PROTECTION OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
This privacy statement provides information about
the processing and the protection of your personal data.
Processing operation: Learning Corner News
Data Controller: Directorate-General for Communication, Directorate A, Unit A.2
Reference: DPO-190-5
1. Introduction
The European Commission (hereafter ‘the Commission’) is committed to protecting your personal data and to respecting your privacy. The Commission collects and further processes personal data pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data (repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001).
This privacy statement explains the reasons for the processing of your personal data, the way we collect, handle and ensure protection of all personal data provided, how that information is used and what rights you have in relation to your personal data. It also specifies the contact details of the responsible Data Controller with whom you may exercise your rights, the Data Protection Officer and the European Data Protection Supervisor.
This privacy statement concerns the processing of personal data by the Commission when managing Learning Corner News, administered by the Directorate-General for Communication, A.2 (COMM.A.2 – the horizontal Data Controller on behalf of the Commission) and by the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, R.3 (CNECT.R.3 – the service responsible for the EU Newsroom application through which Learning Corner News is sent).
2. Why and how do we process your personal data?
Learning Corner News is a newsletter published by DG COMM several times a year to inform primary and secondary school teachers in the EU, as well as other interested audiences, about new and existing materials available on the EU’s Learning Corner website for teaching and learning about the EU, and other information of potential interest.
Those wishing to receive Learning Corner News can do so by registering on a dedicated subscription page.
Your personal data will not be used for automated decision-making, including profiling.
Please note that generic e-mail addresses of primary and secondary schools in the EU that are publicly available online have been automatically subscribed to receive Learning Corner News. Given that these addresses are generic in nature, they do not contain any personal data and therefore do not require consent for their processing.
3. On what legal ground(s) do we process your personal data?
We process your personal data because you have given consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes (Article 5(1)(d) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
For specific processing activities your consent is necessary. In compliance with Article 3(15) and Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, the consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous and it may be expressed by an e-mail, submitted e-registration form, or in any other written form.
For the purpose of the processing operation in question, the Data Controller considers that the processing is lawful as the personal data is provided by the data subjects wishing to subscribe to the Learning Corner News themselves.
We have obtained your consent directly from you, while subscribing to the service.
4. Which personal data do we collect and further process?
In order to carry out this processing operation, the Data Controller may collect the following categories of personal data:
The e-mail address is the only mandatory personal data required to sign up for the service. It is needed to ensure the delivery of the service to the subscriber, as the newsletter is distributed via e-mail.
Non-compulsory personal data (title, name and surname, gender, country of residence, and sector) is useful to the Commission for statistical purposes and to adapt the content of the newsletter to the interests of its subscribers.
All personal data is stored in the EU Newsroom application. EU Newsroom is a news management system developed, managed and maintained by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology.
5. How long do we keep your personal data?
The Data Controller only keeps your personal data for the time necessary to fulfil the purpose of collection or further processing, namely until the moment that you unsubscribe from the service or until your written request to the system administrator that you wish to unsubscribe has been processed (maximum one month). If you unsubscribe, your personal data is permanently deleted. If your e-mail address is updated, no history of the previous e-mail address is retained.
6. How do we protect and safeguard your personal data?
All personal data in electronic format (e-mails, documents, databases, uploaded batches of data, etc.) are stored on the servers of the Commission. All processing operations are carried out pursuant to the Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2017/46 of 10 January 2017 on the security of communication and information systems in the European Commission.
The Commission’s contractors are bound by a specific contractual clause for any processing operations of personal data on behalf of the Commission, and by the confidentiality obligations deriving from Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of 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).
In order to protect your personal data, the Commission has put in place a number of technical and organisational measures. Technical measures include appropriate actions to address online security, risk of data loss, alteration of data or unauthorised access, taking into consideration the risk presented by the processing and the nature of the personal data being processed. Organisational measures include restricting access to personal data solely to authorised persons with a legitimate need to know for the purposes of this processing operation.
7. Who has access to your personal data and to whom is it disclosed?
Access to your personal data is provided to the authorised personnel of the EU institutions and its contractors responsible for carrying out this processing operation according to the “need to know” principle. Such staff abide by statutory, and when required, additional confidentiality agreements.
Only authorised staff of the Commission with administrator privilege have access to the Learning Corner News personal data provided by a user while subscribing to the service.
The information we collect will not be given to any third party, except to the extent and for the purpose we may be required to do so by law.
8. What are your rights and how can you exercise them?
You have specific rights as a ‘data subject’ under Chapter III (Articles 14-25) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. As regards this processing operation, you can exercise the following rights:
- the right to access your personal data (Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725);
- the right to rectification in the case that your personal data is inaccurate or incomplete (Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725);
- the right to erasure of your personal data (Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725);
- where applicable, the right to restrict the processing of your personal data (Article 20 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725);
- the right to data portability (Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725).
You have consented to provide your personal data to the Directorate-General for Communication, Unit A.2, for the present processing operation. You can withdraw your consent at any time by notifying the Data Controller. The withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out before you withdrew your consent.
You can exercise your rights by contacting the Data Controller, or in case of conflict the Data Protection Officer. If necessary, you can also address the European Data Protection Supervisor. Their contact information is given under Section 9.
Where you wish to exercise your rights in the context of one or several specific processing operations, please provide their description (i.e. Record reference(s) as specified under Section 10) in your request.
9. Contact information
The Data Controller
If you would like to exercise your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, or if you have comments, questions or concerns, or if you would like to submit a complaint regarding the collection and use of your personal data, please feel free to contact the Data Controller, COMM.A.2 (COMM-LEARNINGCORNERNEWS
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (COMM-LEARNINGCORNERNEWS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)).
The Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the Commission
You may contact the Data Protection Officer (DATA-PROTECTION-OFFICERec [dot] europa [dot] eu (DATA-PROTECTION-OFFICER[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)) with regard to issues related to the processing of your personal data under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)
You have the right to have recourse (i.e. you can lodge a complaint) to the European Data Protection Supervisor (edpsedps [dot] europa [dot] eu (edps[at]edps[dot]europa[dot]eu)) if you consider that your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 have been infringed as a result of the processing of your personal data by the Data Controller.
10. Where to find more detailed information?
The Commission Data Protection Officer (DPO) publishes the register of all processing operations on personal data by the Commission, which have been documented and notified to him. You may access the register via the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/dpo-register
This specific processing operation has been included in the DPO’s public register with the following reference: DPO-190-5.