Mediaforta Privacy Policy

1. Our Privacy Policy

Mediaforta attaches a great deal of importance to your privacy. That is why we want you to be aware of how your personal data is collected and used by us. ‘We’ are Mediaforta BVBA (Company number 0888.256.318), Mediaforta Services BVBA (Company number 0475.918.028) and Prime Projects Properties BVBA (Company number 0860.940.227), all with registered offices at 3210 Lubbeek, Jachthuislaan 13, hereinafter jointly referred to as ‘Mediaforta’.

This privacy policy is intended to explain to ‘you’–as a (candidate) freelancer, customer, visitor to one of our websites, user of one of our digital applications or anyone else who contacts us–in a simple and clear manner, what personal data we use and how we process them as data controllers. This Privacy Policy applies to both natural persons and legal entities, as explained below.

2. Processing and use of your personal data

By personal data we mean not only information that directly identify you, but also data from which you can be indirectly identified:

Direct identification is possible through personal data such as your name, address, email address, telephone number or other personal data which you actively provide to us; for example, when you enter your contact details on the website, register as a freelancer, use our digital applications, or in correspondence and by telephone.
Indirect identification is possible through information that can identify you when combined with other information. Processing and use of personal data refer to the collection, storage, retention, use, consultation, amendment, disclosure, sharing or erasure/deletion of your personal data.

2.1 What personal data do we process?

The different categories of personal data that we generally process are:

Identity data, such as for example first name, surname, email address, account information, and even the IP address of your computer or smartphone.
Occupational data, for example: which company you work for, what position you hold within that company, etc.
Financial data, for example, when invoices and/or credit notes are sent between you and us.
Data about your online behaviour and preferences that we register when you use our websites or our digital (mobile) applications.
Data about your interests and needs that you share with us through a personal contact, our website or our digital applications (e.g. when you fill out an online survey, fill out a form on a landing page or contact us through an application).

We process the following, additional personal data that you provide to us, as a (candidate) freelancer:

Online accounts used by you to present yourself as a freelancer (e.g., social media).
Your preferences regarding assignments (‘jobs’) from our customers, which are offered on our website.
Customers’ jobs accepted by you or that you have previously completed.
Your portfolio (images, animations or videos and descriptions, titles, etc.) of completed assignments.
The avatar (i.e., logo or portrait) you use to identify yourself to us and/or our customers.
Your personal CV, including: your education, employment and work experience, certificates, awards, nominations and completed projects/assignments as well as your personal skills (e.g. knowledge of certain software tools, sector-specific knowledge or language skills).

If you are a (candidate) freelancer, please note that when you voluntarily submit this information online, it can be seen, read, collected, etc. by others. Therefore, Mediaforta cannot be held responsible for any unauthorised or improper use of the information you voluntarily share online.

We also process the following, additional personal data of (candidate) freelancers within the context of performance of your agreement with us, or on the basis of our legitimate interest in doing so:

Data from an internal evaluation such as an interview with you or a test assignment, in order to determine whether you are a suitable candidate to carry out a particular assignment for our customer.
Data from an external evaluation by our customers when you perform or after completion of a particular assignment.
Data we collect regarding your visits and consultations of assignments (‘jobs’) for our customers that we display on our website.

Mediaforta will not process any special and/or sensitive personal data about you.

2.2 Whose personal data do we process?

We process personal data from natural persons and from persons affiliated with legal entities with whom we have, have had or wish in future to have a direct or indirect relationship with. Such personal data may relate specifically to:

customers and their representatives or beneficiaries
potential customers who may show an interest in our products and services
freelancers and their representatives
freelance candidate who may show interest in performing certain assignments for our customers
anyone associated with a legal entity, such as an employee, manager or representative of a company or an (effective) association.

Our website, applications and/or services do not intend to collect data on users or website visitors who are younger than 16 years old, unless they have permission from parents or guardians, or we are required to do so in the performance of our legal obligations.

However, we are unable to verify whether a visitor or user is over 16 years of age. We therefore advise parents to be involved in the online activities of their children in order to prevent data being collected about them without parental permission.

If you believe that we have collected the personal data of a minor without such consent, please contact us at the following email address: klachten@mediaforta.be

2.3 What do we use your personal data for?

Management of the customer file or customer relationship

If you are a customer of ours and are working through one of our digital platforms, we use your personal data for the following purposes: to contact you, to keep you informed about our activities and updates to our applications, to inform you about new blog posts and to facilitate invoicing.

As a customer, you may receive invitations to participate in customer satisfaction or other surveys. The results of such surveys may be shared with our staff to improve our products and services.

We may also use notes made during a visit to your premises to make it easier to offer you customised products and services.

Delivery of our products and performance of services

If you wish to purchase a product or service from us, we will also use some of your personal data so that we can provide you with those specific products or services.

To personalise our commercial approach as much as possible

For example, sending you letters or emails containing a personalised offer or content (blog posts, white papers, etc.), or showing you personalised offers on our website or digital (mobile) applications.

In order to offer you the most relevant products and services, we may:

Analyse information about you that we gather when you, for example, visit our website, make an appointment with one of our employees or when you use our digital applications;
Analyse your potential needs with respect to our products or services;
Identify key moments when specific products or services may be relevant to you (for example, when you are searching for digital content marketing material or when you manage a project in our digital application);
Assess your interests, for example, based your visits to our website or your use of our digital applications.

By setting your cookie preferences on our websites, you can adjust the collection and analysis of your data via our websites at any time.

Optimising our services
- We use data to better understand how our services are used so that we can improve them. For example, when you use one of our online platforms or digital applications, we measure how many orders you have placed through this platform, and which features you use in our digital applications.
- We also analyse the results of our marketing activities to measure the relevance and effectiveness of our campaigns.
- We assess whether you are a suitable freelance candidate for our customers’ assignments.
- We evaluate our freelancers after internal and/or external evaluations conducted by our own staff as well as by customers. We use these evaluations to determine the suitability of a freelancer to fulfil the assignments of our customers, for example, after an interview or a test assignment or the feedback received from a customer. This allows us to better define the freelancer’s profile and match it with the needs and expectations of our customers.
- Prevent, detect and combat infringements of regulations with which we are obliged to comply.

3. How do we handle your personal data?

3.1 We comply with the legal regulations on the protection of personal data

Our reputation for integrity and our respect for the privacy of our customers, our freelancers and prospects are extremely important to us. We take all reasonable measures to comply with regulations in force concerning the protection of personal data.

This is monitored by the Belgian Data Protection Authority (see the contact information below in section 5.3.). In accordance with legal regulations, we take appropriate technical and organisational measures (e.g., procedures, IT security measures, etc.) to ensure, as far as is reasonably possible, that your personal data is sufficiently protected against accidental loss, unauthorised access or theft.

We also make contractual arrangements with the suppliers or partners and employees who process personal data or to whom we disclose your data.

3.2 How do we collect your personal data?

Your personal data is collected when you become a customer, offer your services as a freelancer, or register online with our (online) services, fill out online forms or sign contracts, use our products and services, visit our websites or contact us through one of our channels.

3.3. On what grounds do we process your personal data?

We process your personal data on the following legal grounds:

Consent given by you to the processing of your personal data, including for the purposes of calling or emailing you as a potential customer or freelancer, or sending you our newsletters and commercial messages for our products or services or those of our affiliated companies;
The performance of agreements, including handling (any possible) payments made by you for our products and/or services and managing your personal account on our digital applications;
The protection of the legitimate interests of Mediaforta or third parties, including companies affiliated with Mediaforta (see below in section 4 ‘Who do we share your personal data with?’), such as enriching the profile of freelancers, so that the right freelancer is matched to a customer assignment. In doing so, Mediaforta uses forms of profiling and data enrichment;
To fulfil a task of general importance or on the basis of a legal obligation, such as data we require for our tax return.

3.4 How do we use cookies?

We use cookies on our websites to improve the way they work, to remember your preferences and to provide you with information that we think may be of interest to you.

Cookies are subject to our Cookies Policy, which can be accessed via this link: https://www.mediaforta.com/en/cookie-policy/

3.5 Automatic processing of your personal data

In order to provide products and services quickly and efficiently, your personal data may sometimes be processed automatically. However, no automated decision-making is used.

3.6 We protect your data

3.6.1 How do we protect your data?

We take our responsibility to protect your data very seriously. To this end, we have implemented a security framework which is regularly updated and is fully in line with international regulations and standards.

We have put appropriate technical measures and procedures in place to protect the integrity of your personal data as far as is reasonably possible, and to ensure that it is processed in a confidential and secure way. We also work with suppliers of third-party software packages such as Hubspot and Campaignmonitor.

3.6.2 How can you protect your personal data?

We take all reasonable measures to protect your personal data, but you may also choose to take the following measures to protect your personal data:

Install anti-virus software, anti-spyware software and a firewall. Set your preferences to update this protection frequently.
Log out of our applications when you are not using them.
Keep passwords strictly confidential and use strong passwords — avoid obvious combinations of letters and numbers.
Be careful with anything unusual, such as a new internet address or unusual requests, such as a request to forward customer details by email.
Take a look at www.safeonweb.be for other tips on how to manage your personal data safely.

3.7 How long do we hold your personal data?

Our intention is to hold your personal data only as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. For example, we will keep your personal data:

as a contact or potential customer, up to 12 months;
as a customer or user of our services offered through our digital platforms and/or applications, for 12 months after the termination of the agreement with you. Your contact data (address, phone number or email address) is kept for 10 years after the termination of the agreement with you.
as a freelancer: for 10 years after the termination of the agreement with you (e.g. due to commercial claims);

4. Who do we share your personal data with?

4.1 Your personal data within Mediaforta

We are extremely careful with your data and only share data that is necessary for providing you with the best service, or to keep your profile as a freelancer as accurate and up to date as possible. We may pass on personal data to Mediaforta BVBA, Mediaforta Services BVBA, Prime Projects Properties BVBA and to external, specialised companies that help us with operational tasks, IT security or the delivery of specific services and products. We are responsible for our own products and services, but we also work with suppliers of external software packages, such as Hubspot.

4.2 Your personal data outside Mediaforta

1. Sometimes we are legally obliged to share your data with external parties. We are obliged by law to transfer personal data to the following third parties:

public authorities, regulators and supervisors, where there is a legal obligation to share or disclose customer information;
judicial or investigative authorities, such as the police, prosecutors, courts, arbitration or mediation bodies, at their express request;
external professional advisers such as lawyers, for example in the event of bankruptcy or in the context of sales transactions, mergers or collaborations between companies.

2. Third parties to whom we are not legally obliged to pass on personal data, but on whom we rely for many of the services we provide:

Service providers, specifically companies and natural persons who help us with:
- the design, hosting and maintenance of our internet tools and applications; – the marketing of our activities, the organisation of events and the management of communications with our customers;
- the preparation of reports and statistics, printed materials and the design of our products.

We will always enter into a written data processing agreement with these third parties that regulates the way the personal data is processed and imposes the same level of security and confidentiality on your personal data, as a minimum.

Mediaforta will always remain responsible for such processing.

When working with third parties outside Belgium, we take appropriate steps to ensure that your personal data are adequately protected in the receiving country. This is especially true if your personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA), where the protection of personal data is different than it is within the EEA. In such cases, we take measures (such as contractual obligations) to ensure that personal data is processed with the same care as in Belgium.

5. What rights do you have?

5.1 Do you wish to view, correct or delete your personal data?

We strive for a high degree of transparency about what data we use. You are legally entitled to see the personal data we hold about you.

We can provide you with:
a description of the personal data we hold;
an explanation of why we collect your data;
information about which third parties the data is being transferred to;
an explanation of the reasons for any automatic processing of your data.

If you want to view your personal data, please contact us. Before complying with your request, we may ask you to provide proof of identity or to answer security questions. We will then provide you with a copy of the data that we use. For each subsequent copy you request, we may charge a reasonable fee to cover administrative costs.

However, in certain circumstances, where access to the data might reveal commercially sensitive information that we need to protect or which could interfere with a judicial investigation, we may have to refuse access. Within a reasonable timeframe, you will be informed of the reasons why your request has been refused and how you can make a complaint through one of our channels, if necessary.

We may ask you to confirm whether your data is still up to date. If you believe that the personal data we hold is incorrect, you can ask us to correct it.

We will process your request as soon as possible and within 30 days, at the latest. We will correct your personal data if it is found to be incorrect, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, taking into account the purposes for which it was collected.

If we correct your data and had previously shared it with a third party, we will also notify that third party, where we are legally obliged to do so.

If we decline your request to correct your personal data, we will explain why and how you can make a complaint. In that event, we can provide you with an additional statement saying that you believe the data is incorrect. You can make this type of request at the office of your choice.

Furthermore, you have the right to withdraw your consent for data processing or object to the processing of your personal data by Mediaforta and you have the right to data portability. This means that you can ask us to send the personal data that we hold about you in a computer file to you or another organisation designated by you.

If you are a (candidate) freelancer, a request to delete your data or a refusal to provide certain data to us may lead to a situation where certain services can only be performed by Mediaforta to a limited extent or not at all.

5.2 Would you like to stop receiving personalised offers?

You can decide at any time to stop receiving our personalised commercial offers:

by clicking the “unsubscribe” button located at the bottom of each commercial email;
by changing your privacy settings on one of our platforms;
by emailing us at: delete@mediaforta.be.

Please note that even if you have opted out of receiving personalised commercial offers, we may contact you for other purposes, as described in this privacy policy.

5.3 Would you like more information, or do you have a complaint?

We are liable for the careful handling of your personal data. We undertake to deal with any complaint in the field of privacy promptly and have procedures in place to respond effectively to any problem you report.

If you would like more information about external parties to whom we may disclose your personal data due to a legal obligation to do so, or in the context of a service which we have entrusted to them, or if you have any complaints about the processing of your personal data, you can contact us by:

sending us an email (klachten@mediaforta.be) or
filling in an online form
You can also send a letter to us at this address: Mediaforta, Jachthuislaan 13, 3210 Linden.

If you are not satisfied with how your complaint has been handled, you can also report your complaint to the Belgian Data Protection Authority using this contact information:

Address: Drukpersstraat 35, 1000 Brussels

Telephone: +32 (0) 2 274 48 00

Fax: +32 (0) 2 274 48 35

email: contact@apd-gba.be

6. About this privacy policy

This privacy policy is valid from 01/01/2019 and can be modified to adapt its content to changes in regulations or at Mediaforta. The most recent, applicable version will be available on the website, and we will inform you of changes via the website and other communication channels. Please return to this web page regularly to ensure you are always aware of the information we collect and process, how and under what circumstances your data is used and in what cases we share your data with third parties.