Privacy Policy

This website is managed by EU Matrix (registered in Brussels, Belgium), which is the Data Controller.

This privacy policy governs the manner in which this website collects, uses, maintains and discloses Personal Data collected from users of this website (“the Site”).

This privacy policy complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which entered into force in the European Union as of 25 May 2018.

We hold a high respect for personal privacy. To this end, we use information that is purposely publicised by the public institutions, political representatives or private actors.

1. What data we collect

As this website reports on the activity of the EU institutions in the public interest, the collection and processing of personal data of relevant stakeholders is based on the principle of legitimate interest. We collect only publicly-available data and only data that regards activities undertaken publicly.

We collect the following personal data on different subject categories.

1.A If you are a political representative

We collect your following publicly available data:

• name and surname

• photo

• country of origin

• political affiliations

• political opinions expressed publicly, in the form of votes or statements

• political activities conducted publicly (speeches, amendments, parliamentary questions, etc)

• institutional email address

• social media addresses made public

Note: we only collect data based on publicly available sources about activities undertaken in the capacity of representative of citizens. We do not collect any information about activities conducted in personal capacity.

Why do we collect this data? As this website reports on the activity of EU institutions which impacts on the lives of all European citizens, the collection and processing of this data is based on the principle of legitimate interest.

1.B If you are an individual private citizen

While most of the website can be accessed anonymously, when you create an account we may collect, subject to your consent, your:

• socio-demographic data (age interval, country of origin, gender)

• email address, if you give us consent by registering on the Site

• IP address

• Facebook/Twitter/email identification, if you give us consent for the purpose of compiling aggregated / anonymous statistics on our users

• the type of domain with which you connect to the Internet

• the IP address assigned to you

• the date and time of your access to our website

• the pages you viewed on our website

• the type of browser, platform and/or operating system you are using

• the search engine and the keywords used to find the website

• your browsing preferences

Why do we collect this data? We collect this data for statistical purposes only. This allows us to aggregate data anonymously and learn how the website is being used, so that we can make it more user-friendly and improve our service.

With your consent or based on our legitimate interest based in particular on our relationship, we will also use your email address to send you updates. You can always unsubscribe from within the emails we’re sending you or by contacting us.

We use Google Analytics to track user activity on the Site in order to provide a better user experience.

We will not make your Personal Data available to the general public or third parties, and we will never sell, share or swap your data with any other organisation.

1.C If you are a professional contact at an organisation engaged in EU public affairs

Where you work in, or on behalf of, an organisation engaged in European public affairs — for example a company, trade association, law or consultancy firm, or diplomatic mission — we may process a limited set of your professional contact details: your name, your professional (work) email address, your job title or role, and the organisation you represent.

We obtain these details from publicly available professional sources, including the EU Transparency Register, the official websites of the organisations concerned, and prior professional contact between us. We use them to send our EU policy briefings and related updates that are relevant to your professional role and your organisation’s areas of interest. We do not use this data for any unrelated purpose, and we do not sell it.

Why do we collect this data (legal basis)? We rely on our legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR) in providing relevant EU policy intelligence to professionals whose work concerns EU affairs, which also serves the recipient’s interest in staying informed on developments affecting their organisation. We use only professional contact details, and only for updates connected to your role; you can object and stop receiving the briefings at any time (see “Your rights” below).

Email open and click measurement. Our briefing emails contain standard measurement features — a small tracking pixel and redirected links — that allow us to see whether an email was opened and which links were clicked. We use this only to understand engagement with our briefings and to improve their relevance, on the basis of our legitimate interest. You can prevent open tracking by configuring your email client not to load remote images, and you can stop receiving our emails entirely using the unsubscribe link in every message.

1.D If you have an account on our website

We record the date(s) and time(s) when the account has been logged in and the IPs from which it was accessed. This allows us to improve our service and increase security of our website, especially in the case of the premium (paid) accounts. This information is deleted after 15 months (slightly more than the duration of the standard premium subscription).

Service providers and international transfers

To deliver our emails we use a third-party email-sending service, Mandrill / Mailchimp (operated by The Rocket Science Group LLC, an Intuit company), which processes recipients’ email addresses and delivery data on our behalf and under our instructions. This provider is based in the United States; where personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area, the transfer is protected by appropriate safeguards, such as the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework and/or the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses. Mailchimp’s privacy policy has been revised to comply with the GDPR’s requirements (for more information, read Mailchimp’s Privacy Statement).

Other than this email-delivery provider, we store your data on servers within the European Union and do not transfer it outside the European Economic Area.

2. How we keep data secure

We store your data in servers in the European Union. By using the Site, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country but within the European Union.

We will take any relevant action in case we have concerns about potential data abuses.

We take measures to maintain the confidentiality of your Personal Data and protect it from unlawful disclosure. We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your Personal Data when you enter, submit, or access your Personal Data. The Site has different layers of security depending on the layer of implementation: network, server and application.

The server is protected from unauthorized access: root access is only permitted through SSH and never directly; all user passwords are long, randomized and changed frequently. Database access is permitted only from local host, no external computer can directly connect from outside to the MySQL server running on the machine.

All files accessible through Apache are owned by a low-access level user. Application holes, like SQL injection or unauthorized access to the admin interface were also considered and checked against. Backup is run daily, both on the files and on the databases from the server.

Nevertheless, the data controller may in no way be held liable in the event that this data is stolen or hijacked by a third party despite the security measures adopted.

3. Who has access to your data

Your data is accessible by employees or contractors authorized by the data controller, who are subject to strict confidentiality agreements.

We will not make your Personal Data available to the general public or third parties, and we will never sell, share or swap your data with any other organisation.

4. Retention of Personal Data

We will retain your Personal Data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose(s) for which it was collected and to comply with applicable laws.

Once this goal is achieved, we either delete or completely anonymize them.

5. Your rights

You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, and to receive it in a portable format. Where our processing is based on legitimate interest — including sending you our briefings — you have the right to object at any time, after which we will stop. Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. You can unsubscribe directly from the link in any email we send, or contact our Privacy Officer ([email protected]) to exercise any of these rights.

If you believe we have not handled your personal data properly, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (Autorité de protection des données / Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit), Rue de la Presse 35, 1000 Brussels, [email protected].

6. Cookies

The Site uses session cookies, in order to keep the user logged in during a session. This cookie is deleted when the user logs out of the system.

The Site uses Google Analytics to track user activity on the Site in order to provide a better user experience.

7. Changes to our Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page, and/or update the privacy policy modification date below.

8. Contacting Us

If you have any questions or complaints, or you wish to access, correct or delete your Personal Data, please contact the Site Privacy Officer who can be reached at: [email protected].

If necessary, the Privacy Officer will contact another employee to assist in completing your requested task.