Data Privacy Policy in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679

European Solar Shading Organization, ES-SO vzw
Vilvoordelaan 126, 1930 Zaventem, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 313 99 44
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ES-SO vzw is a non-profit organization to Belgian law established in Brussels and it is registered in the European Transparency Register with public ID number 744314031180-93.
ES-SO is the umbrella organization of the professional solar shading associations in the various Member States of the EU and includes some non-EU members. In countries no professional trade association is in existence, prominent individual companies are invited to join as associate members.
ES-SO may also have supporting members in non - European countries.

ES-SO is the voice of the European solar shading and shutter industry and it aims to make a positive contribution towards the EU meeting its ambitious energy commitments. ES-SO is also involved in various EU projects and acts in both a contributory and advisory capacity.

Brussels, 11 May 2018
It is ES-SO’s policy to respect and treat with utmost confidentiality all personal data that it was handed over and that it processes. The below data privacy policy has been established and governs the manner in which ES-SO uses and processes personal information and data from individuals. It also informs about data privacy rights that individuals can exercise at any time.

1. Type of Personal data

In your dealings with ES-SO you may provide us with personal data information. Depending on the purpose of action this information may include name, surname, gender, place and date of birth, professional function, email address, address employer, telephone number and bank account details. These data may be used depending on the purpose i.e. for membership reasons, to receive the regularly ES-SO Newsletter, to attend the statutory meetings, workshops, events, to follow educational courses organized by ES-SO. ES-SO may also have collected additional information such as individual photos, pictures and videos taken at these meetings, workshops and events. These data may be considered as personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – regulation EC 2016/679. ES-SO states that adequate measures are in place to avoid data breaches.

2. Methods of Personal Data Collection

ES-SO collects personal data directly from the data subjects or from their employers or from the member (association or company). Personal data may sometimes be obtained through other means such as registration and participation to meetings and events and subscription to ES-SO newsletters.
ES-SO does not use any Third-Party service provider habilitated to collect personal data on its behalf. It may however use public sources, such as the website directories of the European Institutions. If a Third-Party provider is contracted by ES-SO to collect personal data in the future, ES-SO will make sure contractually that the Third-Party concerned is required to use your personal data in accordance with the provisions of this Privacy Statement.

3. Purpose of use and processing of personal data

The information provided to ES-SO is primarily used and processed for membership management ( including book keeping) and the fulfilment of ES-SO’s statutory missions. In particular, it is used for contacting you, keeping you informed about the activities of the association (newsletters, statutory meetings and committees, working groups). For the purpose of fulfilling its communication and advocacy activities, ES-SO processes contact details of journalists, officials from the European Institutions and Member States of the EU, Members of the European Parliament, academics, consultants as well as industry and non -governmental organisations stakeholders. For educational purposes in the future ES-SO will process personal data linked to issuing a certificate for the participants.
ES-SO’s use of ‘mass’ communication tools is limited to its Newsletter (maximum at quarterly basis). ES-SO will use the data provided that prior and explicit consent is given by the individual sent by way of mass communication channels. The possibility of withdrawing the prior explicit consent can be exercised at any time.
Other information is used for fulfilling administrative tasks and for complying with legal obligations. This may include for instance your attendance to meetings or statements made during meetings, which are used for drafting minutes of meetings. For members of the Board of Directors of ES-SO it also includes additional personal information such as home address, birthdate, copy of ID cards, for the purpose of publication to the Belgian Official Journal (Moniteur Belge) of the list of administrators. ES-SO commits to strictly limit its data and information collection to this type of legitimate interests. For participants of the educational courses the personal data on the certificate will include additional personal information such as place and date of birth. These data will be deleted when the validity of the certificate expires as indicated on the certificate.

4. Disclosure of personal data to Third-Parties

ES-SO shall under no circumstance sell your personal data to Third-Parties or share it for commercial gain. It may however need to disclose your personal data to Third-Parties for the fulfilment of its activities. This may include sharing the contact details of members with other members, for example between participants to a working group, or sharing the birthdate and ID card number with the European Institutions for security checks prior to entering the European Institutions’ premises.
It may also be that ES-SO is obliged to disclose your personal data to public authorities as required by laws or regulations.

5. Storage of personal data

The personal data of employees of member associations/companies of ES-SO is stored for the duration of their employer’s membership in ES-SO except in cases where ES-SO is notified that the said employee has left the organization. In that case, the personal data of employees is deleted at the latest 6 months of ES-SO receiving the said notification.
Minutes of meetings, lists of participants and correspondence with members are kept for a duration of maximum 10 years for demonstration of compliance with regulations.
All other personal data is kept for the time strictly necessary to achieve the purpose(s) for which they were collected.

6. Your Privacy Rights

At any time, you may exercise the following rights with regards to your personal data processed by ES-SO:
1. Right of access to personal data
2. Right to rectification, completion or updating of personal data
3. Right to delete personal data (“right to be forgotten”)
4. Right to unsubscribe to newsletters and other communication in case no further involvement is wished with ES-SO (e.g. in case of change of position / responsibilities).
The point of contact for individuals to exercise the above rights with regards to their personal data is ES-SO’s Data Protection Officer:
Ann Van Eycken; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; telephone: +32 2 313 99 44

7. Security of personal data

ES-SO undertakes to take all reasonable, physical, technological and organizational precautions in order to avoid (i) unauthorized access to your personal information and (ii) loss, abuse, or alteration of your personal data. Notwithstanding the above, an infallible level of security can never be guaranteed. Should any data breach occur, it will be communicated to the Privacy Commission of Belgium as required by law.
ES-SO shall store all personal data, which it has collected, on its own servers or on those of service providers located in the European Union. Paper records shall be stored in the offices of ES-SO.
Staff will be kept informed about the principles of the regulation EC 2016/679 and the subsequent internal procedures for the management of personal information and data.

8. Website and social media

To access and navigate websites of ES-SO, there is no need to provide any personal data. Personal information will only be collected when users send a query to ES-SO through the content form. Personal data will only be used by ES-SO to administer the service requested. However, because these websites use Google Analytics to quantify and evaluate the use of web pages, a number of pages use cookies. Enabling these cookies is not strictly necessary for the website to work but it will provide a better browsing experience. The cookie-related information is not used to identify users personally. More information on Google Analytics is provided in the Data Privacy Policy pages of ES-SO’s websites.
When interacting on the ES-SO’s social media platform accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and YouTube), your personal data consent and use are covered by the terms and conditions of the relevant social media platforms.
ES-SO’s Data Privacy Policy applies only to ES-SO’s databases, websites and communications. When you land on external websites or platforms of third parties, even by way of links provided on ES-SO’s channels, ES-SO’s data privacy policy ceases to apply.

9. Update of the Data Privacy Policy

ES-SO is entitled to update this Data Privacy Policy as and when it deems it necessary. Any such changes will be notified to registered contacts and posted on ES-SO’s websites Data Privacy Policy pages.

10. Contact

The point of contact for individuals wishing to exercise their rights with regards to their personal data is ES-SO’s Data Protection Officer. In case of questions about this Data Privacy Policy, please contact ES-SO’s Data Protection Officer: Ann Van Eycken; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; telephone: +32 2 313 99 44