Privacy notice

Caritas Europa respects your online and offline privacy and data protection and handles your personal data with care. It is responsible for the use of the personal information that is collected by way of this website or by any other way and takes all measures necessary to ensure the safety of that use of the personal data.

As an example, when you register for certain services or events, we will ask you to provide personal information. When you sign up to stay informed about our activities, or when you send us your resume, Caritas Europa collects and registers the personal information that you share with us. Caritas Europa indicates clearly what information is essential in order to access the services and it will use the information only to deliver the services.

We recommend that you read this information carefully, so that you know inter alia the purposes for which Caritas Europa uses your data. This privacy statement further explains your privacy rights and the way you can exercise them.

This privacy notice (hereinafter, referred to as the “Privacy Notice”) is provided to help you understand why and how we collect and use the personal data that you provide to us.

When you provide us with personal data, such data is processed under the control of the Association, in compliance with applicable data protection legislations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the ePrivacy Directive 95/46 (“ePrivacy”).

This privacy notice concerns:

• Candidates applying for a job, internship, volunteering position or tender at the Association
• Participants registering for an event or trainings organised by the Association
• Visitors of our website
• Visitors of our social medias
• Members of the Association
• Members of the Association’s working structures
• Board members of the Association

(hereinafter, referred to as “you”).

Caritas Europa, International non-profit association (AISBL), whose registered office is in the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium, registered in the Brussels Register of Legal Persons: 0450.716.537 (hereinafter, the “Association”, “we”, “our” and “us”).

The Association is the data controller in the sense of the GDPR. This means that the Association decides on the purposes (the “why”) and the means (the “how”) of the processing activities related to your personal data.

Candidates applying for a job or tender at the Association

What personal data do we collect?

Personal and professional data of candidates:

• First and last name
• Personal and/or professional email address that you choose to refer to us
• Personal and/or professional phone number that you choose to refer to us
• Your CV
• References that you choose to refer to us
• Cover letter that you choose to refer to us

How do we collect this data? Directly from you by email.

For what purposes?

• To assess your expertise and profile
• To have the information needed to assess your candidature and to have the possibility to contact you in relation with the job vacancy or tender for potential further discussions

Based on what legal basis? Performance of contract (pre-contractual measures).

Do we share your personal data with another company? These personal data are only shared with those who are part of the assessment/recruitment procedure. This can include Caritas Europa Executive Board members and staff from Caritas Europa and Caritas Internationalis member organisations or external consultants, within and outside of the EU/EEA.

How long will we keep your personal data? If hired/appointed, we will keep your data for the duration of the contract and 10 years after the end of the termination of the contract (legal retention in Belgium for liability claims – “prescription”). If not hired/appointed, we may keep your data and in particular your CV for a period of maximum 2 years to enable us to re-contact you in case we have another job vacancy or tender matching with your profile. If we would like to keep such data for a longer period, we will ask for your explicit consent. When the above-mentioned retention periods are over and if we do not have your consent, we will delete the data unless we have to keep them for other legitimate reasons or legal obligations.

Participants registering for an event or training organised by the Association

What personal data do we collect?

 Depending on the event you register for (e.g., webinar, forum, workshop, festival, academy, etc.), we may collect:

• First and last name
• Name of the organisation you work for
• Country
• Role
• Your CV
• Personal and/or professional email address that you choose to refer to us
• Gender (this information is requested from the European Commission, when funder of the event)
• (Mobile) phone number that you choose to refer to us
• Travel information: arrival date, arrival time, departure date and departure time
• Dietary restrictions: any special requirements regarding meals, such as allergies, special diet, etc.
• Visa information where applicable: passport number and other related information (issuing authority, issuance, and expiry date), place of birth and date of birth

How do we collect this data? Directly from you by email and/or via the application form you fill in to register to our events (online registration or offline registration).

For what purposes?

• To register you at our events
• To help you organising your travel
• To book hotel rooms for you
• To make sure the meals are suitable for you
• To communicate practical and other information related to the event

Based on what legal basis? We always ask your explicit consent via a separate form for these specific processing activities and purposes.

Do we share your personal data with another company? Some of the personal data are shared with the European Commission for reporting purposes when it is the funder of the event. For internal events targeting Caritas Europa member organisations, participant lists can be shared among the participants for networking purposes. This can include members inside and outside the EU/EEA.. Some of the personal data can also be shared with the newsletter company (MailChimp).

How long will we keep your personal data? As long as necessary for the organisation and follow-up of the events. In any case, we will delete this data within 1 year after the event took place. When the retention period is over, we will delete the data unless we have to keep them for other legitimate reasons or legal obligations.

Participants attending our events (photos, video or other recordings)

What personal data do we collect?

In addition to the above, we may take photos, video or other recordings of participants during our events.

For what purposes?

• For promotion purposes on Caritas Europe’s websites, social media channels or in other promotional material

Based on what legal basis? We always ask your explicit consent via a separate form (online or offline) for these specific processing activities and purposes. Our use of such data will be compliant with specific conditions as mentioned in our consent form (if applicable). Your participation in the event is not dependent on your consent.

Do we share your personal data with another company? These personal data can be shared with Caritas Europa and Caritas Internationalis member organisations inside and outside of the EU/EEA.

How long will we keep your personal data? By giving us your explicit consent, you authorised the Association to publish the photos, video or other recordings for an indefinite period of time on our websites and social media pages or in other promotional material. There is no expiry date for consent. However, you may withdraw your consent at any time for any future publication by email data.protection@caritas.eu or by other ways (see our contact details below). However, if you withdraw your consent to the publication of the photos, videos or recordings, this does not affect previous publications.

Visitors of our website

What personal data do we collect?

• First and last name
• Personal and/or professional email address that you choose to refer to us
• Other personal data that you voluntarily communicate to us

How do we collect this data? Directly from you by email or, in the case of the newsletter, via the online subscription form.

For what purposes?

• To receive your message/question and to answer it
• To keep you informed of the Association’s activities

Based on what legal basis? The legitimate interests of the Association: to process such data, including to assess your questions or comments and to answer them.

Do we share your personal data with another company? These personal data can be shared with Caritas Europa and Caritas Internationalis member organisations inside and outside the EU/EEA. In the case of the newsletter, the personal data is shared with the newsletter company (MailChimp).

How long will we keep your personal data? Maximum 2 years. When the retention period is over, we will delete the data unless we have to keep them for other legitimate reasons or legal obligations. In the case of the newsletter, until you unsubscribe from the mailing list via the option available in the newsletter mail or by your direct request, after which the data is deleted.

Visitors of our social medias

What personal data do we collect?

• Name/Pseudonym on social media
• Other personal data that you voluntarily communicate to us in your message via the free text field

How do we collect this data? Directly from you.

For what purposes? The Association only manually reviews your messages and comments that you voluntarily communicate to us. There is no other use of your personal data by the Association.

Based on what legal basis? The legitimate interests of the Association: to process such data, including to assess your questions or comments and potentially to answer them.

Do we share your personal data with another company? These personal data are only shared with the social media companies.

How long will we keep your personal data? When you comment a post on our social media or when you send us a message, you decide to share such information with the audience and/or with us. You can delete this information anytime or contact us to do it for you.

Use of cookies

The Association will only collect your personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice and also through the use of certain cookies.

We may use cookies to remember personal settings you have chosen at the Association’s website. In no other context do we use cookies to collect information that identifies you personally. Most of the cookies we set are automatically deleted from your computer when you leave our website or shortly afterwards.

We use anonymous session cookies (short-term cookies that disappear when you close your browser) to help you navigate the website and make the most of the features. If you log into the website, application or a course as a registered user, your session cookie will also contain your user ID so that we can check which services you are allowed to access.

The Association’s website uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. This software is provided by Google Analytics which uses cookies to track visitor usage. The software will save a cookie to your computer’s hard drive to track and monitor your engagement and usage of the website but will not store, save or collect personal information.

Should you wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from the Association’s website onto your computer’s hard drive, you should take necessary steps within your web browser’s security settings to block all cookies from the website and its external serving vendors.

Members of the Association’s working structures

What personal data do we collect?

Personal and professional data of member’s representatives:

• First and last name
• Personal and/or professional email address that you choose to refer to us
• Professional phone number
• Name of the organisation you work for
• Country
• Role
• Your CV
• Motivation letter that you choose to refer to us
• References that you choose to refer to us

How do we collect this data? Directly from you by email.

For what purposes?

• To send you our invitations to meetings
• To inform you about upcoming initiatives from the Association
• To send you newsletters and information on events of the Association
• To contact you for other reasons related to the work of the Association

Based on what legal basis? The legitimate interests of the Association.

Do we share your personal data with another company? These personal data can be shared with those who are part of the assessment/recruitment procedure. This can include Caritas Europa Executive Board members within and outside of the EU/EEA. Some of the personal data can in addition be shared with Caritas Europa and Caritas Internationalis member organisations inside and outside the EU/EEA. Some of the personal data is also shared with the newsletter company (MailChimp).

How long will we keep your personal data? As long as you are a member of the Association’s working structures.

Members’ representatives of the Association

What personal data do we collect?

Personal and professional data of member’s representatives:

• First and last name
• Personal and/or professional email address that you choose to refer to us
• Professional phone number

How do we collect this data? Directly from you by email.

For what purposes?

• To send you our invitations to meetings
• To inform you about upcoming initiatives from the Association
• To send you newsletters and information on events of the Association
• To contact you for other reasons related to the services provided for by the Association

Based on what legal basis? Performance of contract (Article 2 the Statutes).

Do we share your personal data with another company? These personal data can be shared with Caritas Europa and Caritas Internationalis member organisations inside and outside the EU/EEA. Some of the personal data is also shared with the newsletter company (MailChimp).

How long will we keep your personal data? As long as you are a member’s representatives of the Association.

Members of the Board of Directors of the Association

 What personal data do we collect?

• First and last name
• Professional e-mail address
• Professional and personal phone number
• Date and place of birth
• Personal address of domicile
• ID/passport numbers
• Copy of ID/passports

How do we collect this data? Directly from you.

For what purposes?

• To send you our newsletters
• To send you our invitations to meetings
• To inform you about upcoming activities of the Association
• To reach out to the member in case of necessity
• To complement the record of personal data of Board members and administrative purposes

For the ID/passport and address of domicile related information:

• To proceed to publications to the Moniteur Belge and update the UBO register (legal requirements)
• Administrative procedures, e.g. opening bank accounts (only for President)

Based on what legal basis? Performance of contract (Articles 3 and 4 of the Statutes), and for the ID/passport and address of domicile related information based on a legal obligation (the Association is required by law to provide certain information).

Do we share your personal data with another company? These personal data are shared with (i) an external consultancy company, (ii) a newsletter company (MailChimp), (iii) a law firm assisting the Association in its day-to-day management, (iv) BE authorities (Moniteur Belge), and (v) chartered accountant and banks. In addition, some of the personal data can be shared with Caritas Europa and Caritas Internationalis member organisations inside and outside the EU/EEA.

How long will we keep your personal data? As long as you are a Board member of the Association.

You have certain rights regarding your personal data that we process, including the following:

• The right to be informed: You have the right to be provided with clear, transparent, and easily understandable information about how we use your personal data and your rights related thereto. This is in part why we are providing you with this Privacy Notice.
• The right of access: You have the right to obtain a confirmation on whether we process your personal data, details of such processing, access to your personal data and a copy of your personal data.
• The right to rectification: You are entitled to have your personal data rectified if they are inaccurate or incomplete.
• The right to erasure: This is also known as “the right to be forgotten” and, in simple terms, enables you to request the deletion or removal of your personal data where there is no compelling reason for us to keep using it. Please note that this is not an absolute right and exceptions apply.
• The right to restrict processing: You have the right to block or prevent further use of your personal data in certain circumstances. When processing is restricted, we can still store your personal data, but our use of your personal data will be restricted.
• The right to object to processing: Where the processing is based on our legitimate interest, you have the right to object to such processing unless we have a compelling and legitimate reason to continue processing your personal data.
• The right to lodge a complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint about the way we handle or process your personal data with your national data protection authority, namely the Belgian Data Protection Authority, Rue de la Presse, 35, 1000 Brussels (+32 (0)2 274 48 00).

If you have any questions, you would like to receive more information, or you would like to exercise one of your rights, you can contact Caritas Europa in any of the following ways:

• by email: data.protection@caritas.eu
• by post:
  Caritas Europa
  Rue de la Charité 43
  B-1210 Brussels
• by phone: + 32 (0)2 235 03 90

The Association reserves the right to change this Privacy Notice from time to time without prior notice. Any modifications shall be effective from the time of the distribution of the new Privacy Notice to you.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Notice often to stay informed of changes or updates that may affect you.

Last update: March 2024