Privacy Disclaimer
1. Object of this privacy policy
The Wallonia Export-Investment Agency (hereinafter "AWEX"), a public interest organisation, attaches great importance to the respect and protection of your personal data that it must process for the implementation of its public interest missions.
AWEX undertakes to process your personal data (hereinafter, "personal data") in a lawful, loyal and transparent manner in accordance with the legislation in force.
In its Privacy Policy, AWEX wishes to inform you in a clear and complete manner about how your personal data is processed.
For the purpose of this document, you should understand by:
- "legislation in force": all of the regulations which apply (national, European and international) in the field of personal data protection concerning natural persons, in particular the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data ("GDPR");
- "personal data": any information concerning an identified or identifiable natural person;
- "processing": any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction;
- "controller": the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data;
- "processor": any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller;
- "third party": any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or body other than the data subject, controller, processor and persons who, under the direct authority of the controller or processor, are authorised to process personal data;
- "recipient": any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or another body, to which the personal data are disclosed, whether a third party or not;
- "consent": any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her;
- "profiling": any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person's performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements;
- "public interest missions of AWEX or missions": the public interest missions which AWEX is in charge of in accordance with Article 2 of the Walloon Parliament Act of 2 April 1998 creating the Wallonia Export-Investment Agency (modified by the Walloon Parliament Act of 1 April 2004):
- the external promotion of the economic and commercial interests of enterprises with a head office in the Walloon Region through the organisation of missions, collective participation in fairs and sales events, or any other action that may contribute to this object;
- the financial support of individual prospecting and foreign market research actions as defined by the Government;
- the management of special programmes to support foreign trade;
- the search for external openings for agricultural and horticultural products, including agrifood products and the brand image of agriculture and horticulture;
- the analysis and search for economic and commercial opportunities for the benefit of enterprises in the multilateral technical support and financial programmes implemented by international organisations in the frame of the international economic partnership;
- the search for foreign investors;
- the coordination of the Walloon Region's network of economic and commercial attachés.
In a general and cross-cutting manner, AWEX is also in charge of developing the visibility and international recognition of Wallonia with regard to a foreign audience.
2. Contact details of the controller and the data protection officer
2.1. Controller
The Controller of your personal data is:
The Wallonia Export-Investment Agency, public interest organisation
2, Place Sainctelette
1080 Brussels
Belgium
No 0267.314.479
2.2. Data Protection Officer
For any queries, remarks or complaints concerning your rights or the processing of your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer with specific details of your request. The AWEX Data Protection Officer can be contacted at the following address: dpo@awex.be.
3. Categories of personal data processed by awex
In the frame of its missions, AWEX is required to process the following personal data:
- Identification data: surname, first name, postal address, telephone numbers, email address, copy of identity card and/or passport (only for certain collective commercial prospecting actions), photo (only for producing brochures of participants in collective commercial prospecting actions);
- Data concerning personal characteristics: age, gender, date and place of birth, nationality, languages spoken;
- Financial data: credit card number, bank account number (only when financial aid is provided to companies organised into natural persons and, in some cases, for certain collective commercial prospecting actions);
- Professional data about studies and training: title/position, employer's name, curriculum vitae (especially for a work placement with AWEX, for participating in the Explort programme, or in order to meet the selection requirements provided for in certain AWEX public procurement contracts);
- Browsing data on our websites: IP addresses, dates and times of access to sites, type of browsers, pages consulted;
- Sensitive data: in general, AWEX does not use your sensitive personal data, such as data about your sexual orientation, your religious or political beliefs, your health, or your ethnic group. However, information about the eventual effects on your diet may be requested in the frame of public relation operations and collective commercial prospecting actions;
- Other types of data: dates and places of stay in the frame of individual and collective travel overseas (commercial prospecting actions, Explort programme, etc.).
4. Personal data sources
AWEX may collect personal data from the following sources:
- Yourself: this is AWEX's main source of personal data collection;
- External partners: Walloon foreign trade operators, higher education establishments participating in the Explort programme, Wallonia-Brussels International, administrations and Walloon PIOs (if applicable);
- Sub-contractors: AWEX may receive certain personal data (contact details of company representatives) from service providers which they use in the frame of its foreign investment search mission;
- Sources accessible to the public: it is possible that, in some cases, AWEX collects this personal data from sources accessible to the pubic (websites of companies referencing its representatives' contact details, Belgian Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, etc.).
5. Purposes and legal bases for the processing of your personal data
5.1. Authorised legal bases
In this section, AWEX wishes to inform you about the purposes for which it processes your personal data and indicate the legal bases on which it relies for implementing this processing in accordance with the legislation in force.
For each item of personal data that it processes, AWEX uses one or more legal bases authorised by the legislation in force (for information, these bases are listed in Article 6 of the GDPR).
Thus, according to the context and purposes, AWEX will be required to collect and use your personal data (i) in order to carry out its public interest missions and/or (ii) in order to ensure the correct implementation of a contract that you signed with it and/or (iii) in order to comply with a legal obligation to which it is subject.
It is also possible that AWEX bases itself on your consent for the processing of your personal data. In this case, AWEX undertakes not to use this data for any purpose other than that for which you gave your consent.
5.2. Purpose of the processing activities carried out by AWEX
The Decree of 2 April 1998 creating the Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (modified by the Decree of 1 April 2004) assigns several public interest missions to AWEX, which may be brought together according to the following three main areas:
- General support for Walloon export enterprises, or those interested in international development, also including the search for new users that do not yet use AWEX's services;
- Attraction of potential foreign investors (Greenfield mode and expansion) to the Walloon territory, and;
- In a general and cross-cutting manner, the development of the visibility and international recognition of Wallonia with regard to a foreign audience.
It is in the frame of these three main missions that all the personal data processing at AWEX is carried out, if necessary, under joint responsibility with other public organisations or with the support of service providers or public or private sub-contracting institutions.
Most of the personal data processing carried out by AWEX is necessary for providing the service(s) you have wanted to benefit from following a voluntary process by you.
Under no circumstances does the personal data processing carried out by AWEX comprise a commercial dimension in the sense of the search or demand for financial compensation, or any form of participation fees for its prospecting actions.
Purpose of processing | Legal bases | Disclosure |
Processing concerning the support mission for Walloon export companies | ||
Compiling and updating the database of AWEX's client entities (personalising the relationship through the identification of one or more contact points) including the granting of access to secure online spaces | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission | Intranet platform: AWEX staff |
Providing personalised information about AWEX's services (information seminars, commercial prospecting actions, new aid, etc.) and about export markets | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission In the case of sending newsletters: Consent | Seminars: Other participants |
Providing personalised information about the relationship (aid granted, aid in progress, etc.) between an enterprise and AWEX | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission | |
Proposing and organising participation in commercial prospecting actions (compilation of lists of participating enterprises and their representatives, prospecting via the network of economic and commercial attachés, management of travel logistics, evaluation) | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission | In general: Other participants Travel agency Case of trade fairs and shows: Stand assembler Event organiser (and its sub-contractors) Case of royal missions and state visits Federal Agency for Foreign Trade FPS Foreign Affairs Royal Palace State Security |
Granting of financial aid for international development (receipt of file, eligibility, admissibility, settlement, control, with contact point in enterprise) | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission | In general: Ministerial cabinet Court of Auditors CIF (SPW) Statutory auditor ISO certification company For certain types of aid, in order to avoid double subsidies: Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI) SOFINEX Case of CCI overseas FPS Economy FPS Foreign Affairs Other regional organisations for the promotion of foreign trade Case of 1st level aid AdN E-wbs DGO6 SODEXHO |
Allowing young graduates or job seekers to benefit from an international prospecting experience for a Walloon company (Explort programme – Long missions) | Submission of application: Consent (voluntary process) Work placement: Performance of a contract Alumni network: Consent (requested process) | FOREM Beneficiary enterprises |
Allowing students to benefit from an international prospecting mission in favour of the Walloon economy (Explort programme – Short missions) | Consent (process proposed by the School) | Partner education supplier establishment Beneficiary enterprises |
Processing involving missions to attract foreign investment | ||
Prospecting, compiling lists of prospects, implementing business intelligence | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission In the case of private prospectors or independent experts: Performance of a contract | Independent experts |
Compiling and updating a database of personalised contacts | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission In the case of private prospectors or independent experts: Performance of a contract | Access to the database is reserved for internal use, including independent experts (but not for private prospectors) |
Opening a foreign investment file (Greenfield or extension) | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission In the case of private prospectors or independent experts: Performance of a contract | If appropriate, all or some of the following partners and service providers intervening in the support process; AWEX business committee Minister Law firm Social secretariat Walloon administrations Account keeper Real estate company Intermunicipal body Notary firm Independent expert |
Annual communication of the investment statistics in Wallonia | Implementation of a public interest mission | Auditors firm (Ernst & Young) |
Providing personalised information about Wallonia's assets (Information seminars, PR operations, etc.) | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission In the case of sending newsletters : Consent | Public relation seminars and operations: Other participants |
Processing involving the development of the visibility and international recognition of Wallonia | ||
Developing the network of brand ambassadors, managing its members and coordinating it (event organisation, sending of newsletters, testimonial requests, etc.) | Consent | Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI) Other members of the network |
Communicating promotional documentation about Wallonia (sending of paper or electronic publications) | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission Consent | |
Organising events, seminars, public relation operations | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission | Other participants |
Requesting video or written testimonials | Consent | Any public (via websites or social networks) |
Other types of processing | ||
Managing public procurement (identification of the person with the capacity to bind the tenderer, ensuring the professional capacity of tenderers that will perform the contract) | Compliance with a legal obligation Implementation of a public interest mission | Case of joint public procurement Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI) Case of an eventual control procedure European Commission Court of Auditors |
Managing AWEX's contacts and relations with the different Belgian media | Consent |
6. Sharing of your personal data
In addition to the specific cases of disclosure referred to in the previous section ("5.2. Purpose of processing implemented by AWEX"), AWEX may share your personal data with other recipients. The categories of potential recipients of your personal data are listed below.
6.1. AWEX staff members
AWEX agents (local and foreign staff) may receive your personal data in order to perform the tasks entrusted to them. Internal measures are taken to ensure that your personal data is processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Furthermore, in order to avoid the unauthorised access or modification of data as much as possible, AWEX's agents only have access to the personal data that is necessary for performing their tasks.
6.2. AWEX partners
AWEX may share your personal data with the partners (generally other public organisations) with which it works when performing its public interest missions, in particular for granting certain financial aids for international development or in the frame of the organisation of certain commercial prospecting actions.
6.3. AWEX processors and service providers
In order to perform certain tasks, AWEX employs the services of external service providers that may be required to process your personal data.
In particular, this may be AWEX's technical application service providers that develop application solutions and that are required to process your personal data, or even insurance service providers designed for participants in AWEX's Explort programme.
When your personal data is communicated to sub-contractors that implement processing for AWEX, it ensures that contractual provisions are in place, in particular in order to guarantee that these sub-contractors:
do not use your personal data for any purposes other than those indicated by AWEX and that it is processed in accordance with the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and;
have set up the appropriate security measures to prevent the unauthorised or illegal processing of your personal data and the accidental loss, destruction, or deterioration of your personal data.
6.4. Public authorities
It is possible that AWEX is required to communicate some of your personal data in order to comply with a legal obligation that is imposed on it or in order to reply to requests from public authorities.
For example, requests from judicial authorities (courts, police services, etc.), administrative jurisdictions (Auditors, Council of State), or even certain administrative authorities (Minister's cabinet, Walloon Digital Agency, CIF, etc.).
7. Transfer of personal data to a non-member country of the European Economic Area (EEA)
AWEX has several economic and commercial representation positions abroad ("the AWEX Network of Economic and Commercial Attachés"), which, in particular, ensure representation missions for Wallonia overseas, information, monitoring and advice about foreign markets, market research, help with prospecting, support for companies in the field, and more.
The network's members are placed under the direct authority of AWEX and process personal data in accordance with the instructions given to them.
Some of the Network's positions are located in non-member countries of the EEA and it is possible that, in the frame of the performance of AWEX's public interest missions, transfers of personal data may take place between these positions and AWEX's different offices in Belgium.
By decision of the European Commission, certain non-member countries of the EEA are considered to provide an appropriate level of protection in the sense of the legislation in force. The transfer of personal data to these countries does not require any additional protection measures.
In all other cases, AWEX will do its utmost to ensure that personal data is processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy, in particular through the setting up of adapted contractual provisions, or through the transmission of clear and precise instructions about how personal data can be processed.
The personal data that may be concerned by these transfers is as follows:
- surname, first name, title and contact details of natural persons participating in AWEX's individual or collective actions abroad;
- information concerning the participants in the Explort programme that complete a work placement at one of the Network's positions or with a company overseas.
8. What are your rights and how to exercise them?
In accordance with the legislation in force, you have several rights concerning the processing your personal data by AWEX.
To exercise the rights below, please contact the AWEX Data Protection Officer, whose contact details can be found in section 2.2 of this Privacy Policy.
He will assess the validity of your request and will determine the possibility of responding to your request as soon as possible and, in all cases, within a period of one month following receipt of the request. If necessary, this period may be prolonged by two months in view of the complexity and the number of requests.
Furthermore, it is possible that following your request, AWEX has to verify your identity. This verification may require the transmission of additional data, such as a copy of your identity card.
The rights you benefit from are as follows:
8.1 Right of access to your personal data
You have the right to obtain information that your personal data is or is not being processed by AWEX. In the case that your personal data is being processed by AWEX, you have the right to obtain the following information: the purpose of processing, the categories of personal data concerned by processing, the recipients or the categories of recipients for this data, the retention period for the data, or the criteria which allows this period to be calculated, and the source of the data.
Furthermore, you have the right to obtain a copy of your personal data on an electronic support, or, if you wish, on a paper support.
8.2. Right to rectification of your personal data
You may ask for your personal data to be modified, corrected or deleted if you notice that it is incomplete, incorrect or inaccurate.
If applicable, this correction will be sent to any processors and recipients of your personal data.
8.3. Right to erasure of your personal data ("right to be forgotten")
In some cases, you have the right to request that your personal data be erased by AWEX.
In all cases, this right may not be exercised and your request will be refused if the processing of your personal data is required for complying with a legal obligation or for exercising AWEX's public interest missions.
However, if the processing of your personal data is based on your consent or on a contract that you have concluded with AWEX, you may request that your data be erased in the following cases:
The data is no longer necessary with regard to the purposes for which it was collected or is processed in a different manner;
You no longer consent to the processing of this data and processing is based on your consent;
Your data is processed in an illicit manner.
If applicable, this erasure request will be sent to any processors and recipients of your personal data.
8.4. Right to object to processing of your personal data
When the processing of your personal data is based solely on the performance of one of AWEX's public interest missions, you have the right to object to this processing for reasons pertaining to your own specific situation.
However, it is possible for AWEX to refuse your objection request by providing proof of the existence of legitimate or compelling reasons that justify the processing of your personal data.
If applicable, this objection request will be sent to any processors and recipients of your personal data.
8.5. Right to withdraw your consent
When the processing of your personal data is based solely on your consent, you have a right to withdraw it. This right is exercised without prejudice for AWEX to evoke other legal bases that justify and make the afore-mentioned processing necessary.
8.6. Right to restriction of processing
You have the right to obtain the restriction of the processing of your personal data in the following cases:
You contest the accuracy of your data;
You have objected to the processing of your data;
The processing of your data is illicit.
If your request is founded, your personal data will be kept by AWEX but will no longer be used.
8.7. Right to the portability of your personal data
Subject to the rights and freedoms of third parties, you have the right to receive the personal data that you provided to AWEX in a structured format that is easy to use and legible by machine, and to request that it be sent to another processing manager, when:
processing is based on consent or on a contract and;
processing is carried out via automated processes.
Note that your request may be refused by AWEX if the processing of your personal data is required for the performance of one of its public interest missions.
8.8. Right to not be subject to a decision founded solely on automated processing
You have the right to not be subject to a decision founded solely on automated processing, including profiling, producing legal effects that concern you or affect you significantly in a similar way. In other terms, you have the right to request a human intervention in the processing of your personal data.
AWEX undertakes to ensure that you are never subject to a decision founded solely on automated processing, including profiling, producing legal effects that concern you or affect you significantly in a similar way.
9. Security Measures
AWEX has set up the appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data that has been collected. The measures used by AWEX are designed to provide an appropriate level of security for the risks presented by processing, resulting, in particular, in the destruction, loss or modification of your personal data.
AWEX's computer infrastructure is protected by different technical resources, such as perimeter security services with the help of firewalls, as well as email filtering systems. Several systems ensure the protection of data. Transactions are also secured via data encryption processes.
In order to avoid the unauthorised access or modification of data, AWEX staff members, partners or sub-contractors only have access to the personal data that is necessary for performing their tasks and only process it in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Finally, audits designed to test and evaluate the security measures set up are carried out on a regular basis.
10. Retention period for your personal data
In general, AWEX keeps your personal data for as long as necessary for the purpose of the processing for which it was collected, as well as in order to comply with the legal retention periods imposed on it.
When your personal data is no longer of use to AWEX, it will be destroyed.
11. Complaints and contact details of the supervisory authority
In the case of a decision of the Data Protection Officer being contested or for any other disagreements concerning the processing of your personal data, you have the right to send a complaint free of charge to the competent supervisory authority, the contact details of which are as follows:
DATA PROTECTION AUTHORITY
Rue de la Presse, 35, 1000 Brussels
Telephone: +32 (0)2 274 48 00
Fax: +32 (0)2 274 48 35
Email: commission@privacycommission.be
Website: www.privacycommission.be
12. Modifications to this privacy policy
This Privacy Policy is subject to modification at any time owing, in particular, to new developments in the processing implemented by AWEX or changes in legislation. Any modification made to this Privacy Policy enters into force immediately. Therefore, you are advised to visit this page regularly.