Privacy Policy

Processing operation: Access to the Digital Services Act (”DSA”) Transparency Database.

Data Controller: European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications, Networks, Content and Technology, Unit F.1 and F.2 (hereafter “CNECT F.1 and F2”).

Record reference: DPR-EC-22528

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 (repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001).

This privacy statement explains the reason for the processing of your personal data, the way we collect, handle and ensure 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 processing operation “Access to the Transparency Database for submission of statements of reasons” undertaken by CNECT F.1 and F.2 is presented below.

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

Purpose of the processing operation: CNECT F.1 and F.2 process your personal data to grant you access to the Transparency Database, that is to say the database set up by the Commission to allow providers of online platforms to submit the decisions and the statements of reasons referred to in Article 17(1) of the DSA.

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 (Article 5(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725).

The underlying Union law is Article 24(5) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 19 October 2022, on a Single Market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act) ( hereinafter the "DSA"), which reads "5. Providers of online platforms shall, without undue delay, submit to the Commission the decisions and the statements of reasons referred to in Article 17(1) for the inclusion in a publicly accessible machine-readable database managed by the Commission. Providers of online platforms shall ensure that the information submitted does not contain personal data."

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

In order to carry out this processing operation, CNECT F.1 and F.2 collect the following categories of personal data:

• Mandatory data collected through EU Login: username (login identifier), First name, Last name, email address;
• Additional information: name of employer (platform).

5. How long do we keep your personal data?

CNECT F.1 and F.2 will only keep your personal data for the time necessary to fulfil the purpose of collection or further processing. The information is retained for the time during which the data subject is entrusted with responsibilities that include submitting to the Commission the decisions and the statements of reasons referred to in Article 17(1) DSA. When the data subject’s responsibilities no longer include submitting statements of reasons to the Commission, their employer should make the Commission aware of the change in the data subject’s responsibilities. Personal data will be deleted as soon as the Commission is notified that the person in question is no more recognised as being an authorised user and by two weeks from the notification at the latest.

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

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

The Commission’s contractors are bound by a specific contractual clause for any processing operations of your data on behalf of the Commission, and by the confidentiality obligations deriving from the transposition of the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU Member States (‘GDPR’ Regulation (EU) 2016/679).

In order to protect your personal data, the Commission has put in place a number of technical and organisational measures in place. 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, and when required, additional confidentiality agreements.

Please note that pursuant to Article 3(13) of the Regulation, public authorities (e.g. Court of Auditors, EU Court of Justice) which may receive personal data in the framework of a particular inquiry in accordance with Union or Member State law shall not be regarded as recipients. The further processing of those data by those public authorities shall be in compliance with the applicable data protection rules according to the purposes of the processing.

The information we collect will not be given to any third party, except to the extent and for the purpose we may be required to do so by law.

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, your personal data and to rectify them in case your personal data are inaccurate or incomplete. Where applicable, you have the right to erase your personal data, to restrict the processing of your personal data, to object to the processing, and the right to data portability.

You can exercise your rights by contacting CNECT F.1, 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. CNECT F.1 will be the contact point for data subjects, for the data processing activities of CNECT F.1 and F2 related to the present Privacy Statement.

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 following e-mail address: CNECT-F1@ec.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?

The Commission Data Protection Officer (DPO) publishes the register of all processing operations on personal data by the Commission, which have been documented and notified to him. You may access the register via the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/dpo-register.

This specific processing operation has been included in the DPO’s public register with the following Record reference: DPR-EC-22528.