Independent Retail Europe – Personal Data Privacy Policy

Independent Retail Europe (further on referred to as “Independent Retail Europe”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data or personally identifiable information. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after this information when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

Who we are

Independent Retail Europe is the European Trade Association that represents the interests of groups of independent retailers and their members in the EU policy making process. 

Its membership consists of the major groups of independent retailers and national and regional associations that represent the interests of groups of independent retailers as well as independent retailers.

Independent Retail Europe is a not for profit organisation. It is solely funded by its membership.

Purpose of this policy

The purpose of this policy is to explain what personally identifiable information Independent Retail Europe collects and for which purposes, how we manage personally identifiable information, and to inform data subjects about their rights when they interact with Independent Retail Europe.

Subjects from whom data is collected

We keep

• personally identifiable information of representatives of member organisations provided to us when they join Independent Retail Europe or when they interact with Independent Retail Europe;
• personally identifiable information of data subjects who interact with Independent Retail Europe in the framework of their professional occupation.

Types of data collected and processed

• First name and surname
• Position/title
• Gender
• Email, phone and fax number
• Your organisation’s name
• Your organisation’s address
• Date of birth (only of staff of member organisations who have or had a professional relationship with us)

Data retention

We keep personally identifiable information for as long as it is necessary to provide membership services, to pursue our mission, and to maintain our business relationship. We keep personal data when you have left a member organisation or have changed positions, in order to engage with you in another capacity or to maintain the relationship. We also keep your previous professional data.

International transfers

We do not transfer your personally identifiable information outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

How we use your information

We will only use your personally identifiable information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personally identifiable information for the following purposes:

• where we need to use it for the execution of our statutory tasks;
• where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests;
• where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personally identifiable information.

Purposes for which we will use your personally identifiable information

We have set out below a description of all the ways we plan to use your personally identifiable information, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are, where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personally identifiable information for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your personally identifiable information. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personally identifiable information.

Legal grounds:

• To register you as a new member
• To work with you in future and inform you about our activities
• To manage our relationship and inform you about our privacy policy

Sharing personally identifiable information and data management 

We do not share personally identifiable information with third parties, unless needed and within the ambit of our statutory task or unless you request it or expressly consent to it, except with Independent Retail Europe members.

Cookies policy

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (‘Google’). Google Analytics uses ‘cookies’, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the web team analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

Cookies do not contain any personal information about you and cannot be used to identify an individual user.

What cookies do we use?

• Strictly necessary cookies. These cookies are essential for our website to function properly. They enable you to browse on our website and use its features.
• Performance cookies. We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our website, for example, which pages are visited most often, or if some web pages issue error messages. This helps us improve your browsing experience. Google Analytics analyses your interaction with our website and stores information about IP address, operating system, web browser, pages visited, location of the users, and the device used. Google does not combine your IP address with any other information Google may have. Google provides certain privacy options and choices in this regard, which are described here.

Third-Party Links

Our website, our publications and our messages to you may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect personally identifiable information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, or any other unlawful or unauthorised data processing.  The database is securely stored.

Individuals’ rights

You have the right to:

• request access to your personally identifiable information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personally identifiable information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it;
• request correction of the personally identifiable information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us;
• request erasure of your personally identifiable information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personally identifiable information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personally identifiable information where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personally identifiable information to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request;
• object to processing of your personally identifiable information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personally identifiable information for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms;
• request restriction of processingof your personally identifiable information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personally identifiable information in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it;
• request the transferof your personally identifiable information to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personally identifiable information in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you;
• withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personally identifiable information. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent;
• complain to the Belgian Data Protection Authority. Before making such a complaint, we would appreciate it if you could contact us first, to see if together we can solve your issue.

If you would like to exercise your rights, please send a written notice to info@IndependentRetailEurope.eu

Changes to this privacy policy

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. The most recent version is available on our website and includes the date of its latest revision. All changes will be effective from that date.

Contact details

If you have any questions, requests or complaints regarding this privacy policy and how we process personal data, please contact Else Groen, Director General, tel: +32 (0)2 732 46 60, e-mail: info@IndependentRetailEurope.eu

Attributions

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