Erasmus Student Network Belgium vzw (“ESN Belgium”, “we”, or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy in full compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR) and the Belgian Law of 30 July 2018.
1. Data Controller
The data controller responsible for the processing of personal data on this website is:
Erasmus Student Network Belgium vzw
Enterprise Number: BE 0563.913.161
Official Contact: board@esnbelgium.org
2. What Data We Collect & Why
We follow a strict principle of data minimisation. We only process information that is necessary for operating our platform and assisting exchange students:
- Contact Inquiries: When you send a message through our contact form, we collect your name, email address, topic, and message to process and reply to your request. (Legal basis: your consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR).
- Technical Server Logs: When accessing our website, our server automatically records standard technical parameters (such as IP address, browser type, requested page, and timestamp) solely to maintain platform security, prevent abuse, and diagnose errors. These logs are automatically purged within 30 days. (Legal basis: legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
- Local Preferences: Language settings are stored locally on your own device using browser storage without tracking your identity.
3. Zero Third-Party Tracking & Privacy by Design
We maintain a privacy-first infrastructure:
- We do not use advertising trackers, profiling algorithms, or third-party analytics services (such as Google Analytics or Meta Pixels).
- All fonts and media files are hosted locally on our own servers in Belgium and the European Union, preventing unmonitored transmissions of your IP address to third-party tech corporations.
- We do not set non-essential or advertising cookies.
4. Data Retention & Security
Personal data is never kept longer than necessary:
- Temporary server logs are automatically deleted within 30 days.
- Contact messages are kept only for as long as required to resolve your inquiry and up to 12 months for follow-up support.
- All communications between your browser and our server are secured with Transport Layer Security (TLS/HTTPS) encryption.
5. Data Sharing & European Hosting
We do not sell, rent, trade, or distribute your personal data to commercial third parties. All website infrastructure and databases are hosted securely within the European Economic Area (EEA).
6. Your Rights Under GDPR
Under European data protection law, you have the right to:
- Request access to the personal data we hold about you.
- Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Request deletion of your data when retention is no longer necessary.
- Withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
- Lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (Autorité de protection des données / Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit) at dataprotectionauthority.be.
7. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise any of your data rights, please contact the National Board at board@esnbelgium.org.