Cematex, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers (hereinafter ‘Cematex’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’) understands the importance of the privacy of its members and its website visitors and the protection of their personal data. This policy sets out how we handle and process your personal data.
Scope
Cematex, with its registered office at Pfingstweidstrasse 102, 8005 Zürich, Switzerland, registered under CHE-103.641.578 MWST manages this website. We act as the data controller when we process the personal data of the contact persons of national trade associations in the textile machinery industry (which are Cematex members), and of the companies which are member of these national trade associations, and personal data of the website users.
We believe it is important to create and maintain an environment where our contact persons at members, non-members (such as policy makers or companies), providers, and website visitors can be confident that their data will not be misused. We comply with applicable data protection laws, such as the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection of 25 September 2020, the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (also referred to as the “GDPR”) and other applicable data protection legislation. The aforementioned regulations concern the protection of personal data and provide you with rights over the said personal data.
The objective of this policy is to indicate what personal data we collect, how we use your data after you have visited our website and to assure you that we process your data appropriately.
This privacy policy and the terms and conditions of use apply when you visit our website. The application of terms and conditions other than those set out herein is explicitly prohibited unless we have provided express permission in writing in advance. In the latter case, this policy applies alongside the specific agreement. The use of this website, the platform and the content contained therein is only permitted subject to compliance with the full text of this policy.
Why do we collect your personal data and on what legal basis?
It is not necessary to provide personal data to use most of our website.
We collect your personal data for various specific purposes which are further elaborated in the table below where we describe for each purpose the corresponding personal data to be processed, its legal bases and the retention period.
| Purpose | Personal Data | Legal basis | Data retention period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Member management to meet contractual obligations | Name and contact details (email, telephone number); position; company or organisation (/association); work address | Processing required for the execution of the agreement; legitimate interest (CRM-system and invoicing); legal obligation (to keep accounting documents) | Ten years after the termination of the commercial relationship |
| Contacting of members from time to time to obtain input or feedback on position papers, position statement regarding the lobby activities of Cematex in the interest of national trade associations in the textile machinery industry (and their member companies) | Name and contact details (email, telephone number); position; company or organisation (/association); work address | Processing required for the execution of the agreement | Ten years after the termination of the commercial relationship |
| Distributing of the Cematex e-Magazine about regulatory developments and lobby activities in the textile machinery industry | Name and contact details (email, telephone number) | Legitimate interest for informing the membership on pursuing the statutory objectives of the organisation; consent for stakeholders who have shown interest in the activities of Cematex and its e-Magazine | As soon as reasonably possible after the termination of the commercial relationship or as soon as reasonably possible after exercising the right to object to receive further e-Magazines (and in any case within one month after the request) |
| Responding to your (online) questions regarding our activities or services, to be able to provide information regarding our products and services | Name and contact details (email); company; address | Consent | 1 year |
| Improving our products and services, possibly, by contacting you from time to time for the purposes of market research purposes and by analysing audience engagement by the use of mailing provider Mailchimp | Name and contact details (email, telephone number); position; work address | Legitimate interest | Ten years after the termination of the commercial relationship |
| Investigating complaints on our products, services or website | Name and contact details (email, telephone number); position; work address | Legitimate interest | Ten years after the termination of the commercial relationship |
| Checking of identity and financial data regarding payments for our services and meeting the legal and regulatory obligations as well as compliance requirements | Name and contact details (email, telephone number); position; work address | Legitimate interest; legal obligation | Ten years after the termination of the commercial relationship |
| Supplier management to meet contractual obligations | Name and contact details (email, telephone number); position; work address | Processing required for the execution of the agreement; legitimate interest (CRM-system); legal obligation (to keep accounting documents) | Ten years after the termination of the commercial relationship |
| Direct marketing (members) via e-mail to provide information on our events | Name and contact details (email) | Legitimate interest | 2 years after the termination of the relationship |
| Cookies when browsing the Cematex website | Please read our cookie policy for more information on the processing of your personal data through the use of cookies when browsing on our website. | ||
We may also collect data from publicly available sources (social media, crossroad bank of enterprises) to check data previously collected or to manage or broaden our activities, based on our legitimate interests to conduct our business.
How will your data be used and shared?
We can share your personal data with:
- Subsidiary companies, namely ITMA Services nv if you have requested us to do so to be informed about the ITMA trade fairs; or
- Third parties with whom you have asked us to share your personal data, such as social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, …) or other social media if you have asked us to link these to your account.
Based on our legitimate interest, we may also share your personal data with third parties that assist us with our products and services. Some examples of third-party activities include the hosting of web servers, customer service, data analysis and marketing support providers (Mailchimp is used as a mailing provider and to analyse audience engagement). These companies have access to your personal data but only when this is required to perform their activities. They are not permitted to use your data for any other purposes.
Your personal data may not be sold or leased to third parties.
We may publish your personal data to enforce our policy, to comply with our legal obligations or in the interest of safety, in the public interest or for the purposes of legal enforcement in any country where we have entities or subsidiaries. We may follow up a request from a law enforcement agency, regulatory authority or government agency. We may also publish data for the purposes of current or scheduled court cases or to protect our property, safety, people or other rights and interests.
Should Cematex be merged with another organisation, your data will be accessible to professional advisors and, eventually, to the new organisation. In that case, we will take the appropriate measures to guarantee the integrity and confidentiality of your personal data. The use of your personal data will always be subject to this policy.
Transfer of your personal data outside the European Economic Area
Cematex is located in Switzerland where its members may be located in third countries, such as the European Economic Area. We may transfer your personal data to third parties in the European Economic Area (EEA) (article 16.1 Swiss Federal Act on data protection). The said transfer of data outside Switzerland is legal if the recipient of the data resides in a country with a level of protection deemed adequate by the Federal Council. This is the case for data transfers between Switzerland and the European Economic Area and vice versa based on the reciprocal adequacy decision 2000/518/EC of 26 July 2000 of the European Commission (and confirmed in a report of 15 January 2024). There exists also a reciprocal adequacy decision for transfers to and from the United Kingdom (UK). Cematex uses Mailchimp which is located in the United States of America and is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (with the Swiss-US DPF extension), which is similar to an adequacy decision.
Some of these countries may not have enacted equivalent data protection legislation to protect the use of your personal data. In such cases, we have researched whether appropriate preventive measures similar to those implemented within the EU are possible, for example by adopting standard contractual clauses. In specific cases, we will request your prior consent to the transfer of your personal data outside the EEA.
Please follow the procedure set out in Rights of the data subject for further information on data transfer.
Rights of the data subject
Data protection legislation provides various rights for the data subject with regard to the processing of personal data to ensure the data subject has sufficient control over the processing of their personal data. You are entitled to:
Right of access/inspection
You are entitled to receive confirmation from us of whether your personal data is processed by us. If we do process your personal data, you are entitled to request to view your personal data.
Should it not be included in this policy, we will provide you with information on:
- the purposes of the processing;
- the categories of personal data concerned;
- the recipients or categories of recipient to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed;
- the transfer thereof to recipients in third countries or international organisations;
- where possible, the intended period for which the personal data will be retained, or if this is not possible, the criteria used to determine that period;
- your entitlement with regard to your personal data as listed in this section;
- where the personal data are not collected from you, all the information available regarding the source of the data;
- the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, and meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and the intended consequences of the said processing for the data subject.
We will produce a copy of the personal data relating to you in our records upon request. Should you make repeated and disproportionate requests for copies of the said data, we reserve the right to charge you a reasonable fee.
Right to rectification
Should you determine that the personal data on our records is incomplete or incorrect, you are entitled to notify us in order for the necessary steps to be taken to rectify or add to the said data.
Right to be forgotten
You are entitled to request we delete your personal data should the processing not be in accordance with the data protection legislation or should the said processing not fall within the limitations laid down by law.
Right to restriction of processing
You are entitled to request we limit the processing of your personal data if:
- the accuracy of the personal data has been called into question during the period required to check the accuracy thereof;
- the processing is unlawful and you do not wish the data to be deleted;
- we no longer require the data but you do not request we delete the data because the data is required for the pursuance or defence of legal claims;
- an objection is made to the processing pending an explanation of the legitimate interests that outweigh your interests.
Right to data portability
You are entitled to receive the data you have provided to us in a structured, standard and machine-readable format. You are entitled to request we transfer the personal data to another data controller (directly from us). This is an option when the processing is based on your consent and processing via an automated procedure.
Right to object
Where your personal data is processed for direct marketing purposes (including profiling), you remain entitled to object to the said processing.
You are entitled to object to the processing based on a specific situation related to the data subject. The organisation will no longer process the personal data unless the organisation demonstrates compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which outweigh your interests or the interests of the pursuance or defence of legal claims.
Automated individual decision-making
The data subject is entitled not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning him or her or similarly significantly affects him or her, such as the evaluation of personal aspects related to performance at work, reliability, creditworthiness, etc.
The said right not to be subjected to such automated decision-making processes does not apply where the process is allowed on the basis of a mandatory legal provision.
The data subject is not entitled to invoke this right when the decision is required to enter into, or to execute, an agreement between the data subject and the organisation or is based on the explicit consent of the data subject. In the latter two cases, the data subject is entitled to human intervention by a member of the organisation staff and is entitled to notify the organisation of their position and to contest the automated decision.
Right to withdraw consent
If you have consented to the processing of your personal data for a specific purpose of processing, you are entitled to withdraw your consent by sending an email or via your account.
If you opted in to receiving commercial email messages and newsletters, etc. from us or our partner ITMA Services, which is the organiser of the trade fair for the textile machinery manufacturers, when you registered on the website, you can unsubscribe if you change your mind.
Procedure to exercise rights and other provisions
We can request you verify your identity to ensure your request is lawful and that we are sending the reply to a person entitled to make such a request and to receive the data.
Please note that we may refuse access to your personal data or may not be able to grant your request under specific circumstances when we are entitled to do so under the applicable data protection legislation.
You are entitled to lodge a complaint with the competent supervising authority (for data protection). In Switzerland, this is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).
For further information on the processing of your personal data or if you wish to exercise your rights, please contact us at cemate@cematex.com.
Security
We make every effort to guarantee the security of your data. We have implemented reasonable technical and organisational measures to guarantee your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, modification, unauthorised disclosure and/or unauthorised access to the data transmitted, saved or otherwise processed. Please note that the internet is an open network; we cannot therefore guarantee that unauthorised third parties will not be able to circumvent these measures or use your personal data for inappropriate purposes.
This website may include links to third-party websites. We will not be held liable for the content of these websites, nor for the privacy standards and practices of the corresponding third party. You must read and understand the relevant third-party and website privacy policies before accepting cookies and visiting a website, to ensure your personal data is sufficiently protected.
Terms and conditions of use and liability
Rights to the website and materials — Permitted usage
Our website and the materials available thereon (for example texts, images, videos, data, software, brands and trademarks and other data) are protected by intellectual property rights and other rights vested in us, our affiliated companies (subsidiaries) and/or licensors, such as ITMA Services nv.
Visitors to the website are permitted to consult the website, and the material for their own purposes. This right of use is non-exclusive and non-transferable and we reserve the right to revoke this right at any time and without justification. Any other use of any element of the website (i.e. reproduction, changes, publication or any other form of distribution) is prohibited, unless we and/or the licensors have provided advance express permission in writing.
Prohibited use of the website and material
You undertake as follows: not to use the website, and the material (1) illegally and/or for illegal purposes; (2) not to damage, modify, interrupt, stop it or impair its efficiency; (3) to disseminate or install computer viruses nor to disseminate or install material that is insulting, obscene, threatening or otherwise not in accordance with the intended use of the website; (4) not to infringe third-party or our rights to privacy, protection of personal data or intellectual property; (5) to disseminate or install material for marketing or advertising purposes without requesting our prior approval and only insofar as the recipient has requested the said material.
Liability
We shall make every effort to ensure the information we add to our website is as complete, correct and current as possible, although we cannot guarantee that the information provided does not include any errors. The information contained therein is not aimed at specific people or organisations and may therefore not be complete, relevant or accurate.
The information must not be considered professional or legal advice (an expert should always be consulted for these purposes). The user is responsible for the use of the website and their data. We waive all liability for any damage caused by any errors on this website.
We make every reasonable effort to limit technical malfunctions. Errors and malfunctions may however occur when using the website, which may hinder the availability or operation thereof. The website and the content thereof is provided “as is” and we do not accept any liability for issues resulting from the use of our website or the content thereof.
The website pages may contain links to external websites for whose content we neither assume nor will assume any liability with regard thereto. We will not be held liable for material and information added by users to the website. The user is obliged to indemnify or compensate us for all damage attributable to the material and information.
Applicable legislation and jurisdiction
Swiss law is applicable to our website, this policy and disputes that may arise with regard to these. In the event of a dispute, only the courts of Switzerland shall have jurisdiction.
Amendments to this policy
Cematex may amend or update this policy to ensure the provision of information on how we process your personal data at that time. The updated version of this policy is available on the same website and will take effect upon publication. Please visit this webpage regularly to ensure you remain up-to-date on how we collect and process personal data, how and under what circumstances we use your personal data and when we share your personal data with third parties.
Version June 2026