Protecting the privacy of clients and research participants is important to Regional Capital. Regional Capital acts in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation  (EU 2016/679) (AVG) and other privacy laws and regulations. Regional Capital treats personal data collection with care and caution. Regional Capital only asks for identifying data when necessary for our research and services.

Regional Capital reserves the right to amend this privacy statement to ensure compliance with current and applicable laws and regulations.

What personal data does Regional Capital process?

Regional Capital may process the following personal data as part of its activities:

• Name

• Address

• Region

• Country

• Gender

• E-mail address

• Data included on surveys.

The aforementioned surveys are always associated with Regional Capital’s primary research field: regional development.

Regional Capital does not collect or process sensitive personal data (e.g. political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and biometric data), unless legally permitted and if the person made the data publicly available. Furthermore, Regional Capital does not collect research data of persons aged younger than 16 years, unless relevant for research and with the permission of parents or guardian.

Purposes

Regional Capital processes the aforementioned personal data for the purpose of conducting research in the field of regional development, as well as for handling invoices and to contact individuals if relevant to the provision of services.

Retention periods

Regional Capital does not keep personal data for longer than is necessary to achieve the purpose of processing or to meet statutory retention requirements.

If you indicated that you can be approached for follow-up research, your contact details will be saved for a maximum of ten years, unless specified otherwise in advance.

Recipients of personal data

Only those individuals who need to process personal data for the purpose of a research have access to it at Regional Capital.

Regional Capital collaborates with researchers from other external research firms, institutes and companies and may share personal data with them in the context of joint research. Regional Capital has established written agreements with these external researchers with respect to processing and safeguarding personal data. If Regional Capital conducts research on behalf of an external client, the research data may be shared with this client. In this case, participants will be informed of this before the research commences.

Your rights

Privacy legislation gives you a number of rights in relation to your personal data. You have the right to view, edit, and delete your personal data at any time. You also have the right to restrict processing, the right to transfer your personal data to a third party, and the right to object to the processing of your personal data on the grounds of legitimate interest. This means that you can submit a request to us to send the personal data we hold on you in a computer file to you or another organisation named by you. You can send a request for inspection, correction, deletion, data transfer of your personal data or a request to withdraw your consent or object to the processing of your personal data to [email protected]  To ensure that the request for inspection is made by you, we ask you to send a copy of your proof of identity with the request. In this copy, black out your passport photo, MRZ (machine readable zone, the strip of numbers at the bottom of the passport), passport number and Citizen Service Number (BSN). This is to protect your privacy. Regional Capital would also like to inform you that you have the option of submitting a complaint to the national supervisory authority, the Personal Data Authority. You can do so by clicking here.

Personal data security

Regional Capital takes the security of your personal data seriously and takes appropriate measures to prevent misuse, loss, unauthorised access, unwanted disclosure and unauthorised modification. If you have the impression that your data is not properly secured or there are indications of misuse, please contact us at [email protected]