Privacy Notice

ECIT Foundation (also known as ‘ECIT’) maintains the website www.ecit-foundation.eu.

“At ECIT, we care about Data Protection and Privacy as a fundamental right in the EU Charter of Rights and as a defining feature of our transnational citizenship. This is an area where Europe is in advance of the rest of the world and should be proud of its legislation.” — Tony Venables, Founder of ECIT Foundation

ECIT was set up as a public foundation on 3 June 2015 under Belgian law (Number: 0631.739.521). We are included in the Transparency Register of the EU (Number: 040138431117-64). According to our statutes, which are published on our website, our aim is to become a multi-disciplinary resource centre on European Citizenship bringing together different communities of interest: civil society activists, academics and policy makers. 

In accordance with our mission, we have no interest in developing complex data or profiling of individuals. On the contrary:

  • as a think-tank on EU Citizenship, we are virulently opposed to any commodification or commercialisation of this status;
  • since we are intent on building a cross-sectoral constituency, we have no interest in going into detail and re-segmenting our audience into specialised categories.

This Privacy Notice will explain in more detail how our organisation collects, retains, processes, shares and stores the personal data we collect from you when you use our website.

What data do we collect?

By visiting our website, we may collect the following categories of personal identification information you provide to us: name; title; email address; postal address; phone number (including your mobile phone number); job title; and other information you provide about yourself via the website or to which you provide us with access via third-party platforms.

If you have consented to our use of cookies, we will automatically collect, store, and use the following categories of data when you browse and search our site:

  • technical information, such as, for example, the type of device you use to access our site, the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your device to the Internet, browser type and version, and time zone setting.
  • information about your visit to our site, such as the pages you viewed, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling and clicks), and methods used to browse away from the page.

How do we collect your data?

You directly provide ECIT Foundation with most of the data we collect. We collect data and process data when you:

  • Sign up to our monthly newsletter.
  • Register for an event online or via email.
  • Make a donation to ECIT Foundation.
  • Voluntarily give us feedback, suggestions or comments online or via email.
  • Apply to employment and internship opportunities online or via email.

Additionally, we collect data when you use or view our website via your browser’s cookies.

How will we use your data?

ECIT Foundation uses your data for the purposes for which it was originally collected, and occasionally, for a reason which we consider related to and compatible with the original purpose, so that we can, for example:

  • Keep you up to date with news of upcoming events, latest developments and progress on our campaigns and initiatives by sending you the ECIT newsletter
  • Process your event registration.
  • Process your donation.
  • Respond to and introduce improvements on the back of your suggestions.
  • Process your job/internship application.

Data which arise from your use of our website will be used to understand how our site is performing, and how to make improvements to it.

How do we store your data?

We may store data collected by the website and third-party platforms manually or electronically.

We do not share your data with third parties, except for specific technical service providers required for core ECIT Foundation activities, such as those who help us to operate the website.

Your data will be retained for as long as ECIT Foundation continues its activities. You have, however, the choice to unsubscribe from our newsletter (see point 5.) and to exercise your data protection rights (see point 6.) at any time.

Please note that the transmission of information via the internet is unfortunately not completely secure. Although we have put measures in place to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to the website and any transmission is at your own risk.

Your choices

Newsletter subscription. By confirming that you accept the terms of this Privacy Notice when you subscribe to our newsletter via the website, you give us explicit consent to use your data to communicate news and updates to you, and to keep the contact details and data that you provide us with. The newsletter is sent out once a month, with a small number of additional mailings planned in the run-up to the ECIT Annual Conference.

All mailing out by ECIT Foundation is accompanied by an easy to implement possibility to unsubscribe. If you no longer wish to receive the ECIT Foundation newsletter, you may click on the “unsubscribe” link in the email to unsubscribe and opt-out of email communications. 

Your data protection rights

ECIT Foundation would like to make sure that you are fully aware of your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:

  • The right to request access – You have the right to request copies of your personal data held by ECIT Foundation.
  • The right to request rectification – You have the right to request that ECIT Foundation correct any information you believe is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.
  • The right to request erasure – You have the right to request that ECIT Foundation erase your personal data, under certain conditions, for example, if you consider that there is no good reason for us continuing to process it.
  • The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that ECIT Foundation restrict or suspend the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions, for example, if you wish for us to establish its accuracy.
  • The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the ECIT Foundation processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to data portability – You have the right to request that ECIT Foundation transfer the data that we have collected to a third party, or directly to you.

What are cookies?

Cookies are text files placed on your computer or device to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behavior information. When you visit our website, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology.

For further information, visit https://allaboutcookies.org/.

How do we use cookies?

ECIT Foundation uses cookies to understand how you use our website so that we can provide you with a good experience when you browse our site. This also allows us to work on improvements to our site.

What types of cookies do we use?

We use the following cookies on our website:

  • strictly necessary cookies – these are essential to enable you to move around the website and use its features. They comprise of both first- and third-party cookies. Since we cannot offer our visitors a smooth and efficient experience without these cookies, they are always enabled.
  • Analytics cookies – with your consent, these cookies collect information about how you use our website. These are disabled by default.

How to manage cookies

On the ECIT Foundation website, you can easily review and manage cookies at any time by clicking on the floating settings button (pictured as a cog symbol in the left-hand corner of your screen).

Most web browsers allow some control of cookies through the browser settings. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result. Please visit https://allaboutcookies.org/ to find out more about cookies, including how to see which cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them.

Privacy policies of other websites

Our site contains links to and from various third-party websites. Our Privacy Notice applies only to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, you should read their privacy notice. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Updates to this Privacy Notice

ECIT Foundation keeps its Privacy Notice under regular review and places any updates on this web page. Any changes we may make to our Privacy Notice in the future will be posted on this page. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our Privacy Notice.

This Privacy Notice will next be reviewed in the course of 2023.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about ECIT Foundation’s Privacy Notice, the data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will aim to respond to all queries within 30 days.

Email: [email protected] for the attention of Tony Venables
Postal address: Rue d’Arlon 53, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

What to do if you’re not happy. In the first instance, please talk to us directly so that we can work together to resolve any problem or answer any query. You also have the right to contact the Data Protection Authority (Belgium) if you have any questions about Data Protection. You can contact them at https://www.dataprotectionauthority.be/citizen.