With this Data Protection Statement Art Recognition AG with its headquarters at Soodmattenstrasse 4, 8134 Adliswil, Switzerland (hereinafter we or us), describes how we collect and process personal data.
The term “personal data” in this Data Protection Statement shall mean any information that identifies or could reasonably be used to identify any person.
If you provide us with personal data of other persons (such as family members, work colleagues), 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 such personal data is correct.
This Data Protection Statement is in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Although the GDPR is a regulation of the European Union (EU), it may be relevant for us.
1. Controller and Controller’s Representative in the EU
The Controller of data processing as described in this Data Protection Statement is Art Recognition AG. You can notify us of any data protection related concerns using the following contact details: Art Recognition AG, Soodmattenstrasse 4, 8134 Adliswil, contact@art-recognition.com
Our representative in the EU according to art. 27 GDPR is: Thomas Hartmann, Gärtnerstrasse 94C, 20253 Hamburg, Deutschland, dataprotection@art-recognition.com.
2. Collection and Processing of Personal Data
We primarily process personal data that we obtain from our clients, or business partners in the context of our business relationships with them and data that we collect from users when operating our websites.
Insofar as it is permitted to us, we obtain certain personal data also from publicly accessible sources (e.g. art loss register, debt registers, commercial registers, press, internet). Apart from data you provided to us directly, the categories of data we receive about you from publicly accessible sources and third parties include entries in public registers, information in connection with your professional role and activities (e.g., in order to conclude and carry out contracts with you or your employer or to involve you as expert regarding a certain artist), information about you in correspondence and discussions with third parties, credit rating information (if we conduct business activities with you personally), 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.
3. Purpose of Data Processing and Legal Grounds
We primarily use collected data in order to conclude and process contracts with our clients and business partners, in particular in connection with the delivery of our technical report to our clients as well as in order to comply with our domestic and foreign legal obligations.
In addition, we may process your personal data for the following purposes:
- providing and developing our products, services and websites;
- advertisement and marketing, provided that you have agreed to the use of your data for this purpose;
- asserting legal claims and defense in legal disputes and official proceedings, including debt collection proceedings for our invoices if necessary;
- ensuring our operation, including our IT;
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, provided that we require one.
4. Electronic Communications
Electronic communications (e.g. emails) and its attachments are intended only for the person(s) to whom they are addressed. They may contain proprietary, confidential, and/or privileged data. If you are not the intended recipient of a message, be aware that any use, review, retransmission, distribution, reproduction, or any action taken in reliance upon a message is strictly prohibited. If you receive messages in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers.
5. Cookies
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. Notwithstanding the foregoing, 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. If you block cookies, it is possible that certain functions (such as, e.g., language settings, ordering processes) are no longer available to you.
We use Google Analytics’s GDPR compliant service 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. The service provider does not receive your full IP address respectively identifiable personal data about you, and we ensure an adequate level of protection using a contract containing the standard contractual clauses of the EU for such processing of your personal data.
By using our websites, you agree to our use of such techniques. If you object, you must configure your browser accordingly.
In particular, you can deactivate Google Analytics on our website by setting an Opt-Out-Cookie by clicking the following link: Disable Google Analytics
6. Datatransfer 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, 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. In particular, the following categories of recipients may be concerned:
- our service providers, including processors (such as e.g. IT providers, payment providers, experts);
- domestic and foreign authorities or courts;
- other parties in possible or pending legal proceedings;
together Recipients.
Recipients are located within Switzerland and the EU, where an appropriate level of protection is in place, unless you are located outside Switzerland and the EU.
7. Retention Periods for your Personal Data
We process and retain your personal data as long as required for the performance of our contractual obligation and 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 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 are no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, they will be deleted or anonymized, to the extent possible. In general, shorter retention periods of no more than twelve months apply for operational data (e.g., system logs).
8. Data Security
We have taken appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized access and misuse such as IT and network security solutions.
9. 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).
10. Your Rights
In accordance with and as far as provided by applicable law (as is the case where the GDPR is applicable), you have the right to access, rectification and erasure of 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. We have already informed you of the possibility to withdraw consent in Section 3 above. Please further note that the exercise of these rights may be in conflict with your contractual obligations 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 contractually agreed upon.
In general, exercising these rights requires that you are able to prove your identity (e.g., by a copy of identification documents where your identity is not evident otherwise or can be verified in another way). In order to assert these rights, please contact us at the addresses provided in Section 1 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 (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch).
11. Amendments of 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 in case of an amendment.
Version: 14 November 2023