Cookie PolicyInformation about cookies and similar technologies
Every time our digital offerings are used, certain data is generated for technical reasons. This data is temporarily stored in log files and is known as log data.
What is log data?
Depending on the situation, it may include, e.g. the following technical data:
IP address of the requesting end device,
information about your internet service provider,
information about the operating system of your end device (tablet, PC, smartphone, etc.),
information on the referring URL;
information on the browser used,
the date and time of the access, and
content retrieved when visiting the website.
This data is processed for the purposes of enabling the use of our digital offerings (connection set-up) and ensuring their functionality, ensuring system security and stability, and improving our digital offerings, as well as for statistical purposes.
We may also analyse your IP address together with the other log data and any other data held with us in the event of attacks on the IT infrastructure or other unauthorised or misuse of the websites for the purpose of investigation and defence. We may also use them for identification purposes in relation to any criminal proceedings and also process them for any civil or criminal action against the persons concerned.
What are cookies and similar technologies?
Cookies are files that your browser automatically stores on your end device when you visit our digital offerings. Every cookie contains a unique identification number. This enables us to differentiate one individual visitor - or the devices used by them - from others, but we generally do not identify them. Depending on the intended purpose, cookies may contain additional information, e.g. about the pages visited and the duration of the visit to a page. We use not only session cookies, which are deleted when your browser is closed, but also permanent cookies, which remain stored for a certain period of time after the browser is closed (usually between a few days and two years) and serve to recognise visitors or their devices when they revisit the site later.
We can also use similar technologies. These include, e.g. pixel tags, fingerprints and other technologies for storing data in the browser. “Pixel tags” are small, invisible image data or program code that is loaded from a server via a specific address and, by calling up that address, transmit information to the operator of the server, e.g. whether and when a website was visited. “Fingerprints” are details about the characteristics of your end device or browser which are collected when a digital offering is used and which make your end device more or less clearly distinguishable from other devices. Most browsers also support other technologies for storing data in the browser, similar to cookies, which we may also use (e.g. web storage).
How can cookies and similar technologies be deactivated?
In some cases, when you visit our websites, you have the option of activating or deactivating certain categories of cookies via a Cookie Preference Centre. Further information on the cookies and similar technologies used by us, particularly for opting out, can be found in the Cookie Preference Centre or here.
In your browser's settings, you can also configure it to block certain cookies or similar technologies or to delete existing cookies and other data stored in it. In addition, you can enhance your browser with software (known as “plug-ins”) that blocks tracking by certain third parties. You can find more information on this in your browser's help pages (usually under the heading “Privacy”). However, please note that our websites may no longer function fully if you block cookies or similar technologies.
In our mobile applications, you also have the option, in some cases, to block similar technologies by using opt-out buttons.
What cookies and similar technologies do we use?
We use the following types of cookies and similar technologies:
Necessary cookies: Necessary cookies are required in order for a website and its features to be used. These cookies ensure, for example, that you can switch between pages without losing the information you have entered in a form or the products or services you have placed in a shopping cart.
Performance cookies: Performance cookies collect information about how a website is used, and they enable us to perform analyses, e.g. which pages are most popular and how visitors move around on a website. These cookies are intended to simplify and speed up your visit to the website and to improve its usability in general.
Functional cookies: Functional cookies enable us to provide enhanced functionalities and to display personalised content. These cookies enable us, for example, to store information you have already provided (e.g. your language selection) or to show you products that you may also like based on items you have viewed.
Marketing cookies: Marketing cookies help us and our advertising partners to advertise to you on our websites and on third-party websites regarding products or services that may be of interest to you, or to display our ads after you visit our websites as part of your continued use of the Internet.
A list of the cookies used and similar technologies can be found in our Cookie Preference Centre or here.
How do we use cookies and similar technologies from other companies?
The cookies and similar technologies used by us may originate from us directly or from third-party companies, e.g. if we use third-party services. Third-party providers may also be located outside Switzerland and the European Economic Area (EEA), provided that the protection of your personal data is adequately ensured.
For example, we use analysis services that analyse the use of our websites in order to optimise them and to personalise content or the presentation thereof. If we use cookies or similar technologies from third parties, they may also address you on our websites – or on other websites and on social networks that likewise collaborate with this third party – with individualised advertising and measure how effective ads are (e.g. whether you accessed our website via an ad and what actions you then take on our website).
At the same time, third-party providers may record the use of the website in question. These records may be linked by the respective provider to similar information from other websites. In this way, the behaviour of certain users can be recorded across several websites and over several end devices. Frequently, the relevant provider may also use these data for its own purposes, e.g. for personalised advertising on its own website and on other websites to which it supplies advertising. If users are registered with the provider, the provider may allocate the usage data to the person concerned. The processing of such personal data is carried out here by the provider on its own responsibility and in accordance with its own privacy policy.
Two of our most important third-party providers are Google and Facebook. You can find additional details about them below. Other third-party providers generally process personal and other data in a similar manner.
Google Analytics and Google Firebase
On many of our websites, we use Google Analytics, an analytics service provided by Google LLC (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA, USA) and Google Ireland Ltd. (Google Building Gordon House, Barrow St, Dublin 4, Ireland; both collectively “Google”, although Google Ireland Ltd. is responsible for the processing of personal data). Google uses cookies and similar technologies to collect certain information about the behaviour of individual users on or in the relevant website and the end device used for this purpose (tablet, PC, smartphone, etc.) (e.g. how often you opened our website, how many purchases were made or what interests you have, as well as data about your end device used, such as the operating system). You can find further information at this link.
We have configured the service in such a way that the IP addresses of visitors to Google’s websites within Europe are shortened before they are forwarded to the USA and that they cannot be traced back in this way. Google provides us with reports and may be regarded as our processor in this regard. Google also processes certain data for its own purposes. Google may under certain circumstances draw conclusions about the identity of visitors to the websites based on the data collected and therefore create personal profiles and link the data collected with any existing Google accounts of these persons. You can find information about the privacy of Google Analytics here, and if you have a Google account, you can find further information here.
Facebook Custom Audiences
Our websites may also use the “Facebook pixel” and similar technologies of Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland (“Facebook”). We utilise these technologies to display the Facebook ads placed by us only to Facebook users and to the partners cooperating with Facebook (the “Audience Network”, www.facebook.com/audiencenetwork) who have shown an interest in us or whose characteristics match those we transmit to Facebook for this purpose (e.g. interest in certain topics or products that can be seen on the websites visited; “Custom Audiences”). These technologies also enable us to understand the effectiveness of Facebook ads for statistical purposes and market research by seeing whether users were redirected to our website after clicking on a Facebook advert (so-called “conversion measurement”). Further details can be found here.
We are jointly responsible with Facebook for sharing data that Facebook collects or receives via the pixel or similar features, displaying advertising information that matches users' interests, improving ad delivery and personalisation of features and content (but not for further processing). We have therefore concluded an addendum to that effect with Facebook. Users can thus direct requests for information and other data subject enquiries as regards this joint responsibility to Facebook.
How do we use our social media presence?
We can manage our own presence on social networks and other platforms of third-party providers (e.g. Facebook fan pages). If you communicate with us there or comment on or disseminate content from us, we collect information about this and process it in accordance with this Privacy Statement. We have the right, but not the obligation, to review content before or after it is posted and to delete content without notice to the extent technically possible, or to report it to the provider of the respective platform. In the event of a breach of the rules of decency and conduct, we may also report the relevant user account to the provider of the platform for blocking or deletion.
When you visit our social media pages, data relating, e.g. to your user behaviour may also be transmitted directly to, or collected by, the provider concerned. The provider may process these data together with other data already known to it, e.g. for marketing and market research purposes and for the personalisation of platform content. Insofar as we are jointly responsible with the provider for certain processing operations, we will enter into an appropriate agreement with the provider, the essential content of which you can obtain information from the provider. Further information on data processing by the providers of social networks can be found in the privacy policy of the relevant social networks.
Do we use location information through our mobile applications?
If you use our mobile applications, we may use GPS signal data to collect information about the location of your mobile device, i.e. the longitude and latitude of the location and the horizontal accuracy of that information.
We use your location data to enhance your user experience by displaying location-based online advertising and other location-based digital content to you via the mobile applications on your mobile devices (location-based weather information & news; display of approximate user locations). In this context, we may utilise the services of other companies within and outside the TX Group. To the extent necessary to provide the relevant services, we may share your location data with these companies. You can find a list of the companies concerned here.
Even after you have provided your consent, you have the option at any time to deactivate the collection, processing and disclosure of your location data. If you do not wish to receive any location-based online advertising and content, you can either deny access to your location or deactivate the location services in your device's settings at any time. To deactivate the location services, please follow the directions of the device manufacturer: for Apple devices: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202074, for Android devices: https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/3467281?hl=en.
Changes to this Cookie Information
This Cookie Information is subject to modification, particularly if we change our data processing operations or if new legal requirements become applicable. As a general rule, data processing is subject to the version of the Cookie Information in effect at the start of the relevant processing.
The original version of the Cookie Information is in German. Translated versions are merely intended to facilitate comprehension. In case of inconsistencies, the German text shall take precedence.
