Privacy Policy

The confidentiality of your personal data is very important to us!

The American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium (AmCham Belgium) intends to process your personal data in a lawful, fair and transparent manner. In this privacy statement, we explain what data of personal nature concerning you as a natural person are processed by AmCham Belgium and the purposes for which the data are processed. At the same time, this statement gives details of the rights you have to guarantee and possibly improve the protection of your privacy.

1. Who are we?

Your data is processed by AmCham Belgium, an organization headquartered in Boulevard Saint-Michel 47 / Sint-Michielslaan, 1040 Brussels and registered with the Carrefour Bank of Enterprises under the number 0408.134.626.

If you have additional questions and/or would like more information, you can always contact us via our Contact Form.

2. What personal data does AmCham Belgium collect and what does it do with your data?

In principle, we collect only your business contact data, in this case information you give us.

2.1. The data we collect directly:

1. Individuals with a mandate as a Director of AmCham Belgium:
   - Your contact details: last name, first name, job title, gender, e-mail address, telephone number, function.
   - Your identification details: national number, copy of identity card, private address.
   - AmCham Belgium collects this data in order to publish your mandate in the Moniteur Belge/Belgisch Staatsblad/State Gazette, in accordance with legal requirements. Your contact details are also used in order to contact you as part of the services offered by AmCham Belgium which are currently in the area of advocacy, knowledge-sharing and networking. This will include among others: policy updates, business and economic information, Committee-related information, member information, publications, event invitations. We process your data in order to allow us to provide the services we engage to provide you with. This allows us to fulfill our legal obligation to you.
2. Employees and collaborators of AmCham Belgium members:
   - Your contact details: last name, first name, job title, gender, e-mail address, telephone number, function.
   - AmCham Belgium collects these contacts details in order to contact you as part of the services offered by AmCham Belgium which are currently in the area of advocacy, knowledge-sharing and networking. This will include among others: policy updates, business and economic information, committee-related information, member information, publications, event invitations. We process your data in order to allow us to provide the services we engage to provide you with. This allows us to fulfill our legal obligation to you.
   - You may choose to share your personal data in the 'Who is who' on the AmCham Belgium website. The 'Who is Who' is only available to members who are logged into the website through 'My AmCham'. You have control over these settings. By default, no data are shared. The one exception to this rule is if you belong to one of AmCham Belgium's Committees. In that case, in order to be listed as a Committee member, your name, job title and company will be visible in the 'Who is who' and on the public page of the respective Committee. Committee members can change these settings through their user profile, should they not wish to appear.
3. Individuals with whom AmCham Belgium makes contact in the context of its mission and its activities (ministers, chiefs of staff, officials, university professors, other academic staff, unions, public bodies, peripheral organizations, press contacts, etc.):
   - Your contact details: last name, first name, job title, gender, e-mail address, telephone number, function.
   - AmCham Belgium collects this data in the framework of its mission and activities, in particular its advocacy and knowledge-sharing activities aimed at representing/defending/promoting as effectively as possible the interests of its members in certain legal, technical and economic matters. AmCham Belgium’s use of the data is on the basis that it has legitimate grounds for so doing.
4. People who sign up for an e-publication, or for events organized by AmCham or for events co-organized by AmCham Belgium.
   - Your contact details: last name, first name, job title, gender, e-mail address, telephone number, function.
   - If you are not a member, AmCham Belgium will save your data with your explicit consent.
5. When you visit our website:
   - Some data based on cookies that are placed on the site. For more information, please read AmCham Belgium’s cookie policy.
6. Contact persons of companies with which AmCham Belgium has concluded a contract for the provision of certain goods and services (suppliers: IT, social secretariat, insurance, printer, etc.):
   - Your contact details: last name, first name, job title, gender, e-mail address, telephone number, function.
   - AmCham Belgium collects this data which is necessary for the execution of the contractual relationship.
7. Individuals who contact AmCham Belgium directly for membership, event registration and information purposes or prospective members:
   - Your contact details: last name, first name, job title, gender, e-mail address, telephone number, function.
   - When you send an e-mail to AmCham Belgium yourself in order to join or when you complete the information form via the website and submit that form, we save your data in our database pending the conclusion of the membership process. AmCham Belgium has a legitimate basis for so doing on the grounds that it is necessary for the execution of pre-contractual procedures necessary for the completion of the membership process and the conclusion of the contract.
   - If you hand us a business card, you are also registered in our database. The basis for storing this data is that of legitimate interest.
   - Prospects and potential members that AmCham Belgium contacts itself are registered in the database to send them information on possible membership of the association. The basis for storing this data is that of legitimate interest.

2.2. Public data and data that we indirectly collect

AmCham Belgium sometimes processes public data. This may be, for example, data that is subject to a publication requirement, such as the publication of your appointment as a company director, or data that you have made public, such as the information posted on your website.

We also collect data that is public, because it is well known in your area or because it appeared in the press. We may also collect the information published by the Carrefour Bank for Enterprises, by Dunn & Bradstreet, Graydon or by Trends. AmCham Belgium also receives information about you from third parties and may use this information to contact you for marketing purposes.

2.3 The data that you spontaneously transmit to us can also be processed

When you contact us by phone or online, the team member taking your call or reading your message can note your first name, last name, e-mail address and telephone number to inform your AmCham Belgium contact person of your calls and to optimize the service we give and our internal functioning.

3. Who receives your personal data?

AmCham Belgium processes your personal data in accordance with the purposes mentioned in point 2. AmCham Belgium team members who need your personal data in the exercise of their function may consult them.

In specific cases, your personal data may also be transmitted to some third parties:

• When organizing events, AmCham Belgium can transmit personal data (such as your first name, last name and job title) to member companies co-organizing this event or to external service providers such as event organizers, but purely for organizational reasons and security.
• Accountants for financial reporting matters.
• ICT providers.
• Official bodies within the framework of the legal obligations that the association is obliged to respect (Belgian State Gazette)

4. For how long do we store your personal data?

AmCham Belgium retains your personal data as long as necessary for the purposes described in point 2. These data are deleted as soon as the relationship with AmCham Belgium ends (you no longer work with any member company so are no longer party to the membership contract).

For administrative reasons, AmCham Belgium will archive your first and last name, given that these data cannot be deleted from the minutes of the Board, Committees, Subcommittees, Taskforces, etc. Your contact data are no longer actively kept.

Members should, however, report when an employee leaves their company, so that AmCham Belgium is informed that the data of the person can no longer be used for the provision of our services. Of course, AmCham Belgium retains your personal data in accordance with any legal time limits and limitation periods in force.

5. What rights can you exercise to ensure the protection of your personal data?

5.1. You can consult your data

If you wish to consult the personal data concerning you which are processed by AmCham Belgium, you can do so by exercising your right of inspection. AmCham Belgium will provide you with as complete a record as possible of personal data that we keep about you. AmCham Belgium can already confirm that it does not keep particular categories of personal data (e.g. data relating to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation).

5.2. You can request to have your data corrected

You are invited to let us know if there are changes in your personal data (last name, first name, job title, gender, e-mail address, telephone number, function, address), so that we can make the necessary corrections or additions to this data. It is also possible for members to directly change some of their own data through their user profile on AmCham Belgium website.

5.3. You can request the deletion of your data

If you believe that AmCham Belgium is processing certain personal data on an illegal or prohibited basis, without legitimate grounds or purpose to do this, you can ask that your personal data be erased.

Please note that AmCham Belgium is entitled to keep your personal data when a legal limitation period requires it to do so.

Beware: As a member of AmCham Belgium, if you request the deletion of your personal data, this will mean that you will no longer be able to benefit from AmCham Belgium’s services.

5.4. You may request a limitation on the processing of your personal data

If your personal data are inaccurate and you have requested the data be modified or if you believe that AmCham Belgium is processing your data with no legitimate basis, you may request a limitation on the processing of your data.

Beware: If you request a limitation of the processing of your personal data, this will mean that you will no longer be able to benefit from AmCham Belgium’s services.

5.5. You may request that your personal data be directly transferred to a third party

If you wish to do so, you can ask AmCham Belgium to transfer the data that you have personally provided us with either to yourself or directly to a third party. The GDPR provides certain limits to this right, so that it does not apply in all cases. Each request will be examined on a case by case basis.

5.6. You may sometimes refuse to have your data processed in a completely automated way

Some data processing and some processes are entirely automated, without human intervention.

AmCham Belgium does not make use of such automated processing of personal data - for profiling, for instance - which may have legal consequences.

5.7. You can withdraw your consent

As your personal data are processed on the basis of your consent, you may withdraw this consent at any time. AmCham Belgium will then delete your data.

If you wish to exercise one or more of the rights outlined above, or for any substantive issues you may have relating to this privacy statement, please contact AmCham Belgium through our Contact Form and specify which right you want to exercise.

Finally, please note that you can, at any time, submit a complaint to the supervisory authority at commission@privacycommission.be, if you believe that AmCham Belgium does not respect your rights as stated above.

6. We protect your personal data

AmCham Belgium makes every effort to secure your personal data to the extent possible and to protect your privacy in an optimal way. AmCham Belgium takes all the technical and organizational measures necessary for this purpose, because we attach great importance to the confidentiality of your personal data.

7. Changes to this privacy statement

This privacy statement is not a static document, and it is likely to be modified over the course of time. You will be informed about these changes.

Updated: August 12, 2020.

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