Why and when we collect information from you on the Ecsite website.
1. General
Ecsite 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. In this Privacy Policy (as defined hereinafter) Personal Data may relate to your name, telephone number, email address, job title, location…
This policy (hereinafter “Privacy Policy”) applies to the processing of your Personal Data in the framework of various services, tools, applications, websites, portals, (online) marketing, 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;
- we only provide your data to selected third parties for the specific purposes listed below.
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, registered with the register of legal entities of Brussels having company number 0443.655.135 (herein referred to as “ Ecsite” or “we” or “us”).
Ecsite is responsible for the processing of your Personal Data and will act as data controller.
3. When do we collect your personal data?
We collect your Personal Data, when you:
- visit our website (https://www.ecsite.eu/) ;
- create a user account on our website;
- use your account to publish contents;
- subscribe to our online magazine and updates. Note that subscribing to our magazine and updates is separate from creating a user account;
- register for the Ecsite Conference or one of our events;
- contact us, .e.g. by phone or mail;
- conclude an agreement with us.
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 usually anonymous.
B. Website user account holders
It is possible to create a user account on our website. By registering and creating an account certain personal information relating to you is stored:
- Title
- First name
- Family name
- Job title
- Organisation
- Telephone number
- Mobile number
- Fax number
- Email address
- City
- Country
- Social media accounts, such as but not limited to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram
The purposes for which we hold and process the Personal Data of users include:
- To be able to contact you if this is necessary;
- To be able to carry out our services, e.g. when you register for one of our events;
- To do user administration;
- To carry out market studies;
- For statistical purposes;
- To send you our online magazine, updates and other relevant information.
C. Participants to our events and Members (their representatives and contact persons)
From (representatives or contact persons of) members of our organisation, (hereinafter referred to as ‘Members”), or from participants to our events (hereinafter referred to as “Participants”), it is possible that we receive the following information:
- Title
- First name
- Family name
- Job title
- Employment category
- Organisation
- Telephone number
- Mobile number
- Fax number
- Email address
- City
- Country
- Social media accounts, such as but not limited to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Intstagram
- VAT number
- Banking or payment details
- IP address
- Allergies or other dietary requirements
- Special needs
- Picture / video / audio
- Biography and professional interest
We process this Personal Data in order to perform the contractual relationship we have with our Members and Participants.
The purposes for which we hold and process the Personal Data of Members and Participants include:
- To be able to contact you if this is necessary to be able to carry out our services, e.g. when you register for one of our events;
- For the performance of agreements;
- To handle your payment;
- To do user administration;
- To carry out market studies;
- For statistical purposes;
- To send you our online magazine, updates and other relevant information;
- To publish videos and pictures of events if you have not objected against the use of your images;
- To comply with legal obligations;
- When the legitimate interest of our organisation requires it (in which case we will communicate this to you).
D. Suppliers
Within the framework of the contractual relationships we have with our suppliers, it is possible that we receive the following information:
- Name
- E-mail address
- Telephone number
- Fax number
- Address
- VAT number
- Banking or payment details.
We process this Personal Data in order to perform the contracts we have with our suppliers.
The purposes for which we hold and process the Personal Data of suppliers include:
- To be able to contact you if this is necessary to be able to carry out our services;
- For the execution of agreements;
- To handle your payment;
- To do supplier administration;
- For statistical purposes;
- To comply with legal obligations;
- When the legitimate interest of our organisation requires it (in which case we will communicate this to you).
E. Funders
Within the framework of the relationships we have with our funders, it is possible that we receive the following information:
- Name
- E-mail address
- Telephone number
- Fax number
- Address
- VAT number
- Banking or payment details.
We process this Personal Data in order to perform the relationship we have with our funders.
The purposes for which we hold and process the Personal Data of funders include:
- To be able to contact you if this is necessary to be able to carry out our services;
- For the execution of agreements;
- To handle your payment;
- To comply with legal obligations;
- When the legitimate interest of our organisation requires it (in which case we will communicate this to you).
F. Activities & Relationship management
Within the framework of our activities, and more specifically related to the management of our (potential and actual) Members, (potential and actual) Participants, and (potential and actual) funders it is possible that we receive or collect the following Personal Data:
- Title
- First name
- Family name
- Job title
- Employment category
- Organisation
- Telephone number
- Mobile number
- Fax number
- Email address
- City
- Country
- Social media accounts, such as but not limited to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram
- VAT number
- Banking or payment details
- IP address
- Allergies or other dietary requirements
- Special disabilities
- Picture / video / audio
The processing of the Personal Data is exclusively for managing the relationship with our (potential and actual) Members, (potential and actual) Participants, and (potential and actual) funders and is therefore based on our legitimate interest in order to allow us to improve our services and which outbalances your privacy rights.
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 and our brand environment:
- Our authorised staff members;
b) Third party business partners:
- Advertising, marketing and promotional agencies: to help us deliver and analyse the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns and promotions;
- Business partners: for example, trusted companies that may use your Personal Data to provide you with the services and/or the products you requested and/or that may provide you with marketing materials (provided that you have consented to receiving such marketing materials). We ask such companies to always act in compliance with applicable laws and this Privacy Policy and to pay high attention to the confidentiality of your personal information;
- Service providers of Ecsite: companies that provide services for or on behalf of Ecsite, for the purposes of providing such services (for example, Ecsite 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;
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 Ecsite 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. No transfer outside of the EEA
Your Personal Data will not be transferred to recipients outside the EEA.
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).
- The 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
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. If you have additional questions about the collection, processing and storage of Personal Data by Ecsite, please contact us at:
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
Finally, please note that you have the right to file a complaint with the Belgian data protection authority:
Data Protection Authority
Rue de la Presse 35
1000 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2 274 48 00
Fax: +32 (0)2 274 48 35
contact@apd-gba.be