Commodity Trading and Shipping Club (CTSC)
University of St. Gallen (HSG) / Studentenschaft der Universität St. Gallen (SHSG)
Last updated: 30 July 2026
This Cookie Policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy, which explains in more detail how we handle personal data generally.
1. What Are Cookies
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They allow a site to recognize your device, remember preferences, or measure usage. "Similar technologies" (local storage, pixels, embedded third-party widgets) are covered by this policy in the same way.
2. Categories of Cookies We Use
| Category | Purpose | Set by | Consent required? | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Load the pages you request, basic security, remembering cookie preferences | Us (first-party) | No — but disclosed here (Art. 19 revFADP) | Session or up to 90 days |
| Functional/preference | Remember settings such as language, if offered | Us (first-party) | No, but you can opt out; disclosed here | Up to 6 months |
| Analytics | Understand aggregate site usage (pages visited, time on site) to improve the Website — only if/when enabled | Depends on tool: privacy-focused/anonymized analytics can run on an opt-out basis; anything identifying requires opt-in consent | Varies by tool | Varies by tool |
| Embedded social feed (LinkedIn) | Display our public LinkedIn posts on the homepage via a third-party widget | [Embed provider, e.g. Elfsight/SociableKit/Taggbox] and/or LinkedIn directly | Generally yes — treated as non-essential third-party tracking; loaded only after consent, or via click-to-load (see Section 5) | Set by the third-party provider — see their policy |
| Social share icons/links (LinkedIn, Instagram) | Let you click through to our social pages | LinkedIn/Instagram, only if you click | No cookie set unless you click through | N/A |
| Advertising / profiling | We do not use these | — | Would require explicit opt-in if ever introduced | — |
We currently run no advertising or profiling cookies.
3. The LinkedIn Feed Widget, Specifically
Our homepage displays a live feed of our public LinkedIn company posts through a third-party embed service. Because this widget loads content directly from the provider's (and/or LinkedIn's) servers:
- It may set its own cookies or similar identifiers, governed by that provider's and LinkedIn's own privacy/cookie policies, not this one.
- It may collect technical data (e.g., your IP address, browser type) independently of us, simply by virtue of your browser requesting content from their servers.
Where technically feasible, we load this widget only after you've interacted with our cookie banner (see Section 5), or use a "click-to-load" placeholder so the feed activates only once you choose to view it — avoiding any third-party cookie being set on page load without your input.
4. Legal Basis
Switzerland: Under the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (revFADP) and the Telecommunications Act, strictly necessary cookies require no consent but must be disclosed (which this policy does). Functional/analytics cookies can generally run on a disclosed opt-out basis. Cookies involving profiling, advertising, or meaningful cross-site tracking require explicit opt-in consent, per current guidance from the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).
EU/EEA: Under the ePrivacy rules and GDPR, any non-essential cookie (including third-party embeds like the LinkedIn widget) generally requires prior opt-in consent from visitors located in the EU/EEA before it is set.
Because our audience includes both Swiss and EU-based visitors (partners, event guests, prospective members), we apply the stricter opt-in standard to any non-essential or third-party cookie, rather than relying only on the more relaxed Swiss opt-out option — this keeps us compliant for both audiences without needing to geo-detect visitors.
5. Managing Your Cookie Preferences
In your browser: You can block, delete, or be notified of cookies through your browser settings (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, etc.). Blocking strictly necessary cookies may affect how the Website functions.
Third-party opt-outs: Where a specific provider offers its own opt-out (e.g., an analytics tool's opt-out page), we will link it here once confirmed.
6. Changes to This Policy
We will update this Cookie Policy whenever we add or remove a cookie category — most likely once we finalize the analytics tool and the LinkedIn embed provider. The "Last updated" date above will reflect the latest revision, and material changes will be flagged on the Website.
7. Contact
Questions about this Cookie Policy can be sent to commodityclub@shsg.ch.
This policy operates alongside our Privacy Policy and, where relevant, the University of St. Gallen's own data protection declaration (unisg.ch).