This Privacy Notice sets out how we, Video Games Europe, collect, store and use information about you when you use or interact with our website https://videogameseurope.eu (our website), when you interact with us directly, for instance as a member, observer or guest to our events and meetings, and where we otherwise obtain or collect information about you. This Privacy Notice is effective from 25 May 2018 and was last updated in 2023.

Video Games Europe processes the personal data transmitted to it in accordance with the legislation in force, and, in particular, Regulation 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data, applicable from 25 May 2018.

Membership of Video Games Europe, attendance to our events and meetings, and access to the website https://videogameseurope.eu implies the User’s full and unreserved acceptance of this Privacy Notice, as well as the website’s General terms of use and Cookie Policy.

Contact details of the data controller

Video Games Europe iasbl
15 Rue Guimard
B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Our phone number is +32 2 612 17 77
Our contact email address is: [email protected]

Information we collect when you visit our website

We collect and use information from website visitors in accordance with this section and the section entitled Disclosure and additional uses of your information.

Web server log information

We use a third party server to host our website, named Combell, the privacy notice of which is available here: www.combell.com/en/about-combell/privacy-notice. Our website server automatically logs the IP address you use to access our website as well as other information about your visit such as

  • the pages accessed
  • information requested
  • the date and time of the request
  • the source of your access to our website (e.g. the website or URL (link) which referred you to our website)
  • your browser version and operating system

Our website server is located in a data centre in Belgium.

Use of website server log information for IT security purposes

We collect and store server logs to ensure network and IT security and so that the server and website remain uncompromised. This includes analysing log files to help identify and prevent unauthorised access to our network, the distribution of malicious code, denial of services attacks and other cyber-attacks, by detecting unusual or suspicious activity.

Unless we are investigating suspicious or potential criminal activity, we do not make, nor do we allow, any attempt to identify you from the information collected via server logs.

Use of website server log information to analyse website use and improve our website

We use the information collected by our website server logs to analyse how our website users interact with our website and its features. For example, we analyse the number of visits and unique visitors we receive, the time and date of the visit, the location of the visit and the operating system and browser used.

We use the information gathered from the analysis of this information to improve our website. For example, we use the information gathered to change the information, content and structure of our website and individual pages based according to what users are engaging most with and the duration of time spent on particular pages on our website.

Cookies

Cookies are data files which are sent from a website to a browser to record information about users for various purposes.

We use cookies on our website, including

  • essential,
  • functional
  • analytical

For further information on how we use cookies, please see our cookies policy which is available here:

You can reject some or all of the cookies we use on or via our website by changing your browser settings, but doing so can impair your ability to use our website or some or all of its features. For further information about cookies, including how to change your browser settings, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org or see our cookies policy.

Information we collect directly from you or indirectly from other sources

We collect and use information from individuals who interact with us directly in accordance with this section and the section entitled Disclosure and additional uses of your information.

Types of personal data

We might collect the following types of personal data from you, depending upon the reasons or the purposes for which your personal data are being shared with us (see below):
– General identifiable information such as your surname, first name, profession, position, phone number, e-mail address or similar;
– Where payment would be required, your bank details (credit card number, IBAN and BIC/SWIFT) and invoicing details;
– Personal data we are obliged to collect from you pursuant to obligations imposed by law, such as all personal data the law obliges us to collect from our employees in the framework of social security obligations, insurance, etc.
– Other categories of personal data but only to the extent that this would be strictly necessary to achieve the purpose for which we have collected them.

Why do we collect this data and on which legal basis?

We collect your data for different reasons:

For any reason related to our statutory goal and our core activity ,to keep you informed about Video Games Europe, our activities and relevant sector related information and news, to duly perform the services that you require from us, to improve our services where possible, to answer to your reasonable expectations and more in general to facilitate communication with you where and when this necessary or deemed useful.

We can also collect your personal data for pure administrative, organisational or operational purposes, e.g. to identify you as a contact person, lawful representative of a corporation or similar legal entity.

We might also collect personal data to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request and/or where this would be necessary for the prevention of fraud.

Video Games Europe will only process your personal data

  • if you have consented to such processing;
  • to the extent that it is necessary for the performance of your agreement with us or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into an agreement with us;
  • to the extent that it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations; or
  • to the extent that we have a legitimate interest to do so.
How do we collect your data?
  1. Directly from you.
    Most of the personal data that we will obtain from you will be through your active intervention. We might collect your personal data via e-mail or any other electronic means, via the online form on our website, via telephone, via postal services, via your business card you have handed over to one of our employees or representatives.
  2. Indirectly via other sources.
    We might collect personal data from you via other sources, such as via platforms or databases where you have made your personal data available to the public (e.g. LinkedIn, etc), via third parties, such as database vendors, partners with whom we work together, the employer you work for, your colleagues, public authorities and in general any other source other than you.
    In the cases where we obtain personal data from you through another source than yourself, we will seek sufficient guarantees from that source that your personal data have been collected by that third party in compliance with privacy legislation and that where necessary your consent has been obtained to share your personal data with us and allow us to use it for the purposes that we envisage.

 

Disclosure and additional uses of your information

This section sets out the circumstances in which we will disclose information about you to third parties and any additional purposes for which we use your information.

Disclosure of your information to service providers

We use a number of third parties who process your information for us on our behalf.

We do not display the identities of our service providers publicly by name for security and competitive reasons. If you would like further information about the identities of our service providers, however, please contact us directly by email and we will provide you with such information where you have a legitimate reason for requesting it.

Disclosure and use of your information for legal reasons

Indicating possible criminal acts or threats to public security to a competent authority

If we suspect that criminal or potential criminal conduct has been occurred, we will in certain circumstances need to contact an appropriate authority, such as the police. This could be the case, for instance, if we suspect that we fraud or a cybercrime has been committed or if we receive threats or malicious communications towards us or third parties.

We will generally only need to process your information for this purpose if you were involved or affected by such an incident in some way.

In connection with the enforcement or potential enforcement our legal rights

We will use your information in connection with the enforcement or potential enforcement of our legal rights, including, for example, sharing information with debt collection agencies if you do not pay amounts owed to us when you are contractually obliged to do so. Our legal rights may be contractual (where we have entered into a contract with you) or non-contractual (such as legal rights that we have under copyright law or tort law).

In connection with a legal or potential legal dispute or proceedings

We may need to use your information if we are involved in a dispute with you or a third party for example, either to resolve the dispute or as part of any mediation, arbitration or court resolution or similar process.

For ongoing compliance with laws, regulations and other legal requirements

We will use and process your information in order to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject. For example, we may need to disclose your information pursuant to a court order or subpoena if we receive one.

How long we retain your information

This section sets out how long we retain your information. We have set out specific retention periods where possible. Where that has not been possible, we have set out the criteria we use to determine the retention period.

Retention periods for information collected on our website

Server log information: we retain information on our server logs for 10 years.

Correspondence and enquiries: when you make an enquiry or correspond with us for any reason, whether we will retain your information for as long as it takes to respond to and resolve your enquiry, and for 10 years after which point we will delete your information.

In any other circumstances, we will retain your information for no longer than necessary, taking into account the following:

  • the purpose and use of your information both now and in the future (such as whether it is necessary to continue to store that information in order to continue to perform our obligations under a contract with you or to contact you in the future);
  • whether we have any legal obligation to continue to process your information (such as any record-keeping obligations imposed by relevant law or regulation);
  • whether we have any legal basis to continue to process your information (such as your consent);
  • how valuable your information is (both now and in the future);
  • any relevant agreed industry practices on how long information should be retained;
  • the levels of risk, cost and liability involved with us continuing to hold the information;
  • how hard it is to ensure that the information can be kept up to date and accurate; and
  • any relevant surrounding circumstances (such as the nature and status of our relationship with you).

How we secure your information

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to secure your information and to protect it against unauthorised or unlawful use and accidental loss or destruction, including:

  • only sharing and providing access to your information to the minimum extent necessary, subject to confidentiality restrictions where appropriate, and on an anonymised basis wherever possible;
  • using secure servers to store your information
  • verifying the identity of any individual who requests access to information prior to granting them access to information;
  • using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software

Transmission of information to us by email

Transmission of information over the internet is not entirely secure, and if you submit any information to us over the internet (whether by email, via our website or any other means), you do so entirely at your own risk.

We cannot be responsible for any costs, expenses, loss of profits, harm to reputation, damages, liabilities or any other form of loss or damage suffered by you as a result of your decision to transmit information to us by such means.

Your rights in relation to your information

Subject to certain limitations on certain rights, you have the following rights in relation to your information, which you can exercise by writing to

  • to request access to your information and information related to our use and processing of your information;
  • to request the correction or deletion of your information;
  • to request that we restrict our use of your information;
  • to receive information which you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (e.g. a CSV file) and the right to have that information transferred to another data controller (including a third party data controller);
  • to object to the processing of your information for certain purposes (for further information, see the section below entitled Your right to object to the processing of your information for certain purposes); and
  • to withdraw your consent to our use of your information at any time where we rely on your consent to use or process that information. Please note that if you withdraw your consent, this will not affect the lawfulness of our use and processing of your information on the basis of your consent before the point in time when you withdraw your consent.

In accordance with Article 77 of the General Data Protection Regulation, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or of an alleged infringement of the General Data Protection Regulation.

Verifying your identity where you request access to your information

Where you request access to your information, we are required by law to use all reasonable measures to verify your identity before doing so.

These measures are designed to protect your information and to reduce the risk of identity fraud, identity theft or general unauthorised access to your information.

Sensitive Personal Information

‘Sensitive personal information’ is information about an individual that reveals their racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, genetic information, biometric information for the purpose of uniquely identifying an individual, information concerning health or information concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.

We do not knowingly or intentionally collect sensitive personal information from individuals, and you must not submit sensitive personal information to us.

If, however, you inadvertently or intentionally transmit sensitive personal information to us, you will be considered to have explicitly consented to us processing that sensitive personal information under Article 9(2)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation. We will use and process your sensitive personal information for the purposes of deleting it.

Changes to our Privacy Notice

We update and amend our Privacy Notice from time to time.

Where we make changes to our Privacy Notice, we will update our Privacy Notice with a new effective date stated at the beginning of it. Our processing of your information will be governed by the practices set out in that new version of the Privacy Notice from its effective date onwards.