Take care of your data

The controller(s) of your data is in the first place the Flemish Community of the Belgian Red Cross, an institution of public utility with legal personality under the law of March 30, 1891 and located at Motstraat 40, 2800 Mechelen.

Depending on the purpose(s) of the processing and the activity, entities affiliated with Belgian Red Cross-Flanders may also process your personal data jointly with the Flemish Community of the Belgian Red Cross . These entities are: Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, sui generis legal entity based on the Decree of April 26, 2024, VZW Belgian Red Cross-Flanders International, and/or the Foundation of Public Utility Research and Development Fund Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, all located at Motstraat 40, 2800 Mechelen, as well as VZW Red Cross Hotel, located at Polderwind 4, 8377 Zuienkerke.

When processing together with an affiliated entity, these entities act as 'joint controllers'. The Flemish Community of the Belgian Red Cross will always act as a central contact point should you wish to exercise your rights or have any questions about your privacy. The following will always refer to "Belgian Red Cross-Flanders".

Learn more about Belgian Red Cross-Flanders and its "affiliated entities" here.

If we collect data from you, it is in order to process it for a specified purpose. We always do this on a legal basis. A 'legal basis' is the legal basis that allows your personal data to be processed. The purposes and legal grounds for processing your personal data vary according to the activity you participate in or the service you are provided with.

For example, when you register for a course or reserve a course, we process your data for the purpose of providing the course. Without processing your data, we cannot offer you the training. We process your data here because it is necessary for the execution of the agreement between you and our organization.

The purposes and processing grounds for the main activities you can participate in and services provided by Belgian Red Cross-Flanders can be found here.

We process the personal data you transmit to us via the website or any other communication channel in the context of the activity for which you contact us or the service provided to you. Depending on the activity, service or your interest, this may include identification data, health data, genetic data, judicial data and/or other data such as financial data.

When you visit our websites, we also collect data about you. We use cookies for this purpose. Read the cookie policy here.

For certain processing, we call on 'processors'. These are external parties who support Belgian Red Cross-Flanders in providing services. They may only process your data as we have agreed with them. These include, for example, an external data platform, call centers, SMS and mailing services and software suppliers.

In addition, we may also transfer your personal data to "other recipients. This may, for example, be to the government when we have a duty to report on participants who attended training at Belgian Red Cross-Flanders .

If we process data with an affiliated entity, that entity will also receive your data, of course.

When we transfer your data to 'processors' or 'other recipients', this is explicitly stated in the data policy. We inform you about this at the moment you leave your data. The data policy for the main activities in which you can participate and services provided by Belgian Red Cross-Flanders can be found here.

We may keep your data only as long as necessary for the purpose for which we collected it. What is 'necessary' depends on the activity you participate in or the service you receive. When you ask Belgian Red Cross-Flanders a question via the website, we obviously do not need to keep your data as long as when you donate blood. Sometimes these retention periods are determined by law, such as in the blood legislation. 

The retention periods for our main activities and services can be found here

The European Economic Area (EEA) includes the countries of the European Union along with Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. European law requires additional safeguards when we would transfer data to countries other than EEA countries. This is because these countries have different privacy and data protection laws that often provide a lower level of protection than is provided in the EEA.

Although infrequent, such transfers may be necessary for certain processing. For example, in order to recover a missing family member who is in Syria, we will need to contact the Syrian Red Cross Society. This will then be permitted for important reasons of public interest.

The headquarters of the International Red Cross is in Switzerland. We sometimes need to transfer data to them as well. The European Commission ensures that Switzerland provides a sufficiently adequate level of protection.

Finally, we sometimes use processors based outside the EEA. This mainly involves processors who provide support services such as a third-party data platform and portal and software vendors. We provide appropriate safeguards through standard data protection provisions or other appropriate safeguards. You can consult these with us.

You can find out here whether we transfer data outside the EEA for the main activities and services of Belgian Red Cross-Flanders.

You have several rights:

• You have a right to access your personal data. This way you can find out what personal data we are processing about you.
• You have a right to have your personal data rectified. In this way, you can have incorrect personal data we process about you corrected.
• You have a right to erasure of your personal data. This right allows Belgian Red Cross-Flanders to "forget" you and delete all data we have about you. We are not always obliged to delete your data when you request this. This is only required in cases determined by law.
• You have a right to restrict the processing concerning you. In this way, you can ask us to limit the processing we carry out. So we will continue to keep your data but its use will be more strict. We are not always obliged to comply with such a request. This is only necessary in cases determined by law.
• You have a right to object to the processing. This way you can oppose the further processing of your data by Belgian Red Cross-Flanders . We are not always obliged to comply with such a request. This right can only be exercised when we process your data on the basis of a legitimate interest or for the performance of a task of general interest.
• You have a right always to withdraw your consent if processing is based on your consent.
• You have a right to oppose the processing of your personal data for recruitment and communication purposes.
• You have a right to data portability. In this way, you have the ability to transfer, copy or forward personal data smoothly from one controller to another. This right complements the right of access. It offers you a way to easily manage and reuse your personal data yourself. This right can only be exercised when the processing is based on your consent or on an agreement you have concluded with us (or one of the NPOs).

You can send your request concerning your rights or questions about privacy in writing to: Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, attn. DPO, Motstraat 40, 2800 Mechelen or via e-mail dpo@rodekruis.be.

You can access and edit your contact information and communication preferences online at www.rodekruis.be/mijngegevens at any time. 

Yes, we have appointed a data protection officer (DPO). This person has the special task of overseeing how your data can be used and should be protected when we process it.

You can contact the data protection officer:

• By mail: Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, attn. DPO, Motstraat 40, 2800 Mechelen;
• By email: DPO@rodekruis.be

If you wish to file a complaint, you can do so with the supervisory authority. For Belgium this is:

Data Protection Authority
Printing Press Street 35
1000 Brussels
contact@apd-gba.be
tel 0032 2 247 48 00

No. We do not use your data for automated individual decision-making with legal consequences.

We do bring together the information we receive through different channels (e.g., the website, an enrollment form, etc.). This way we know which activities or trainings you have participated in, whether you wish to donate blood, whether you are a volunteer with us, etc. This way we can keep you informed about the activities of Belgian Red Cross-Flanders and its affiliated non-profit organizations that may be of interest to you.

You can always access and modify your data and communication preferences online at www.rodekruis.be/mijngegevens.