Introduction to our Privacy Policy
We, Gaia-X, European Association for Data and Cloud (“Gaia-X”), take the protection of your personal data very seriously, and we strictly comply with the regulations of the data protection statutes. This privacy policy provides information about what kind of “personal data” we collect and hold, how and for what purpose we collect and store this information, how you can access it and some other important matters. This policy applies to the personal information that we collect and further process from all users of the website, subscribers to our newsletter and job applicants for one of Gaia-X’s job offers.
Purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information
We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information in order to:
- Operate, maintain and support the website.
- Store and process personal information in our CRM system.
- Use personal information to send you the Gaia-X newsletter if you subscribed.
- Process your job application if you applied for one of our jobs.
- Comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
- Any other reason with your consent to the disclosure or for which we provide you with the required notice.
What kind of information do we collect and for what purpose?
We collect the following information:
- Surfing on this website
Gaia-X gathers and automatically stores log file information on a third-party dedicated web server, which your browser deposited with us while you were surfing. The key data that we store may include:
- Type of browser/browser version
- Type of device used
- Number of Visits
- Average length of a visit
- Bounce rate
- Actions performed (e. g. clicking on elements or external links)
- Location / IP address (anonymised)
The data is saved through Google Analytics and your IP address is automatically anonymised. It is saved for a period of 38 months (in Google’s databases) and will be automatically deleted after this period.
- Contact Forms
On our website, you have the option of getting in contact with us via several contact forms. The information you impart via the contact forms is usually:
- First name
- Last name
- Email-address
- Company
- Company’s location
The personal data imparted to us will be used exclusively for the purpose of processing your enquiry. Your data will be stored in our SuperOffice CRM system and will be deleted after processing your query. Some of the forms, here & here store submission data in the website’s database that we delete periodically or immediately upon request
- Newsletter Subscription
If you subscribe to our Newsletter, we will use the following information to send periodic emails regarding products, services, general information about Gaia-X as well as for marketing purposes if you subscribed to the Gaia-X newsletter. Your data will be stored in our SuperOffice CRM system.
- First name
- Last name
- Email-address
- Job Advertisements
We also publish job advertisements on our website. When you apply for a vacancy at Gaia-X, we will collect and process your personal data as a job applicant. This may include:
- First name
- Last name
- Address
- Email-address and telephone number
- Details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history
- Any other information in your application you choose to share with us (e.g. hobbies)
We kindly request that you only submit personal data about yourself in your job application or CV or other relevant material you choose to provide to us, to the extent such information is relevant for the specific position you are applying for. For this reason, please consider whether there is any personal information, such as health information, information on family relations or similar, that is not necessary for Gaia-X’s recruitment process. Your information may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the Human Resources and recruitment team and interviewers involved in the recruitment process. When you gave your consent we may contact references that you supply to us, as well as former employers, academic institutions and credentialing or licensing organizations to help us evaluate and confirm your qualifications for employment opportunities at Gaia-X. This will necessarily involve a limited disclosure of your personal information to those individuals or entities. Your data will be processed and stored on our email accounts and servers provided and operated by 1&1 IONOS SE in Germany. If your application is unsuccessful, we will hold your data for a period of six months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. This is necessary for the burden of proof in the event of a legal claim. We will delete your data after this period of time. If your application is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your Human Resources file on our server and retained during your employment.
What is the legal basis for our collection and further processing of your personal information?
We collect and process personal information from you: Where we have your consent according to Art. 6 Sec. 1 S. 1 lit. a) GDPR Where the processing is in our legitimate interests and not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms according to Art. 6 Sec. 1 S. 1 lit f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest when processing the data listed in clause 4 includes the following purposes:
- Processing youenquiries you sent within the contact forms
- Ensuring a seamless establishment of the connection
- Ensuring the comfortable use of our website
- Assessing the system security and stability
Our legitimate interests may include contacting you for information about transferring your data and operational processes of the website. Where the processing is necessary in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract according to Art. 6 Sec. 1 S. 1 lit. b) GDPR. This includes assessing and processing your job application (administration of the recruitment process and evaluation of the application) and contacting you in this regard. If you have questions about or need further information concerning the legal basis on which we collect and use your personal information, please contact us using the contact details provided under the “How to contact us” heading below.
Online presence and website optimization Social Media Plugins
Based on Art. 6 Sec. 1 S. 1 lit. f) GDPR, we place plugins for the social networks Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and the Gaia-X Member Platform (Symantra) on our website, which leads to the Gaia-X profiles of these social networks. The responsibility for the data protection compliant operation is to be guaranteed by each provider respectively. We do not control the collection or further processing of personal information related to your use of the Gaia-X Website that may be undertaken by third parties like Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube through your use of their login functions. We therefore strongly suggest that you review their privacy policies, terms of service and privacy controls. With this in mind:
You can review Twitter’s privacy policy and terms of service by clicking on the links provided.
You can review LinkedIn’s privacy policy and user agreement by clicking on the links provided.
You can review YouTube’s privacy policy and terms of service by clicking on the links provided.
You can review Symantra’s privacy policy by clicking on the links provided.
In connection with above you need to be aware that we do not control, and do not accept responsibility or liability for, the privacy policy of, and use of personal information by, any party other than us. This includes any user of our website, the operators of any website to which our website links, or third party Service Providers to whom you directly provide your personal information to. We therefore also strongly encourage you to review these entities’ privacy policies, terms of service and privacy controls.
Links to and from external Websites
Our website contains links to external websites run by other organizations. This privacy policy applies only to our website not those external websites that we link to, who will have their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for these external websites and their privacy policies and practices. We therefore also strongly encourage you to review these entities’ privacy policies, terms of service and privacy controls.
Cookies
Our website uses so-called cookies at numerous points that are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website. In order to manage our cookies we use the service (plugin) “Complianz“. The use of these cookies takes place based on Art. 6 Sec. 1 S. 1 lit. f) of the GDPR. Our interest in optimizing is thereby to be seen as legitimate in the sense of the aforementioned regulation. In all other cases, we ask you for your consent, which allows us to set further cookies (analysis cookies, marketing cookies). No cookies are set (except required/essential cookies) without giving consent. – See our Cookies Policy Page for more information! Cookies are small text files that are automatically generated by your browser and saved on your device (laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.). Cookies do not cause any damage to your device and they do not contain any viruses, Trojans, or other malware. In the cookie, information is stored which results from the connection with each specific device respectively. However, this does not mean that we gain any direct knowledge regarding your identity. Cookies can be used to store different information. The use of cookies also serves the purpose of improving the user experience of our internet presence. We therefore use so-called “session cookies” in order to recognize that you have already visited individual pages on our website. These are deleted automatically after the end of your visit. In addition to this, also for the purpose of increasing user-friendliness, we make use of temporary cookies that are saved on your device for a specific period of time. When you visit our website again, it will be automatically recognized that you have visited the site previously, and what input you made or settings you activated, so that you do not have to input them again. Further information can be found in our “Cookie Policy”, where you can also change or withdraw your consent at any time. You can also change the cookie settings by clicking on the link “Cookie Configuration” placed at the bottom (footer) of all the pages in our website.
Google Analytics
Our website uses Google Analytics that save cookies on your computer. Those cookies enable us to analyze your use of the website and monitor performance. We use this information to provide a high-quality experience through identifying and fixing issues, improving performance, and highlighting the most popular content based on the interest of the visitors derived through statistical analysis. For this purpose, user information generated through the cookie (including your abbreviated IP address) is transferred to Google’s servers and stored for the purpose of analysing website usage, which supports our website optimization. Your IP address is immediately anonymized in this process, so that you remain anonymous to us as a user.. If you do not agree with the storage and analysis of data from your visit, you can prevent Google Analytics cookies from being used by activating the corresponding settings in your browser software or use the Opt-out Browser Add-on by Google. However, note that fully disabling cookies in your browser may result in your not being able to make complete use of all functions on this website. Additionally, you can dissent to the storage and analysis at any time by clicking on the link “Cookie Configuration” placed at the bottom (footer) of all the pages in our website and disabling the statistics cookies through the preferences panel. In this case, Google Analytics will stop tracking your visit, the scripts required for its function will cease to function and Google will collect no data from your sessions on this website.
Your data protection rights
You have the following data protection rights:
- If you wish to access, correct, update or request deletion of your personal information, you can do so at any time by contacting us using the contact details provided under the “How to contact us” heading at the end of this policy (Art. 16 and 17 GDPR).
- In addition, you can object to processing of your personal information, ask us to restrict processing of your personal information (Art. 18 GDPR) or request portability of your personal information (Art. 20 GDPR). Again, you can exercise these rights by contacting us using the contact details provided under the “How to contact us” heading at the end of this policy.
- You have the right to opt-out of our newsletter we send you at any time. You can exercise this right by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link in the marketing e-mails we send you.
- Similarly, if we have collected and process your personal information with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time (Art. 21 GDPR) by either using the tools provided on the platform or by contacting us using the contact details provided under the “How to contact us” heading at the end of this policy. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.
- You have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your personal information. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority.
- We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
Who do we share your personal information with?
The data collected by us will not be sold. We provide information that we obtain to third parties exclusively to the extent described in the following:
- Affiliated companies
We might share your personal information with affiliated companies that are under the control of Gaia-X, if they are either subject to this Privacy Policy or adhere to guidelines that offer at least as much protection as this Privacy Policy.
- Service providers
We commission other companies and individuals to fulfill tasks for us. Examples include the sending of letters or emails, the maintenance of our contact lists, the analysis of our data bases and marketing measures (including the making available of search results and links). These service providers have access to personal information that is necessary for fulfilling their tasks. However, they are not permitted to use this for other purposes. In addition to this, they are obligated to handle the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws.
- SuperOffice CRM
When you subscribe to our newsletter, on our behalf “SuperOffice Customer Relationship Management” (SuperOffice CRM) stores the data you have entered for the sending of the newsletter. SuperOffice CRM will also only share your information with Gaia-X approved subcontractors to fulfill their contractual obligations. Beyond that, no passing on to third parties will take place. SuperOffice CRM will also not contact you. SuperOffice CRM is our processor and acts solely according to our specifications.
- Protection of Gaia-X and third parties
We disclose personal data when we are legally obliged to do so, or when such disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and those of third parties.
- Recipients outside of the EU
We do not forward your data to recipients with headquarters outside of the European Union or the European Economic Area.
How to contact us
We take our privacy obligations very seriously. If you have any questions, concerns or think that we may have breached our privacy law obligations, we ask that you tell us by sending an email using the contact details set out below. If you have any concerns or think that we may have breached our privacy law obligations, we ask that you explain your reasons in detail. We will investigate and aim to respond as soon as possible. We will try and work with you to resolve any concerns or dispute.
Please feel free to contact us through one of the following methods:
Gaia-X AISBL Avenue des Arts 6-9 1210 Bruxelles/Brussels Belgium
Changes to the Privacy Policy
We may amend this policy from time to time, by publishing a new version on our website. You can see the date of the last revision at the beginning of this policy. All information held by us is governed by the latest version of this policy.