Clearly

Draft for legal review — these documents are not yet in force.

Clearly — Meeting Participant Notice & Consent Guide

Version 1.1 (draft for counsel review) — [DATE]

This document has four parts: (1) why consent is non-negotiable in Switzerland, (2) the United States picture and why we recommend one practice everywhere, (3) ready-to-use notice language for facilitators (EN/DE/FR), and (4) the consent practice we recommend agencies adopt — and that our Terms (§4) require.

1. The legal frame (Switzerland)

Recording a non-public conversation without the express consent of every participant is a criminal offense in Switzerland (Art. 179ter Swiss Criminal Code; Art. 179bis for third-party interception). This protects everyone in the meeting — including the agency's own staff.

Clearly takes the conservative position that live transcription is treated like recording, even though Clearly never stores audio: the conversation is captured verbatim as text. Counsel reviewing this product should assume Art. 179ter applies and evaluate the consent practice below, not the absence of an audio file.

Consent must be express: announced and affirmed. Silence, or failing to object, is not consent. The duty sits with the people running the meeting — the agency (our customer) and its facilitator. Data protection law (FADP/GDPR) applies in parallel: participants must understand what is captured, what it is used for, and who processes it.

2. The United States

US federal law (the ECPA/Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. §2511(2)(d)) sets a one-party-consent baseline: a participant may record. But state law controls wherever it is stricter, and a substantial set of states require all-party consent for confidential or private conversations — commonly listed: California (Penal Code §632), Washington, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, with mixed or contested regimes in Connecticut, Michigan, Nevada, and Oregon (some distinguish in-person from electronic conversations). [Counsel: confirm the state list at publication — it shifts with case law.] The strictest participant's state governs a multi-state call in practice, since you rarely control where people dial in from.

Our recommendation is unchanged and uniform: always all-party notice + affirmation, exactly as for Switzerland. It satisfies every US state regime, the federal baseline, and Art. 179ter at once — one practice, no per-jurisdiction analysis before each meeting.

3. Notice language (use before starting a session)

Spoken, at the top of the meeting (EN)

"Quick housekeeping before we start: we use Clearly to support this meeting. It transcribes what we say and builds the project brief live, so nothing you tell us gets lost or misremembered — you'll see the brief take shape and can correct it in the room. No audio recording is kept; the transcript and brief stay in our workspace and are processed by our transcription and AI providers under contract. Is everyone okay with that?"

Wait for an affirmative response from each participant before starting the session.

Gesprochen, zu Beginn des Meetings (DE)

"Kurz zur Organisation: Wir nutzen Clearly zur Unterstützung dieses Meetings. Es transkribiert das Gespräch und erstellt das Briefing live — nichts geht verloren, und Sie sehen das Briefing direkt entstehen und können es im Raum korrigieren. Eine Audioaufnahme wird nicht gespeichert; Transkript und Briefing bleiben in unserem Arbeitsbereich und werden von unseren Transkriptions- und KI-Dienstleistern vertraglich gebunden verarbeitet. Sind alle damit einverstanden?"

Vor dem Start die ausdrückliche Zustimmung jeder teilnehmenden Person abwarten.

Calendar-invite text (EN — paste into the meeting invitation)

This meeting will be transcribed and summarized live using Clearly, our briefing tool, so that decisions and requirements are captured accurately. No audio is recorded or stored. The transcript and the resulting brief are kept in [Agency]'s workspace; processing details: [link to the agency's privacy notice / clearly.app/privacy]. If you have concerns, tell us before the meeting and we will take notes manually instead.

Kalendereinladung (DE)

Dieses Meeting wird mit Clearly, unserem Briefing-Tool, live transkribiert und zusammengefasst, damit Entscheidungen und Anforderungen präzise festgehalten werden. Audio wird nicht aufgezeichnet oder gespeichert. Transkript und Briefing verbleiben im Arbeitsbereich von [Agentur]; Einzelheiten: [Link]. Bei Bedenken melden Sie sich bitte vor dem Meeting — wir protokollieren dann manuell.

Oralement, en début de réunion (FR) (traduction de travail)

« Un point d'organisation avant de commencer : nous utilisons Clearly pour accompagner cette réunion. L'outil transcrit nos échanges et construit le brief du projet en direct — rien de ce que vous nous dites n'est perdu ni déformé ; vous voyez le brief se construire et pouvez le corriger en séance. Aucun enregistrement audio n'est conservé ; la transcription et le brief restent dans notre espace de travail et sont traités par nos prestataires de transcription et d'IA, liés par contrat. Est-ce que tout le monde est d'accord ? »

Attendre l'accord explicite de chaque participant avant de démarrer la session.

Invitation de calendrier (FR) (traduction de travail)

Cette réunion sera transcrite et résumée en direct avec Clearly, notre outil de briefing, afin que les décisions et les exigences soient consignées avec précision. Aucun audio n'est enregistré ni conservé. La transcription et le brief restent dans l'espace de travail de [Agence] ; détails du traitement : [lien]. En cas de doute, dites-le-nous avant la réunion — nous prendrons alors des notes manuellement.

4. Recommended practice (and what our Terms require)

  1. Announce in the invite (text above) and confirm verbally at the start of the meeting. The double notice is what makes consent demonstrably express.
  2. Wait for affirmation from everyone — a nod on camera, a "yes" in the room, a chat message in the call. One missing participant means: don't start the session.
  3. Late joiners get a one-line repeat of the notice.
  4. Withdrawal: if anyone objects or withdraws mid-meeting, end the Clearly session for that conversation (Terms §4.4). The brief built so far remains subject to the agency's obligations as controller.
  5. The client display helps you. Showing the live brief to participants is itself ongoing transparency — people see exactly what is being captured. The display is labeled as AI-assisted ("Live brief — built with Clearly"), which also serves the EU AI Act's transparency expectations (Art. 50, applicable from August 2026) for AI-generated content shown to people.
  6. Cross-border meetings: the strictest participant's jurisdiction governs in practice (see Section 2 for the US). The notice-and-affirm practice above is designed to satisfy all-party regimes generally.
  7. Keep a record. The pre-session flow includes a consent confirmation step: the facilitator confirms that all participants were informed and consented, and that confirmation is stored with a timestamp alongside the session's pre-meeting context. Complete it for every session; add detail (who, how) in the pre-meeting context where useful.

5. What Clearly does and never does (for participants' questions)

  • Audio is streamed for transcription and never stored; Clearly's servers never receive it.
  • The transcript and brief stay in the agency's workspace; access is limited to that workspace.
  • Meeting content is never used to train AI models.
  • Nothing appears on the shared screen unless the facilitator explicitly surfaces it.
  • Participants can ask the agency for access to or deletion of their data at any time (FADP/GDPR rights, addressed to the agency as controller).

Draft prepared for review by qualified Swiss counsel (US section: US counsel). The German and French texts are working translations and must be reviewed by German- and French-speaking lawyers before customer use.