This translation is provided for information purposes only. In the event of any discrepancy, the French version shall prevail.
1. Introduction
This Cookie Policy explains how VELVET (hereinafter ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘the Site’) uses cookies and other similar technologies on the website https://velvet-dating.ch.
VELVET complies with the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, for users residing in the EU/EEA, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC).
We attach particular importance to transparency and to the control you have over your data.
2. What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small text file stored on your device (computer, smartphone, tablet) when you visit a website. It makes it possible to recognise your browser, remember your preferences and improve your user experience.
Cookies do not contain any virus or malicious code. On their own, they do not make it possible to identify a user personally, except in combination with other information that you provide to us.
3. Your consent
On your first visit to the Site, a consent banner allows you to:
- accept all cookies,
- refuse non-essential cookies,
- customise your preferences by category.
Only strictly necessary cookies (category 4.1 below) are placed without your consent, because they are indispensable to the operation of the Site.
All other cookies are activated only after your explicit consent.
You may change your choices or withdraw your consent at any time via the ‘Manage my cookies’ link at the bottom of every page of the Site. Your choice is kept for 6 months (182 days); after that period, the banner is shown to you again.
4. Types of cookies used
4.1 Strictly necessary (essential) cookies
These cookies ensure that the Site functions properly. Without them, the Site might not work correctly. They do not require your consent.
The Site uses the following items:
- velvet_cookies (browser local storage): records your cookie choice, for 6 months.
- velvet_majorite (browser local storage): remembers that you have confirmed that you are aged 18 or over, so that you are not asked the question again on the same device. It remains until you clear the Site’s data in your browser.
- Browser session storage, during pre-registration: your email address and the time of submission, in order to display the confirmation screen and allow the link to be resent. It is erased when the tab is closed. Your address never appears in the address (URL) of the pages.
- Cloudflare Turnstile, on the pre-registration form only: a security service that distinguishes people from bots, in principle without any action on your part. It processes in particular your IP address and technical information about your browser. Provider: Cloudflare, Inc. (United States).
4.2 Performance and analytics cookies
These cookies allow us to understand how visitors interact with the Site (pages viewed, length of visit, bounce rate, etc.). The data collected is used solely for the purpose of improving the service.
With your consent only, the Site uses Microsoft Clarity, an analytics tool provided by Microsoft Corporation (United States). It records how the Site is used (pages viewed, clicks, scrolling, pointer movements) and links this to a technical identifier, not to your name or your email address. Until you have accepted the ‘Analytics’ category, Microsoft Clarity is not loaded and does not place any cookie.
Once you have agreed, Microsoft Clarity places in particular the following cookies:
- _clck: visitor identifier, to recognise the same browser from one visit to the next, for 12 months.
- _clsk: grouping of the pages viewed during a single visit, for 1 day.
- CLID and MUID: Microsoft technical identifiers, for no more than 12 months.
Microsoft privacy policy: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement
4.3 Personalisation (preference) cookies
They make it possible to adapt the content of the Site to your preferences (language, visual theme, region). They improve ease of use without collecting sensitive data.
To date, the Site does not use any personalisation cookie: the language is chosen by the address of the page.
4.4 Marketing and advertising cookies
These cookies make it possible to measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns and, where applicable, to deliver personalised advertising. They are activated only with your explicit consent.
With your consent only, the Site uses the Meta pixel, provided by Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. (Ireland). It lets us know whether a visit or a pre-registration follows one of our advertisements on Facebook or Instagram. Until you have accepted the ‘Marketing’ category, the Meta pixel is not loaded and does not place any cookie.
Once you have agreed, the Meta pixel places in particular the following cookies:
- _fbp: browser identifier, to measure conversions from our advertisements, for 3 months.
- _fbc: identifier of the click on an advertisement, to attribute it to a campaign, for 3 months.
No other third-party advertising tracker (TikTok, Google or other) is used.
Meta privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/
5. Retention period
- Session cookies expire as soon as you close your browser.
- Persistent cookies have a maximum lifetime of 13 months from the time they are placed, in accordance with the recommendations of the data protection authorities.
- Your cookie choice is kept for 6 months (182 days) in your browser’s local storage.
After this period, they are automatically deleted. Fresh consent will be requested from you where applicable.
6. Third parties and data transfers
Certain cookies are placed, only with your consent, by third-party providers: Microsoft (Microsoft Clarity, analytics) and Meta (Meta pixel, measurement of the effectiveness of advertising campaigns). The Cloudflare Turnstile security service is used on the pre-registration form (see 4.1).
These providers may transfer data to countries outside Switzerland and the EU/EEA (in particular the United States). In that case, VELVET ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place:
- Transfer to a country covered by an adequacy decision of the Swiss Federal Council or of the European Commission,
- Failing that, the implementation of standard contractual clauses (SCCs) or other mechanisms compliant with the FADP and the GDPR.
For Microsoft and Meta, transfers to the United States are governed by the standard contractual clauses and, where the recipient is certified under it, by the Data Privacy Framework between Switzerland and the United States and between the European Union and the United States.
7. How to manage or disable cookies
7.1 Via our consent banner
Click on the ‘Manage my cookies’ link at the bottom of the page to change your preferences at any time. There you can withdraw your consent to analytics or to marketing as easily as you gave it; this withdrawal applies for the future.
7.2 Via your browser settings
You can also block or delete cookies from your browser settings:
- Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en
- Mozilla Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
- Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac
- Microsoft Edge: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4027947
Please note: refusing or deleting certain cookies (in particular essential cookies) may limit or prevent access to certain features of the Site (logging in, messaging, etc.).
8. Updates to this policy
VELVET reserves the right to amend this Policy at any time in order to comply with legislative or technical developments, or to reflect changes made to the cookies used.
The most recent version is always available at: https://velvet-dating.ch/politique-de-cookies/
9. Contact
For any question relating to the use of cookies:
VELVET – Data Protection Department
Person responsible: Dany Varone
Email: [email protected]
Address: PO Box, 1971 Grimisuat, Switzerland
Business identification number (UID): CHE-385.675.745
