Privacybeleid Advocatenkantoor De Rouck & Partners

1. General terms

1.1

Your personal data will be processed by Lawfirm De Rouck & Partners, Leopoldlaan 17, 9400 Ninove, Belgium, with which is registered in the Crossroads Bank of Enterprises under number 0430.137.491.

1.2

You can contact us via info@derouckenpartners.com.

1.3

We respect the Belgian provisions on personal data protection, as well as General Data Protection Regulation following the entry into application on 25 may 2018.

1.4.

This Privacy policy may be modified in the future. We will keep you informed of important changes.

1. What data do we process and why do we process your data?

2.1

When you are using our website (e.g. when you fill in and send a contact or order form), or contact us via telephone, fax, e-mail or any other channel of communication, we will collect and process the following personal data:

1.    The basic personal data that you provide us with, like your name, registrynumber, e-mailadress, adress, telephonenumber, the firm you work for, your kob
2.    Banking data
3.    The content of your communication and the technical details of the communication itself (with whom you correspond, date and time, etc.);
4.    Technical information about the device you are using, like you IP address, the type of browser you are using, geographical location and your operating system
5.    Information about your surfing behaviour, how long you surf, which links you clic, which pages you visit and how often you visit a page
6.    Every other personal data you provide us with.

We will process these personal data to achieve the following objectives:

1.    To enable communication between you and us, in order to comply with our legal obligation to inform you and to respond to questions, comments or messages.
2.    To detect and prevent malware, illegal content and behaviour, and other forms of abuse, for which we rely on our legal obligation to keep our online environement safe.
3.    When using our website we can also colect some data for statistical purposes. We need this information to optimize the use of our Website. When you visit the Website, zou agree to the data collection for statistical purposes.

2.2.

When an agreement is concluded between the office and you (both orally and in writing), as a client or as a supplier, we will collect and use the same personal data as mentioned under article 2.1.

These data will be processed to achieve the following objectives:

1.    To fulfill our contractual obligations in strict compliance with our obligations as a lawyer, including our deontology. When you as an individual are our client or supplier, we rely on the necessity of processing your personal data for the realization and execution of the contract we have with you. However, if you act on behalf of a company or other legal entity, we rely on our legitimate interest to be able to contract with clients and suppliers;
2.    Customer management: customer administration, order management, deliveries, invoicing, checking creditworthiness, support, complaints monitoring and sending newsletters.
3.    Answering and following up questions and suggestions via the chat function on the Website in a clear, pertinent and focused manner.
4.    Dispute management.
5.    To defend us in legal proceedings, when it is in our legitimate interest to use your personal data in these procedures.
6.    Protection against fraud and violations.
7.    Personalized marketing and advertising if you have expressly agreed to this. In that case you always have the option to withdraw your permission.

2.3.

When you apply for one of our vacancies, we will collect your personal information and use it to:

1.    to assess your application, for which we rely on the necessity of processing your personal data in order to reach an agreement with you;
2.    to keep you in our recruitment reserve, for which we will ask your permission;
3.    to defend us in legal proceedings, when it is in our legitimate interest to use your personal data in these procedures.

The personal data that we process when you register with us are:

1.    your basic identity information such as name, e-mail address, postal address and telephone number;
2.    information that you have made public on social media;
3.    information that you have included in your resume and cover letter;
4.    any other personal data you have chosen to include in your application.

2.4.

We collect and process personal data from our lawyers and independent employees, as well as from our other suppliers, their staff, employees, employees and other useful contacts. We process the following personal data: personal identification data, financial identification data, solvency, financial transactions, professional activities, agreements and settlements, KBO number. From our lawyers / employees we also process image or audio material for our website, social media or for marketing purposes.

We process this data in order to be able to execute agreements and manage the suppliers, the accounting and direct marketing activities such as the sending of promotional or commercial information.

2.5. 

We process the personal details of our employees in the context of our personnel management and payroll administration.

2.6.

When dealing with files, we process the personal identification data of counterparties and their counsels, trade unions or representatives, as well as all possible other persons involved such as bailiffs, notaries, experts, civil parties, curators, etc. in order to fulfill our legal requirements, regulatory obligations and / or our legitimate interest, as well as the execution of an agreement.

2.7.

In addition to the aforementioned, we also process personal data of others, such as possible new clients / prospects, colleagues, useful contacts within our sector, network contacts, former lawyers / employees or employees. The purposes of these processing operations are in the interests of our activities, direct marketing and public relations.

2.8.

We believe that the aforementioned data processing is within the reasonable expectations of the stated purposes. In addition, we will also process the personal data to: 

1.    comply with legal obligations or, as far as we are permitted as a lawyer, to comply with any reasonable request from competent police services, judicial authorities, government agencies or bodies, including competent data protection authorities; 
2.    inform a third party in the context of a possible merger with, takeover of / through or split by that third party, even if that third party is located outside the EU, in which case we invoke our legitimate interest to conduct business transactions.

We want to emphasize that for us as a law firm professional secrecy and confidentiality are of the utmost importance. This means that we will only process your personal data when this is permitted, in view of these confidentiality obligations.

1. Legality

We always process your personal data with due respect for the GDPR and all other relevant legal provisions, taking into account one of the following legal grounds:

1.    The execution of the agreement as agreed with the customer, or the exercise of pre-contractual steps taken at the request of a prospect or client;
2.    Compliance with legal or regulatory provisions relating to the management of the contractual relationship, in particular the invoicing;
3.    The legitimate interest for sending information and newsletters to our customers;
4. Sharing personal data

The personal data are in principle only shared with the lawyers and employees of the office, as well as with the suppliers who help us with the processing of your personal data.

Certain personal data will also be passed on to the courts and other government departments or to third-party service providers such as our IT supplier, accountant, auditor, social secretariat, insurance companies, etc. In the context of the anti-money laundering legislation, data from clients, mandatories and ultimately beneficiaries may, under certain circumstances, be forwarded to the ‘Stafhouder’ (= the hierarchic authority) of the competent bar.

It is possible that one or more of the above-mentioned third parties are located outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"). However, only personal data will be forwarded to third countries with an appropriate level of protection.

Anyone who has access to your personal data will always be bound by strict legal or contractual obligations to keep your personal data secure and confidential.

If necessary, your personal data may be passed on to other third parties. This could be the case, for example, if we were completely or partially reorganized, our activities would be transferred or if we were declared bankrupt. It is also possible that personal data must be passed on pursuant to a court order or to comply with a specific legal obligation. In that case, we will make reasonable efforts to inform you in advance about this communication to other third parties. However, you will recognize and understand that in certain circumstances this is not always technically or commercially feasible or that legal restrictions may apply.

We will under no circumstances sell your personal data or make it commercially available to direct marketing agencies or similar service providers, unless with your prior consent.

1. Term for personal data storage

We will only keep your personal data for as long as this is necessary to achieve the aforementioned set of goals. We will remove your personal data from our database as soon as we no longer need them to achieve these goals or if you validly exercise the right to delete your personal data.

However, we cannot delete your personal data if there is a legal or regulatory obligation or a court or administrative order that prevents us from removing it.

We will keep all personal data to communicate with you, as well as to keep a historical archive of our communication.

1. Security of stored personal data

We have taken all measures to ensure that all processed personal data is stored securely. These steps include, among other things, limiting the processing to the personal data that are necessary for achieving the purposes that we have communicated to you. We have also taken technical and organizational measures to secure our infrastructure, systems, applications, building and processes.

1. Your rights regarding your personal data

7.1

You can request the personal data processed by us at any time. If permitted by law, we may refuse your request. In that case we will inform you of the reason for this refusal. We reserve the right to charge an administrative fee if access is requested multiple times and this clearly has the purpose to burden us or to disadvantage us.

7.2

You have the right to ask us to adjust false personal data of you free of charge. If such a question is submitted, it must be accompanied by proof that the data to be corrected is actually wrong.

7.3

You have the right at any time to withdraw your previously given permission to process your personal data or to adjust your communication preferences.

7.4

You have the right to request to delete your personal data if it is no longer necessary for the purposes described above, or if you withdraw your consent to its processing. Note, however, that such a request for deletion by us will be assessed taking into account:

•    higher interests of the firm or any third party; and
•    legal or regulatory obligations, or legal or administrative orders that contradict such a deletion.

7.5

You have the right to ask us to provide you with all personal data that you provided us with in a structured, current and machine-readable format.

7.6

If you wish to exercise one or more of the rights mentioned above, you can do so by sending an e-mail to info@derouckenpartners.com. An e-mail containing a request to exercise a particular right cannot be interpreted as a consent to the processing of your personal data, except to the extent necessary for the processing of your request. Such a request must clearly state the right you wish to exercise and, if necessary, the reason for it. The request must be dated, signed and accompanied by a digital scan of your valid identity card as proof of your identity. If you use the contact form, we may ask you for a signed confirmation and proof of identity.

We will inform you immediately of the receipt of your request. If the request is valid, we will grant it as soon as reasonably possible, and at the latest thirty (30) days after it has been received.

For complaints regarding the processing of your personal data, you can always contact us via the e-mail address above. If you are dissatisfied with our response, you can submit a complaint to the competent data protection service.