Privacy policy.

We aim to process your personal data in accordance to the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).

In the context of our activities, we process your personal data for various purposes, described below. The legal basis we invoke is indicated each time the processing is carried out.

If the basis is either a contractual necessity or a legal obligation, the personal data must be provided to enable the performance of the agreement or to comply with a statutory requirement.

Sometimes your personal data is obtained from third parties. This is indicated when applicable.

 

Purposes

Customer and prospect management (contractual necessity).

When you purchase products from us, we process personal data for the preparation, execution and follow-up of your purchase.

When contact forms are completed (by those involved) on the commercial sites, these data are also retained for prospect management purposes (e.g. to provide a quotation).

The following personal data are processed in the context of prospect management:

• Identification data;
• Function (in function of certificates to be delivered after training);
• Financial details (payment data).

 

Supplier management (contractual necessity)

If you are a supplier to us, we process personal data for the preparation, execution and follow-up of your goods as a supplier.

The following personal data are processed as part of supplier management:

• Identification data;
• Financial details (payment details, VAT number);
• Education and training;
• Profession and employment.

In the context of supplier management, we sometimes obtain personal data from your employer or from your organisation.

Authorship management (contractual necessity)

If you have cooperated as an author (editor/illustrator/writer/copywriter/photographer) on any of the work we publish, we may process certain personal data in the context of your right to be named and follow up payments.

The following personal data are processed in the context of authorship management:

• Identification data;
• Data on contribution made by the author (e.g. title of the book, position of the author,...);
• Financial details (payment data);
• National Register (legal obligation in function of withholding tax declaration and annual tax forms).

Your data may be obtained indirectly when you are recommended to us as an author.

Lecturer management (contractual necessity)

If you have participated as a lecturer in one of the training courses we organise, we may process certain personal data as part of your right to be named and follow up payments.

The following personal data are processed in the context of lecturer management:

• Identification data;
• Data on contribution made by the lecturer (e.g. title of the course, position of the lecturer,...);
• Financial details (payment details);
• National register (legal obligation in function of annual tax sheets).

Your data may be obtained indirectly, when you are recommended to us as a lecturer.

 

(Direct) marketing and communication (legitimate interests, i.e. freedom of enterprise) (consent)

We may personally inform our customers or other individuals interested in our company about our activities. Whether or not they are former customers, magazine subscribers and prospects may be contacted in the context of renewing or entering into a membership or subscription to a product/application. We additionally send newsletters to those who subscribe to our mailing list and to our existing customers/participants of training courses. Existing or former partners and prospects may be contacted with a perspective of (further) cooperation. 

The following data may be processed in the context of direct marketing:

• Identification data;
• Personal characteristics;
• Consumption habits (information on membership, participation in activities, etc.);
• Data on previous purchases;
• Interests (indicated when registering for the newsletter).

Partners and sponsors (contractual necessity)

In the context of the agreements we enter into with partners and sponsors (including events and advertisements), we process the following personal data:

• Identification data;
• Financial details (payment data).

 

Publications in written media (legitimate interests, i.e. freedom of enterprise) (consent)

Vanden Broele processes personal data in the context of the production (content) of written media (online or in magazines or newsletters). Our written media may contain personal data posted in the context of:

• Journalistic activities: all kinds of personal data may be used (based on journalistic purposes and academic, artistic or literary forms of expression);
• Disclosure: all kinds of personal data may be used, e.g. contact details of individuals providing specialised assistance (in particular disclosure of information and the possible provision of assistance;
• Sponsorship and publicity: identification data and any other type of personal data included in advertisements (based on contractual necessity);
• Varia: publication of interviews, photographs, images and other data (e.g. of our members) for which we have the rights to publish them (based on the legitimate interests we have to exploit portrait rights, intellectual property rights and other rights or licences we have).

 

The compliance of our legal obligations (legal obligation)

In the context of legal obligations imposed on us, it may be necessary to process certain personal data.

We process the following personal data to comply with legal obligations:

• Identification data;
• Financial details (payment data);
• National Register (only for authors with Belgian nationality, required for withholding tax returns and annual tax forms).

 

Complaint and dispute management (legitimate interests, i.e. following up disputes and freedom to conduct business).

If there are complaints or disputes, it may be necessary to process certain personal data.

The following data may be processed in the context of complaint and dispute management:

• Identification data;
• Additional data that you submit in the context of a complaint or dispute or that we already possess and that are necessary to follow up the complaint or dispute.

 

Reporting for ongoing improvement of Vanden Broele's products (legitimate interests, i.e. freedom of enterprise)

We want to be able to offer customers and users the possibility of continuously optimised products and applications. In order to do this, we process limited (personal) data. Moreover, we want to be transparent to users in this regard as well and they will be informed about it when using the application.

We can clearly indicate that we do limited processing of personal data, which are also anonymised and aggregated as much as possible.

We process the following (personal) data on the basis of legitimate interest:

• Identification data;
• Additional data indicated by the user while using the application such as e.g. search terms, search results, frequently/slowly used functionalities etc.).

 

Retention period

The retention period of personal data is limited to:

• Customer and prospect management: in accounting legally required to 7 years after the end of the agreement, customer training, to 10 years after the end of the agreement (in function of the SME portfolio audit).
• Supplier management: 10 years after the end of the agreement; in other cases statutory accounting obligation of 7 years.
• Author management: 10 years after the end of the agreement (contract), in other cases legal accounting obligation of 7 years.
• lecturer management: 10 years after the end of the agreement (contract), in other cases legal accounting obligation of 7 years.
• Direct marketing and communication: 3 years after the last meaningful contact.
• Partners and sponsors: 10 years after the end of the agreement; in other cases legal accounting obligation of 7 years.
• Publications in written media: actively processed during the period for which Vanden Broele holds publication rights. Afterwards, written media (in which personal data are included) are archived (processing for journalistic purposes and for the purpose of academic, artistic or literary expression).
• Compliance with our legal obligations: retention in accordance with the legal retention period.
• Complaint and dispute management: as long as useful to follow up the complaint, dispute, taking into account the legal limitation period.
• Reporting to improve our products: 2 years after registration.

Your personal data will be shared to a limited number of parties under certain circumstances (and according to processing and capacity):

• Data subjects (according to processing and capacity);
• Other entities within the Vanden Broele Group;
• Government agencies (in the context of legal obligations);
• Commercial partners with whom we cooperate for the purpose of organising and commercialising conferences and seminars;
• Technical processors in the context of their services to us (e.g. application hosting);
• Banks, insurance companies and other partners for making payments;
• Professional counsel, lawyers and judicial officers to the extent necessary for their assistance.

 

Security of processing operations

We have worked out an appropriate protection for the personal data we process.

No information system can guarantee 100% security. We strive to continuously improve the security of our systems. You also have an important role in the security of your own personal data by, among other things, keeping your account details confidential and adequately secured.

 

Your rights

The General Data Protection Regulation grants you a number of rights in relation to your personal data:

• The right to access and correct your personal data;
• The right to object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes and the general right to object based on circumstances specific to your particular situation;
• The right to restrict the processing of your personal data and the right to data erasure ("right to oblivion");
• The right to withdraw your consent at any time;
• The right to data portability;
• The right to lodge a complaint with the regulator (in Belgium, this is the Data Protection Authority).

The application of these rights may be subject to legal conditions. This means that, depending on your specific situation, you may or may not be able to invoke some of these rights. In particular, we would like to draw your attention to the applicable exemption provisions regarding processing for journalistic purposes and for the purpose of academic, artistic or literary expression.

If we have reasonable doubt as to your identity, we reserve the right to verify your identity.

If you wish to lodge a complaint, please contact us first in order to find a quick amicable solution.

 

Contact

You can always contact us using the contact details below:

Email: dpo@vandenbroele.be

Address: Vanden Broele NV, Stationslaan 23, 8200 Bruges

 

Changes

We reserve the right to amend this statement from time to time, in which case we will publish the amended version on our website. Please review this privacy statement on a regular basis to ensure that you always have the most recent version. In case of material changes, which concern you, we will also notify you by e-mail.