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Privacy statement

This is the general privacy statement of the FPS Policy and Support. As explained in this statement, the FPS Policy and Support performs a wide range of different tasks. To the extent necessary, a specific privacy statement has also been prepared for each task or service concerned, which provides more detailed information on the processing of personal data. At the bottom of this statement, you will find a list of the specific privacy statements made by the FPS Policy and Support.

1. Protection of your personal data

The Federal Public Service Policy and Support (FPS Policy and Support) processes some of your personal data when you visit our website or use one of our services, and in the performance of some of our statutory assignments or duties of public interest. The FPS Policy and Support considers your privacy to be extremely important and we therefore wish to inform you as fully as possible.

The present privacy statement is issued by the FPS Policy and Support (registered office at 30 Boulevard Simon Bolivar (WTC III), 1000 Brussels, company reg. number 0671.516.647).

If you have any questions about your personal data or about the present privacy statement, please contact us via the details specified below.

Our policy on the protection of persons in the processing of personal data is based on the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and the Council of 27 April 2016, also known in its abbreviated form as the GPDR.

2. For which purposes do we process your personal data?

The processing of your data will either be for purposes of a statutory assignment, a duty of public interest, or based on your express consent which will be asked of you.

The FPS Policy and Support processes personal data for various purposes.

Most processing operations are performed as part of our statutory assignments, which are set out in the Royal Decree of 22 February 2017 establishing the Federal Public Service Policy and Support. These statutory tasks relate to the following areas:

  • Budget (Directorate-General Budget and Policy Evaluation)
  • Information Technology (Directorate-General Digital Transformation)
  • Human resources (Directorate-General PersoPoint and Directorate-General Recruitment and Development)
  • Accounting and Procurement (Directorate-General Federal Accountant and Procurement)

Some personal data are exchanged with other institutions for the performance of a statutory assignment or a duty of public interest.

Where we register your data through the website for an online service or for an assignment, we will ask for your consent at that point, unless the processing is pursuant to a regulatory obligation.

When processing your data, we will inform you of the exact purposes and of your rights in connection with the processing.

3. What personal data do we process?

The FPS Policy and Support processes different categories of personal data depending on the task or the specific service provided. This concerns one or more of the following categories of personal data:

  • Identification data
  • Financial details
  • Personal characteristics
  • Physical data
  • Lifestyle habits
  • Psychological data
  • Family members
  • Leisure activities and interests
  • Memberships
  • Judicial data concerning...
  • Consumer habits
  • Housing characteristics
  • Health data
  • Training and education
  • Profession and position
  • National registration Number/Social Security Identification Number
  • Racial or ethnic data
  • Data on sexual lifestyle
  • Political views
  • Membership of a trade union
  • Philosophical or religious beliefs
  • Images
  • Sound recordings

Further information about these categories of personal data can be found here: https://gdpr.belgium.be.

4. Whom do we share your data with?

The data we process about you are treated as confidential. They are transferred only to the institutions that are authorised to receive these data.

In some cases, the FPS Policy and Support calls on service providers who act as processors and are required to comply with the GDPR in that capacity. In its agreements with such processors, the FPS Policy and Support includes the relevant clauses to protect the personal data. These service providers are not permitted to use the data for any purposes other than those of the FPS Policy and Support.

5. How long do we keep your data on file?

The data that are processed for purposes of a statutory assignment or a duty of public interest are retained for the length of time required for the application of legislation and regulations or to perform the duty of public interest.

The data that are processed based on your consent are retained for the length of time specified upon registration or until such time as you withdraw your consent.

6. How to assert your rights under the GPDR

If you have a complaint, question or concern about how we use your personal data, please contact our data protection officer (DPO).

DPO – FPS Policy and Support

Boulevard Simon Bolivar 30 box 1

B-1000 Brussels



dpo@bosa.fgov.be  

If you contact us to exercise your rights, we will respond within 1 month. In exceptional cases, this may take longer (up to a maximum of 3 months), but we will inform you of the reason within 1 month. Whether or not you can exercise your rights depends on the processing and the legal basis.

Please make sure it is always clear exactly which right you want to exercise and in what manner (e.g. by email, by post, verbally) you wish to receive the information. Please note that, in some cases, we may need more information. We want to make sure we are helping the right person.

Right of access

You have the right to ask us about the personal data we hold about you. We can give you a free copy, but this is not possible for all documents. This is because we also want to respect the rights and freedoms of others.

Right of rectification

Do you think your data are incorrect or not up to date? You have the right to ask us to correct your data. Your request will be granted and duly processed, provided it does not conflict with a statutory obligation / the general interest.

Right to object

You have the right to ask us to stop processing your personal data. Your request will be granted and duly processed, provided it does not conflict with a statutory obligation / the general interest. 

Right to restriction of processing

You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data, for example when we check the accuracy of your personal data. Your request will be granted and duly processed, provided it does not conflict with a statutory obligation / the general interest.

Right to be forgotten or erasure

You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data. If we are required by law to retain certain personal data, we may not be able to comply with this request.

Right to withdraw your consent

Where personal data is being processed based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent.

If you deem it necessary to do so, you can lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority (DPA), Rue de la Presse 35, 1000 Brussels. https://www.dataprotectionauthority.be

7. What do we do to prevent abuse or unauthorised access?

The FPS Policy and Support has implemented a number of electronic and administrative procedures and hardware provisions. The FPS reassesses these procedures and provisions on a regular basis and performs updates to protect the data against unauthorised access, to maintain appropriate security and to ensure that the information collected is used correctly in the context of the relevant processing.

The FPS Policy and Support members of staff who have access to information which enables the identification of individuals are under an obligation to protect this information in compliance with the terms of the present privacy statement. In particular, staff are not permitted to use the information for any purposes other than those for which it is processed.

You may send details of incidents and complaints to privacyincident@bosa.fgov.be or dpo@bosa.fgov.be  

8. Cookies

More information on the current cookie policy can be found here: https://bosa.belgium.be/en/cookie-policy  

When you visit our website, the FPS Policy and Support will register your IP address, your browser and operating system, the external department that has referred you to our website and the time and date of each page you visit. This information is collected only for statistical purposes and to enable us to continuously improve the website. On no account are any of the data thus gathered linked to your personal data.

When some web pages of the FPS Policy and Support website gather other data, this is duly stated.

9. Overview of the specific privacy statements