Please read this Privacy Policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how to contact us and how and why we process (collect, store, use and share) your personal data. It also explains your rights regarding your personal data.
ABOUT THIS PRIVACY POLICY
This Privacy Policy is applicable when you visit our websites www.odc.law or the website www.awerian.law.
It also applies when we enter into contact with you in other ways (e.g. by e-mail) whether in your capacity as an individual or as director, shareholder, partner, employee or other representative of a company or other organisation. This Privacy Policy is also applicable to information you might provide to us or we might collect in the context of our proposing or providing of legal services to a client.
ORGANISATION
Olislaegers & De Creus, abbreviated ODC, is a Belgian law firm with registered offices at Leonardo Da Vincilaan 19A, B-1831 Diegem, registered in the Register of Legal Entities of Brussels under company and VAT number BE0878.383.795 (hereinafter: “ODC”).
CONTACTING US
If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, or wish to exercise any of your rights as described in this Privacy Policy or under the GDPR, you can contact us at: Olislaegers & De Creus, Leonardo Da Vincilaan 19A, B-1831 Diegem, Belgium; Tel.: +32 2 711 40 40 and by personal e-mail to one or our partners.
SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
ODC takes the protection of your personal data very seriously and has adopted adequate measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed ODC uses industry standard physical and procedural security measures to protect your personal data from the point of collection to the point of destruction. This includes firewalls, access controls, policies and other procedures to protect information from unauthorised access.
PRIVACY STATEMENT
Where data processing is carried out on our behalf by a third party, we have taken steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are in place to prevent unauthorised access to disclosure of your personal data. ODC cannot, however, guarantee the security of information transmitted over the internet or that unauthorized persons will not obtain access to personal data. In the event of a data breach, ODC has put in place procedures to deal with a suspected breach and will notify you and its regulator of a breach where required to do so.
If you would have the impression that your personal data is not adequately protected or if there are indications of abuse, please let us know via your usual contact person or by personal e-mail to one or our partners.
OVERVIEW OF THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
The categories of personal data provided may include:
- first and last name
- sex
- e-mail address
- phone number
- postal address
- IP-address, browser type, internet service provider, device identifier, your login information, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform (e.g. when visiting our website)
- other personal data you actively provide us with (e.g. by telephone, correspondence)
- location
- marketing and communications data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences
- Information we collect from third parties or public sources (e.g. companies register, the Belgian State Gazette and other public sources, in the course of client due diligence, social media platforms, introductions, etc.).
ODC may further collect, store and use information about your visits to our website.
SENSITIVE AND/OR SPECIAL PERSONAL DATA
We do not generally collect sensitive personal data. Sensitive personal data includes personal data revealing a person’s racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, or data concerning health.
Our website or services are not intended for or directed at persons under the age of 18 years and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children under this age. We are, however, unable to verify whether a visitor is older than 18. We recommend to parents to be involved in the online activities of their children in order to prevent the collection of personal data of minors under the age of 18 without parental consent.
If we do collect sensitive or special personal data, we will ask for your consent / parental consent to our proposed use of that information at the time of collection.
HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
Purposes for which we may process the information are legitimate and include:
- Compliance with legal, regulatory and ethical obligations (e.g. tax and accounting purposes, anti-money laundering compliance, provision of legal services to clients and representation in court, etc.);
- To provide you with information and services that you request from us;
- To respond to your queries and provide you with the information requested in order to generate and develop business, which we consider to be proportionate and not prejudicial or detrimental to you;
- To keep you informed about legal developments by sending you legal updates and other communications such as invitations to seminars and events, newsletters on legal developments or notifications we believe may be of interest to you. We consider this use to be proportionate and not prejudicial or detrimental to you. You can always opt-out of receiving informative e-mail communications by following the unsubscribe link below each such e-mail;
- To send information regarding changes to our policies, terms and conditions and other administrative information, which we consider to be proportionate and not prejudicial or detrimental to you;
- To improve our website or to keep our website and IT systems safe and secure.
In case of reliance on legitimate interests, ODC will carry out a balancing test to ensure that your interests, rights and freedoms do not override our legitimate interests.
ODC will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you in a timely manner and we will upon request explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
AUTOMATED DECISION-MAKING
ODC does not engage in automated decision-making that could have considerable consequences to persons. Automated decision-making entails decisions that are being taken by computer programs of systems, without intervention of a natural person.
HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL DATA
ODC will not keep your personal data for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and processed. The criteria we use for retaining different types of personal data, includes the following:
Legal and regulatory requirements: we will retain the information for as long as legally required (e.g. accounting and AML regulations may require retention up to 10 years).
General queries: we will retain your information for as long as necessary to respond to your queries. Subsequently, we will retain the information for five years after the last contact.
Direct marketing: Information processed solely for direct marketing purposes will not be retained longer than one year after you choose to unsubscribe.
WHO YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS SHARED WITH
We do not share your personal data with third parties except as provided in this Privacy Policy. ODC does not sell your personal data to third parties and will only provide third parties with your personal information where it is necessary for the operation of our IT system, legal purposes and/or our agreement or client relationship with you or your employer.
Your personal data can be shared with the following third parties:
- ODC partners, associates and staff;
- third party suppliers providing marketing services to us;
- third party data processors and service providers who assist ODC with maintaining the website and office services including our IT systems and IT support services, client reception and telephone answering services and data or file storage/back up services
Our third-party processors and service providers are subject to security and confidentiality obligations and are only permitted to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. ODC has concluded data processing agreement with these third-party processors to safeguard the protection of your personal data.
ABOUT COOKIES
Cookies are small text files that are saved on a computer or other device during a visit to a website. Cookies are usually used to allow websites to function optimally and to track actions of the visitors of the website, or for example to store your login details.
There are various types of cookies that are distinguished based on their origin, function and lifespan. ODC only uses technical, functional and analytical cookies that do not breach any privacy obligation. We only use cookies with a view to the correct functioning of the website and anonymous usage statistics.
You can deactivate or remove these cookies in the various browsers. This may influence your usage experience adversely (you will for example have to log in again). You can also adjust your browser settings in order to accept or reject the use of these cookies. Since the measures vary between browsers, we advise you to consult the help menu of your browser for more information.
DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES
ODC adheres to the following principles when processing your personal data:
Lawfulness, fairness and transparency: data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
Purpose limitation: data must be collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes.
Data minimisation: data must be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed.
Accuracy: data must be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.
Storage limitation: data must be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed.
Integrity and confidentiality: data must be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage by using appropriate technical or organisational measures.
GENERAL INFORMATION BY EMAIL
When ODC sends general information by email to an identified or identifiable natural person, this person can withdraw his consent at any time by:
- Sending an e-mail to one or our partners
- Using the unsubscribe link below each marketing email
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
ODC does not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
RIGHTS
Users have the following rights, notwithstanding that ODC may refuse the exercise of these rights when legally obliged, when derogations exist relating to processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, in the framework of a legal claim or when derogated from by the legitimate interest of free speech and information:
- Right to access and update your personal data: You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you. Upon request, we shall provide you with a copy of your personal data which we are processing.
- Right to data portability: In principle, you have the right to receive the personal data which you have provided to us in a structured and commonly used format so that it can be transferred to another data controller.
- Right to rectification: You have the. right to have inaccurate personal data rectified or completed by contacting us in e-mail to one or our partners.