Introduction
Water Europe is referred to in this Privacy Policy as "WE", "we", "us" and "our". WE with registered offices in B. August Reyers 80.1030 Brussels, Belgium might process personal data of its clients, collaborators and any other individual while providing its services or within the scope of its activities.
This Privacy Policy applies only to the collection and processing of personal data in relation to the website WE Marketplace published by WE and accessible over the domain mp.watereurope.eu (hereinafter the "Website" or the "Marketplace"). Other sites of WE, such as watereurope.eu or any other subdomain of watereurope.eu, are not related to this Privacy Policy.
In this Privacy Policy, we describe the types of personal data we may collect from you and how we collect, use, share, disclose and store it. We also explain your choices regarding our use and processing of your personal data. As used in this policy, "GDPR" means Regulation (EU) 679/2016 of the European Parliament and of the Council (General Data Protection Regulation). The collection and processing of personal data by WE is in compliance with the GDPR and Belgian legislation.
Contact Information
Water Europe is the Data Controller in the GDPR sense. If you have any questions about the processing of your personal data, you may contact the Data Controller by email at info@watereurope.eu.
Personal data we collect and purposes for which it is used
The Marketplace will collect and retain the following personal data:
- Your profile data, which includes your first name and surname, your address, your phone number, your picture and your email. This information is collected upon your registration and is used to contact you when necessary (e.g. to send you newsletters and questionnaires) and to connect you with Marketplace users who share your interests, in order to facilitate connections and build networks of stakeholders with shared interests.
- Your organisation's affiliation and position within it, as well as information on products of the circular economy you have uploaded to the Marketplace. Additionally, the type of your interest in the Marketplace (e.g. Problem owner, Solution provider, Investor, Stakeholder). This information will be made available to other registered users who are interested in learning more about you and your participation in the Marketplace and the circular economy.
- Your declared interests and preferences around the circular economy, expressed through selected technologies, products and chosen keywords.
- Your browsing activity on the Marketplace and the web pages you visit, such as technology and product factsheets, along with time information. The recommender system of the Marketplace will use this information to provide you with personalized recommendations on products that you might be interested in or users who have similar interests to you.
Who has access to your personal data
Your personal data will be available to our employees in order to carry out administrative tasks. We may share your personal data with our affiliate, the National Technical University of Athens, and with other contracted service providers to enable them to provide our services to you, for customer support, marketing, technical operations and account management purposes, as well as to perform other activities described in this Privacy Policy. Other registered users of the Marketplace may have access to your personal data in order to get to know you and connect with you, just as you may do for other users of the Marketplace. Among the other parties with which we may disclose personal data are the following:
- governmental authorities pursuant to applicable laws or court process, or as we reasonably deem necessary to prevent harm, financial loss, fraud or illegal activity;
- the successor in interest to all or a portion of our business or assets; provided that should such a transfer occur, we will require such successor to agree in writing to use, protect, and maintain the security, integrity, and confidentiality of the transferred personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy; and
- others pursuant to consent obtained from you.
We do not sell, rent or trade any personal data and we do not disclose personal data to third parties for any purposes other than those mentioned in this Privacy Policy.
Contractors and service providers that process personal data on our behalf must sign contracts with us that conform to the requirements of GDPR Article 28, Section 3 and other applicable laws. Examples of data processing services that may be done for us by contractors are the following:
- hosting of the Marketplace website;
- maintaining, improving, or expanding the marketplace's functionality;
- acquiring web analytics data; and
- performing other administrative services.
Regarding statistical analyses, we may use third-party service providers to monitor and analyze the use of the Marketplace. In particular, we may use Google Analytics, a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of a service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the information gathered to contextualize and personalize ads on its own advertising network. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy
Transfers of personal data
We ensure that your Personal Data will not be transferred to a third country or to an international organisation outside the European Union, unless you give us your prior consent for such a transfer.
Personal data retention criteria and time frames
We will retain your personal data for a period of time consistent with the original purpose of its collection. We may also retain your personal data during the period of time needed for us to pursue our legitimate business interests, conduct audits, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. We may delete your personal data for purposes that we determine necessary in our reasonable discretion.
Security of data
The Marketplace has been developed by adopting the "security by design and by default" approach. We use strong encryption to store sensitive data in the database and the transmission of personal data is protected by SSL encryption when it is exchanged between your web browser and the Marketplace. Other reasonable precautions have been taken to secure your data and we maintain appropriate technical, administrative and physical safeguards to protect personal data received or collected by us. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. Even though we do our best to protect your personal information, we can't guarantee that it will be completely safe.
Cookies
The Marketplace website only uses cookies that are necessary for securely carrying out the transmission of the communication with the server (e.g. for the identification of the session or to prevent cross-site request forgery). Other than the cookies mentioned above, WE does not store any cookies on your computer.
Children's privacy
The Marketplace does not address anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from children without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to remove that information from the Marketplace.
Rights available to you
As an individual whose personal data is gathered as part of the aforementioned services, you have, in principle, the following rights, to the extent that no legal exceptions are applicable in individual cases:
- The right to request access to personal data (GDPR Article 15)
- The right to rectification of personal data (GDPR Article 16)
- The right to be forgotten/right to erasure (GDPR Article 17)
- The right to restrict processing of your personal data (GDPR Article 18)
- The right to data portability (GDPR Article 20)
- The right to object to the processing of your personal data (GDPR Article 21)
- The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (GDPR Article 77)
- The right to withdraw your consent (GDPR Article 7 (3))
Changes to this Privacy Policy
WE may, from time to time, amend and/or complete this Privacy Policy in compliance with the applicable legal framework. The updated version will always be available on the website of the Marketplace. This Privacy Policy was last updated on 1st March 2022.