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General privacy statement Fevia vzw for contacts and third parties

  1. Introduction: what and who?

The present privacy statement is aimed at the natural persons whose personal data are processed by Fevia, such as contacts of current and former Fevia members, customers, prospects and their staff, people who have shown an interest in our services and the personal data of people with whom Fevia vzw and its members of staff come into contact as part of the organisation’s stated object and activities.

This document details the way in which Fevia vzw, hereinafter referred to as Fevia, with registered office at 14 Wetenschapsstraat in 1000 Brussels, gathers, stores and uses your personal data in furtherance of its stated object.

We make every effort to protect your privacy as best as possible, which is why we treat all personal data with the utmost care and diligence. Fevia complies with all applicable laws and regulations, including Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons 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 – GPDR).

Fevia is the data controller responsible for the processing of your personal data. If you are left with further questions or you would like to get in touch with us after reading our privacy statement, please contact us by e-mail at privacy@fevia.be.

  1. Which personal data does Fevia process? What does Fevia do with your data and pursuant to what legal basis?

Fevia processes the following contact details relating to you: your surname, first name, title of address, language, professional e-mail address, professional telephone number, mobile phone number and your job title at your company.

  • If are you an employee with a company that is a Fevia member, we will be provided with your contact details. We use these data as part of the services provided by Fevia to its member companies. Your data are processed for the purposes of communications, meetings, working groups and committees, etc. organised as part of your company’s Fevia membership. Fevia processes these data pursuant to the performance of the agreement in has in place you’re your company-employer as a Fevia member, and pursuant to Fevia’s legitimate interest to get in touch with the members of staff of member companies.
  • If you are a person with whom Fevia comes into contact in the context of its stated object and activities, such as government ministers, heads of ministers’ cabinets, members of staff working at ministerial cabinets, members of staff of government administrations and departments, professors, other academic staff, members of staff of organisations and federations with which Fevia maintains regular contacts, we will use these data in furtherance of Fevia’s stated object and to enable us to provide you with relevant information. Fevia processes these data pursuant to its legitimate interest so to be able to get in touch with these stakeholders and to accomplish its stated object.
  • If you sign up to our newsletters, to enable us to send you our newsletters and invitations to events, etc. In that case, your data will be used to inform you of Fevia’s activities, keep you up to date of the latest developments in politics, the economy and in law, relevant to businesses operating in the food industry and of the events organised by Fevia and by partners. Fevia processes these data pursuant to your consent or pursuant to its legitimate interest. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You are free to unsubscribe from our newsletters at any time by simply clicking the “unsubscribe” link included at the bottom of each e-mail.
  • If you sign up for one of our events, the data you provide us with as part of your registration for the event will be processed:
    • to follow up on your registration and any comments or complaints you may have in this connection;
    • for general administration purposes, with the inclusion of accounting treatments, the management of disputes and legal proceedings, the collection or transfer of debts receivable and the protection of our rights in general;
    • for certain events, participants are sent a simplified list of participants carrying the surnames, first names and the company-employers of the participants;
    • for certain events, pictures may be taken and video footage may be recorded. These may be used to prepare reports of the events in question; and
    • to inform you of the other activities staged by Fevia and its partners, keep you up to date of the latest developments in politics, the economy and in law relevant to businesses and of the events organised by Fevia.

Fevia processes these data pursuant to your consent, the performance of an agreement which Fevia has in place with yourself or with a member-company, or pursuant to its legitimate interest.

  • If you are an employee with an organisation or a company that maintains a contractual relationship with Fevia (e.g. as a supplier, tenant, customer, etc.), we use these data:
    • to follow up on the orders and any comments or complaints you may have in this connection; and
    • for general customer and supplier management, with the inclusion of accounting treatments, the management of disputes and legal proceedings, the collection or the transfer of debts receivable and the protection of our rights in general.

Fevia processes these data as part of the performance of this contractual relationship, pursuant to its statutory obligations or its legitimate interest.

  • If you contact Fevia, for instance with a request for information, using our contact form or otherwise, we will use these data to process your request. In doing so, we process the data provided by you, which may be relevant to enable us to answer your query, such as your surname, your company name, your job title, your e-mail address, your telephone number, your correspondence with Fevia, etc. The data processed by Fevia when you contact us are processed pursuant to your consent, the performance of an agreement which you or a member-company are party to, or pursuant to our legitimate interest.
  • If you provide Fevia with contact details through the www.food.be website, we will use these data in furtherance of the intended purpose of this website, i.e. to put food companies in touch with potential customers or to enable you to create a profile for yourself if you so wish. The personal data that are registered through the food.be website are used to facilitate contacts between potential customers and suppliers. These data may also be used to prepare brochures that train the spotlight on Belgian food companies. The data processed are shown on the website and are mostly confined to the surname and first name of the person concerned, his professional telephone number and his e-mail address. Fevia processes these personal data pursuant to your consent or pursuant to its legitimate interest.
  • When you visit our websites, we gather information by way of cookies about the web pages you view, the products that you take an interest in, etc. This  information does not identify you directly, which means that we cannot see who you are based on the information of the cookies. However, we can aggregate this information with information we have received from you at the time you provided us with those data.

Your data are used to enhance your browsing experience and to compile anonymous statistics regarding the quality of the website.

To do so, we process data such as your browser type or IP address, the operating software you use or the domain name of the website from which you arrive at our websites, or through which you leave our sites. Please see our Cookie Policy (www.food.be/cookie-policy) for further details on this topic. 

Fevia processes your personal data pursuant to your consent (in the cookie banner) or pursuant to its legitimate interest to protect and optimise its websites.

  • Fevia may receive information relating to you from third parties. We may use this information to contact you for prospection purposes. In addition, we may also use data from outside partners to enhance or supplement your personal data, or to keep them up-to-date.

All of which means that, depending on the Fevia department you deal with or the nature of your relationship with Fevia, the processing of your personal data is based on:

  • your consent as given by filling in the contact form or by signing up to our newsletter. In these cases, you are free to withdraw your consent at any time.
  • the performance of the agreement (e.g. when you attend an information session or a seminar);
  • Fevia’s legitimate interests, including the administration of our websites or to inform its members of its activities; or
  • a statutory obligation which Fevia is subject to, e.g. to disclose your personal data to the competent authorities or bodies designated by law.

3. Does Fevia disclose your personal data to third parties?

Fevia is selective in the parties to whom it discloses your personal data. Any such parties are carefully and judiciously selected. In all cases, we will make every effort to ensure appropriate assurances are put in place in the arrangements made with the said parties to protect and uphold the confidentiality of your data.

In the following cases, we may disclose (some of your) personal data to third parties:

  • specific processors who are acting on our behalf, such as marketing and communications agencies for instance.
  • IT service providers that deliver technical support.
  • lawyers or consultants: in certain cases, Fevia may disclose your personal data to outside consultants or lawyers if this should prove necessary to provide opinions or to defend Fevia’s interests in law.
  • authorities: depending on the situation, it may be that we disclose your personal data to the police, justice or other law enforcement or supervisory authorities where we believe we are under obligation to do so pursuant to a law, regulation, or another legitimate request or order.

4. What about links to other websites and social media?

Fevia’s websites may contain references (e.g. via hyperlinks) to other websites, offered by other businesses or by social media. Fevia declines all and any liability for the processing of personal data through these websites. Similarly, the present privacy statement does not apply to these websites.

If you share content lifted from the Fevia websites via social media, your personal data will be visible to the users of these social media. Fevia declines all and any liability for the processing of personal data through these social media. Similarly, the present privacy statement does not apply to these social media.

5. For how long does Fevia keep your data on record?

Fevia keeps your data on record up to one year at most after the time when your relationship with Fevia ends (e.g. when you are no longer an employee with a Fevia member-company, you stopped working at a ministerial cabinet, you unsubscribe from a newsletter, etc.), unless a statutory data retention period applies, e.g. a statutory period of limitation or where we are required to keep your data on record for longer in order to enable us to defend our rights in a legal dispute.

6. Which measures do we implement to protect your personal data?

We have put in place appropriate technical and organisational steps to protect your personal data against unlawful processing. These include the following measures:

  • all persons who are able to take cognisance of your personal data, internally and externally, on behalf of Fevia, have been duly informed of the importance of ensuring your personal data are duly protected. They are under obligation to observe a duty of confidentiality in respect of your data. This is expressly set out in the privacy policy for Fevia employees and in the e-mails and/or agreements with third party-processors who provide services to and for Fevia;  
  • we run a username and password policy on all our systems; every 6 months the internal passwords are changed;
  • you can change  your own password on our website at any time in a secure environment;
  • we expressly request contacts at Fevia member-companies to anonymise requests for opinions in the area of labour law and related records that are provided in this context;
  • we create back-ups of the files and programs in which personal data are processed to enable us to repair the said files and programs in the event of physical or technical incidents;
  • we test and assess our measures on a regular basis;
  • we use secure software as well as secure access to the data that are stored in the cloud;
  • we have put in place a procedure for reporting data leaks (see title 8).

7. What are your rights in respect of your data and how can you exercise your rights?

If you have created a profile on our website, you may consult and change your data at any time.

You have right of access to and right of rectification of the personal data we have received from you. To exercise these rights, please contact us by e-mail at privacy@fevia.be. In certain cases (such as those set out by articles 17, 18 and 21 of the General Data Protection Regulation) you can also object to having your data process by Fevia and/or request for Fevia to restrict the processing of your data. To exercise these rights, here too please contact us by e-mail at privacy@fevia.be.

In addition, you have the right to have your data transferred by us if they are processed with your consent and/or using automated means.

Where the processing of your data is conducted pursuant to your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time. This withdrawal shall apply solely in the future.

We may ask you to identify yourself before we are able to comply with the aforesaid requests.

If you should have a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data, we would ask you to please contact us without delay at privacy@fevia.be.

Moreover, you may address any questions or complaints you may have to the Data Protection Authority at contact@apd-gba.be at any time.

8. Which procedure does Fevia have in place in the event of a data leak?

Fevia will report all and any incidents which could have an impact on the protection of your personal data (such as the theft of a laptop or the loss of a flash drive) and which are likely to cause some kind of harm to the data subjects, to the Data Protection Authority within 72 hours.

  • In that case, Fevia goes by the procedure detailed below to identify and investigate data leaks as quickly as possible and to report them in timely fashion to the Data Protection Authority:
  • Fevia employees are made aware of the risk of data leaks through Fevia’s privacy policy for employees and directors;
  • in the context of the consultancy services offered by Fevia, Fevia expressly requests member-companies and their contacts not to provide their members of staff with any personal data about members of staff other than those who are expressly listed as contacts for Fevia. In order to restrict the unnecessary receipt of the personal data of contacts and persons over at member-companies, Fevia stresses the importance of anonymised requests from members for consultancy and training services offered by Fevia;
  • Fevia employees are under obligation to immediately report all data leaks to the Data Protection Officer by mail (i.e. the member of staff at Fevia responsible for GPDR compliance); 
  • the Data Protection Officer is to report the data leak to the Data Protection Authority within 72 hours if he believes that it is likely that the data leak might compromise the rights and freedoms of the data subject;
  • moreover, it is for the Data Protection Officer to assess whether a high risk is seen to exist to the rights and freedoms of the data subject whereby the latter is to be notified in writing within 72 hours to enable him/her to put the relevant precautions in place.

9. Does Fevia process your data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA)?

In principle, Fevia will not process your personal data outside of the EEA. However, it is possible that service providers that work for Fevia process your personal data outside of the EEA. Where this is the case, Fevia shall ensure an appropriate protection level is put in place, e.g. by incorporating the standard provisions of the European Commission - article 46 General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) in the agreements concluded with such service providers or by making sure other appropriate assurances are in place.

If you have any questions or would like further information on any of the above, please send a duly dated and signed request to that effect to Fevia, Federatie van de Belgische Voedingsindustrie, 14 Wetenschapsstraat – 1040 Brussels.

10. Amendments to the present privacy statement

Fevia reserves the right to amend the present privacy statement at any time. The latest version of this privacy statement is available to be consulted at all times at www.fevia.be/nl/privacy-en-cookiebeleid .