data when it is transferred abroad. If we transfer personal data to a country without adequate legal data protection, we ensure an adequate level of protection by concluding data protection clauses with the recipients of the data, as provided for by law, or rely on the legal grounds for exceptions, such as your consent, the conclusion or performance of a contract, or the establishment, exercise or enforcement of legal claims. You can obtain further information and a copy of the contractual guarantees from the office mentioned in section 1.

5. Storage period

We will store your data for as long as it is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected (e.g. for the duration of use of the Apps from download, registration, use until deletion of the Apps and your user account) and beyond that in accordance with the statutory storage and documentation obligations or to the extent that we have a legitimate interest in storing it (e.g. for evidence purposes or for IT security). 

In the event of inactivity, we can delete Apps accounts, including the profile data provided by the user, two years after the last login.

As soon as your personal data is no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, it will be deleted or anonymised as far as possible. The personal data collected during registration is generally stored at least for the duration of the registration. 

You can irrevocably delete the data collected from you at any time by deleting your account.

For operational data (e.g. system protocols, logs), shorter retention periods of twelve months or less generally apply.

6. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational security precautions to protect your personal data from unauthorised access and misuse and from the risk of loss, accidental alteration or unauthorised disclosure.

7. Your rights

You have the right to request information about the personal data concerning you as well as its correction or deletion. The data you enter when using the Apps or Website can be viewed at any time via your user account and can be corrected and deleted by you there.

Under certain circumstances, you also have the right, within the framework of the data protection law applicable to you, to demand that we restrict the processing, to demand that we hand over the data to you, or to generally object to the processing by us. If the processing is based on your consent, you have the right to revoke this consent. Such a revocation does not affect the lawfulness of the data processing carried out until the revocation. 

To exercise such rights, please contact us at the address given in section 1. If any costs are incurred by you, we will inform you in advance.

We reserve the right to assert the restrictions provided for by law, for example, if we are obliged to retain or process certain data, require it for the assertion of claims or have another overriding interest. 

A person concerned also has the right to enforce his or her claims in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (www.edoeb.admin.ch). The competent data protection authorities of EU countries can be found here:
https://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm

8. Changes to the privacy policy

We may amend this privacy policy at any time without notice. The current privacy policy can be accessed at any time in the Apps and on the Website. As soon as a revised privacy policy is available in the Apps and on the Website, it will become binding.