Introduction
The European Commission (hereafter ‘the Commission’) is committed to protect your personal data and to respect your privacy. The Commission collects and further processes personal data pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data (repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001).
This privacy statement explains the reason for the processing of your personal data, the way we collect, handle and ensure protection of all personal data provided, how that information is used and what rights you have in relation to your personal data. It also specifies the contact details of the responsible Data Controller with whom you may exercise your rights, the Data Protection Officer and the European Data Protection Supervisor.
The information in relation to processing operation “EU Business Hub registration and application“ undertaken by the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) is presented below.
Why and how do we process your personal data?
Purpose of the processing operation: The Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) collects and uses your personal information in order to understand which companies have registered to the EU Business Hub platform, which companies have expressed interest in and applied for a business mission, to keep those companies informed on the status of their applications, and to maintain contact with companies throughout the duration of the business mission.
In order to carry out the processing activities for the aforementioned purpose, the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) collects your first name, last name, company e-mail address, phone number and company name.
Your personal data will not be used for an automated decision-making including profiling. We will not process any sensitive data about you.
On what legal ground(s) do we process your personal data
Creation of account, expression of interest form and registration forms
The Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) processes your personal data because it is necessary to create your account on our website, and process your expression of interest and application form. The processing is essential to assess your eligibility for the EU Business Hub programme, to communicate with you regarding your application, and ultimately decide whether you are accepted to the mission you applied for.
Newsletter
We process your personal data because you have given your consent to the processing of your personal data for the purpose of receiving the EU Business Hub newsletter.
Which personal data do we collect and further process?
In order to carry out this processing operation the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) collects the following categories of personal data:
• First name;
• Last name;
• Company e-mail address;
• Phone number.
How long do we keep your personal data?
The Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) only keeps your personal data for the time necessary to fulfil the purpose of collection or further processing, namely until the EU Business Hub programme finishes, and then will remove it permanently.
How do we protect and safeguard your personal data?
All personal data in electronic format (e-mails, documents, databases, uploaded batches of data, etc.) are stored either on the secure servers of the European Commission or via the hosting service of the contractor for the EU Business Hub, namely Deloitte or its partners (Eurochambres, EMECA, DT Global). All processing operations are carried out pursuant to the Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2017/46 of 10 January 2017 on the security of communication and information systems in the European Commission.
In order to protect your personal data, the Commission has put in place a number of technical and organisational measures. Technical measures include appropriate actions to address online security, risk of data loss, alteration of data or unauthorised access, taking into consideration the risk presented by the processing and the nature of the personal data being processed. Organisational measures include restricting access to the personal data solely to authorised persons with a legitimate need to know for the purposes of this processing operation.
Who has access to your personal data and to whom is it disclosed?
Access to your personal data is provided to the Commission staff responsible for carrying out this processing operation and to authorised staff according to the “need to know” principle. Such staff abide by statutory, and when required, additional confidentiality agreements.
The contractor for the EU Business Hub, namely Deloitte and its partners and sub-contractors (Eurochambres, EMECA, DT Global), will have access to your personal data. All Commission contractors are contractually obliged to implement the necessary measures for safeguarding your personal data.
In case you agree to be contacted for evaluation purposes, your data would be disclosed to the designated contractor conducting the survey. Please refer to the specific privacy statement attached to the request to take part in the evaluation.
What are your rights and how can you exercise them?
You have specific rights as a ‘data subject’ under Chapter III (Articles 14-25) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, in particular the right to access your personal data and to rectify them in case your personal data are inaccurate or incomplete. Where applicable, you have the right to erase your personal data, to restrict the processing of your personal data, to object to the processing, and the right to data portability.
In case you have consented to provide your personal data to the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) for processing your personal data in context of our newsletter, you can withdraw your consent at any time by notifying the Data Controller or the EU Business Hub contractor at support@eubusinesshub.eu. The withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out before you have withdrawn the consent.
You can exercise your rights by contacting the Data Controller, or in case of conflict the Data Protection Officer. If necessary, you can also address the European Data Protection Supervisor. Their contact information is given under Heading 9 below.
Where you wish to exercise your rights in the context of one or several specific processing operations, please provide their description (i.e. their Record reference(s) as specified under Heading 10 below) in your request.
Contact information
The Data Controller
If you would like to exercise your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, or if you have comments, questions or concerns, or if you would like to submit a complaint regarding the collection and use of your personal data, please feel free to contact the Data Controller, the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) FPI-DATA-PROTECTION@ec.europa.eu.
The Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the Commission
You may contact the Data Protection Officer of the Commission (DATA-PROTECTION-OFFICER@ec.europa.eu) and the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) FPI-DATA-4
