Cookies Statement

Introduction and scope

Apellis Switzerland GmbH, a company incorporated under the laws of Switzerland, with registered seat in Zug and offices at Zählerweg 10, 6300 Zug, Switzerland (hereinafter mentioned as “Apellis” or “we”, “us” or “our”), owns and operates this website (hereinafter the “Site”), in compliance with the applicable legal framework about electronic communications and personal data protection. The purpose of the present statement is to inform the users of our Site on how we use cookies and similar tracking technologies and how we process the information we collect through them.

Moreover, this statement explains how this Site uses cookies and provides clear and relevant information to our Site users on what choices a user has in terms of controlling what happens when he/she accesses our Site. The statement uses the term ‘Cookies’ to refer to cookies and similar tracking technologies covered by the law (such as, for example, Local Shared Objects – commonly referred to as “flash cookies”, web beacons or bugs, including transparent clear gifs). The gathered information concerns data that could allow to identify web users by associating and processing them with other data kept by third parties (such as, for example, the IP address, domain and registration numbers of the computers used by people connecting to the Site). These data are used and processed only for statistical purposes.

This document is an integral and substantial part of the Privacy Statement and the privacy information notices contained in it and complies with the provisions set out by the e-Privacy Directive 2002/58/EC, as amended and in force, the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”) and any other related data protection and data privacy laws and regulations including any relevant opinions and guidelines issued by local data protection authorities. We recommend, therefore, that you also read our Privacy Statement to know more about Apellis’s general commitment to data protection.

What is a Cookie

Cookies are small pieces of text used to store information on web browsers. Cookies are used to store and receive identifiers and other information on computers, phones and other devices by websites that you visit. Other technologies, including data we store on your web browser or device, identifiers associated with your device, and other software, are used for similar purposes. In this statement, we refer to all of these technologies as "Cookies."

Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. Cookies are usually specific to a visitor - or rather the device they are using to view the website - like the browser or mobile phone. Cookies allow you to login on one page, then move around to other pages and stay logged in. They allow you to set preferences for the display of a page, and for these to be remembered the next time you return to it.

Different types of cookies

There are many different types and uses of cookies, but most can be classified in a number of different ways.

Session Cookies

Session Cookies which are deleted immediately after the end of each session and / or after the browser is closed. These cookies allow websites to link the actions of a user during a browser session. They may be used for a variety of purposes such as remembering what a user has put in their shopping basket as they browse around a website. They could also be used for security when a user is accessing internet banking or to facilitate use of webmail. These session cookies expire after a browser session.

The use of the so-called session cookies is strictly limited to the purpose of transmitting data (made up of random numbers created by the server) identifying the specific session and necessary to allow a safe and efficient website surfing.

Persistent Cookies

Persistent Cookies remain in the users’ browser in between browser sessions for a specific period of time or until deleted. These cookies allow the preferences or actions of the user across a Website (or in some cases across different websites) to be remembered. Persistent cookies may be used for a variety of purposes including remembering users’ preferences and choices when using a website.

Additionally, depending on whether the cookies are created and controlled by the website’s operator/owner or other parties, they are distinguished into "first party" and "third party" cookies, respectively.

First party Cookies

One of the key attributes of a cookie is its 'Host' - this is the domain name of the site that ultimately sets the cookie. Only the host domain can retrieve and read the contents of the cookie once it has been set. If the host name is the same as the domain in the browser address bar when it is set or retrieved, then it is a “First Party Cookie”, namely cookies set by Apellis on an Apellis website. First party cookies are only set or retrieved by the website while you are visiting it, so they cannot normally be used to track activity or pass data from one site to another. However, the owner of that website can still collect data through their cookies and use that to change how the website appears to the user, or the information it displays.

Third party Cookies

If the host domain for a cookie is different to the one in the browser bar when it was downloaded, then it is a “Third Party Cookie”. They are usually placed in a website via scripts or tags added into the web page. Sometimes these scripts will also bring additional functionality to the site, such as enabling content to be shared via social networks. For example, if you visit a site that has a YouTube video in one of its pages. This has been included by the website owner, using a piece of code provided by YouTube. YouTube will then be able to set cookies through this code, and know that you have watched that video, or even just visited the page the video is in. Online advertising is the most common use of Third-Party Cookies. By adding their tags to a page, which may or may not display adverts, advertisers can track a user (or their device) across many of the websites they visit. This allows them to build up a 'behavioural profile' of the user, which can then be used to target them with online ads based around their 'calculated' interests.

Furthermore, there is an essential distinction between the type of “functional Cookies” which are necessary for the proper operation of the Site and all the other types which are complementary to a better browsing experience of the users and/or to the pursuing purposes of the Site’s owner, such as advertising, security and others.

How to accept, control and delete our cookies

Some cookies are strictly necessary for the correct functioning of this Site and do not require user’s consent, such as those ensuring that the content of a page loads quickly and effectively by distributing the workload across numerous computers or else those providing security.

Other cookies are still reasonably necessary or important, but they are not strictly essential and, therefore, require user’s consent. For these cookies (i.e. performance and functionality, advertising/targeting), we will request your consent before placing them on your device.

You could also use the 'help' option in your internet browser for more details or you can click on one of the links below to go directly to the user manual for your browser: 

For more information on the deactivation of cookies please visit http://www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org, which contain general information about cookies and comprehensive information on how to modify the cookie settings on a wide variety of browsers and how to delete cookies from your computer.

Please note that disabling or blocking some or all of the categories of cookies will affect the functionality of the Site and may impact your access and experience with our Site and the services we are able to offer.

Any of your cookies’ preferences are limited to this Site only and not to other third-party owned websites or any other webpages, which may be hyperlinked to this Site. For more information on cookies used by those websites, please refer to the specific privacy notice or cookie statement of those websites.

Cookies and similar tracking technologies we use and how

Apellis uses first-party functional cookies which are strictly necessary for the proper operation of our Site. The cookies we use allow users to browse our Site and make use of its features without identifying the users as individuals. The data we collect is aggregated and not able to identify the users directly, unless they provide us with personal information through another feature offered on the Site. Where personal information is collected by us, such collection is covered by our Privacy Policy.

Here is a list of the technical cookies used by our Site:

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are necessary for the Site to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.

Moreover, Apellis would like to set up more cookies that are reasonably important in order to improve user’s experience, as well as to develop aggregated statistics on the data collected for various reasons.

These cookies allow us to improve our Site by counting the number of users and by examining how users move around the Site when they visit it. This helps us to improve the way our Site works, for example by making sure users are finding what they need easily. Read more about the cookies we use and how to recognise them from the tables below.

More specifically, this Site uses these types of cookies, as listed in the tables below:

Functionality cookies

These cookies allow our site to remember the choices you make (such as your username, language, preferences, or region) to provide a more personalised online experience. If you do not accept these cookies, the site's performance and functionality may be affected, and access to content on the site may be restricted. 

Performance cookies

These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, length of time spent on the site, and if they get error messages from web pages. All the information that these cookies collect is used to improve how a website works.

Google Analytics

This Site uses 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 Site analyse how users use the Site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the Site (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 Site, compiling reports on Site activity for website operators and providing other services relating to Site 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. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser.

You can learn about Google’s practices by going to and opt out of them by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Social Media

Our Site uses hyperlinks from the social networks Twitter and LinkedIn. Users can identify this hyperlink by the respective logo of the social network. When users visit our Site, the operators of the social media plug-in on our Site may place cookies on users’ computer that enable these operators to recognize the users on websites belonging to them and their affiliates and partners after users have visited our Site, or that enable them to add the information collected from the users’ visit to our Site with their prior activity on those websites. The social media plug-ins may collect this information about users whether they specifically interact with the plug-in or not, and it may enable social media companies to share information about users’ web-browsing navigational information with some of their other users.

We do not control what information is collected by social media operator or the information practices adopted by those social media companies, once you are directed to their websites. Users can find information about the purpose and extent of information acquisition as well as how the information is processed further and used by the social networks, together with users’ rights and optional settings, in the privacy notices of the social networks (e.g. https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-cookies and https://www.linkedin.com/legal/cookie-policy).

Third Party Hyperlink

The Site contains also third-party hyperlinks, such as Href, mailto and tel links. If users follow these hyperlinks, please note that all of them have their own privacy and cookie policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these. Microsoft-Outlook’s policies, for instance, should be checked out before submitting any personal data to the mailto link. Such a use shall take place at users’ own, sole risk.

Circulation and storage of data

Data concerning the users of our Site will not be stored for a longer period than the above mentioned for each cookie type except for any need of checking computer crimes damaging the Site in compliance with applicable laws. We do not share users’ personal data that we may collect through cookies with any third party. Access to users’ personal data may be given to trusted external service providers engaged by Apellis, such as companies providing IT services and website hosting, only to the extent necessary for the provision of their services to us. These service providers act as data processors in relation to users’ personal data and are bound to process users’ personal data exclusively on behalf and under our instructions and to implement strict security measures for protecting users’ personal data. No information coming from the web service will ever be either communicated or disseminated to unspecified recipients.

Users’ rights

Users have the right to access, rectify and erase their personal data and the rights to object and to restrict to the processing of their personal data which are kept by Apellis through the use of cookies and similar tracking technologies. In some instances, users also have the right to receive their personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to transmit them to a third party. Users can, also, at any time revoke the consent that they have provided us for the processing of their personal data through the use of cookies and other similar tracking technologies on our Site by deleting them from their device and by visiting the Settings section of their browser. If users wish to exercise any of their rights above or they have any questions or concerns in relation to this statement, please send us an email at privacy@apellis.com

Users also have the right to lodge a complaint in relation to Apellis processing of their personal information with the competent local data protection authority, if they consider that we violate the applicable data protection laws when processing their personal data.