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Privacy statement

1. Who does this privacy statement apply to?

1.1 This website about the Belgian Monarchy (www.monarchie.be) is managed by the Media & Communication Department of the King’s Cabinet (“We”).

1.2 This website is informative and does not contain interactive applications. Nevertheless, it may happen that we process personal data of you as a website visitor.

We make every effort to respect the data protection legislation and in particular the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (“GDPR”).

1.3 Through this Privacy Statement, we wish to inform you about how and why we process your personal data as a website visitor, to whom we transfer this information, what your rights are and who you can contact for more information.

1.4 This website may contain links to other websites. Although we try to provide links to safe websites only, we are not responsible for the content and data protection policies of these websites.

When visiting other websites, we strongly recommend you to read the Privacy Statements on these websites before disclosing personal data.

2. For which purposes can we process your personal data?

2.1 We may process personal data for legitimate purposes. These purposes include but are not limited to:

  • the handling of questions, requests and complaints about this website;
  • collecting statistics on the use of this website;
  • improving the performance and the appearance of this website.

3. Based on which legal grounds do we process your personal data?

3.1 We may process personal data for the above purposes in the context of our legitimate interest, namely the interest of managing and improving this website.

4. Which rights do you have?

4.1 You have several rights concerning the personal data we hold about you. You have the right to:

  • access the personal data we hold about you and to receive a copy thereof;
  • ask us to update or correct your personal data, if you should think that these data are incorrect or incomplete;
  • ask us to delete your personal data, or restrict the way in which we use such personal data, if you believe there is no (longer a) lawful ground for us to process them;
  • withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data (to the extent the processing is based on your consent);
  • receive a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to transmit these data to another party (to the extent the processing is based on consent or the performance of a contract).

4.2 In order to exercise any of your rights, you can send an email to info@monarchie.be or address a request in writing to Royal Palace, Media & Communication Department, Rue Brederode 16, 1000 Brussels.

You can also use these contact details if you wish to make a complaint to us relating to your privacy.

4.3 If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your personal data, you have the right to file a complaint with the Data Protection Authority of the member state where you usually reside.

5. How can we obtain personal data?

5.1 This website does not contain any interactive applications. However, we may obtain personal data about you when you use this website or when you contact us about this website.

5.2 Data on the use of this website can be obtained in particular via cookies and log files. For more information about this, please consult the cookie section and/or the log files section.

6. Which personal data can we collect?

6.1 Since this website does not contain interactive applications, we only collect a limited amount of personal data.

6.2 When you contact us regarding this website, we will collect all personal data that you provide to us (name, address or email address, content of the message etc.).

6.3 In addition, we may also collect data about the use of this website via cookies and log files in order to improve the performance and the appearance. For more information about this, please refer to the cookie section and/or the log files section.

6.4 If we process your IP address, we use IP masking so that the last two digits of your IP address are not saved. In this way your anonymity is maximally guaranteed.

7. To whom can we disclose your personal data?

7.1 The employees of the Media & Communication Department of the King’s Cabinet will have access to your personal data on a strict need-to-know basis for the purposes described above.

7.2 Your data will not be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

8. Which cookies do we use and how can you manage them?

8.1 This website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are stored by your browser onto your computer or mobile device when you visit this website. They are used to give you a good browsing experience or to collect statistics in order to improve this website.

8.2 Cookies can be categorized according to the following characteristics:

8.2.1 Whether they are “session cookies” or “persistent cookies”:

Sessioncookies: these cookies are automatically deleted when you close your browser.

Persistent cookies: these cookies are not automatically deleted when you close your browser, but remain stored on your computer or mobile device during a certain period (this varies from cookie to cookie).

8.2.2 Whether they are “first party cookies” or “third party cookies”:

  • First party cookies: these cookies are set by us or any of our processors.
  • Third party cookies: these cookies are set by a data controller that does not operate this website. We do not have access to or control over these cookies and these cookies are subject to the Privacy Statements of the third parties.

8.3 In practice, we use the following cookies on our website:

  • Authentication cookies

Authentication cookies are used to allow users to log in and gain access to the system.

This table provides more information about the authentication cookie on this website:

Cookie name

Expiration date

Description and function

SimpleSAMLSessionID

Session cookie

It concerns a session ID cookie from PHP. This cookie is used in the context of the authentication via CSAM.

  • User preference cookies

These cookies are used to keep your preferences regarding the language of this website (Dutch, French, English or German) through your visit to various web pages.

This table provides more information about the user preference cookies on this website:

Cookie name

Expiration date

Description and function

language

1 year

This cookie keeps track of the language selection that is made during the first visit to the website. The cookie does not allow to identify any users.

  • Analytical cookies

These cookies are used to collect statistics about your visit to this website in order to improve its content and design (“web audience measuring”). They gather, among other things, information about which sections of the website are most frequently consulted, where our visitors go and how much time they spend on the pages of the website.

This table provides more information about the analytical cookies on this website:

Cookie name

Expiration date

Description and function

__utma

2 years

It concerns Google Analytics cookies from Google Inc.

 

These cookies allow you to collect data about the use of the website. The collected data include among other things: the IP address, the date and time of access, the consulted pages for a certain period of time and other technical data such as the browser, the operating system, the search engine and the keywords that were used to find the website.

 

The collected statistics are anonymised, so that they cannot be linked to certain users.

 

For more information on the use of Google Analytics cookies and the privacy policy of Google Inc., please click on the following links: Google Analytics / Google Inc’s Privacy Policy.

 

To prevent the use of Google Analytics, you can always install the “Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on”.

__utmb

30 minutes

__utmc

Session cookie

__utmt

10 minutes

__utmz

1 year

_gat

1 minute

_gid

24 hours

__utma

2 years

has_js

Session cookie

We use a session status cookie from Drupal for this website.

 

This cookie determines whether or not JavaScript is activated, so that the system can run the processes to improve the user experience more efficiently.

8.4 You can enable, disable and/or delete cookies from your browser. The cookie settings can usually be found in the “options” or “preferences” menu of your browser. The following links may be helpful in order to understand these settings. Otherwise you should use the “Help” option in your internet browser for more details:

Please note that by disabling certain cookies, you will possibly not be able anymore to use certain applications of this website.

9. What information do the logs of this website contain?

9.1 Every time you visit this website we register the IP address, the browser, the operating system, the screen resolution, the external website that has referred to this website, the pages visited, the date and time of the visit to the pages, the search led to the visit of this website and whether it concerns a new or returning visitor.

9.2 This information is not linked to your person. It is only collected for statistical purposes and for the further improvement of this website.

10. Are your personal data protected?

10.1 We take strict technical and organisational (security) measures to protect your personal data from access by unauthorized people and against unlawful processing, abuse, damage, loss and destruction.

10.2 These measures include:

  • training to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of our data protection obligations when handling personal data;
  • administrative and technical controls to restrict access to personal data on a need-to-know basis;
  • technological security measures, including passwords, fire walls, anti virus software and encryption.

10.3 Although we take appropriate security measures as soon as we receive your personal data, the transfer of data through the internet (including email) is never completely safe. Consequently, we can never fully guarantee the security of the personal data sent to us.

11. How long are your personal data retained?

11.1 Your personal data will not be retained longer than necessary for the purposes described above.

As a general rule, the personal data we receive when you use the website or contact us in relation to the website are stored for a period of 5 years.

11.2 Depending on the specific situation, we may however retain your personal data for a longer period of time. This will in particular be the case if any of the following periods is longer: (i) as long as is necessary for the relevant activity or service; (ii) any retention period that is required by law; or (iii) the end of the period in which judicial proceedings might arise.

12. Are your personal data used for automated decision-making?

12.1 Automated decisions are defined as decisions about individuals that are based solely on the automated processing of data and that procedure legal effects that significantly affect the individuals involved.

We do not use personal data on this website for automated decision-making.

13. How to contact us?

13.1 If your have any queries about this Privacy Statement or the website in general, please contact us by:

  • emailing us at info@monarchie.be;
  • addressing a written request to Royal Palace, Media & Communication Department, Rue Brederode 16, 1000 Brussels.

14. Changes to this privacy statement

14.1 We may amend this Privacy Statement from time to time. With each change we will adjust the revision date on this page. The modified Privacy Statement will then apply from this date.

Please consult this page in order to be regularly informed about changes and additions.

29/03/2019