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Privacy Policy

TechEthos (hereinafter referred to as “TechEthos” or “we” or “our”) is a three-year EU-funded Horizon 2020 project with 10 partners, focusing on ethical and societal challenges posed by new and emerging technologies with high societal impact. This notice informs you about the website’s processing of your personal data.

The TechEthos consortium is committed to user privacy and data protection. Any personal data you provide will be processed in compliance with relevant EU and national data protection laws.

By agreeing to submit your information to TechEthos, we will process your personal data in accordance with the purposes, requirements and restrictions as set out in this notice.

1. General

TechEthos, through its partners Ecsite, TRI UK and TRI Ireland, attaches great importance to protecting and respecting your Personal Data (as defined hereinafter).

We will only collect, store, process and transfer your Personal Data in accordance with the applicable Belgian and European privacy laws and regulations, including but not limited to the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) and the Belgian law of 30 July 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of Personal Data.

This policy (hereinafter “Privacy Policy”) applies to the processing of your Personal Data in the framework of the website etc. that are provided or operated by us or on our behalf.

We will respect the following principles in order to protect your privacy:

  • we do not collect more information than is necessary;
  • we do not use your data for purposes other than those specified;
  • we do not keep your data if it is no longer needed.

In this Privacy Policy, the following terms have the following meanings:

  • EEA means the European Economic Area (= member states of the European Union + Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein).
  • Personal Data is any information relating to you (as a data subject) directly or which allows your identification, such as, for example, your name, telephone number, email address, location, etc.

In this Privacy Policy we describe how we collect your Personal Data, why we collect it, what we do with your Personal Data, with whom we share it, how we protect it, and the choices you can make about your Personal Data.

If you accept the provisions of this Privacy Policy, you are agreeing to us processing your Personal Data in the ways that are set out in this Privacy Policy.

2. Who is responsible for the processing of your personal data?

This Policy applies to all your Personal Data processed by (or on behalf of):

    Association Européenne des Expositions Scientifiques, Techniques et Industrielles AISBL, with registered office at Avenue Louise 89/ 7, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium, registered with the register of legal entities of Brussels having company number 0443.655.135 (herein referred to as “ Ecsite”).

    Trilateral Research UK, with registered office at One Knightsbridge Green, London, SW1X 7QA, United Kingdom, registered in England and Wales under company number 08698690 (herein referred to as “TRI UK”).

    Trilateral Research Ireland, with registered offices in FDW House, Blackthorn Business park, Coes Road, Dundalk, Co. Louth, A91 RW26, Ireland, trading at Marine Point, 2nd Floor, Belview Port, Waterford, X91 W0XW, Ireland, registered under company number 616396 (herein referred to as “TRI Ireland”).

Ecsite, TRI UK and TRI Ireland (herein referred to as “we” or “us”) are responsible for the processing of your Personal Data and will act as data controllers.

3. When do we collect your personal data?

We collect your Personal Data, when you:

  • visit our website (https://www.techethos.eu);
  • subscribe to our newsletter
  • contact us, e.g. by phone, e-mail or the contact form available on the website;
4. Processing of your personal data: which personal data do we collect and on which legal grounds will we process your personal data?

Depending on your specific situation – as described here below – you can find an overview of the Personal Data which will be processed, based on which legal ground(s) and for which purpose(s) the Personal Data will be processed.

A. Website visitors

By using our website, certain information relating to you is automatically saved on the basis of cookies (see our cookie policy). Except for the approximate location (IP address), the information collected by our cookies is anonymous.

B. Partners 

From registered TechEthos partner organisations (hereinafter referred to as ‘Partners”), it is possible that we receive the following information:

  • Email address
  • First name
  • Family name
  • Website
  • IP address
  • Picture / video / audio content
  • We process this Personal Data in order to perform the contractual relationship we have with our Partners.

The purposes for which we hold and process the Partners include:

  • For the performance of agreements;
  • To publish content, videos and pictures you have chosen to share with TechEthos;
  • When the legitimate interest of our project requires it (in which case we will communicate this to you).

C. External experts and contributors

From external experts and contributors (hereinafter referred to as ‘Experts’), it is possible that we receive the following information:

  • Email address
  • First name
  • Family name
  • Website
  • Picture / video / audio content

The purposes for which we hold and process these data include:

  • To publish content, videos and pictures you have chosen to share with TechEthos;
  • When the legitimate interest of our project requires it (in which case we will communicate this to you).

D. Newsletter recipients

Recipients of the TechEthos newsletter may be added to the mailing list on two types of legal grounds: informed consent (GDPR Art. 6.1.a, such as when you use our link to subscribe) or, legitimate interest (GDPR Art. 6.1.f, such as because you work in a field related to the topics covered by our newsletter (e.g., new and emerging technologies, ethics). If you are added to the newsletter recipient list on the basis of legitimate interest you will have the option to opt out at any time.

We use MooSend as our marketing platform. By subscribing to TechEthos mailing list, you acknowledge that your information will be collected by MooSend for processing. Learn more about MooSend’s privacy practices here.

5. Disclosure of your Personal Data

Depending on the purposes for which we collect your Personal Data, we may disclose it to the following categories of recipients, which will then process your Personal Data only within the framework of these purposes:

a) Within our organisations:

  • Our authorised staff members;

b) Third party partners:

  • Advertising, marketing and promotional agencies: to help us deliver and analyse the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns and promotions;
  • Service providers of Ecsite, TRI UK and TRI Ireland: companies that provide services for or on behalf of us, for the purposes of providing such services (for example, we may share your Personal Data with external providers of IT related services, event partners or local hosts of an event);

c) when required by law or as lawfully necessary to protect Ecsite, TRI UK or TRI Ireland;

Please be aware that third party recipients listed under points b) and c) above – especially service providers who may offer products and services to you through our services or applications or via their own channels– may separately collect Personal Data from you. In such case, these third parties are solely responsible for the control of such Personal Data and your dealings with them will fall under their terms and conditions.

6. Transfer outside of the EEA

Your Personal Data may be transferred to recipients which may be outside the EEA, and may be processed by us and these recipients outside the EEA. In connection with any transfer of your Personal Data to countries outside the EEA that do not generally offer the same level of data protection as in the EEA, we will implement appropriate specific measures to ensure an adequate level of protection of your Personal Data. These measures can for instance consist in agreeing with recipients on binding contractual clauses guaranteeing such adequate level of protection. We will always clearly inform you whenever your Personal Data would be transferred outside the EEA and to which countries.

Concerning your processing of Personal Data by TRI UK, on 28 June 2021, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision for the UK, meaning that personal data can flow freely from the EU to the UK. Additionally, Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) for the transfer of personal data from the Community to third countries were signed by TRI UK as data importers and Ecsite and TRI Ireland as data exporters.

7. Retention period

Unless a longer retention period is required or justified because of a limitation period or compliance with a legal obligation, we will only keep your Personal Data for as long as necessary for the processing within the aforementioned purposes.

8. Protection of your Personal Data

We have a set of technical and organisational security measures in place to protect your Personal Data against unlawful or unauthorised access or use, as well as against accidental loss or damage to their integrity. These measures have been designed taking into account our IT infrastructure, the potential impact on your privacy and the costs involved and in accordance with current industry standards and practice.

Your Personal Data will only be processed by a third party if that third party agrees to comply with those technical and organisational data security measures. We ensure that your Personal Data is stored in a sufficiently protected environment and that only the necessary persons have access to your Personal Data.

9. Use of cookies

This website uses so called ‘cookies’. Cookies may be considered as pieces of data which are sent by the web server to your browser who writes these data to the hard disk of your computer. By using cookies, we may offer you a quicker and more efficiently entry to the website. You can turn off the use of cookies in your browser settings. If you disable the use of cookies, the website is still accessible, but you may not have access to all the functionalities of the website. For further information about our use of cookies and on how to avoid them, please consult our cookie policy.

10. Your rights

You have the following rights with regard to your Personal Data:

  • Inspection and rectification: you are entitled to inspect your Personal Data. Before we provide your Personal Data, we may ask you for proof of identity and sufficient information about your interactions with us so that we can retrieve your Personal Data. If the data we hold about you is incorrect, you can ask us to correct any inaccuracies in the Personal Data.
  • Objection against processing: you have the right to object to the (automated) processing of your Personal Data by us if we no longer have the right to use it and, when justified, to require that we delete your data. In particular, you have the right to object free of charge and without any justification to direct marketing (e.g. e-mails).
  • Right to restriction of processing: you have the right to request a restriction of the processing of your Personal Data (for example, while checking the accuracy of your Personal Data).
  • Right to erasure: you have the right to erase all data relating to you (except in some cases, for example to prove a transaction or when required by law).
  • Right to data portability: under certain conditions you have the right to receive your Personal Data that you have provided to us in a customary, structured, machine-readable format and to transfer your Personal Data to a third party of your choice.
  • Right to withdraw consent: when your Personal Data are processed on the basis of your consent, you can withdraw this consent at any time.

If you wish to exercise these rights, please contact us via the contact information below. It is our aim to respond to your request within a month.

Please note that the rights as set out above can only be exercised insofar as reasonably possible and allowed by applicable law.

If you do not agree with the way Ecsite is processing your Personal Data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority:

Rue de la Presse 35,
1000 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2 274 48 00
Fax: +32 (0)2 274 48 35
mail: contact@apd-gba.be

If you do not agree with the way TRI UK and TRI Ireland are processing your Personal Data, you have the right to make a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office regarding any concerns you may have about our data handling practices.

11. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy. All changes to our Privacy Policy will be available on our website.

12. Additional questions about the collection, processing and storage of Personal Data?

We have organised a data protection contact point which will handle your questions or requests relating to this Policy, any specific privacy notice, your Personal Data (and its processing).

For any questions or requests or complaints concerning the application of this Policy or to exercise your rights, as described in this Policy, you may contact us at the data protection contact point:

Association Européenne des Expositions Scientifiques, Techniques et Industrielles (Ecsite)

Avenue Louise 89/7
1050 Ixelles (Belgium)
info@ecsite.eu
+32 2 649 7383

Data Protection Officer, Trilateral Research Ltd

One Knightsbridge Green
London, SW1X 7QA (United Kingdom)
DPO@trilateralresearch.com