Data Protection Notice for BEUC events

Last updated on 24 July 2024

This data protection notice explains how The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) processes your personal data to organise, manage and follow up BEUC’s online and on-site events.

In this notice you will find out about:

The personal data we process
Legal bases and purposes of processing
Who decides and conducts the processing
Data storage
International data transfers
Your rights
Our contact details

The personal data we process

Participation in BEUC’s events is voluntary and entails the processing of personal data. We process the following categories of personal data collected via a registration form:

first and last name
e-mail address
your organisation
your position (optional)
whether you plan to attend the conference virtually or in-person (if applicable)
video recording and/or web streaming of speakers participating in the event of the main conference hall, as well as of participants attending the conference in person and participate in the Q&A session of the said panel
if you attend the conference or any social events organised by BEUC in person, photographs and audio-video recording depicting you (optional)
if you attend the conference in person, dietary restrictions (optional)
if you attend the conference in person, special needs (optional)
if you attend the conference online and you are located outside of the EU/EEA area and in the absence of an adequacy decision pursuant to Article 45(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, your consent for transfer of your personal data outside of the EU/EEA area to allow you to attend the conference remotely (if applicable).

Legal bases and purposes of processing

When sending invitations to attend a BEUC event, we use the following legal bases to contact

policy-makers and regulators: legitimate interest
journalists: legitimate interest
external contacts: consent

We process the personal data based on consent following your registration for the following purposes:

to manage your participation in the event (e.g. to communicate about the event)
to manage dietary preferences or restrictions of participants attending an in-person event, if applicable
to allow for accommodation of special needs (e.g. live transcription), if applicable
to be photographed and video-recorded for promotion about the event and other communication purposes.

For photographs and/or video-recordings taken during the event, your consent will be collected via the registration form. If the event is held in person, we will provide you with a distinctive conference badge to respect your choice and rights. Photos taken under private capacity do not fall under the responsibility of BEUC.

Who decides and conducts the processing

BEUC is acting as the controller of the personal data processing as we determine its purposes and means.

For sending out BEUC mailings we rely on the external services CiviCRM and Outlook.

In case of online or hybrid events, BEUC relies on online-conferencing tools such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams. To provide an interactive experience, we occasionally rely on external IT services such as Slido but participation is done on a voluntary basis. Please consult their respective privacy policies for more information on how they process personal data.

If applicable, video recordings of events will be published on the YouTube channel of BEUC.

Data storage

BEUC strives to store your personal data only for as long is necessary in the European Union. BEUC is co-funded by the European Union (EU). To prove the legitimate use of the funds and comply with our grant contracts, BEUC is required to document attendance lists. Your personal data will be shared with the organisers of the event of the project. Your data will be processed for 5 years after the end of the relevant project to allow for verification and auditing of the project associated with the event.

International data transfers

According to Zoom’s privacy policy and Slido’s privacy policy, the services entail that personal data will be transferred to the USA under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and other parts of the world with applicable safeguards.

Your rights

As a ‘data subject’, you have a

Right of access the personal data we hold about you and to obtain a copy.
Right to rectification if you think the personal data we have about you is inaccurate, incomplete or inaccurate.
Right to erasure the personal data we have about you.
Right to restriction of processing. If you believe the personal data we have is inaccurate or that we are not using it lawfully but do not want to simply ask that we delete it straight away, you have the right to ask us to stop using the data while we sort out the problems.
Right to withdraw consent any time. The withdrawal shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
Right to data portability – You have the right to receive the data that you have provided in a commonly used format, so you can take it somewhere else if you wish.
Right to object to
- the use of your data for marketing purposes at any time. Note that we do not use your data for marketing in any way!
- processing of personal data concerning you, which is based on a legitimate or public interest, including profiling. We shall no longer process the personal data unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights, and freedoms or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Right to lodge a complaint before your national data protection authority if you believe your rights are not being respected and your data is being used unlawfully. You can also write to the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) at privacy@beuc.eu.

Find more information about your data protection rights.

Our contact details

If you have any request, question, complaint or query with regards to how we use your data, please contact us and we will do our best to resolve them.
E-mail: Privacy@beuc.eu
Tel: +32 2 743 15 90
Address: BEUC – The European Consumer Organisation
Rue d’Arlon 80
B-1040 Brussels
Belgium