Privacy statement on the protection of your personal data

Processing operation: “Publications Office of the European Union” website (OP Portal)

Data Controller:Publications Office of the European Union, unit A.5, "Portal and Web Services"

Record reference: DPR-EC-00449

1. Introduction

The European Commission (hereafter ‘the Commission’) is committed to protect your personal data and to respect 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 “Publications Office of the European Union website (OP Portal)" undertaken by unit A.5, "OP Portal" of the Publications Office of the European Union is presented below.

2. Why do we collect, store and process your data?

Purpose of the processing operation : Unit A.5, "OP Portal" of the Publications Office collects and uses your personal information for user registration on the OP Portal website, including the services linked to ordering print publications in the page EU Publications, as well as the 'Publications Office assistant' functionality.

User registration: this processing operation consists of maintaining a list containing personal data in a database.The data is also used in an anonymised way for studies and/or statistical purposes with the aim of improving the service.

Publications Office assistant': this functionality (a window within the web page) allows users to ask standard questions about the portal's services and available publications. You can ask questions in writing or by speaking them. For the spoken input, the 'Publications Office assistant' uses the chatbot 'Publio'. The chatbot registers the audio input (your spoken questions) and sends it to a speech recognition engine which converts the speech to text. The audio input is processed on the Microsoft Azure server. The 'Publications Office assistant' then displays the audio input, in the words interpreted by the speech recognition engine, before displaying a standard reply both in writing and via automated audio. This exchange is instantaneous and ephemeral. Upon closing the 'Publications Office assistant' in-window, the entire exchange is deleted. Neither the audio, the questions asked nor the replies are stored.

Your personal data will not be used for an 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;

and

- you as the data subject have given consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes.

- If you place an order via the OP Portal, the processing of you personal data is necessary for the fulfillment of your order.

Legal basis for the processing: mandate of the Publications Office, Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, 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.

4. Which personal data do we collect and further process

In order to carry out this processing operation Publications Office of the European Union, unit A.5, "OP Portal" collects the following categories of personal data:

Mandatory data for full account:

• First name
• Last name
• Email address
• Password (encrypted)

Mandatory data for single sign-on account (data retrieved from external service such as Facebook, Twitter or EU Login):

• UserId
• Email (not for Twitter)
• First Name
• Last Name

Optional data:

• Phone number
• Topic of interest
• Preferred Role
• Address type
• First name (can be different from the mandatory data)
• Last name (can be different from the mandatory data)
• Street address
• Post code
• City
• Country
• E-mail (can be different from the mandatory address)
• Address phone number
• Person type
• Organisation
• Department
• Function

The provision of personal data is not mandatory for browsing the OP Portal. However, provision of personal data is mandatory if you want to benefit from additional full account services such as 'My addresses', 'My lists', 'My widgets', 'My orders', 'My Profile', 'My alerts', 'My annotations', 'My ratings', 'My searches' and 'My RSS feeds'.

Also, the provision of personal data is mandatory if you order a publication to be sent to your home.

'Publications Office assistant' functionality

• Voice (if you interact with the assistant via speech)

5. How long do we keep your personal data?

Unit A.5, "Portal and Web Services" of the Publications Office only keeps your personal data for the time necessary to fulfil the purpose of collection or further processing, namely for providing the required services. In the case of a creation of a full account, you can delete your personal data yourself if you wish to (option 'Delete account').

In case of inactivity for three years, we will send you a message at the end of this period. If you do not reply within one month, we will automatically delete your account.

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:
- in MS Azure Cloud (Europe) managed by the primary contractors SOFTWARE IMAGINATION & VISION S.R.L. (SIMAVI), Romania, and ARHS Spikeseed S.A., Luxembourg, in charge of the OP PORTAL application
- in MS Azure Cloud (Europe) managed by the contractor Tremend Software Consulting S.R.L., Romania, in charge of the business continuity of the OP PORTAL
- on the servers of the contractor Paragon Supply Services, France, in charge of the fulfillment of physical orders.
- Subcontractors contributing to the 'Publications Office assistant' (Publio): Pureinsights Technology Ltd, UK, and Wisevoice AI, Romania

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 General Data Protection Regulation (‘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.

Access to your personal data is also provided to the Contractors (SIMAVI and ARHS Spikeseed S.A.) in charge of the management of the application and to Tremend Software Consulting S.R.L. in charge of business continuity.

When you use the voice functionality of the 'Publications Office assistant' (Publio), the voice data will be processed in systems provided by the subcontractors Pureinsights Technology Ltd and Wisevoice AI.

If you place an order for a physical publication in the EU Publications part of the OP Portal, your personal data will be processed by the contractor in charge of fulfillment of orders, currently Paragon Supply Services, France. This processing is subject to a dedicated privacy statement which will be made available to you when your order is fulfilled.

The information we collect will not be given to any third party.

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.

By registering a user profile on the OP Portal you have consented to provide your personal data to unit A.5, "OP Portal" of the Publications Office. 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, Publications Office of the European Union, unit A.5, "OP Portal".

- 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 ((dps@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: http://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-00449