Privacy

How we use your information

This page explains, in plain terms, what St. Peter’s holds about you, why we hold it, and what you can ask us to do about it. It covers two things: our newsletter mailing list, and the filming and recording of our services.

St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Château-d’Oex is a church in Switzerland, so the law that applies to us is the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, which came into force in September 2023. The regulator is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

If you would rather simply ask us a question about any of this, please write to the Chaplaincy Council at info@stpeters.ch. There is no form to fill in and no procedure to follow.

The newsletter mailing list

What we hold. Your email address, your name, whether you are currently subscribed, and which of our mailings you are on — the weekly service email, for instance, or news for Friends of St. Peter’s. We also keep a record of when you first agreed to receive the newsletter, because that is our evidence that you asked for it.

Two things nobody gives us. Any email system, ours included, produces some information about you automatically, and it is only fair to say so plainly:

• Roughly where you are. When you open one of our emails, the mailing system makes a rough guess at your country and region from your internet connection. Nobody types this in, and it is not precise, but it is recorded.
• Whether you opened it, and what you clicked. The system records which of our emails were opened and which links were followed.

We do not use either of these to build a picture of anyone. They come with the system, and they are there whether we look at them or not.

Why we hold it. To send you the newsletter, and occasional church mailings. Our basis for doing so is that you agreed to receive it. If you no longer want it, that agreement ends the moment you say so.

Stopping the newsletter. Every email we send carries an unsubscribe link at the bottom. One click stops it. You do not need to give a reason, and you do not need to ask anyone — it takes effect straight away.

Who sends it for us. We do not run our own mail system. From September 2026 the newsletter is sent through MailerLite, an email service that holds the list on computers in the European Union. Before that it was sent through Mailchimp, run by The Rocket Science Group LLC in the United States, and their copy of the list will be deleted when we close that account. Both companies handle the list only on our instructions, under a written agreement that includes the standard European terms for protecting personal information. Those agreements forbid them from using your details for anything of their own. We do not sell, rent or lend the list to anybody.

How long we keep it. While you are subscribed, and for 24 months after you unsubscribe. We keep that record deliberately: it is what stops your name being added back by mistake if the list is ever imported again. After 24 months it goes.

Filming and recording our services

St. Peter’s livestreams and records its Sunday service, which is published on YouTube and on this website and stays there so that people who cannot be with us can still share in worship.

The camera is at the back of the church. It is normally on the minister; during the hymns it draws back and some of the congregation may appear, generally from behind. The back three rows are not filmed at all — if you would prefer not to appear, sitting there is enough, and nobody need be told.

If you appear in a recording and would rather not, please tell us and we will remove it. Write to the Chaplaincy Council at info@stpeters.ch.

What you can ask us to do

Whether you are on the mailing list or appear in a recording, you may ask us to:

• tell you what we hold about you, and give you a copy;
• correct it, if we have something wrong;
• delete it — for the mailing list this is immediate;
• stop emailing you, at any time, using the unsubscribe link in any newsletter.

We answer such requests within 30 days. There is no charge, and you need not explain why you are asking.

Who to contact

Questions about your information, or any of the above:

The Chaplaincy Council, St. Peter’s Anglican Church info@stpeters.ch Grande Rue 49, 1660 Château-d’Oex, Switzerland