Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 applies to the processing of personal data collected for European Circular Economy Platform website.

1. Name of the processing operation and short description

European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform website:

Third party individuals and organisations will upload their contact information either to contact the ECESP secretariat, subscribe to the ECESP newsletter, submit content to the platform or make use of its interactive features.

For contact requests and newsletter subscriptions, the EESC will store this information in its application for managing contact information (Dynamics).

Personal data collected in the process of submitting content or using the forum is stored in the website's application for managing contact information (Drupal). The ECESP Secretariat and will, after collecting the consent of the data subjects, publish (part of) this contact information on the public website dedicated to the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform.

For a detailed specification of the data processed according to purpose, see point 5.

2. Who is responsible for the processing of personal data?

The European Economic and Social Committee is responsible (as controller) for the processing of personal data. The responsible service is:

NAT Section secretariat, Directorate C

European Economic and Social Committee

Belliardstraat 99, 1040 Brussels

Send an email to the responsible service

3. What is the purpose of the processing?

As the purpose of this platform is to facilitate contacts and information sharing between stakeholders in the Circular Economy field, the processing of contact information is a key feature of this online platform.

4. What is the legal basis for the processing?

The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is Article 5(a) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, as the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in a Union institution or body. The EESC exercises its tasks as set out in Articles 300-304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The processing of certain categories of your personal data as described in this privacy statement will be carried out based on your consent (Article 5(d) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725). 

5. What personal data is processed?

When users visit the ECESP website, the following data is stored:

• IP address
• Pages visited

When users make use of the ECESP contact form or submit content directly to the platform, the EESC will process the following data:

• nature of the organisation or company
• organisation or company name
• organisation or company physical address
• organisation or company e-mail address
• organisation or company website address
• (optional) contact person name + surname, telephone number, e-mail address, physical address
• link to organisation or company online contact form
• organisation of company main field of activity

In case of a partnership, the EESC will also process the following data:

• potential partner's nature of the organisation or company
• potential partner's organisation or company name
• potential partner's organisation or company physical address
• potential partner's organisation or company e-mail address
• potential partner's organisation or company website address
• potential partner's (optional) contact person name + surname, telephone number, e-mail address, physical address
• potential partner's link to organisation or company online contact form
• potential partner's organisation of company main field of activity

Where users subscribe to the ECESP newletter, the EESC will collect the following data:

• Individual's or organisation name
• Individual's or company e-mail address

Where users opt to register for the interactive section of the platform, the EESC will also process the following data separately:

• user's name + surname, email address
• (optional) user's area of expertise, country, organisation + type, sector and social media accounts.

6. Who are the recipients or categories of recipients of your personal data?

• Staff of the European Economic and Social Committee.
• Staff in the European Commission's

• DG Environment, Unit B1 - Sustainable Production, Products and Consumption
• DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Unit C1 - Clean Technologies and Products

When users register for the interactive section, they can opt to disclose personal data submitted during registration. While optional personal data can be made visible to all other registered users, platform moderators and administrators also have access to all mandatory personal data submitted during registration. Moderators can use the private message or email information from users solely for moderation purposes. Moderators or Administrators have strictly no access to personal messages sent and received by users.

7. Are your personal data transferred to a third country (non-EU Member State) or international organisation?

Your personal data will not be transferred to non-EU member states or international organisations.

8. How can you exercise your rights?

You have the right to request access to your personal data. Also, you have the right to request rectification or erasure or restriction of the processing of your personal data.

Where applicable, you have the right to object to the processing of your data. Where applicable, you have the right to receive your personal data provided to the controller or to have your personal data transmitted directly to another controller (data portability). You also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

You can direct your queries to the responsible service by e-mail.

Newsletter subscribers can unsubscribe from within the newsletters they receive or by making use of the subscription management page.

Registered users can temporarily or permanently deactivate their accounts per private message to a moderator or administrator of the interactive section.

Requests will be processed within 15 days upon receipt.

You have the right to lodge a complaint to the European Data Protection Supervisor (edps@edps.europa.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 EESC.

8. How long are your data kept for?

Technical personal data (IP address and pages visited) collected in the framework of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform is stored for a period of maximum 365 days.

Personal data submitted for the purpose of sharing good practices on circular economy, enabling networking between stakeholders and being updated by the platform will be kept for the duration of the platform's existence.

9. Are personal data collected used for automated decision-making, including profiling?

The EESC will not use your personal data to make automated decisions about you or in order to profile you. “Automated decisions” are defined as decisions made without human intervention. You have the right to opt out of automated processing at any time and to require that decisions are assessed by a person.

10. Will your personal data be further processed for a purpose other than that for which the data were obtained?

Your personal data will not be further processed for a different purpose.

9. Who can you contact if you have queries or complaints?

If you have any further questions about the processing of your personal data, please contact the responsible service by e-mail. You may also contact the EESC Data Protection Officer (data.protection@eesc.europa.eu) and/or the European Data Protection Supervisor (edps@edps.europa.eu) at any time.