In December 2019 we made a minor update to Proton VPN’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy reflecting that the legal party you are contracting with was changed from Proton VPN AG (Switzerland) to Proton AG (Switzerland). As Proton AG was the parent company of Proton VPN (and the 100% owner of Proton VPN AG) there was no change to the actual terms and conditions. As the legal successor to Proton VPN AG, Proton AG has assumed all of the previous contractual obligations of Proton VPN AG.
What changed?
Proton VPN AG was a wholly owned (100%) subsidiary of Proton AG (“Proton”), the company behind Proton Mail and Proton VPN.
When we launched Proton VPN in 2017, it was legally prudent for it to be designated as a separate entity so the two products could benefit from different treatment under Swiss telecommunications laws and each get the most favorable legal status possible. However, in 2018, the Swiss administrative authority later ruled that Proton AG and Proton VPN AG are to be treated as the same entity for the purposes of telecommunications laws. As a result, the continued legal separation no longer provides any advantages, while incurring significant additional administrative costs.
Furthermore, as an organization that serves the public benefit and is promoting economic growth within Switzerland, Proton AG benefits from a special tax treatment in Geneva, Switzerland, and it was therefore also beneficial for all of Proton to be consolidated under Proton AG.
Therefore, Proton VPN AG was merged into Proton AG at the end of 2019, and as the legal successor, Proton AG assumed all contractual obligations. There was no change in ownership as Proton VPN AG was already 100% owned by Proton AG, which is in turn controlled by Proton employees. There were also no changes to either the Terms and Conditions or the Privacy Policy as all the terms are exactly the same as before. As such, there was no change to how we handle and protect your data.
As an organization, we value transparency above all, and we believe that this simplified structure also makes it easier for us to be transparent with the community in the future and avoid confusion about the relationship between various Proton services.
