Data Protection Statement

As part of our shared values of innovation, engagement and responsibility, at the Sonova Group (that is, Sonova Holding AG and all of its subsidiaries), we respect the privacy of all persons who have entrusted us with their personal data, including visitors to our websites, and users of our applications, etc. This Data Protection Statement (“Statement”) sets out the steps we have taken to meet data protection requirements under Swiss, EU and other applicable laws which regulate the collection, storage, use and transfer (“Processing”) of personal data.

We consider this to be Personal Data: any information from which someone can or could find out your identity, such as your name, your address, email address, serial number of a device, social security number, and the like.

This Statement describes the ways in which we Process the Personal Data we obtain from you through a website or application that is owned or operated by Sonova AG or any of its affiliates and subsidiaries (“Sonova” or “We”). This Statement applies solely to Personal Data collected by Sonova online, such as through a website, through e-mail and other online tools and applications, but not to offline collection.

Please note that the information or services provided here by Sonova are directed at adults only and not at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from anyone under the age of 16 online. Any person who provides their Personal Data here represents that they are 16 years of age or older. If you learn that your child has provided us with Personal Data without your consent, you may alert us as described in the “How to contact us” section below. If we learn that we have collected any Personal Data from children under the age of 16, we will promptly take steps to delete such information and delete the child’s profile.

We generally collect and process your Personal Data to be able to provide you with the services, products and information you request, to perform actions in connection with a contract we have with you, or because of our legitimate interest to conduct certain analyses and statistics, such as to improve our products and services and the content of our websites and applications, and for administrative purposes.

In some instances, we may additionally ask for and will need your specific consent for collecting and using your Personal Data, especially in connection with sending you marketing materials or newsletters regarding our products and services.

We may from time to time decide to update this Statement if necessary. In this case, we will post updated versions of this Statement on this page. A revised Statement will apply only to data collected subsequent to its effective date. We encourage you periodically to review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices. Your continued use of our services following the posting of changes to the Statement will mean you accept those changes.

Most of our services do not require any form of registration which means that you may visit our sites or use our applications without providing us with any personal information about you. However, some services may require you to register and therefore to provide us with your Personal Data. The types of Personal Data we collect depend on the interactions you have with Sonova and the services you use, but generally may include your name and contact details, and information about your usage of the website or application. We may also collect health-related information about you that you provide by responding to our questions and surveys . We may also receive your Personal Data by tracking how you interact with our services, for example by using cookies (on the use of cookies, see more information below).

We may use your Personal Data only as described in this Statement, to provide you with our services, to respond to your requests and to the extent as otherwise permitted or required by applicable laws, or in support of any legal or criminal investigation. We may further anonymize or pseudonymize and aggregate data collected for statistical purposes to help us improve our products and services. If you do not want to provide us with this information, please do not utilize these features on our websites or applications.

Sonova does not make a business out of your Personal Data. We only share, or otherwise disclose, your Personal Data to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted business partners providing services on our behalf, such as for technical support, to evaluate the usefulness of our websites and applications, for marketing purposes (if we have your consent), or for other types of service delivery. We further may share your personal data via cookies with advertising networks, to the extent we have your consent. We have contracts in place with these parties to ensure that Personal Data are processed based on our instructions and in compliance with this Statement and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

We only share your Personal Data with these parties and other third parties mentioned above, including governmental authorities, as far as this is necessary to provide any services that you have requested or authorized, to protect your, our, or others’ rights, property or safety, to maintain the security of our services or if we are required to do so because of applicable laws, court or other governmental regulations, or if such disclosure is otherwise necessary in support of any legal or criminal investigation or legal proceeding.

Please note that the above-mentioned Sonova affiliates and subsidiaries, as well as authorities, customers and suppliers to whom we may disclose your Personal Data, may be located outside of your country of domicile, potentially including countries such as the United States, whose data protection laws may differ from those in the country in which you are located. In such cases, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your Personal Data by implementing appropriate legal mechanisms, such as EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

We have implemented a variety of security measures to protect your Personal Data from unauthorized access, use and disclosure. These follow technical and organizational measures generally accepted as appropriate security standards in the industry, including access controls, password, encryption, regular security assessments, and the like.

We will store your Personal Data as long as required to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Statement, unless a longer or shorter retention period is required or permitted by applicable law.

You have the right to know and inquire what Personal Data we hold about you and to request that the correction or deletion of your Personal Data held by us or by a third party with whom we conduct business. In addition, you have the right to object to or to request the restriction of the processing of your Personal Data and you may contact your local data protection authority and file a complaint regarding the processing of your Personal Data.

If you would like to make such a request, please contact us as described in the section “How to contact us” below. After you have provided satisfactory proof of identity, we will respond within a reasonable time.

We use cookies, small text files that are automatically placed on your computer’s hard drive when you access certain websites, and similar technologies, directly or through third parties, such as web analytics services like Google Analytics.

Cookies allow us to store information, such as your domain name, your internet service provider, your operating system, the date and time of access, the pages you visit or the types of searches you perform. We collect such data, for example, to conduct system administration and report aggregated information to affiliates, business partners and/or vendors who conduct website and application analyses and website performance reviews on our behalf.

We use this information to store your preferences and settings, help improve the contents of our websites or applications, to enable you to register to websites and applications, and to compile aggregated statistics to evaluate visitors’ use of our website or website activity, and for internal and market research purposes.

You have the right to choose whether or not to accept cookies and to opt out of Google Analytics. You can block cookies by changing your browser settings so that cookies from the website cannot be placed on your computer or mobile device. However, please note that if you choose to refuse certain functional cookies, you may not be able to use the full functionality of the website. For further information about the types of cookies we use, please visit our Cookie Policy here. For general information about managing cookies, please go to the All About Cookies website . 

Also, like most other websites, we use Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to analyze how users use the domains and provide other services related to the website and internet use. The information generated about your website usage, including your shortened IP address, is transmitted to Google Analytics and stored on servers in the US. Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile statistical reports on website activity, and to provide other services related to the website and the internet use activity. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. By using this website, you consent to the processing of your Personal Data by Google, as described in this Statement. However, you may also opt-out of Google Analytics. For more information about Google Analytics, or to opt out of Google Analytics, please go to https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

On some of our websites or applications, we offer interactive features, such as blogs, messages board, or newsfeeds. If you make any contributions to such features, please be aware that these contributions may be viewed by others and that these contributions will be neither private nor confidential.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this Statement, or want to request access to your Personal Data or exercise your privacy rights, please contact us using the contact information below. You may also reach out to our Data Protection Officer at privacy@sonova.com.

Thank you for your interest in Sonova!

Sonova AG
Laubisruetistrasse 28
8712 Stäfa, Switzerland
Phone: +41 58 928 0101
E-Mail: privacy@sonova.com

Effective Date: May 25, 2018