Legal notice

1. Introduction

The European Commission (hereafter ‘the Commission’) is committed to protecting your personal data and to respecting your privacy. The Commission collects and further processes personal data pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data.

This privacy statement explains the reason for the processing of your personal data, the way we collect, handle and ensure the protection of all personal data provided, how that information is used and what rights you have in relation to your personal data. It also specifies the contact details of the responsible Data Controller with whom you may exercise your rights, the Data Protection Officer and the European Data Protection Supervisor.

The information in relation to the processing operation ‘Interinstitutional Style Guide website’ undertaken by unit A.1 ‘Data and Format Standardisation Services’ of the Publications Office of the European Union is presented below.

2. Why and how do we process your personal data?

Purpose of the processing operation: Unit A.1 ‘Data and Format Standardisation Services’ of the Publications Office collects and uses your personal information to answer any question or comment you may send when you contact the Interinstitutional Style Guide team by using one of the contact email addresses provided.

In addition, if you register to receive the Interinstitutional Style Guide newsletter your email address will be stored for this purpose.

Your personal data will not be used for automated decision-making, including profiling.

3. On what legal ground(s) do we process your personal data?

We process your personal data, because:

• processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Union institution or body;
• by sending your message, you consent to the processing of your personal data for the purpose of replying to your query.

Additional legal basis:

Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom of the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions of 26 June 2009 on the organisation and operation of the Publications Office of the European Union, especially its article 5(1)(b).

4. What personal data do we collect and further process?

Unit A.1 ‘Data and Format Standardisation Services’ of the Publications Office collects the following categories of personal data:

Questions/comments sent by users:

• your email address,
• your first name and surname, if you indicate them with your email address,
• any further personal data which you may provide in your message.

Newsletter subscription:

• your email address.

Only the provision of your email address is mandatory when you contact the Interinstitutional Style Guide team.

Additionally, when using the Style Guide page you may establish a user profile and save your display preferences, stored on the OP Portal (see also the OP Portal privacy statement). For this, the Publications Office collects the following categories of personal data:

• your email address,
• any other preferences you may set (e.g. display language).

5. How long do we keep your personal data?

Unit A.1 ‘Data and Format Standardisation Services’of the Publications Office only keeps your personal data for the time necessary to reply to a query, namely for a maximum of six months. For your user profile, the data is deleted after three years of inactivity.

6. How do we protect and safeguard your personal data?

All personal data in electronic format (emails, documents, databases, uploaded batches of data, etc.) are stored on the servers of the Commission. All processing operations are carried out pursuant to Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2017/46 of 10 January 2017 on the security of communication and information systems in the European Commission.

In order to protect your personal data, the Commission has put in place a number of technical and organisational measures. Technical measures include appropriate actions to address online security, risk of data loss, alteration of data or unauthorised access, taking into consideration the risk presented by the processing and the nature of the personal data being processed. Organisational measures include restricting access to the personal data solely to authorised persons with a legitimate need to know for the purposes of this processing operation.

7. Who has access to your personal data and to whom is it disclosed?

Access to your personal data is provided to the Commission staff responsible for carrying out this processing operation and to authorised staff according to the ‘need to know’ principle. Such staff abide by statutory rules and, when required, additional confidentiality agreements.

8. What are your rights and how can you exercise them?

You have specific rights as a ‘data subject’ under Chapter III (Articles 14-25) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, in particular the right to access, rectify or erase your personal data and the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Where applicable, you also have the right to object to the processing or the right to data portability.

You have consented to provide your personal data to unit A.1 ‘Data and Format Standardisation Services’ of the Publications Office for the present processing operation. You can withdraw your consent at any time by notifying the Data Controller. The withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out before you have withdrawn the consent.

You can exercise your rights by contacting the Data Controller, or in case of conflict the Data Protection Officer. If necessary, you can also address the European Data Protection Supervisor. Their contact information is given under Heading 9 below.

Where you wish to exercise your rights in the context of one or several specific processing operations, please provide their description (i.e. their Record reference(s) as specified under Heading 10 below) in your request.

9. Contact information

The Data Controller

If you would like to exercise your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, or if you have comments, questions or concerns, or if you would like to submit a complaint regarding the collection and use of your personal data, please feel free to contact the Data Controller, Unit A.1 ‘Data and Format Standardisation Services’ of the Publications Office: info@publications.europa.eu.

The Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the Commission

You may contact the Data Protection Officer (data-protection-officer@ec.europa.eu) with regard to issues related to the processing of your personal data under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)

You have the right to have recourse (i.e. you can 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 Data Controller.

10. Where to find more detailed information

All processing operations on personal data by the Commission that have been documented and notified to the Data Protection Officer are published in the Register of the Commission Data Protection Officer (DPO).

This specific processing operation has been included in the DPO’s public register with the following record reference: DPR-EC-02106.