Privacy Policy

1.1 Preliminary remarks

Whether you are a customer, interested person, applicant or visitor of our website: We, The Fiber Year GmbH (hereafter referred to as “Fiber Year”, “we”) care about the protection of your personal data. Personal data means any information which may lead to your identification (hereinafter “Personal Data”). This Privacy Statement explains which data we collect and how we use and protect the data collected. It also applies to any Personal Data that we process. Moreover, you will get an overview of your rights based on the applicable data protection act.

1.1 Who are we?

The Fiber Year is a textile consulting company and well-known for its annual textile yearbook of the same name that reveals latest market developments at the fibers, yarns and nonwovens industries including mainstream types of natural and manmade origin.

Being responsible for the compliance with the applicable data privacy act, we,

The Fiber Year GmbH
Vorderau 2
CH-9325 Roggwil
info@thefiberyear.com

take all measures required by the applicable data privacy act, to guarantee the privacy of your personal data.

For all questions concerning this privacy policy statement, please contact our Data Protection Officer.

The Fiber Year GmbH
Data Protection Officer
Vorderau 2
CH-9325 Roggwil

2. Scope of application of this data privacy statement

With the processing of personal data the customer refers to the collection, recording, organization, sorting, saving, adjustment or changing, analysis, use, sharing by transfer, distribution or any other form of provision, synchronization or linking, filtering, deletion or destruction of personal data.

Personal data is all information with reference to an identified or identifiable natural person.

This data privacy statement is about personal data of customers, interested persons, applicants or visitors. This data privacy statement applies to our website www.thefiberyear.com.

3. What personal data do we process?

We collect your personal data when you enter into contact with us, for example, as an interested person or customer. This can, for example, be when you are interested in our products or register for our online services, contact us through our communication channels or use our products or services as part of an existing business relation.

We process the following kinds of personal data:

  • Information for personal identification, e.g. first and last name, address, e-mail address, phone number
  • Order data, e.g. customer number, order number, invoice data
  • Company-related data, e.g. corporate name and address, department, function

3.1 Sensitive data

Diese WebSensitive data, thus special categories of personal data like information on the religious confession or membership in a trade union, is not collected in this way.

3.2 Personal data of minors

Our website is not aimed at minors and we do not knowingly collect the personal data of minors. If persons aged under 16 send us personal data this is only permitted if the parent or guardian has agreed in person or has agreed to the consent given by the minor. For this purpose Art. 8 Para. 2 DSGVO requires us to be notified of the contact data of the parent or guardian so that we can convince ourselves of their consent or approval. This data and that of the minor are then processed in accordance with the provisions of this Data Protection Statement. If we find out that someone aged under 16 has sent personal data to us without the personal approval of the parent or guardian or their consent to the minor’s action we will delete the data without delay.

3.3 Use of Cookies

Cookies are files from a website that are stored in your computer while you view a page. These files save information for a more efficient use of the page.

3.4 Use of Google-Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses so-called cookies, text files that are stored on your computer and which enable your use of the website to be analysed. The information on your use of this website generated by the cookie is normally sent to a Google server in the USA and stored there. Because of the activation of IP address anonymisation on these websites however, your IP address will be abbreviated beforehand by Google within member countries of the European Union or other signatory countries to the agreement covering the European Economic Area. The full IP address will only be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and truncated there in exceptional circumstances.

Google will utilise this information on behalf of the operator of this website to analyse your use of the website, to compile reports on the website activities and in addition to provide the website operator with services associated with the use of the website and the Internet. The IP address transmitted by your browser within the scope of Google Analytics is not combined with other Google data. You may prevent the storage of cookies by setting your browser software accordingly. We would however like to point out that in this case you may not be able to utilise the entire functionality of this website.

In addition, you can prevent the capture of the data generated by the cookie relating to your use of the website (incl. your IP address) and its transmission to Google as well as the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plugin available from the following link: Google Analytics Blocker browser add-on.

You can find more detailed information on terms of use and data protection at http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html or at https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/.

3.5 Use of YouTube

Our website uses plugins from YouTube, which is operated by Google. The operator of the pages is YouTube LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. If you visit one of our pages which feature a YouTube plugin, a connection is established to the YouTube servers. The YouTube server is then informed about which of our pages you have visited. If you are logged in to your YouTube account, YouTube allows you to associate your browsing behaviour directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account. YouTube is used in the interests of making our online presence more attractive. This represents a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR.

Further information about the handling of user data can be found in YouTube’s privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.

4. For what purposes do we process your personal data and on what legal basis?

We process your data to fulfill our contracts. This also applies to information you give us as part of correspondence exchanged prior to concluding a contract. The specific purposes of data processing depend on the relevant product and the request made and can also be used to analyze your demand and check which products and services can be right for you.

To fulfill our contractual relationship we need your name, address, phone number or e-mail address so that we can contact you.

We also need your personal data to check if and which products and services we can offer you.

If you have agreed to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes, we are authorized to process your data. You can revoke your consent at any time with respect to the future. This can be done by e-mail or mail without any cost other than base rate mailing expenses (cost of your Internet connection). The revocation does, however, not affect the rightfulness of the data processing prior to the revocation.

As a company we are subject to all sorts of legal requirements (e.g. concerning tax legislation). To comply with our legal obligations, we process your personal data.

5. Where do we transfer data to and why?

Inside Fiber Year access to your data is granted exclusively to persons who need it for the purpose of compliance with contractual or legal obligations.

We respect the protection of your personal data and share information about you only if it is required by statutory regulations, you have given your consent or if it is required for the compliance with contractual obligations.

If legally required, it can be possible that we have to transfer your personal data to the following recipients:

  • Public sector entities or controlling authorities, e.g. tax authorities, customs authorities
  • Judicial and law enforcement authorities, e.g. police, courts, prosecution
  • Lawyers or notaries, e.g. in cases of lawsuits
  • Auditors

Very important: In no event will we sell your personal data to third parties!

6. Are you obliged to provide us with your personal data?

In context with the business relation between you and Fiber Year, we need the following categories of personal data:

  • All data required for starting or fulfillment of a business relation
  • Data required for fulfillment of contractual obligations
  • Data we are obliged to collect by law

Without this data we are not in a position to conclude nor fulfill contracts with you.

7. Deletion

In compliance with the applicable data protection regulations, we save your personal data no longer than required for the relevant purpose. If your data is no longer needed for the fulfillment of contractual or legal obligations, it is regularly deleted by us, except if its temporary storage is still necessary. This can be due to the following reasons:

Compliance with duties to preserve records relating to commercial or tax law: Retention periods, primarily in accordance with the regulations of the commercial code and tax code, can be up to 10 years. As proof in case of litigation within the scope of the legal statutes of limitation: Civil law knows statutes of limitations of up to 30 years, with a regular prescription after 3 years.

8. Your rights

The processing of your personal data also involves certain rights for you. For details, please see the relevant parts of the General Data Protection Regulation (articles 15 – 21).

8.1 Right to demand information and correction

You have the right to get information from us if and among others which of your personal data we process. Should this information be incorrect (or no longer correct), you can demand the correction of the data or addition of data if it is incomplete. If your data has been forwarded to third parties, we will inform the relevant third parties if this is allowed by law.

8.2 Right of deletion

Under the following conditions you can demand the immediate deletion of your personal data:

  • If your personal data is no longer required for the purposes it was collected for
  • If you have revoked your consent and if there is no other legal basis for the processing of your data
  • If you object to the processing and if there are no reasons of prime importance justifying the processing of the data
  • If your data has been wrongfully processed
  • If your personal data must be deleted to comply with legal obligations

Please note that before deleting your data we have to check if there is no legitimate reason for the processing of your personal data.

8.3 Right of limitation of the processing (“right of disabling”)

You can demand a limitation of the processing of your personal data for one of the following reasons:

  • If you dispute the correctness of the data until we had the opportunity to check the correctness of the data
  • If the data was wrongfully processed and you demand only a limitation of the use of your personal data instead of its deletion
  • If we no longer need the personal data for processing but you need it for the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims
  • If you objected to the processing and it has not yet been determined if your legitimate interests have priority to ours

8.4 Right of objection

8.4.1 Individual case-related right of objection

If the processing is based on public interest or weighing of interests, you have the right to object to the processing for reasons of your specific situation. In such a case we will no longer process your personal data, unless we can give proof of compelling reasons, worth being protected, requiring the processing of your data that have priority over your interests, rights and liberties or if your data is required for the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims. The objection does not affect the rightfulness of the data processing prior to the objection.

8.4.2 Objection in terms of advertising

In cases where we used your personal date for advertising efforts, you can object to this form of processing at any time. We will then no longer process your personal data for these purposes.

The objection can be informal and must be addressed to:

The Fiber Year GmbH
Data Protection Officer
Vorderau 2
CH-9325 Roggwil

8.5 Right of data transferability

You have the right to receive personal data that you have given to us for processing in a transferable and machine-readable format.

8.6 Right to complain to a controlling Authority (Art. 77 GDPR)

We always try to answer your inquires and claims as quickly as possible to maintain your rights. Depending on the frequency of inquiries, however, it can happen that an information concerning your request takes up to 30 days. Should our answer take longer, we will promptly notify you of the reason for the delay and will discuss further steps with you.

In some cases we might not be able to give you an information. If permitted by law, we will let you know the reason why we cannot provide the desired information.

Should you still not be satisfied with our answers and reactions or if you are of the opinion that we go against the applicable data privacy act, you can file a complaint with our Data Protection Officer.

If you are based in the EU you might have in addition the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority in case you do not agree with the processing of your Personal Data.

BY PROVIDING PERSONAL DATA TO FIBER YEAR AND BY USING FIBER YEAR’S WEBSITE, YOU CONSENT TO THE COLLECTION AND USE OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT.

Last updated: December 14, 2021