Our Privacy Policy

Personal data is defined as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. "Identifiable" refers to identifiers (such as name, identification number, location data, etc.) that can be used to directly or indirectly identify a natural person.

The personal data we collect is used for the purposes listed below:

1. Responding to Queries:
   If you use the contact form on our website, we will process your personal data to reply to your query via email or telephone.
2. Newsletter Subscription:
   If you register for our newsletter, we will use your email address to send newsletters, which may include invitations to events, seminars, and other initiatives organized by us.
3. Downloads:
   If you download reports or information from our website, your email address will be used to send newsletters and commercial information, including invitations to events (both free and paid), seminars, and similar activities organized by us.
4. Website Support and User Experience:
   We process your personal data to support the website and enhance your user experience. This includes ensuring the security, availability, performance, capacity, and health of the website.
5. Legal Rights:
   We process your personal data to enforce or exercise any rights available to us under applicable laws, including the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.
6. Compliance with Legal Obligations:
   Your personal data may be used to fulfill our obligations as required by applicable laws and regulations.

Categories of Personal Data

We collect the following categories of personal data:

• Contact Data:
  When you use the contact form or download reports/information, you will be asked to provide your name, address, email address, phone number, and any additional personal data entered into the designated field. Please avoid providing sensitive information (e.g., health information, criminal convictions, credit card/account numbers).
• Newsletter Data:
  If you register for our newsletter, we collect your email address.
• Usage Data:
  We collect information regarding your activities on our website, including your IP address, device ID and type, referral source, language settings, browser type, operating system, geographical location, length of visit, page views, and details about the timing, frequency, and pattern of your service use. If this data is completely anonymized (and cannot be traced back to you), it will not be considered personal data for the purposes of this Privacy Policy.
• Transaction Data:
  We process data related to transactions made through the website, including your contact data, payment information, and details of goods or services purchased.

Legal Basis for Processing

The processing of your personal data is based on your consent, which you have the right to withdraw at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing conducted before the withdrawal.

Your personal data will only be used for the purposes set out in this section.

Your personal data will be retained for a period of 3 years.

If you withdraw your consent or object to the use of your personal data, and such objection is successful, we will remove your personal data from our databases. However, we may retain specific personal data necessary to ensure your preferences are respected in the future (e.g., to avoid re-contacting you if you requested no further communication).

This does not prevent us from retaining personal data if it is necessary to:

• Comply with legal obligations.
• File or defend against a legal claim.
• Retain for evidential purposes in line with applicable laws.

This article lists your principal rights under data protection law. We have tried to summarise them for you in a clear and legible way.

To exercise any of your rights, please send us a written request in accordance with article 1 of this Privacy Policy. We will respond to your request without undue delay, but in any event within one month of the receipt of the request. In the event of an extension of the term to respond or in the event we do not take action on your request, we will notify you.

The right to access

You have the right to confirmation as to whether or not we process your personal data and, in the event we do so, you have the right to access such personal data, together with certain additional information that you also find listed in this Privacy Policy.

You have the right to receive from us a copy of your personal data we have in our possession, provided that this does not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others. The first copy will be provided free of charge, but we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee if you request further copies.

The right to rectification

If the personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to have this information rectified or, taking into account the purposes of the processing, completed.

The right to erasure (right to be forgotten)

In some circumstances, you have the right to the erasure of your personal data without undue delay. Those circumstances include:

• The personal data are no longer needed in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed;
• You withdraw your consent, and no other lawful ground exists;
• The processing is for direct marketing purposes;
• The personal data have been unlawfully processed; or,
• Erasure is necessary for compliance with EU law or Belgian law.

There are certain exclusions to the right to erasure. Those exclusions include where processing is necessary,

• for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information;
• for compliance with a legal obligation; or,
• for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.

The right to restrict processing

You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data (meaning that the personal data may only be stored by us and may only be used for limited purposes), if:

• You contest the accuracy of the personal data (and only for as long as it takes to verify that accuracy);
• The processing is unlawful and you request restriction (as opposed to exercising the right to erasure);
• We no longer need the personal data for the purposes of our processing, but you require personal data for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; or,
• You have objected to processing, pending the verification of that objection.

In addition to our right to store your personal data, we may still otherwise process it but only:

• with your consent;
• for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims;
• for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person; or,
• for reasons of important public interest.

We will inform you before we lift the restriction of processing.

The right to data portability

To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is consent, and such processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.

You also have the right to have your personal data transferred directly to another company, if this is technically possible, and/or to store your personal data for further personal use on a private device.

The right to object to processing

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation, but only to the extent that the legal basis for the processing is that the processing is necessary for:

• The performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of any official authority vested in us;
• The purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party.

If you make such an objection, we will cease to process the personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.

You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (including profiling for direct marketing purposes). If you make such an objection, we will cease to process your personal data for this purpose.

The right to complain to a supervisory authority

If you consider that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so in the EU member state of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement. In Belgium, you can submit a complaint to the Authority for the protection of personal data (Privacy Commission), Drukpersstraat 35, 1000 Brussel (Contact@apd-gba.be)

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To the extent necessary or appropriate, EIT Food may disclose your Personal Information to external 3rd Parties, such as IT consultants carrying out testing and development work on our IT systems and other service and software providers who we may appoint as data processors such as e.g. for CRM purposes.

Where applicable, we will impose appropriate contractual, security, confidentiality and other obligations on to 3rd party providers and processors we have appointed, based on the nature of the services they provide to us. We will only permit them to process your Personal Information in accordance with the law and our instructions. We do not allow them to use your Personal Information for their own purposes and when our relationship ends we will ensure your Personal Information is securely returned or destroyed.

The above mentioned third parties may be located both within and outside the EEA. In the latter case, we will take the necessary measures to ensure that your Personal Information is adequately protected, secure, kept confidential and that we have a lawful basis for the transfer.

In addition, we may disclose your personal data in the event such disclosure is required or necessary in order to fulfil a legal obligation. We may also disclose personal data in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interest of another natural person.

As such, we do not disclose your personal data to our social media partners. We do, however, make use of social media plugins to direct you to our social media channels and to allow you to interact with our content. These social media channels are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. In the event you click such link, such social media service provider may collect personal data about you and may link this information to your existing profile on such social media.

We are not responsible for the use of your personal data by such social media service provider. In such case, the social media service provider will act as controller and we refer to the privacy policies of those social media channels for information about the use of your personal data.

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We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your Personal Information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your Personal Information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to do so.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected Personal Information breaches and we will notify you and the applicable supervisory authority of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your Personal Information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your Personal Information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to do so.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected Personal Information breaches and we will notify you and the applicable supervisory authority of a breach where we are legally required to do so We will ensure that any transfer of personal data to countries outside of the European Economic Area will take place pursuant to the appropriate safeguards.

If there is a transfer of your personal data and/or anonymised and/or aggregated data, the following legal protection mechanism will be implemented:

Which Country outside EEA Legal transmission mechanism

Google United States Model Clauses

LinkedIn United States Model Clauses

Meta (Facebook/Instagram) United States Model Clauses

Twitter United States Model Clauses

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From time to time, we have the right to modify this Privacy Policy. You will always be able to consult the most recent version of the Privacy Policy on the website.