PROTECTION OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
This privacy statement provides information about the processing and the protection of your personal data.
Processing operation: European Week of Regions and Cities
Data Controller: European Commission- Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy – Communication Unit and European Committee of the Regions - Communication Directorate
Record reference (Commission): DPR-EC-01266
Record reference (Committee of the Regions): RD2-3
Introduction
The European Week of Regions and Cities (hereafter EURegionsWeek) is an annual four-day event during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance.
The European Commission (hereafter ‘the Commission’) and the European Committee of the Regions (hereafter the 'CoR') are committed to protect your personal data and to respect your privacy. The Commission and the CoR collect and further process personal data pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data (repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001).
This privacy statement explains the reason for the processing of your personal data, the way we collect, handle and ensure protection of all personal data provided, how that information is used and what rights you have in relation to your personal data. It also specifies the contact details of the responsible Data Controller with whom you may exercise your rights, the Data Protection Officer and the European Data Protection Supervisor.
The Data Controllers for events that form part of the official European Week of Regions and Cities programme are the Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy – Communication Unit and the CoR – Communication Directorate (hereafter ‘the Organisers’). On behalf of the Organisers, contractors and regional partnerships act as processors on certain personal data on a need-to-know basis.
The Organisers are not the data controllers for the events that form part of the EURegionsWeek close to you programme. These events are organised and managed by external parties who are the sole controllers of participants’ data.
Information relating to the processing of data for the European Week of Regions and Cities by the Organisers is presented below.
Why and how do we process your personal data?
Online event platform
Data is collected via the event platform, a web application created by DG REGIO and its contractor to facilitate the registration of participants and organisations, the application process for those wishing to create a session for the event, and the dissemination of information regarding the hosting of the event, including web streaming and email communication.
Participants and organisations have access to the platform with a login and a password via EU login. The account details remain in the system until the it is deleted manually or has been inactive for a period of five years, at which point it will be automatically deleted
Registration of applications to coordinate a session
The Organisers collect and evaluate the contents of applications received via the event platform. After evaluation, details provided in the application process such as session descriptions, names of partners, organisations of the selected partners, and social media details/website URLs are published on the Event Website.
Registration to participate in the event
The Organisers collect and use your personal information to allow your participation in the events taking place as part of the EURegionsWeek. These data are used to communicate with participants before, during and after the event.
Live web streaming, video recordings and images of the speakers, moderators and the participants, as well as photographs of groups of participants and organisers are published in the context of the meeting, including after the event, on communication platforms of the organisers.
Participation in online meetings
The Organisers collect and use your personal information to manage online sessions or meetings. Some session coordinators (after agreement to use only the data received for the purposes of the session online) may organise some online sessions. The data the user provides to any service used to connect to an online session is not managed by the Organisers.
Live web streaming, video recordings and images of the speakers, moderators and the participants, as well as photographs of groups of participants and coordinators may be published in the context of the meeting, including after the event, on communication platforms of the organisers.
Joining the EURegions Week community
The Organisers also collect and use your personal information to facilitate the EURegionsWeek community. This will only be done if you consent to joining the community in your profile settings.
The EURegionsWeek community comprises all registered users on the platform who have so consented. Only such data as is necessary will be used to facilitate community-related activities.
ID details, email addresses and phone numbers will not be shared.
Your personal data will not be used for automated decision-making or profiling.
On what legal ground(s) do we process your personal data
We process your personal data, because:
(a) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Union institution or body
(b) processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject
Article 58 of Regulation 1303/2013 laying common provisions for the European Structural and Investment Funds, regarding technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission. Article 58(1) (f) CPR – technical assistance – networks: "actions to disseminate information, support networking, carry out communication activities with particular attention to the results and added value of support from the ESI Funds, raise awareness and promote cooperation and exchange of experience, including with third countries".
Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy.
Your consent is required for the following actions:
- the sharing of certain participant details with other participants for the purposes of the EURegionsWeek Community. Your ID details, email address and phone number will not be shared.
If you opt-in, you are giving us your explicit consent under Article 5(1)(d) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 to process your personal data for those specific purposes. You can give your consent via a clear affirmative act by ticking the box(es) on the online registration form.
Your consent for these services can be withdrawn at any time by contacting the Data Controller listed under point 8 below.
Which personal data do we collect and further process?
In order to carry out this processing operation, the Organisers collect the following categories of personal data.
Specifically for on-site participation:
The provision of personal data is mandatory to meet a statutory requirement for security reasons. If you do not provide your personal data, we cannot grant you access to the premises.
The online registration platform collects:
Prefilled from the EU login account previously created: First name, Last name and Email
• Gender (or prefer not to reply)
• Country
• Representing organisation or citizen. If organisation, then organisation details and function
• Thematic interests
• Special accessibility needs
as optional data:
• Alias
• User short description
• Telephone number
• Personal profile picture
• Personal website
• Personal social media
Conditional to an onsite participation
• Date of birth
• Document type: ID or passport
• ID card number/ passport
• ID expiration date
• Date of issue
How long do we keep your personal data?
The Organisers keep participants’ data for as long as follow-up actions to the event are necessary, considering the purpose(s) of the EURegionsWeek and its community.
A user’s account can be deleted from the platform manually and is automatically deleted after five years of inactivity.
ID card details collected for security purposes to allow access to onsite events are deleted at the end of the calendar year.
Reports containing personal data will be archived according to the Commission's legal framework.
How do we protect and safeguard your personal data?
All personal data in electronic format (e-mails, documents, databases, uploaded batches of data, etc.) are stored either on the servers of the European Commission, the CoR or of its contractors (including on the contractors’ Cloud). All processing operations are carried out pursuant to the Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2017/46 of 10 January 2017 on the security of communication and information systems in the European Commission.
The Commission and CoR' contractors are bound by a specific contractual clause for any processing operations of personal data on behalf of the Commission, and by the confidentiality obligations deriving from the transposition of the Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data (repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001).
In order to protect your personal data, the Organisers have put a number of technical and organisational measures in place. These measures include appropriate actions to address online security, risk of data loss, alteration of data or unauthorised access, taking into consideration the risk presented by the processing and the nature of the personal data being processed. Organisational measures include restricting access to the personal data solely to authorised persons with a legitimate need to know for the purposes of this processing operation.
The Commission’s and the CoR's processors (contractors) are bound by a specific contractual clause for any processing operations of your personal data on behalf of the Commission and the CoR. The processors have to put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the level of security, required by the Commission and the CoR.
Who has access to your personal data and to whom is it disclosed?
Access to your personal data is provided to the staff of the European Commission and the Committe of the Regions according to the “need to know” principle. Such staff abide by statutory, and when required, additional confidentiality agreements.
The following people also have access to the data:
- Session coordinators (representatives of organisations that are successful in their application to hold an event as part of the week) have access to the list of participants registered to their session. This access is given only for the purpose of organising the session.
- Where needed, the list of participants (including ID details) will be introduced in the V-PASS information system or sent by secure e-mail to the Security Office of the Commission. This is to facilitate security checks that will allow access to the European Commission's premises and other on-site locations (under the responsibility of DG HR/DS -see record DPR-EC-00655).
- Under certain conditions defined in law, we may disclose your information to third parties (such as the European Anti-Fraud Office, the Court of Auditors or law enforcement authorities) if it is necessary and proportionate for lawful, specific purposes.
What are your rights and how can you exercise them?
You have specific rights as a ‘data subject’ under Chapter III (Articles 14-25) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, in particular the right to access, rectify or erase your personal data and the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Where applicable, you also have the right to object to the processing or the right to data portability.
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data, which is lawfully carried out pursuant to Article 5(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 on grounds relating to your particular situation.
If you have consented to provide your personal data to the data controller for the present processing operation, you can withdraw your consent at any time by notifying the data controller [REGIO-A2-COMMUNICATION@ec.europa.eu]. The withdrawal of your consent will not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out before you have withdrawn the consent.
You can exercise your rights by contacting the Data Controllers, or in case of conflict, the Data Protection Officers. If necessary, you can also address the European Data Protection Supervisor. Their contact information is given below.
Where you wish to exercise your rights in the context of one or several specific processing operations, please provide their description (i.e. their Record reference(s) as specified under Heading 10 below in your request.
Contact information
The Data Controller
If you would like to exercise your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, or if you have comments, questions or concerns, or if you would like to submit a complaint regarding the collection and use of your personal data, please feel free to contact the Data Controller:
DG Regional and Urban Policy - Communication
Unit Phone : +32 2 297 16 03
REGIO-A2-COMMUNICATION@ec.europa.eu
CoR – Communication directorate
EURegionsweek@cor.europa.eu
The Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the Commission
You may contact the Data Protection Officer (DATA-PROTECTION-OFFICER@ec.europa.eu) with regard to issues related to the processing of your personal data under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
The Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the CoR
You may contact the Data Protection Officer (data.protection@cor.europa.eu) with regard to issues related to the processing of your personal data under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)
You have the right to have recourse (i.e. you can lodge a complaint) to the European Data Protection Supervisor (edps@edps.europa.eu) if you consider that your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 have been infringed as a result of the processing of your personal data by the Data Controller.
Where to find more detailed information?
The Commission Data Protection Officer (DPO) publishes the register of all processing operations on personal data by the Commission, which have been documented and notified to him. You may access the register via the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/dpo-register.
This specific processing operation has been included in the DPO’s public register with the following Record reference: DPR-EC-01266
The CoR Data Protection Officer (DPO) publishes all processing activities on personal data of the CoR in the Internal Central register. For the CoR, the record reference is RD2-3.
