Privacy Policy
F. Hoffmann La-Roche AG’s Online Privacy Statement
Thank you for visiting a Roche Website or interacting with us via e-mail.
At Roche, we understand that protecting the privacy of visitors to our Web sites is very
important and that information about your health is particularly sensitive. That’s why we
have taken the necessary steps to meet worldwide data privacy requirements. We treat
your „personal data“ according to the „Roche Directive on the Protection of Personal
Data“, and to the laws of the EU, Switzerland and other applicable local laws which
regulate the storage, process, access and transfer of personal data.
Roche Web sites that display this privacy policy (“policy”) and that ask for any
information from you are committed to collecting, maintaining, and securing personal
information about you in accordance with this policy, as well as applicable laws, rules
and regulations. This policy applies to personal information (as defined below) collected
from Roche online resources and communications (such as Web sites, e-mail, and
other online tools) that display a link to this policy. This policy does not apply to personal
information collected from offline resources and communications, except in cases where
such personal information is consolidated with personal information collected by Roche
online. This policy also does not apply to third-party online resources to which Roche’s
Web sites may link, where Roche does not control the content or the privacy practices
of such resources.
We only collect personally identifiable information about you if you choose to give it to
us. We do not share any of your personally identifiable information with third parties for
their own marketing use unless you explicitly give us permission to do so. Please review
this Privacy Statement to learn more about how we collect, use, share and protect
information online.
Information Collected
Your Choices
Security
Use of Data
Data Sharing and Transfer
Links to Other Sites
Privacy Statement for Children
Additional Information on Web Sites
Note to Users of Business or Professional Web Sites
Updates to Privacy Statement
How to Contact Roche
Information Collected
There are two general methods that Roche uses to collect information from you online:
Information We Get
- Personal identifiable information: You can visit our Web sites without providing any
personal information. We may collect your personally identifiable information (such as
name, address, telephone number, e-mail address or other identifying information) only
when you choose to submit it to us. We may also collect health information about you
that you provide by responding to our questions or surveys.
- Aggregate information: In some cases we also remove personal identifiers from data
you provide to us and maintain it in aggregate form. We may combine this data with
other information to produce anonymous, aggregated statistical information (e.g.
number of visitors, originating domain name of the Internet Service Provider), helpful to
us in improving our products and services.
Automatically Collected Information
We and some third party providers we work with automatically receive certain types of
information whenever you interact with us on our sites and in some e-mails we may
send each other. Automatic technologies and services we use may include, for
example, Web server logs/IP addresses, cookies, Web beacons and third party
application and content tools.
Web Server Logs/IP Addresses. An IP address is a number assigned to your computer
whenever you access the Internet. All computer identification on the Internet is
conducted with IP addresses, which allow computers and servers to recognize and
communicate with each other. Roche collects IP addresses to conduct system
administration and report aggregate information to affiliates, business partners and/or
vendors to conduct site analysis and Web site performance review.
Cookies. A cookie is a piece of information that is placed automatically on your
computer’s hard drive when you access certain Web sites. The cookie uniquely
identifies your browser to the server. Cookies allow us to store information on the server
to help make the Web experience better for you and to conduct site analysis and Web
site performance review. Most Web browsers are set up to accept cookies, although
you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being
sent. Note, however, that some portions of our sites may not work properly if you refuse
cookies.
Web Beacons. On certain Web pages or e-mails, Roche may utilize a common Internet
technology called a "Web beacon" (also known as an "action tag" or "clear GIF
technology"). Web beacons help analyze the effectiveness of Web sites by measuring,
for example, the number of visitors to a site or how many visitors clicked on key
elements of a site.
Web beacons, cookies and other tracking technologies do not automatically obtain
personally identifiable information about you. Only if you voluntarily submit personally
identifiable information, such as by registering or sending e-mails, can these automatic
tracking technologies be used to provide further information about your use of the Web
sites and/or interactive e-mails to improve their usefulness to you.
Services: We may provide services based on third party applications and content tools
on certain Roche Websites such as Google Maps or QUARTAL FLIFE. These third
parties may automatically receive certain types of information whenever you interact
with us on our sites using such third party applications and tools.
Your Choices
You have several choices regarding your use of our Web sites. You could decide not to
submit any personally identifiable information at all by not entering it into any forms or
data fields on our sites and not using any available personalized services. If you choose
to submit personal data, you have the right to see and correct your data at any time by
accessing the application. Certain sites may ask for your permission for certain uses of
your information and you can agree to or decline those uses. If you opt-in for particular
services or communications, such as an e-newsletter, you will be able to unsubscribe at
any time by following the instructions included in each communication. If you decide to
unsubscribe from a service or communication, we will work to remove your information
promptly, although we may require additional information before we can process your
request.
As described above, if you wish to prevent cookies from tracking you anonymously as
you navigate our sites, you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate
when a cookie is being sent.
Security
Roche uses technology and security precautions, rules and other procedures to protect
your personal information from unauthorized access, improper use, disclosure, loss or
destruction. To ensure the confidentiality of your information, Roche uses also industry
standard firewalls and password protection. It is, however, your personal responsibility
to ensure that the computer you are using is adequately secured and protected against
malicious software, such as trojans, computer viruses and worm programs. You are
aware of the fact that without adequate security measures (e.g. secure web browser
configuration, up-to-date antivirus software, personal firewall software, no usage of
software from dubious sources) there is a risk that the data and passwords you use to
protect access to your data, could be disclosed to unauthorized third parties.
Use of Data
Roche, including the subsidiaries, divisions and groups worldwide and/or the companies
we hire to perform services on our behalf will use any personally identifiable information
you choose to give us to comply with your requests. We will retain control of and
responsibility for the use of this information. Some of this data may be stored or
processed at computers located in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, whose
data protection laws may differ from the jurisdiction in which you live. In such cases, we
will ensure that appropriate protections are in place to require the data processor in that
country to maintain protections on the data that are equivalent to those that apply in the
country in which you live.
The information, which is also used for different HR purposes (Performance
Management, Succession decisions or Development actions), will be helpful for us to
better understand your needs and how we can improve our products and services. It
helps us also to personalize certain communications with you about services and
promotions that you might find interesting. For example, we may analyze the gender or
age of visitors to sites about a particular medication or disease state, and we may use
that analysis of aggregate data internally or share it with others.
Data Sharing and Transfer
Roche shares personally identifiable data about you with various outside companies or
agents doing technological maintenance or working on our behalf to help fulfill business
transactions, such as providing customer services, sending marketing communications
about our products, services and offers. We may also share personally identifiable data
with our company's subsidiaries and affiliates. All these companies and agents are
required to comply with the terms of our privacy policies.
We may also disclose personally identifiable information for these purposes:
a) in connection with the sale, assignment or other transfer of the business of the site to
which the data relates;
b) to respond to appropriate requests of legitimate government agencies or where
required by applicable laws, court orders, or government regulations; or
c) where needed for corporate audits or to investigate or respond to a complaint or
security threat.
No Third-Party Direct Marketing Use. We will not sell or otherwise transfer the
personally identifiable information you provide to us at our Web sites to any third parties
for their own direct marketing use unless we provide clear notice to you and obtain your
explicit consent for your data to be shared in this manner.
E-mail a Friend or Colleague. On some Roche sites, you can choose to send a link or a
message to a friend or colleague referring them to a Roche Web site. E-mail addresses
you may provide for a friend will be used to send your friend information on your behalf
and will not be collected or used by Roche or other third parties for additional purposes.
Google Analytics. Roche Websites may use Google Analytics, a web analytics service
provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text
files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The
information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP
address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States .
Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website,
compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services
relating to website activity and internet usage. 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. Google will not associate your IP address with any other
data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate
settings on your browser, however, as mentioned above please note that if you do this
you may not be able to use the full functionality of a Roche website. By using a Roche
website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and
for the purposes set out above.
Links to Other Sites
Our sites contain links to a number of Web sites that may offer useful information to our
visitors. This Privacy Statement does not apply to those sites, and we recommend
communicating to them directly for information on their privacy policies.
Privacy Statement for Children
Our Web sites are directed at an adult audience. We do not collect any personally
identifiable information from anyone we know to be under the age of 13 without the
prior, verifiable consent of his or her legal representative. Such legal representative has
the right, upon request, to view the information provided by the child and/or to require
that it be deleted.
Additional Information on Web Sites
If a Web site has particular provisions relating to privacy that differ from those stated
here, those provisions will be disclosed to you on the page on which personally
identifiable information is collected.
Note to Users of Business or Professional Web Sites
If you have a business or professional relationship with Roche, we may use information
you submit on our sites, including sites intended specifically for business and
professional users, to fulfill your requests and develop our business relationship with
you and the entities you represent. We may also share such information with third
parties acting on our behalf.
Updates to Privacy Statement
From time to time, Roche may revise this online Privacy Statement. Any such changes
to this Privacy Statement will be promptly communicated on this page. Continued use of
our sites after receiving notice of a change in our Privacy Statement indicates your
consent to the use of newly submitted information in accordance with the amended
Roche Privacy Statement. The effective date of this Privacy Statement is 1 November
2005.
How to Contact Roche
For questions or if you wish Roche to amend or delete your profile, please contact us in
writing (by post), as follows:
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd
Corporate Communications
Grenzacherstrasse 124
CH-4070 Basel
Switzerland
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, this Privacy Statement applies to F. Hoffmann-La
Roche Ltd or F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd Websites