Data protection.
How BeaverWatch collects, uses and protects your personal data, in accordance with the new Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP).
Last updated: 11 October 2026Data controller
This policy describes, in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP, RS 235.1), which entered into force on 1st September 2023, and with its implementing ordinance (OPDo, RS 235.11), how and why your personal data is processed when you interact with our association or our website.
Within the meaning of art. 5 let. j FADP, the controller of your personal data is:
For any question relating to the protection of your data or to the exercise of your rights, you can write directly to the address above, indicating "data protection" in the subject line.
Data collected
We collect only the data strictly necessary for the association's missions. Depending on the context, this may involve the following categories:
When you get in touch
- Surname and first name
- Email address
- Telephone number (optional)
- Content of the message and any attachments
When you submit a sighting report
- Contact details of the person who made the observation (name, contact)
- Location, date and time of the observation
- Description, photographs or signs submitted
When you apply for membership
- Full identity, postal address, date of birth
- Contact details (email, telephone)
- Motivations expressed and skills declared
- Information relating to payment of the membership fee (where applicable)
- Members involved in fieldwork: AVS number, for accident coverage and the cantonal permit to access monitoring sites (optional when you sign up; if left blank, you will be asked for it later)
- Members involved in fieldwork: IBAN, to reimburse your field expenses (travel, equipment) — no payment is ever debited (optional when you sign up; if left blank, you will be asked for it later)
- Members involved in fieldwork who own a car: vehicle type, make, color and license plate, for the vehicle access permit application
When you browse the website
- Minimal technical data (truncated IP address, browser type, pages visited)
- Functional cookies necessary for the proper operation of the website
BeaverWatch processes no sensitive data within the meaning of art. 5 let. c FADP (data on health, religious opinions, ethnic origin, etc.), unless you communicate such data to us spontaneously in the course of an exchange.
Purposes of processing & legal bases
Your data is processed only for specified, legitimate and recognisable purposes, in accordance with the principles of art. 6 FADP (lawfulness, good faith, proportionality, accuracy, purpose limitation).
| Purpose | Legal basis | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Responding to your enquiry | Legitimate interest (art. 31 para. 1 FADP) — ensuring a useful exchange and being able to come back to you for any clarification needed to handle your request. | Duration of the exchange + 12 months |
| Processing a sighting report | Legitimate interest + the association's public-interest mission — monitoring of the Eurasian beaver (a protected species) under the LChP RS 922.0, the revised OChP of 1st February 2025 RS 922.01 and the FOEN's Plan Castor Suisse (the Swiss beaver management plan, 2016 edition). | Duration of the scientific monitoring |
| Managing a membership / collaboration | Performance of the association contract (art. 31 para. 1 FADP; art. 70 CC) — membership administration, notices of meetings, membership fees, association life. | Duration of membership + 10 years |
| Sending information about the life of the association | Consent (art. 6 para. 6 FADP) — revocable at any time. | Until revoked |
| Compliance with legal and accounting obligations | Legal obligation (art. 957 et seq. CO). | 10 years |
| Website security and prevention of abuse | Legitimate interest — protecting users and the infrastructure. | 12 months maximum |
In plain terms: the personal information you send us through a contact form is kept only for as long as necessary to handle your request, and for a reasonable period allowing the association to come back to you with any further questions. In the case of a membership application, it is kept for the purposes of the association's work together — membership administration, notices of general meetings, the life of the association.
Retention period
In accordance with the principle of proportionality (art. 6 para. 4 FADP), we keep your data only for the period strictly necessary for the purposes described above. Once that period has expired, your data is either anonymised or permanently deleted from our systems.
Accounting data and data subject to a statutory retention obligation (art. 958f CO) is kept for the period prescribed by law, namely ten years.
Data recipients
Your data is never sold, rented or transferred to third parties for commercial purposes. It may however be disclosed, strictly to the extent necessary for the accomplishment of our missions, to:
- Authorised members of the committee and the association's regional coordinators
- The competent cantonal services for hunting and wildlife (in particular the Direction générale de l'environnement, DGE-BIODIV) — the enforcement authority within the meaning of art. 25 para. 1 LChP — where the task requires it (sighting reports, damage, intervention measures within the meaning of art. 9d and 10g OChP)
- The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and the Service Conseil Castor (Switzerland's national beaver advisory service), within the framework of the Plan Castor Suisse and of the national census of beaver populations, as well as for the transmission of data relating to damage and compensation (art. 10 OChP)
- Our technical processors (hosting provider, email service provider), bound by a confidentiality agreement in accordance with art. 9 FADP
- Judicial or administrative authorities, upon lawful request
Where personal data is transmitted to cantonal or federal authorities in the context of the missions referred to above, that disclosure takes place on the legal basis specific to those authorities (in particular LChP, OChP, LPN) and does not require any additional consent within the meaning of the FADP, in accordance with art. 31 para. 1 FADP.
Transfers abroad
Your data is in principle processed and stored in Switzerland or in the European Economic Area, whose level of protection is recognised as adequate by the Federal Council (Annex 1 OPDo). Any transfer to a third country that does not offer adequate protection (art. 16 FADP) could take place only by means of appropriate safeguards (standard contractual clauses, for example) or with your explicit consent.
Data security
BeaverWatch implements the appropriate technical and organisational measures (art. 8 FADP; art. 1 et seq. OPDo) to preserve the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your data: encryption of transmissions (HTTPS/TLS), access control, regular backups, and awareness-raising among the people who have access to the data.
In the event of a breach of data security entailing a high risk to your rights, the association will notify the incident to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, under the conditions laid down in art. 24 FADP.
Your rights
The FADP grants you a set of rights that you can exercise at any time, free of charge and without having to give any particular reason, by writing to info@beaverwatch.ch.
Right of access art. 25
Obtain confirmation that your data is being processed and receive a copy of it.
Right to rectification art. 32 para. 1
Request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure art. 32 para. 2
Request the deletion of your data when it is no longer necessary.
Right to object art. 30 para. 2 let. b
Object to processing based on legitimate interest, on grounds relating to your situation.
Right to data portability art. 28
Receive your data in a structured and commonly used format.
Withdrawal of consent art. 6 para. 6
Withdraw at any time a consent previously given, without retroactive effect.
For obvious security reasons, we may have to verify your identity before acting on your request. A response is in principle provided to you within 30 days (art. 25 para. 7 FADP).
Supervisory authority
If you consider that the processing of your data does not comply with Swiss legislation, you have the right to report the matter to the competent federal authority:
Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC)
Feldeggweg 1 · 3003 Berne
Amendments to this policy
This data protection policy may be amended at any time in order to reflect changes in our activities, in legal requirements or in the recommendations of the supervisory authority. The applicable version is the one published on this page, whose last-updated date appears at the top.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via the Contact page or directly at info@beaverwatch.ch.