Data Protection Policy

In Cluster of Bioeconomy and Environment of Western Macedonia (CluBE), we consider the protection of personal data of an extreme importance. That is why we have taken all necessary measures to protect those who visit our website or have any kind of contact with our company. Any collection and processing of personal data is always made in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) as applicable in this Policy.

This policy may be reviewed and updated at any time and without notice. Users are prompted to periodically check for any changes, as the continued use of our website implies acceptance of all modifications. Please read it carefully.

1. Scope

This Data Protection Policy applies to the non-profit legal entity “Cluster of Bioeconomy and Environment of Western Macedonia” and the distinctive title “CluBE”.

1.1 Who we are

Cluster of Bioeconomy and Environment of Western Macedonia is a non-profit legal entity aiming to develop business and research through collaborations of the three main pillars of our company, the public sector, enterprises and finally the research and academic community. Our company specializes in the field of Bioeconomy and Environment, mainly in the region of Western Macedonia and the neighboring area.

The cluster’s primary activity areas include the following:

  • Energetic exploitation of biomass for domestic use.
  • Energetic exploitation of biomass in district heating of municipalities and / or settlements and / or production units, services, etc.
  • Increasing the share of biofuels and biohydrogen in the energy mix of transportation fuels
  • Co-firing with lignite in existing power stations and/or future heating plants
  • Optimization of heating systems
  • Improvement of energy efficiency for households and private buildings
  • Improvement of energy efficiency in businesses and services.

In order to achieve all our goals, our company can submit proposals to international, european, national and regional programs to finance actions within its wider area of interest, create research teams both in Greece and worldwide, organize conferences, seminars, scientific symposiums, lectures and educational programs as well as create networks of information, expertise and technology. Furthermore, our interest to promote science and education on bioenergy and environment issues urge us to publish books, magazines, studies, monographs, essays, albums, photo reports, video recordings, etc. Last but not least, we promote research, using European funding, in order to share information, practices and expertise around the activity fields of our company.

2. What is personal data?

Personal data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable living individual. Personal data can be identifying elements (name, age, residence, occupation, marital status, etc.), physical characteristics, education, work (past service, working behavior etc), economic situation (income, assets, economic behavior). The individual (natural person) to whom the data is referred is called the data subject. Personal data also includes unique numeric identifiers, such as the computer’s IP address, mobile MAC address, or cookies.

3. Collection and processing of personal data

We generally do not collect your personal data unless (a) it is provided to us voluntarily by you after being notified of the purposes for which the data is collected, and you provide your written consent, or (b) collection and use of personal data without consent is permitted or required by law. We shall seek your consent before collecting or processing any additional personal data for any new processing purpose.

We may collect and use your personal data for any or all of the following purposes:

(a) performing obligations in the course of or in connection with our provision of services requested by you;

(b) verifying your identity;

(c) responding to queries, requests, applications, complaints from you;

(d) sending you information about seminars, scientific conferences and lectures as well as sharing knowledge about technology innovations in our field of business.

(e) updating and expanding our associates’ register as well as promoting professional partnerships in the field of activity of our company

(f) complying with any applicable laws, regulations, codes of practice, guidelines and rules, or assist help to any control authorities when needed;

(g) any other purposes for which you have provided the information;

(h) any other business purposes related to or in connection with our company’s field of activity;

(i) fulfill our legal obligations arising from internal and EU laws.

Collection of data

3.1 Contact

When you contact a representative of our company via a) telephone, b) post or c) electronic means, ie via e-mail or through the contact form in our website, the data you provide us, such as name, phone number, home address, mailing address or e-mail address as well as any information related to the reason of contact, is stored in order to answer your questions and requests. After our communication and the fulfillment of the purpose for the collection, we delete all data, since storage is no longer necessary.

3.2 Newsletter

Your subscription to our newsletter gives us permission to communicate with you and send you information in direct relevance with our company’s purposes. Our newsletter is sent once every six months (“regular”), though in special cases (eg. for specific actions) monthly emails may appear.

When entering your email on the newsletter registration form, your email is sent and kept in file by Mailchimp, a marketing platform managed by The Rocket Science Group LLC based in the United States of America. All our newsletters are sent through this platform. Please for Mailchimp’s Privacy Policy follow the link: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/

If at any time and for any reason you no longer wish to receive our newsletter, you can immediately unsubscribe by emailing us at [email protected].

3.3 Associates Register

When you register in our associates’ register you enable a future collaboration with our company. Upon your registration we ask you to provide us information such as your name, e-mail address, home address, city and zip code, a contact phone number, your Tax Registration Number, your domain of specialty and your resume. All your information is kept in view of a potential future collaboration and thus you may from time to time receive proposals from our company. However, such registration does not imply obligation from the company to absorb the candidates in a project. The use of your personal information is strictly in accordance with this Policy. If at any time and for any reason you wish to unsubscribe from our register, you can contact us at [email protected].

3.4 Visiting our website

When you visit and use our website for informational purposes only, ie if you do not register or otherwise provide us information, we only collect the data that the browser transmits to our server and that are necessary for our webpage to function properly guaranteeing stability and security.

We transmit the data we collect to external service providers and external partners (e.g., hosting services, content management system) only in order for our website to operate properly.

3.4.1 Cookies

Our website uses cookies to provide you with the proper website functioning. Cookies are pieces of text information stored on your end device (computer, tablet, smartphone) that allow us to ensure the proper and expected functioning of the website. Cookies are meant to remember your preferences and thus help you browsing through our site. We use cookies that are absolutely necessary to ensure the functioning of our website.

You can control the cookies stored in your device, thus delete or prevent the use of cookies or schedule your browser to receive notifications for all new cookies through your browser’s options. To manage your preferences, select the appropriate link for each different browser.

Google Chrome https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop

Internet Explorer https://support.microsoft.com/el-gr/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies

Apple Safari https://support.apple.com/el-gr/HT201265

Mozilla Firefox https://support.mozilla.org/el/kb/diagrafh-cookies-gia-afairesh-plhroforiwn

In any case, bear in mind that any changes in cookies functionality may change the experience you currently have on our site or even block some of its functions.

3.4.2 Google Analytics

In our website we use Google Analytics, a web analytics service offered by Google Inc. (“Google”). This service, is using analysis, logging and performance cookies to collect anonymous information about how visitors use our site, helping us improve its mode of operation. We receive information like how many visitors use the site, the time and duration of access or the way visitors navigate through our site. Although Google Analytics records data, such as your location, device, web browser, and operating system, none of this information is given to us. It is anonymous data and do not contain personal information. Information collected by the Google Analytics cookies is transferred and stored on Google’s servers in accordance with Google’s privacy policy. For more information: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245.

3.4.3 Social media

Our company in order to communicate with the public has a Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn account. Those companies may collect your personal data for their own use. If you chose to visit our website via a link in one of those service providers you may have some of your personal data collected and processed according to their own privacy policies. These data is never transmitted to us. For more information concerning the collection and processing of data please refer to the privacy policies for these services as listed below. They will also provide you with further information about your rights and how to regulate options to protect your privacy.

  1. a)   Facebook Inc., 1601 S California Ave, Palo Alto, California 94304, ΗΠΑ; http://www.facebook.com/policy.php http://www.facebook.com/help/186325668085084, http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info-on-other#applications and http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info#everyoneinfo Facebook is subject to the EU – US Privacy Shield https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.
  2. b)   Twitter, Inc., 1355 Market St, Suite 900, San Francisco, California 94103, USA; https://twitter.com/privacy. Twitter is subject to the EU – US Privacy Shield, https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.
  3. c)   LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, California 94043, USA; http://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy. LinkedIn is subject to the EU – US Privacy Shield, https://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework.

4. How long do we keep your personal data?

When you contact our company via telephone, post, email or contact form in our website, we retain your personal data for as long is necessary to answer your questions or meet your requests.

When you subscribe to our newsletter or our associates’ register we retain your personal data for a maximum period of three (3) years. At the end of this 3-year retention period, we will contact you informing you of the imminent deletion. If you wish to still be registered in our company’s registers you can let us know with a simple email.

Finally, in the presence of legal obligation, personal data shall be retained for as long as such legal obligation applies.

5. Who do we share personal information with?

Our company may use data processors to perform certain processes, such as IT and network security services or legal and accounting services. To the extent that such third parties have access to your personal data, we have undertaken all technical, organizational and contractual measures to ensure that your personal information is processed solely for the purposes outlined above.

We share your personal data with supervisory, tax and investigative authorities only if we are legally bound to.

Your personal information is not transferred to any third party outside the European Union.

6. What are your rights in respect of your personal data?

Right to access your personal data: You have the right to have access to your personal data that our company maintains, collects and processes.

Right to rectification and erasure of personal data: You may request the rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data, or even the erasure of any of your data.

Right for data portability: You have the right to transfer to another company all personal data you have given to us.

Right to restriction of processing: You have the right to request the restriction of the processing and use of your personal data.

Right to object: You have the right to object to any processing of your personal data by withdrawing your initial consent. Your withdrawal of consent may only work for the future.

 

If you wish (a) to access a copy of the personal data which we hold about you, (b) to be informed about the ways in which we use your personal data, or (c) to correct or update any of your personal data which we hold about you, you may submit your request at [email protected].

We generally rely on personal data provided by you. In order to update them please make any necessary changes by informing us at the email provided above.

7. How do we ensure the security of your personal data?

Our company has taken all organizational (Procedures and Policies for Privacy) and technical measures (Access Control System, Information Security Management System, Updated Antivirus Programs, Document Shredders) in order to safeguard your personal data.

You should be aware, however, that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. While security cannot be guaranteed, we strive to protect the security of your information and are constantly reviewing and enhancing our information security measures. If you have any reason to believe that your communication with us is no longer safe or if you feel that your data has been compromised, please notify us immediately at Cluster of Bioenergy & Environment of Western Macedonia, ZEP area, Kozani 50100, Greece or [email protected].

8. How to exercise your rights

You can exercise all your rights at no cost by simply contacting our company by email to [email protected]. Alternatively, you can contact us to: Cluster of Bioenergy & Environment of Western Macedonia, ZEP Area, Kozani 50100, Greece.

Our company will take all necessary and reasonable steps to meet your request within thirty (30) days.

If you are not satisfied, you are always entitled to file a petition or complaint to the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (www.dpa.gr).