Privacy policy

(Version September 2023)

In this privacy policy, we, ENQUIRE Attorneys at Law Ltd. (hereinafter “ENQUIRE”), explain our handling of personal data. ENQUIRE is a law firm based in Switzerland. This privacy policy sets out what data we collect about you, why we process it and to whom we pass it on, in order to ensure transparent and lawful data processing on our part. In doing so, we provide you with the information you need in order to be able to assert your rights in accordance with the applicable Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP).

This privacy policy is based on Swiss and European data protection legislation.

1. Identity and contact details of the responsible person
ENQUIRE is responsible for the processing of your personal data described below. If you have any data protection concerns, you can contact us at the following address:

ENQUIRE Attorneys at Law Ltd.
Beethovenstrasse 24
8002 Zurich
info@enquire.ch

2. Processing personal data
We primarily process personal data that we receive from our clients and other persons involved (e.g., authorities, offices) within the scope of our contractual relationship with them or that we obtain from publicly accessible sources (e.g. public registers, internet, press, social media platforms). In addition, we process personal data that we receive from employees, job applicants, (potential) business partners/suppliers.

When processing your data, we observe the principles of applicable data protection laws and process all data in accordance with these principles.

3. Purposes of data processing
We use the personal data we collect primarily to conclude and process our contracts with our customers and business partners, in particular in the context of providing our services.

In addition, we also process personal data from you and other persons for the following purposes:
• Processing contact requests (e.g., from potential customers, business partners, suppliers or applicants)
• Initiation and execution of contracts (e.g., with customers, business partners, suppliers, applicants and employees)
• Provision, documentation and invoicing of our services
• Communication with clients, authorities, opposing lawyers and third parties
• Provision of our digital products
• Assertion of or defence against claims in connection with legal disputes and regulatory proceedings
• Safeguarding other legitimate interests, including the prevention and investigation of criminal offences and other misconduct
• Compliance with legal or regulatory requirements including professional rules of conduct
• Ensuring our business operations.

4. Automated individual decisions
We do not carry out automated individual decisions, i.e., decisions that are based exclusively on automated processing (without human influence) which have legal consequences for you (e.g. refusal to conclude a contract) or affect you in some other way.

5. Cookies
We only use cookies (codes temporarily stored in your browser) on our website which are technically necessary in order to ensure a functional browsing experience on our website. These so-called
session cookies will be deleted once you leave our website. The configuration of your browser can be set at any time in such a way that cookies are blocked or deleted prematurely. If you block cookies, it may not be possible to use certain functionalities on our website. Please also note that if you click on the link of a third-party offer, we are not responsible for the further processing of your data and you must revert to the third-party provider in question.

6. Use of the website
During the provision and use of the website, neither personal data on the user is processed, nor is the use of the website analysed.

Our webserver automatically logs every visit to our website in a temporary log file. User-specific data (e.g., browser information, IP) as well as technical data (e.g. name and URL of the referring
website) are logged for the purpose of establishing the connection and optimising your website visit, whereby to a limited extent “cookies” are used on our part (see section 5 above).

7. Recipients of personal data
We do not disclose any personal data without the consent of the persons concerned, unless this is done in connection with the processing of a mandate or is required for the purposes described in section 3 above. In the context of processing a mandate, information may namely be disclosed to authorities, counterparties, correspondent lawyers, legal protection insurers and other professionals or experts.

In addition, we may forward personal data to contractual data processors, in particular to IT service providers and other vendors who provide IT applications, support and other services on our behalf for the purposes listed in section 3 above.

8. Disclosure abroad
The recipients of personal data described in section 7 above are generally located in Switzerland or in the EU or EEA area but may in principle be located anywhere in the world.

If we transfer personal data to a recipient in a country without adequate legal data protection, we ensure adequate data protection through appropriate measures (e.g. contracts with standard data protection clauses, anonymisation etc.) or rely on statutory exceptions (consent; contract execution; establishment, exercise or enforcement of legal claims; overriding public interests; published personal data or necessity of disclosure to protect your integrity).

9. Retention period
We process your personal data as long as required to fulfill our contractual and/or statutory obligations or the purposes pursued with the processing, e.g., for the duration of the entire contractual or employment relationship from the initiation, processing to the termination or longer in accordance with any statutory retention and documentation obligations.

In this context it is possible that personal data will be retained for the time during which claims can be asserted against us and as long as we are obliged to do so by law and regulation (in particular due to anti money laundering requirements) or our legitimate business interests require this (e.g., for evidence or documentation purposes). As soon as a retention is no longer required by law or the purposes mentioned, your data will be deleted or anonymised.

10. Data security
We take reasonable security measures to maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your personal data, to protect it against unauthorised or unlawful processing and the risks of loss, accidental alteration or disclosure or unauthorised access.

11. Rights of the data subjects
Within the framework of Swiss and European data protection legislation, you have the right to information, correction, deletion, the right to restrict data processing and otherwise to object to our data processing as well as to the release of certain personal data for the purpose of a transfer to another person/entity.

You also have the right to seek redress from a competent supervisory authority, which may be subject to conditions and exceptions. To the extent permitted or required by law, we may refuse requests to exercise these rights. It is possible that we may or must retain or otherwise process personal data for legal reasons despite requests to delete or restrict processing of such personal data.

In cases where you have given your consent to the processing of your personal data, you may revoke your consent with future effect at any time by writing to the contact person specified in section 1 above.

The exercise of your rights requires proof of identity. To exercise your rights, you can contact us at the address given in section 1 above.

You have the right to enforce your claims in court or to seek support from the competent authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (https://www.edoeb.admin.ch).

12. Changes
We may amend this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. The current version published on our website shall apply.