Privacy Policy

We are pleased that you are visiting our website, bcation.swiss, and are interested in our services. Protecting your personal data is very important to us. We treat your data confidentially and process it in accordance with applicable data protection laws and regulations.

In this Privacy Policy, we explain which personal data we collect and process, for what purposes we do so, the legal basis for such processing, and what rights you have in relation to your data. This Privacy Policy applies to visitors to our website as well as to customers, prospective customers, newsletter subscribers, and applicants.

Depending on your place of residence, different data protection laws may apply, in particular the revised Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union.

Controller

The controller responsible for data processing is bcation gmbh, Hardturmstrasse 161, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland.

If you have any questions regarding data protection, the processing of your personal data, or the exercise of your data protection rights, you can contact us at any time by email at data.protection@bcation.swiss.

Further information about our company and our services can be found on our website at www.bcation.swiss.

Processing of Personal Data

We process personal data when you use our website, contact us, or make use of our services. The data processed depends on which services and features you use.

This includes, in particular, contact and identification data such as your name, email address, and telephone number. If you book a course, place an order, or make a payment, we also process billing addresses, order information, payment status, and transaction references.

When using our educational platform, we may also process account and login information, course registrations, learning progress, examination results, and information relating to certificates issued.

In addition, we collect technical usage and log data, such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, date and time of access, and the pages you visit. If you communicate with us, we also process the contents of emails, contact forms, and appointment or coaching requests.

When you visit our website, cookies and similar technologies may also be used. These include technically necessary cookies and, where you have given your consent, analytics and statistics tools.

Purposes and Legal Bases

We process your personal data to provide, operate, secure, and continuously improve our website and services.

We also require your data to handle enquiries and bookings, deliver courses, training sessions and coaching services, and manage customer accounts and memberships. We also use your data to process orders and payments, issue invoices and certificates, and communicate with our customers.

Where you have given us your consent, we also process your data for newsletter and marketing purposes.

Processing may also be necessary to fulfil legal obligations, particularly in connection with accounting, data retention, documentation, and information requirements.

Depending on the circumstances, processing is based on your consent, the performance of a contract or pre-contractual measures, our legitimate interests, or legal obligations. Our legitimate interests include, in particular, IT security, the stability of our systems, and the ongoing development of our services.

You may withdraw any consent you have given at any time with effect for the future.

Cookies and Tracking

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to ensure the operation, security, and user-friendliness of our services.

Technically necessary cookies are used where required for the basic functionality of the website. Functional cookies may also be used to provide certain settings or convenience features.

Analytics and statistics cookies, for example in connection with Google Analytics, are only used if you have given your prior consent. They help us better understand how our website is used and improve our services.

You can adjust your cookie settings at any time via the cookie banner or through your browser settings.

Disclosure to Third Parties and International Data Transfers

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures (TOMs) to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, or manipulation. These measures are reviewed regularly and adapted where necessary to reflect the current state of technology.

We only disclose personal data to third parties where this is necessary to provide our services, where we are legally required to do so, or where another permissible legal basis applies.

Recipients may include, in particular, payment service providers, IT and hosting providers, appointment scheduling and communication services, analytics providers, as well as course instructors, lecturers, and coaches. The respective service providers are engaged in accordance with their applicable data protection roles. Where required, contractual agreements are in place to ensure an appropriate level of data protection.

We do not sell personal data.

The transfer of personal data to countries outside Switzerland or the European Union, particularly the United States, cannot be ruled out in connection with certain services we use. In such cases, we ensure that the required data protection safeguards are in place, for example through recognised standard contractual clauses or other legally permitted protective measures.

Data Retention and Statutory Retention Obligations

As a general rule, we only store personal data for as long as necessary for the respective processing purposes or as long as statutory retention obligations apply.

Special statutory retention obligations apply to accounting-related documents. Pursuant to Article 958f of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), business books, accounting records, annual reports, and audit reports covered by the law must generally be retained for ten years. The retention period begins at the end of the relevant financial year.

This applies in particular to invoices, payment records, accounting vouchers, and other accounting documents that are subject to statutory retention requirements.

These retention obligations apply regardless of whether you delete your customer account or request the anonymisation of your personal data. Documents that are legally required to be retained may not be deleted during the applicable statutory retention period.

After the statutory retention period has expired, we review whether further storage is necessary or legally permitted.

Accounting-related documents are also archived outside our platform together with the respective annual financial statements. This external archiving takes place independently of the technical storage within the bcation platform.

Other personal data is deleted or anonymised as soon as it is no longer required for the original processing purposes and provided that no statutory or other legal reasons prevent deletion.

Customer accounts are not automatically deleted solely because a statutory retention period has expired.

Courses, Coaching, and Customer Accounts

If you register for a course, lesson, or other service, we process in particular your name, contact details, and billing-related information. We require this data to process your registration, provide the agreed service, communicate with you, and issue invoices.

To deliver our educational services, selected data may be shared with course instructors, lecturers, or technical service providers such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom, insofar as this is necessary for the delivery of the respective service.

Where necessary for a particular service, a personal customer account may be created. Through this account, you can access your booked services, course information, and, where applicable, your certificates.

Your login credentials must be treated confidentially and must not be shared with third parties.

Account Deletion and Anonymisation

You have the right to request the deletion of your bcation user account. You can submit a deletion request directly through the designated function in your personal profile or by email to data.protection@bcation.swiss.

When processing such requests, we distinguish between the complete deletion of an account and the anonymisation of an account where documents that must be retained by law are still associated with it.

If no invoices, payments, or other legally relevant documents are associated with your account, and no other legal reasons prevent deletion, your user account and the associated personal data may be deleted completely.

If, however, invoices, payments, or other accounting documents subject to statutory retention requirements are associated with your account, your user account will generally be anonymised rather than all records being deleted.

During anonymisation, your name and email address are replaced with non-personal or unusable information. Other personal profile details, such as your telephone number, profile picture, biography, and personal preferences, are removed unless they are still required. Messages, notifications, shopping cart data, and login information that are no longer necessary are also deleted.

Your previous user account will be blocked, and active sessions and access tokens will be invalidated. You will no longer be able to access the account using your previous login credentials.

Invoices, payment records, and accounting documents that must be retained by law will remain stored. Anonymising your user account does not result in the deletion of these documents.

Anonymisation is carried out manually by an administrator after reviewing the deletion request. No automatic deletion or anonymisation takes place solely because statutory retention periods have expired.

Before the process is carried out, we will inform you which data will be deleted or anonymised and which documents must continue to be stored due to statutory or other legal obligations.

Invoices and Payment Records

When a purchase is made or an invoice is issued, the relevant billing information at that time, in particular your name, email address, and billing address, is stored as separate information on the respective invoice or payment record.

This ensures that invoices and payment records that have already been issued remain traceable and unchanged even if you subsequently modify or anonymise your user account.

The original billing information is not subsequently overwritten by changes to your personal user account. Documents that have already been issued retain their original information insofar as they are subject to statutory retention requirements.

Certificates and Examination Records

As part of our educational services, certificates may be issued upon successful completion of a course or examination.

Certificates that have already been issued are managed independently of your personal user account. Each certificate receives a unique certificate number that can be used to verify its authenticity and status.

If you request the deletion of your personal data, you may also request that your name be removed from certificates already issued and from the public certificate verification page.

In this case, the certificate number remains unchanged. Existing verification links and QR codes continue to work. The public verification page may continue to display the certificate status, completed examination, date of issue, and examination result. Instead of your name, a notice will appear stating that the certificate holder's name was removed at their request.

The removal of your name does not automatically invalidate or revoke certificates that have already been issued. Verification of their authenticity remains possible independently of your user account.

Certificate information required for verification and documentation is stored independently of the user account. Personal data is retained only for as long as necessary for the stated purposes and as legally permitted.

Job Applications

If you apply for a position with us or submit an unsolicited application, we process the personal data you provide exclusively for the purpose of conducting the application process.

If no employment relationship is established, your data will be deleted after an appropriate period unless a statutory retention obligation applies or you have explicitly consented to longer storage.

You may withdraw any consent given at any time with effect for the future.

Newsletter

When you subscribe to our newsletter, we process your email address and, if provided, your full name and areas of interest.

The newsletter is sent using the double opt-in procedure. Our newsletters may include technical analytics, for example regarding open rates or click rates, where this functionality is used.

You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time or withdraw your consent with effect for the future.

Services Used and Payment Service Providers

To operate our website and educational services, we use various external services. These include, in particular, hosting with DigitalOcean, web analytics with Google Analytics (GA4), payment processing via Worldline and Stripe, appointment scheduling and video conferencing via Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Zoom, as well as embedded videos from YouTube or Vimeo.

When processing payments, the data required for the respective transaction is transmitted to the payment service provider used. This may include, in particular, billing information, payment amounts, transaction references, and payment status information.

Stripe and Worldline process the transmitted data in accordance with their respective data protection roles and applicable privacy policies. Processing may also take place outside Switzerland.

Further information about data processing can be found in the privacy policies of the respective providers:

Stripe: https://stripe.com/privacy

Social Media

We maintain profiles on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

When you visit our social media profiles, data processing is primarily carried out by the respective platform operators. The privacy policies of the respective providers apply.

As a general rule, we do not process content that you publish on our social media profiles for other purposes.

Your Rights

Under the applicable data protection laws, you have, in particular, the right to request access to your personal data, to have inaccurate data corrected, and, subject to the applicable legal requirements, to request the deletion or restriction of processing.

You may also withdraw any consent you have given at any time with effect for the future. Where the statutory requirements are met, you also have the right to data portability. In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent data protection supervisory authority.

Requests concerning your personal data

If you wish to obtain information about the personal data we store about you, or request its correction, deletion, or anonymisation, you can contact us at any time by email:

data.protection@bcation.swiss

We will review your request and inform you which data can be deleted or anonymised and which data must continue to be stored due to statutory or other legal obligations.

We aim to respond to data protection requests within 30 days. If we require more time to process your request, we will inform you accordingly. Statutory deadlines and procedural requirements remain reserved.

Changes and Contact

We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Policy where necessary, particularly if our services, technical systems, or applicable legal requirements change.

The current version published on our website shall apply.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding data protection, you can contact us at any time:

bcation gmbh
Hardturmstrasse 161
8005 Zurich
Switzerland

Email: data.protection@bcation.swiss

We will make every effort to handle your request promptly and in accordance with the applicable data protection requirements.