Privacy Policy

As a law firm, we are committed to the security and confidentiality of the personal data we process. In addition, we want to be very clear and transparent about what happens when we collect and use your personal data. Hence, this privacy policy.

1. WHEN WILL YOUR PERSONAL DATA BE COLLECTED AND USED?
We collect and use your personal data when you:
- use our website or social media or communicate with us via email, phone, fax (yes, these still exist) or any other digital communication channel;
- subscribe to our newsletter;
- you hand us your business card when meeting in person;
- enters into an agreement with us and communicates with us as our client or supplier in that context;
- Apply in response to one of our job openings.

2. WHAT IF THIS PRIVACY POLICY DOES NOT ANSWER ALL YOUR QUESTIONS?
Data protection legislation requires us to provide you with a great deal of information, so we take a moment to ask for your attention. Should you have any further questions regarding the processing of your personal data, please do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail: privacy@everest-law.be

3. WHO IS "WE"?
"We" in this privacy policy refers to:

BV Everest Advocaten G&B
Bollebergen 2A Bus 20
9052 Ghent-Zwijnaarde
Belgium
Ondernemingsnummer 0843.239.014

The Everest Law Firm is responsible for collecting and processing your personal data in the manner explained in this privacy policy.

4. WHAT PERSONAL DATA DO WE PROCESS AND WHY?
When you use our website, social media or communicate with us by phone, email, fax or other digital communication channel, we will collect and use your personal data to:
1. enable communication between you and us, relying on our legitimate interest to respond to requests, questions or comments or to proactively contact you for questions of any kind (e.g., when you respond to a blog, use our contact form or contact us via social media, phone, email or fax);
2. improve the content of and overall experience on the website and social media pages, for which we invoke our legitimate interest in providing our visitors with an interesting online experience;
3. detect and prevent malware, illegal content and behavior and other forms of abuse, for which we invoke our legitimate interest in keeping our online presence safe.
To achieve the above purposes, we process the following personal data:
1. the basic identity information you provide to us, such as name, email address, mailing address, phone number, the company you work for, your position;
2. the content of your communication and the technical details of the communication itself (who you are corresponding with from us, date and time, etc.);
3. technical information related to the device you are using, such as your IP address, browser type, geographic location and operating system;
4. information about your browsing habits, such as how long you surf, which links you click on, which pages you visit and how often you visit a page.
5. any other personal data you provide to us.

When you subscribe to our online newsletter, we will collect and use your personal information to send you our newsletter or other electronic communications. We will always ask for your explicit consent before we send you our newsletter, unless you are an existing client whom we want to keep informed about our services. You always have the option to unsubscribe from our newsletter. To send you our newsletter, we will only process your basic identity data, i.e. your name and email address.
When you leave us your business card, we collect and record the personal data contained on that card as part of normal relationship management. We rely on our legitimate interest to build our network of contacts.

When we have the pleasure of entering into a contract with you, either as a client or as a supplier, we will collect and use your personal data to:
1. fulfill our contractual obligations in strict compliance with our obligations as lawyers, including our deontology. When you are our client or supplier as an individual, we rely on the necessity of processing your personal data for the formation and performance of the contract we have with you. However, if you are acting on behalf of a corporation or other legal entity, we rely on our legitimate interest to contract with clients and suppliers;
2. our normal business administration (e.g. billing and customer relationship management), for which we rely on our legitimate interests to manage our business responsibly and professionally;
3. defend us in legal proceedings, when it is in our legitimate interest to use your personal data in these proceedings.
The personal data we process for these purposes always relate to your basic identity data such as name, e-mail address, mailing address, telephone number, the company for which you work and your position. We may also process other personal data that you provide to us, depending on our contractual relationship with you.

When you apply for one of our job openings, we will collect and use your personal information to:
1. assess your application, for which we rely on the necessity of processing your personal data to reach a possible agreement with you;
2. keep you in our recruitment reserve, for which we will seek your consent;
3. defend us in legal proceedings, when it is in our legitimate interest to use your personal data in these proceedings.
The personal data we process when you register with us are:
1. your basic identity information such as name, e-mail address, mailing address and phone number;
2. information you have made public on social media;
3. information you included in your resume and cover letter;
4. any other personal data you have chosen to include in your application.

We believe that the above purposes for processing your personal data are within everyone's reasonable expectations. However, for all personal data collected by us in the above circumstances, we want to make it clear that we will also process your personal data:
1. to comply with legal obligations or, to the extent permitted to us as lawyers, to comply with any reasonable request from competent police forces, judicial authorities, government agencies or bodies, including competent data protection authorities;
2. to inform a third party in the context of a possible merger with, acquisition of/by or demerger by that third party, even if that third party is located outside the EU, in which case we invoke our legitimate interest to enter into business transactions.

We would like to emphasize that for us as a law firm, professional secrecy and confidentiality are of utmost importance. This means that we will process your personal data only when permitted to do so, given these confidentiality obligations.

5. WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL DATA?
In principle, we do not share your personal data with anyone other than the lawyers and people who work for Everest, as well as the vendors who help us process your personal data. Anyone who has access to your personal data will always be bound by strict legal or contractual obligations to keep your personal data secure and confidential. This means that only the following recipients will receive your personal data:
- u;
- your employer or business partners, but only when necessary for the purposes listed above (for example, when your employer is our supplier or customer);
- Everest's lawyers, staff and suppliers;
- governmental or judicial authorities to the extent that we are required to send them your personal data (e.g. tax authorities, police or judicial authorities).

We will not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (the European Economic Area consists of the EU, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland). We will transfer your personal data outside the EEA only if you or your employer, as a client or supplier, have establishments outside the EEA with which we need to communicate. If a transfer should occur, we will take sufficient safeguards to protect your personal data upon transfer (for example, by entering into an agreement based on model contractual clauses as drafted by the European Commission).

6. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL DATA?
Your personal data will only be processed for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described above or, where we have asked you for your consent, until you withdraw your consent. In this article, we provide you with the information you need to assess how long we keep your personal data identifiable.

As a general rule, we will de-identify your personal data when it is no longer needed for the purposes described above or when the retention period, as explained in this article, has expired. However, we cannot delete your personal data if there is a legal or regulatory obligation or a court or administrative order that prevents Everest from deleting it.

Any personal data we collect through our interactions with you via the website, social media, telephone, fax, email and other digital communication channels will be retained for as long as necessary to communicate with you, as well as to maintain a historical archive of our communications. This allows us to return to previous communications if you return to us with new questions, requests, comments or other input.

Any personal data we collect to send you our newsletter will be kept for as long as you remain subscribed to our mailing list or as long as you remain our client.

Any personal data we collect when you give us your business card, we will keep it for as long as you do not request us to delete your personal data.

We retain all personal data we collect in the context of a contractual relationship with you or the organization you represent for the duration of the contractual relationship and for at least 7 years thereafter.
We retain all personal data collected from us as part of your application for the duration of the application process and, if we choose to engage your services, for the entire duration of your contract with us and for 10 years after the contract is terminated. If we do not choose to engage your services, but we have invited you for an interview, we will retain your personal data for 5 years after the review process has concluded. If you agree to include your personal data in our recruitment reserve, we will retain your personal data for 5 years after we receive your personal data.

7. WHAT DO WE DO TO KEEP YOUR PERSONAL DATA SAFE?
As explained earlier, the security and confidentiality of all data we process is very important to us. Therefore, we have taken steps to ensure that all personal data processed is kept secure. These steps include limiting processing to the personal data necessary to achieve the purposes we have communicated to you. We have also taken technical and organizational measures to secure our infrastructure, systems, applications, building and processes.

8. WHAT RIGHTS DO YOU HAVE REGARDING YOUR PERSONAL DATA?
When we collect and use your personal data, you enjoy a number of rights that you can exercise in the manner described below. Please note that if you wish to exercise a right, we will ask you for proof of identity. We do this to prevent us from encountering a personal data breach, for example, because an unauthorized person is impersonating you and exercising a right on your behalf.

You have the right to access your personal data, which means you can ask us to provide you with information about the personal data we hold about you. You can even request a copy of your personal data. However, please note that you must specify the processing activities for which you wish to have access to your personal data.
If you repeatedly make the same request, causing obvious inconvenience, we may deny these successive requests or charge you an administrative fee to cover the costs. We may also deny you the right to access your personal data or grant you only partial access if such access could disproportionately harm the rights and freedoms of others, including Everest.

You have the right to request that we correct your personal data if you can demonstrate that the personal data we process about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. Please indicate the context in which we use your personal data (for example, to send you newsletters or to respond to a request) so that we can assess your request quickly and accurately.

If we seek your consent to collect and use your personal data, for example to send you newsletters, you have the right to withdraw this previously given consent.

You may ask us to delete your personal data if such personal data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which we collected it, if its collection was unlawful, or if you have successfully exercised your right to withdraw your consent or your right to object to the processing of your personal data. If any of these circumstances apply, we will delete your personal data immediately, unless legal obligations or administrative or court orders prohibit us from deleting your personal data.

You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data:
- during the time we are reviewing your request to correct your personal data;
- during the time we are evaluating your objection to the processing of your personal data;
- when such processing was unlawful, but you prefer restriction to erasure;
- when we no longer need your personal data, but you need it for the establishment, exercise or defense of a legal claim.

Where we process your personal data on the basis of our own interests, i.e. you have not given us your consent and we do not need them for the performance or execution of a contract or to comply with legal obligations, you have the right to object to our processing of your personal data. When our interest relates to direct marketing, we will grant your request immediately. For other interests, for example, our security interests, we will ask you to describe your specific circumstances that give rise to a request. Then we must weigh your circumstances against our interests. If this balancing results in your circumstances outweighing our interests, we will stop processing your personal data.

Where we have collected your personal data based on your consent or because it was necessary for the performance or fulfillment of a contract with you, you have the right to obtain a copy from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right applies only to personal data that you have provided to us.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please email us. You can reach us at privacy@everest-law.be. Please be assured that we will not interpret an e-mail from you indicating that you wish to exercise a right as your consent to the processing of your personal data beyond what is necessary to process your request. A request must clearly state and specify which right you wish to exercise. Always indicate the context in which we obtained your personal data so that we can process your request quickly and carefully. Your request must also be dated, signed and accompanied by a digitally scanned copy of your valid ID card proving your identity. We will immediately notify you of the receipt of this request. If the request proves to be valid, we will notify you as soon as possible and no later than thirty (30) days after receipt of the request.
If you have a complaint about the processing of your personal data by Everest, you can always contact us at the e-mail address mentioned in the first paragraph of this clause. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may file a complaint with the competent data protection authority, i.e. the Belgian Data Protection Authority (https://www.gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit.be/).