This document is the Privacy Policy of VZV Common Belgium ASBL.
The words “we”, “our” or “us” used in this document mean Common Belgium and “you” or “your” mean a person in our contact base.
We positively identify the full content of this document with an article and point number.
Common Belgium, a not for profit association, is registered with the Belgian Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen / Banque Carrefour des Entreprises) under the number 0425.781.104.
Common Belgium’s registered office is at Beukenlaan 2, 9250 Waasmunster, Belgium, and you can contact us by post at the above office address or by email at info@common.be.
The privacy and security of your personal information is very important to us and we want to assure you that we will properly manage and always protect your information.
Our Privacy Policy complies with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into effect on 25 May 2018.
Please read this privacy policy carefully as it explains how we collect and use your personal data.
II. What is Common Belgium?
Common Belgium is a Not-for-Profit association, the premier national user community dedicated to harnessing the potential of IBM based solutions. Our mission is rooted in cultivating a vibrant ecosystem that revolves around networking, knowledge exchange, advanced education, and strategic influence within the realm of IBM products and solutions. As a non-profit organization, COMMON Belgium unites a diverse community of clients, solution providers, academic institutions and IBMers, all driven by a shared passion for leveraging IBM products and solutions to drive innovation and growth.
For the purposes of relevant data protection legislation, we are a controller of your personal data. As a controller we use and process your personal data in accordance with this privacy policy.
If you need to contact us in connection with the use or processing, please email your query to info@Common.be. Alternatively, write to our main office address noted above at article I.3 addressing it to President.
III. Common Belgium collects your personal data in the following ways:
You requested information about Common Belgium either via an email or from our web site.
You registered for a previous Common Belgium meeting or event.
You gave us your details at a Common Belgium meeting or event to provide you with further information.
A Common Belgium member or one of your colleagues discussed the group with you and passed on your information to us so that we could contact you to give you more information about the group.
We may also receive your data from a Common Europe event registration where you marked your interest to become our user group member.
IV. The following information is stored & processed in our on-line mailing database and/or locally in spreadsheet format or our accounts system:
First, last name, e-mail,
Relevant Phone Number,
Company Name, City, country,
How you heard about us,
Type of membership chosen,
GDPR compliance whether we can share your information with sponsors,
Your agreement that you have read the privacy policy and you agree with it
Your company employee(s) name(s) and email(s) who need secured access to our partner COMMON North America (www.common.org) content library,
Pertinent information needed for invoicing.
V. Why do we hold and process this information?
To communicate details of future meetings & events,
To fulfil our role as an independent, Not For Profit User Group, to our members & event delegates.
To maintain our own financial accounts.
VI. We hold the following historical data as long as you or your company is a member of Common Belgium or you continue attending our events or 5 years from the last active contact:
List of Common Belgium events registered for / attended,
Event feedback (where provided),
General photographs from events which may contain individuals in the background,
Individual portrait photographs provided by presenters,
Presentation handouts provided by event speakers,
Common Belgium Promotional videos which may contain individuals being interviewed or in the background.
VII. Consent:
By becoming member or by registering for one of our events, a person declares that he/she has read and agreed in a free, specific, informed and unequivocal manner to the processing of personal data concerning him/her. This agreement relates to the content of this Privacy Policy.
The User gives consent by the positive act of checking the box agreeing to this Privacy Policy provided through a hyperlink.
The User has the right to withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not compromise the lawfulness of processing based on consent previously given.
VIII. We host and allow public access on our web site to the following:
Information & pictures (where provided) on selected members and their testimonials or comments about Common Belgium.
Presentation handouts provided by event speakers
General photographs from events.
Common Belgium Promotional videos which may contain individuals being interviewed or in the background
IX. Use of Cookies:
Common Belgium web site uses WordPress. WordPress implements cookies in every site built using their application. Cookies are small pieces of data stored on a site visitor’s browser, usually used to keep track of their movements and actions on a site. Cookies enable us to understand what areas of this site are of interest to visitors. These cookies do not track individual information.
If you do not want us to deploy cookies in your browser, you can set your browser to reject cookies or to notify you when a web site tries to put a cookie in your browser software. If you choose to disable cookies in your browser, you can still access most of the site, however some of the pages may be affected.
Our website has links to companies with whom we have a relationship. Common Belgium is not responsible for the privacy practices of our business partners. We encourage you to read their privacy statements, as they may differ from ours.
X. Purposes of using personal data and its legal basis:
We have a legal obligation to process your data related to payments made to and from Common Belgium.
We have a contractual basis for processing your data when you become a member or attend an event of Common Belgium. We will use this for informing you about our future meetings, events, surveys, or other happenings. We will also use it to inform renewals or becoming member.
If you have attended a Common Belgium event in the past, we have a legitimate interest for processing your data as an independent provider of educational events related to IBM products and solutions.
If none of the above applies to you, we will rely on your consent in order to process your data. We will only rely on your consent when processing your data for carrying out direct marketing activities.
XI. Does Common Belgium share the information with anyone?
Common Belgium will never sell, share or otherwise reveal any personal information to third parties that falls outside of our remit to run, manage the user group, advertise and run our events.
Common Belgium operates an Opt-in contact scheme for sponsors of some of our events where our members and delegates can choose, on an event-by-event basis, whether the Sponsor can contact them. We do not share any information without the prior, express consent of that member or their company or event attendee or their company.
Outside of the above parameters, Common Belgium never shares any information without the prior, express consent of that individual.
XII. How do you stop receiving information from Common Belgium?
You have the choice to opt out from receiving our further communications by simply selecting to opt out, every time we contact you via email.
We then remove your personal information from our database.
We archive your email address and you cannot re-use the same email address to register for a new account.
We flag out your email to receive no further information.
XIII. If you are unhappy with the way Common Belgium processes your data:
Please contact us at info@common.be or send your query to President at the address noted at article I.3 above and we will do everything possible to rectify any problem.
