COTEMACO Privacy Notice
Last Updated: 07 May 2019
About Us
The COTEMACO Partners and regions:
| Region | Partners |
| Netherlands | Food Tech Brainport |
| High Tech NL | |
| Belgium | Flanders Make |
| Voka – Kamer van Koophandel Limburg | |
| DE: Saarland, Rheinland-Pfalz
FR: Grand Est
Luxemburg |
ZeMA – Zentrum für Mechatronik und Automatisierungstechnik gGmbH |
| BEST – Beratungsstelle für sozialverträgliche Technologiegestaltung | |
| Greater Lincolnshire (UK) | The University of Lincoln |
| Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership (Business Lincolnshire) |
The COTEMACO partners collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union (including the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as the ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws. Furthermore, all COTEMACO partners ensure to respect national laws and regulations relevant to the below-described project activities. In case of any questions about your data, you can always contact your regional COTEMACO partner.
The COTEMACO partners are working together to provide a range of information and services which aim to help small & medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access opportunities across North-West Europe. In order to carry out this work, we need to communicate with SMEs and other organisations about events and activities that we deliver.
What personal data do we collect?
Throughout the course of our activities designed to help SMEs in COTEMACO regions across North West Europe (communicating about and delivering COTEMACO field labs, events and activities), COTEMACO partners collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:
- Names, job roles, contact details (email, phone and postal address) of representatives of SMEs in COTEMACO regions.
In addition to the above, if you attend a foreign event or a field lab visit with us, we may request the following special category sensitive information as follows to ensure your wellbeing during the trip:
- Special dietary requirements
- Details of any health issues that could affect you during a visit
We also obtain personal information from other sources as follows:
COTEMACO partner websites and social media networks (LinkedIn) where we believe the support offered by the COTEMACO Project is of specific interest to the company.
How we use your personal information
We use your personal information to:
- Contact you about events and project activities which may be of interest.
- Enable you to benefit from the SME support programme and project activities (such as field lab visits, networking events or workshops).
- Keep records about companies which have participated in the SME support programme to satisfy the requirements of external funding bodies.
- Any special category sensitive information that we collect about you is used to ensure your wellbeing during events. We may need to share this information electronically with selected partner organisations or external suppliers (such as caterers) within the European Union to make sure that any special requirements you have are taken into account.
Any special category sensitive information that we collect from you is used to ensure your wellbeing during events. We may need to share this information electronically with selected partner organisations or external suppliers (such as caterers or airlines) within the European Union to make sure that any special requirements you have are taken into account.
How long your personal data will be kept
We will hold your personal information:
- Until the end of November 2031, as COTEMACO is funded by Interreg North West Europe, this is the required retention period for documentation evidencing the implementation of these kinds of projects.
- Or until such time as our services cease to operate or until you notify us that you wish us to delete your personal data.
Reasons we can collect and use your personal information
We rely on you providing consent as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data. You may withdraw your consent at any time. If you do withdraw your consent, no further personal information will be collected and the existing personal information shall only be retained in accordance with your regional COTEMACO partner’s data protection policy. If you do withdraw your consent you will no longer be able to be kept informed about SME support programmes and activities which may benefit your company.
We rely on you providing explicit consent as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your special category personal data. You may from time to time provide us with information about your physical health, for example, you may wish us to know about a health issue or disability you may have for the purpose of allowing us, our managers or our partner organisations to make adjustments to ensure your wellbeing during a COTEMACO event. If you provide us with this information we will only process it (including sharing the information with our partners) to the extent that it is necessary for that purpose.
Who we share your personal information with
We may share your data with members of the COTEMACO project involved in a particular activity or event in which you participate with your consent. This would include the following types of data:
- Name, contact details and role within your company
For details of our partner organisations (see table at the beginning of this Privacy Policy) please contact your regional COTEMACO partner. This data sharing enables us to identify international contacts for your business through our networks and partnerships.
We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.
We will only share information when it is necessary to do so and in accordance with the law.
Keeping your personal information secure
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way.
We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.
Your personal data is not processed outside of the EU by COTEMACO.
Your Rights
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights which you can access free of charge which allow you to:
- Know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
- Ask to see what information we hold about you
- Ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
- Object to direct marketing
- Make a complaint via your regional COTEMACO partner.
Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:
- Ask us to delete information we hold about you
- Have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
- Object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
- Object to how we are using your information
- Stop us using your information in certain ways
We will always seek to comply with your request however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note: your request may delay or prevent us from delivering a service to you.
For further information about your rights, see the European Commission’s information website on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.
If you would like to exercise a right, please contact your regional COTEMACO partner who will process your request.
Who to Contact
Please contact your regional COTEMACO partner to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for.
The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The European Commission lists all national Data Protection Authorities.
Under the GDPR you have a number of rights which you can access free of charge which allow you to:
- Know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
- Ask to see what information we hold about you
- Ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
- Object to direct marketing
- Make a complaint via your regional COTEMACO partner.
Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:
- Ask us to delete information we hold about you
- Have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
- Object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
- Object to how we are using your information
- Stop us using your information in certain ways
We will always seek to comply with your request however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note: your request may delay or prevent us from delivering a service to you.
For further information about your rights, see the European Commission’s information website on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.
If you would like to exercise a right, please contact your regional COTEMACO partner who will process your request.