Privacy Policy - including Cookies, Consent Notice and Disclaimer of the
International Women’s Club of Lucerne

Privacy Policy in accordance with the requirements of the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection SR 235.1 (hereinafter: FADP)

The International Women’s Club of Lucerne (IWCL) takes your privacy seriously and because you provide us with your personal information, as a member of our organisation, we are therefore a ‘controller’ of personal information as defined by the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We process data in accordance with Swiss and EU data protection regulations. In compliance with the FADP and GDPR, this privacy notice describes what personal data we collect as part of your membership; how, why, for how long we will use it and how we keep it secure. 

In summary, our overriding goal is to obtain a minimum of personal data from you in order to most effectively run our Club. We do not sell your information to any third parties. If it is necessary to provide a third party with your personal data, we will always obtain your consent before doing so, e.g. in the rare instance an event location requires the name of participants. We will only pass on your personal data to third parties if you expressly consent to this, if there is a legal obligation or permission to do so, or if the transfer is necessary to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.

1 Identity and contact details of the person responsible

The person responsible (Data Controller) within the meaning of the FADP is:

International Women’s Club of Lucerne

Lucerne, Switzerland

Email: iwclucerne@gmail.com

Website: www.iwcl.net 

2 Provision of the website (log files)

When you access our website, even if you do not register or otherwise submit information, information of a general nature is automatically collected. This information (server log files) includes the type of web browser, the operating system used, the domain name of your Internet service provider, your IP address, referrer URL, date and time of access and similar.

They are processed for the following purposes:

• Ensuring a problem-free connection to the website
• Ensuring smooth use of our website
• Ensuring and evaluating system security and stability, particularly to detect misuse
• For the technically error-free presentation and optimisation of our website.

The data is also stored in the log files of our system. This data is not stored together with other personal data of the user. We do not use your data to draw conclusions about you personally. However, we reserve the right to subsequently check the server log files if there are concrete indications of illegal use.

3 Contact us

There is a contact form on our website that can be used to contact us electronically. If you take advantage of this option, the personal data entered in the input mask will be transmitted to us and stored. 

The sole purpose of processing your personal data is to process your request.

At the time the message is sent, the following data is also transmitted and stored:

• Date and time of the request
• URL from which the request was made
• IP address

Alternatively, you can contact us using the email address provided on our website. In this case, the user's personal data transmitted with the email will be stored. Which includes:

• Date and time of the request
• URL from which the request was made
• IP address

as well as information about the servers involved in email communication.

Please note that if we communicate via telephone (number will be provided in an email), we do not record conversations.

By contacting us via the contact form, sending us an email or a telephone call, you consent to the processing of your personal data in order to respond to your inquiry.

4 Becoming a member

On our website we offer you the opportunity to join our Club by providing your personal data. The data is entered into an input mask and transmitted to us and stored. A transfer of data to third parties does not take place. The following data is collected as part of the registration process:

Compulsory details: 

Personal contact details:

• First name, Surname
• Address (minimum: City, Canton & Country in which you reside)
• Email address
• Phone number 

Failure to provide the above information stops the registration process. 

Optional details:

Further personal information: 

• Birthday
• Nationality/ies
• Profession
• Personal photo

Areas of interest:

• What interests you have with the Club 
• How you found out about us
• Your ideas for future events

At the time of registration, the following data is also stored:

• IP address
• Date and time of registration

As part of the registration process, your consent to the processing of this data will be obtained.

Members can also update this information when accessing their personal profile.  

At the time of activating your membership, a password to access the member-only section of the website will be automatically generated by the system and sent to you. We recommend that you change it by creating your own password.

Why we collect this information

We process our members’ personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interests: 

• To verify that applicants fulfil membership requirements
• To communicate with you about your membership account and notify you of any changes to our service
• To provide you with news and updates about the activities of the organisation, opportunities to get involved, training, meetings or other events
• To respond to and investigate your questions, comments, support needs, complaints or concerns
• To send you our weekly newsletter and other ad hoc correspondence
• To send you your annual invoice and receipt of payment
• To send you information on events, including confirmation of registration

5 Communication

5.1 Various forms of IWCL’s communication 

The IWCL communicates with you via email in several ways as part of its mission: 

• A weekly membership newsletter email
• Occasional system emails (membership renewal reminders, to reset a password, etc.)
• Occasional event emails (invites, confirmations, reminders, etc.)
• Ad hoc emails regarding last minute events

Event attendees may receive relevant system emails, event emails, and marketing emails.

NOTE: The IWCL may contact you at any time regarding membership issues. This is a requirement of the IWCL to maintain your membership.

5.2 Newsletters 

Your data will be used to send you weekly newsletters you subscribed to, by email. Your name is provided so that we can address you personally in the newsletter and, if necessary, identify you if you want to exercise your rights as a data subject. We may check whether the newsletter has been delivered to you, whether you have opened it and/or clicked on any provided links. 

5.3 Member 

Your communication with other members may include the use of Social Media Platforms, e.g. WhatsApp.

6 Event specific

6.1 Event registrations

When you register for an event, that is organised and hosted by the IWCL, we may ask you to provide or confirm the following information:

• Contact details: name, address, email address and phone number
• Event information: details that are relevant and necessary for the organiser of the event

While you remain a member, data is saved regarding your participation in events for which you have registered. 

6.2 Non-member data collection, usage and storage

Non-members attending events are generally registered anonymously as a “Guest”. If the event requires it, non-members may be requested to provide their names and/or email addresses. In such cases, the IWCL will request specific consent to provide this personal information to the third party. The data and consent will be held securely and will be archived no longer than three years after the event. 

7 Online meetings

By participating in an online meeting, you agree to the use of the software including access to the microphone and video camera. To conduct live meetings, we currently use the webinar solution from Zoom. 

An encrypted connection is established between you and Zoom. Further information on encryption technology as well as a detailed list of the categories of data collected and processed by Zoom, as well as the exact purpose of the processing, can be found at the Zoom Privacy Policy: 

https://www.zoom.com/en/trust/privacy/privacy-statement/.

The personal data provided when registering will be processed exclusively for the purpose of conducting the meeting. We need the data to carry out the meeting in a practical and user-friendly manner, including a good user experience.

8 Data retention and deletion

How long we retain your data

The IWCL retains your data for the duration of your membership. 

Deleting your data on the website

At the termination of your membership, through cancellation or non-renewal, we will archive your member account containing your personal data within 60 days. The IWCL only retains personal data as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected, including for the purpose of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. Your personal data will be permanently deleted once the Annual Financial Statements for the relevant year have been audited and approved at the Annual General Meeting, but latest by September 1st of the year after you cease to be a member of the IWCL. After this time, should you wish to re-join as a member, you will need to fill out the registration form again. 

Deleting your data from Social Media Platforms 

Your personal data will be removed from any Social Media Platforms, e.g. WhatsApp groups when your membership is terminated.

Deleting your data from our email account

All member email correspondence sent to the IWCL mailbox (iwclucerne@gmail.com) will be retained for no longer than three years.

We may also keep anonymised demographic data for historical reporting purposes. This demographic data will not contain any individually identifiable personal information. 

9 How we protect your personal information

Internal processes 

The IWCL never shares your personal information with any 3rd party for any purpose not directly related to our Club’s mission.

Your personal data is accessible by members of the IWCL Board and certain Group Leaders, in addition to other IWCL Members through the Member Directory. Those allowed access to this data must also accept this Privacy Policy and the strict FADP and GDPR-compliant guidelines about how the information may be accessed and used. Any emails generated from the website are sent “Bcc”. 

Your data is stored by the IWCL in a password-protected database on our web server hosted by Wild Apricot. You can learn more about Wild Apricot’s Security and Data Protection and its GDPR compliance status by clicking these links. When filling out the membership application form or updating your membership data online, your personal data is sent directly via encrypted HTTPS connection to our password-protected database. 

In order to maintain strict privacy controls, we do not load any photos and/or videos of our members onto our public-access Website or Facebook sites. All photos and/or videos depicting members are only accessible in the member-only password-access-required areas of the website.

The IWCL is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.

10 How you protect yourself and other members’ personal information

It is strictly forbidden for you to share:

• The personal data including name, email address and/or phone number of any other member
• Any photos and/or videos depicting our members
• Any publication including, but not limited to, emails, the weekly newsletter, financial information

with anyone who is not a member of the International Women’s Club of Lucerne. 

It is strictly forbidden for you to use the contact information of other members for private business purposes or for sending unsolicited information or to share data of another member with anyone who is not a member of the International Women’s Club of Lucerne. 

It is strictly forbidden for you to send or share photos and/or videos of another member with anyone who is not a member of the International Women’s Club of Lucerne. 

It is strictly forbidden for you to add another member to any Social Media Platform Groups, e.g. WhatsApp without their explicit consent. 

Any emails generated from the website are sent “Bcc”. The IWCL strongly recommends that all group emails be sent Bcc.

11 Recipients of data

11.1 External service providers 

The IWCL never shares your personal information with any third party for any purpose not directly related to our Club’s mission. 

However, the IWCL does use third party suppliers to provide some services necessary to serve our membership. These suppliers may process personal data on our behalf as ‘processors’ and are subject to contractual conditions to only process that personal information under our instructions and protect it. 

In the event that we share personal information with external third parties, we only share such information strictly required for the specific purposes and take reasonable steps to ensure recipients shall only process the disclosed personal information in accordance with those purposes. 

Third parties which currently provide services for the IWCL and have documented that they are GDPR compliant, include:

• Wild Apricot: hosts our website, membership database and emailing system
• Google Analytics: tracks anonymous website visits and interactions

Social media 

In the course of ordinary Club activities, your contact data may be used on third party sites or on social media. For instance, contact data may be needed for such things as Doodle Poll, Survey Monkey or similar polling tool which may be used occasionally. In addition, event photos and/or videos may be uploaded to our website. Also, an activity group in which you choose to participate may use your contact data on a Social Media Platform Group, e.g. WhatsApp to keep you informed, in which case you will be asked to provide your consent to be added to the group.   

11.2 Recipients of the data - general

We use service providers to operate and maintain our website, including the registration process, as processors of data, who act as our order processors. All service providers are contractually obliged to treat your data confidentially.

11.3 Recipients of the data – online meetings

Recipients are technical service providers, currently Zoom, who carry out the meeting. All service providers are contractually obliged to treat your data confidentially.

12 Transmission abroad

The data collected by the IWCL is generally processed in Switzerland. All personal data is stored on third-party secure servers, some of which are located outside Switzerland. The companies owning these servers are under the same data privacy obligations as the IWCL. 

13 Use of cookies

A cookie is a small text file that a website transfers to your computer to allow it to remember specific information about your session while you are connected. They help make a website usable by enabling basic functions such as page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. Your computer will share the information in the cookie with the website that provided it, and no other website can request it. There are two types of cookies:

1.  Session cookies last only as long as your web browser is open. Once you close your browser, the cookie is deleted. Websites may use session cookies for technical purposes such as to enable better navigation through the site, or to allow you to customise your preferences for navigating through the site. 

2.  Persistent cookies are saved on a user’s device in order to determine which users are new to the site or are returning. 

If you do not wish to have cookies stored on your machine, you can turn off cookies in your browser. Please note that turning off cookies may impact the full functionality of the IWCL’s website. 

14 Rights of the data subject

You always have the right to: 

• Obtain information about what personal data we store about you and how we process it
• Receive a copy of your personal data in a commonly used format
• Restrict the processing of your personal data for specific purposes 
• Access the personal data that we hold about you
• Update/correct your personal data or request that we update/correct your personal data if you believe it is inaccurate or incomplete
• Delete or request that we delete your personal information

Please note that exceptions apply to these rights. To the extent permitted by law, we may refuse your request to exercise these rights.

14.1 Your rights in relation to your personal data

You have the right to access to your personal data, correction of such data, deletion of such data, restriction to the data, granting of and revoking your consent and objection. If you believe that the processing of your data violates the Swiss Data Protection Act, you can report this to us or to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).

14.2 Deleting your data 

You have the right to request deletion of data at any time; however, please note that the IWCL may not be able to continue your membership benefits or allow event registration without it. To request deletion of your data, send a written request by email to the IWCL at iwclucerne@gmail.com.

14.3 Availability of your personal data to other members

Your data is available to other members of the IWCL through our Wild Apricot database and Wild Apricot apps (all of which are only accessible after entering your password), but you have the right and the ability to set which parts of your data other members can access. This can be set under your profile – Accessing your profile is detailed in Sections 15 and 16.2. 

14.4 Your rights in relation to communication

You have the right to control whether you receive communication through: 

Our website

After logging into the website, under ‘View profile’ you can click the link ‘Email subscriptions’ to manage your subscriptions to event and IWCL emails. Please note that if you turn these off you may miss important information about the IWCL, your membership status or upcoming events. 

An additional option for the member newsletter only: every weekly email newsletter includes an ‘unsubscribe’ link. You can always click that link to unsubscribe from the member communications. 

Please be aware that our activities depend on being able to reach you via email, phone and occasionally postal mail. If you decide to deny access to the IWCL you will not receive communications via these channels.

Via email

A request to be removed from any or all communications may also be made in writing by sending an email to iwclucerne@gmail.com.

Offline

You can contact any Board member to request to be removed from any communications.

NOTE: You can revoke your consent to the processing of personal data at any time. Please note that the revocation will only take effect in the future. Edits that took place before the revocation are not affected by this.

For information about the personal data we process, please send your request for information to iwclucerne@gmail.com.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).

15 Accessing and updating your data

You can access and update your personal data by:

On the website – profile (via your website login) 

1. Log in to the website at https://iwcl.net.
2. Click on your name in the top right corner. This displays all the data we hold about you in our Wild Apricot membership database. 
3. Click ‘Edit profile’ to change any information at any time. 

Via email

You can contact the IWCL on email iwclucerne@gmail.com to request that your information is either sent to you or your data is updated.

Offline

You can contact any Board member to request that your information is sent to you.

Any requests for your information will be provided to you within 30 days. 

16 Consent 

16.1 Becoming a member

Giving Consent means you agree that the IWCL can collect the data you provide to us so that you can become an active Club member. Failure to give consent will stop the registration process.

Please be aware that giving consent to receive IWCL emails and other communications as well as giving consent for photos and/or videos of you that appear on our website and social media are separate and failure to give consent to either will not abort the registration process. However, failure to give consent will severely hinder your ability to become an active IWCL member. 

16.2 Member directory

As a member, you consent to having your contact information included in the member directory (which is visible only to other members). However, members can set their own privacy restrictions in their profile, specifying what information other members can see. Refer above to accessing your profile. Under the link ‘Privacy’ you may choose to show or hide any of your information to your fellow members. 

NOTE: Our members (Board members and Group Leaders) who have administrative access to our website will still have access to your ‘hidden’ information. However, they will never use or share your member data as they too need to agree to the stringent privacy requirements laid out by the FADP and GDPR. 

16.3 Group emails 

As a member, you consent to group emails which may include the email addresses of members in the ‘To’ line. These emails facilitate the operation of the Club’s activities and might include additional information about an event with members who have registered for such event e.g. an email organising a carpool. All members have the right to withdraw such consent, by setting the relevant privacy restriction and informing the IWCL by sending an email to iwclucerne@gmail.com. 

16.4 Providing personal data to third parties

We do not sell your information to any third parties. If it is necessary to provide a third party with your personal data, we will always obtain your specific consent before doing so. For example, in the rare instance an event location requires the name of participants. We will only pass on your personal data to third parties if you expressly consent to this, if there is a legal obligation or permission to do so, or if the transfer is necessary to assert, exercise or defend legal claims.

16.5 Photos and Videos

As a member, you consent to having photos and/or videos of yourself published/visible in the weekly newsletter and/or Photo Gallery section of the website. All members have the right to withdraw such consent. If applicable, members must indicate at the specific event if they do not wish their photo and/or video to be taken. The member taking the photos and/or videos should respect this request. Any member has the right to contact us and ask for a photo and/or video to be removed from the Photo Gallery, by sending an email to iwclucerne@gmail.com. 

17 Disclaimer

The IWCL endeavours, and will continue to endeavour, to include accurate and up-to-date information on its website.

However, the IWCL does not make any warranty or representation, whether express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or correctness of the information contained or referenced therein as well as to the undisturbed and continuous access to its website.

In particular, the IWCL shall not be obliged to remove any outdated information from the IWCL website. At the same time, the IWCL reserves its right to change the content of this website at any time and without prior notice.

All users agree, by accessing this web site that all access and use of this site or any links made from it and the content thereof, is at their own risk and for their own responsibility.

Neither the IWCL nor any other party or person involved in creating, producing or maintaining this site or any site linked to this site shall be liable in any manner whatsoever, whether for any direct, incidental, consequential, indirect, special or punitive damages arising out of the access, use or inability to use this website or any site linked to this site, any error or omission in the content hereof and thereof, or otherwise.

This website and its contents are for information purposes only. All intellectual property and related rights, including database rights, are reserved with and retained by IWCL. The reproduction, re-transmission, republication or any other use of part or all of the contents, design or formats for public or commercial purposes without the prior written consent of the IWCL is strictly prohibited.

18 Copyright

The copyright and all other rights to content, images, photos, videos or other files on the website belong exclusively to the IWCL or the specifically named rights holders. For the reproduction of all files, the written consent of the copyright holder must be obtained in advance.

Anyone who commits a copyright infringement without the consent of the respective rights holder may be liable to prosecution and possibly be liable for damages.

19 Policy changes

This Privacy Policy may be reviewed and revised from time to time. We will inform you of any changes via email and may ask for your consent to any major change.

In the case of a minor change, your continued use of this site will constitute your acceptance of such change. 

(Approved by the IWCL Board on February 24th, 2025).

This data protection declaration was created with the help of www.activemind.ch – the experts for data protection and information security. The original text was translated from German to English by us. We have added information relevant to the IWCL and removed information not relevant to the IWCL (e.g. items for sale).