Privacy Notice

The European Board of Ophthalmology is a permanent working group of the U.E.M.S. Section of Ophthalmology.

This privacy policy for the EBO describes how and why we might collect, store, use your information when you use our services, such as when you:

• visit our website (ebo-online.org)
• apply to take an exam, or to avail of various opportunities including (but not limited to) observership grants, residency exchange or centre accreditation
• engage with us in other related ways, as the one describes here below

The EBO is committed to ensuring the protection of your personal data and your privacy. EBO takes all possible care to prevent any unauthorised access to personal data and to ensure confidentiality for the data collected and processed.

Definitions  

EBO refers to “European Board of Ophthalmology”, a permanent working group of the U.E.M.S. Section of Ophthalmology.

UEMS refers to “European Union of Medical Specialists”, Belgian AISBL with a postal/registered address of 24 Rue de l’Industrie, 1040 Brussels, Belgium and registered under Belgian laws under number 469067848.

Privacy Legislation refers specifically to the Belgian Law of December 8, 1992 on the protection of privacy and its various implementing regulations and rulings or any current or future Belgian legislation regarding data protection, and to the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data.

Data subject refers to a natural person. Examples of a data subject can be an individual, a customer, a prospect, an employee, a contact person, etc.

Personal data are any information relating to an identified/identifiable natural person (= data subject), whether it relates to his or her private, professional, or public life. Personal data can be anything from a name, photo, email address, bank details, posts on social networking sites, medical information, IP address, or a combination of the data that directly or indirectly identifies the person. Some information such as health, racial or ethnic origin, genetic or biometric data (among others) are considered to be “sensitive data” and are subject to a special level of protection.

Data collected and processed by EBO

EBO does not process data regarding children under 16 years old, and does not process any sensitive data.

The personal data collected by EBO  are:

• Identification information
  
  • Nominative information i.e. title, first name(s), family name(s)
  • Email address
  • Full postal address
  • Date and place of birth
  • Telephone number
• Curriculum vitae, list of publications and other information requested to support applications for the European examination: When collected, these data are used to define whether you are a suitable candidate for a EBO position (e.g. residency exchange grant, observership, position on a committee) or if you are eligible to sit an EBO Examination.
• For activities implying payment, the personal information that we may collect includes purchase history, payment information and credit card information if you chose this payment method.

The sources of personal information collected by EBO are:

• The individuals themselves when they register personal details on the EBO website (registration link for meetings, exams, residency grants, etc…) or through EBO social media channels
• The individuals themselves when they contact the EBO office, including by phone, post and email
• National delegates confirming eligibility of candidates who have applied for an EBO exam
• Third parties acting on behalf of individuals enter personal details on a form requesting an EBO service (e.g. an agent arranging registration for an EBO Exam or Meeting)
• Academic institutions, private practices or national ophthalmological societies providing details of those who wish to serve as national delegates or on EBO committees or boards

The types of personal data that we collect will depend on the communication, application or service you apply for or receive. You may always choose not to provide the requested information, but in doing so we may be unable to provide the communication, application or service you request. EBO makes sure to collect and process data that are strictly necessary to the purpose of its activities.

Why does EBO collect and process personal data?

The EBO has specifically been given the task of overseeing the standard of ophthalmology training. The National Delegates of the EBO include clinicians and academicians with specific ophthalmological skills, expertise and a broad geographic distribution. Two delegates are nominated from each country of the European Union, UK, Norway and Switzerland by the National Ophthalmological Societies.

While working on these goals, the EBO combines a wide range of activities in the field of medical training and continuing medical education, such as :

• Communication related to EBO and EBO committees and boards
• Provision of European-level examinations, accreditation of medical centres, preparatory courses, etc.
• Collection and dissemination of scientific information and knowledge
• Enable individual communications with the individual about specific matters – e.g. sending confirmations, receipts, requesting further information to solve queries, etc.
• Organisation of meetings and events
• Accreditation of medical events (for EACCME)
• Handle specific processes for EBO leadership and volunteers representing the EBO, including hotel accommodation, expense claims and Declarations of Interest

When disclosing your personal information to us by using EBO website or by completing and submitting paper or electronic forms to us, you consent to the collection, storage and processing of your personal information as stated in this policy.

Where does the EBO store your personal data?

The information that the EBO collects from you will be transferred to, processed and stored within the European Union or the US. The EBO is committed to ensuring that all our suppliers have appropriate technical and administrative procedures in place to ensure that your data is protected against loss or misuse. All information you provide is stored on secure servers operated by a GDPR-compliant/Privacy Shield scheme third party.

When & with whom do we share personal data?

EBO does not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others. The EBO may supply your information to its contractors to perform specific services (such as event or examination organisation). This would be the minimum required for the purpose. Otherwise, EBO does not disclose personal information to any other person or organisation without your consent.

How are personal data protected?

We maintain reasonable physical, electronic, standard security practices, including encryption, passwords and physical security measures, and managerial procedures to protect the security and confidentiality of Personal Data. Only a limited number of persons within us are authorized to access, delete or modify your data. We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that your privacy interests are protected.

How long do we keep personal data?

The GDPR requires that personal data should not be held for longer than is necessary for the purpose for which it is being processed. However, it is a fundamental requirement that all of the EBO records are retained for a minimum period of time for legal, operational and safety reasons. The length of time for retaining records will depend on the nature of the information and its intended use.

Exceptionally, nominative information (only) is kept indefinitely for persons:

• who have had leadership positions in the EBO (EBO Committees and Board)
• who have passed EBO Examinations (The nominative information is kept to reference it and to prevent fraud and false certificates)

If you are delegate to the EBO, your information will be kept in the EBO system while you continue to be a delegate, even if you do not use products or services during that time, unless you request us not to keep it, in which case you will cease being an EBO delegate. From the moment you cease to be a delegate, for any reason, your information will be kept in the EBO system unless expressly requested otherwise by you. EBO wishes to keep your personal information during this period in order to facilitate your re-registration as a delegate as the case may be and for archiving reasons.

What are your rights?

You have certain rights over the processing of your data:

• You have the right to be informed about the processing of your personal data which covered by this privacy policy and any future specific communication
• You have the right to access your data which means that EBO will confirm whether personal data concerning you has been processed as well as provide you with all the relevant information regarding your personal data and, if you wish, a copy of said data
• You have the right to rectify your data if it’s inaccurate or to complete your data if it’s incomplete
• When the processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at anytime
• You may have the right to obtain the erasure or the restriction of processing of your personal data or object to its processing in certain circumstances.
• When the processing is carried out by automated means and based on either your consent or a contract, you have the right to data portability which means you shall receive your personal data or have it transferred to another controller in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.

Please note: Other than your right to object to the use of your data for marketing purposes, your rights are not absolute: they do not always apply in all cases and we will inform you how we will be able to comply with your request.

How to contact the EBO

For information about how to get access to personal data and for exercising your rights, please contact us in writing at:

EBO Office
C/O UEMS Section of Ophthalmology
Rue de l’Industrie 24
1040 Brussels
ebo@ebo-online.org (Please include “Personal Data Request” in the subject line.)

EBO wishes to bring to your attention its obligation to use all reasonable measures to verify the identity of a data subject who requests to exercise his or her rights. EBO will not collect more data to verify your identity than what is already in its possession. However, please beware of the e-mail address you provide us and make sure you are the only person able to access it and that it is secure. EBO reserves the right to take further reasonable measures to verify your identity if it seems necessary.

Data breaches

We will report any unlawful data breach of the EBO’s database or of the database of any of the EBO’s third party data processors to any and all relevant persons and authorities within 72 hours of the breach if it is apparent that personal data stored in an identifiable manner has been compromised.

External links

The EBO website contains links to other websites. Please be aware that the EBO is not responsible for the privacy policies of other sites. You are therefore encouraged to read the privacy policies of any other site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by the EBO as controller.

Complaints

If there should be a problem regarding the processing of your data, please don’t hesitate contacting us at the address ebo@ebo-online.org. You may also lodge a complaint with the Belgian national supervisory authority : https://www.privacycommission.be/

Cookies policy

Definitions

Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer’s hard disk for record keeping purposes. They are small text files that a website can use to recognise repeat users and facilitate their ongoing access to, and use of, the site. They do not pose a threat to your system or files.

The use of cookies is an industry standard, and many websites use them to provide useful features. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a computer.

Cookies can also be used to establish anonymised statistics about the browsing experience on our sites.

How can you manage cookies?

Removing cookies from your device

You can delete all cookies that are already on your device by clearing the browsing history of your browser. This will remove all cookies from all websites you have visited.

Be aware though that you may also lose some saved information (e.g. saved login details, site preferences).

Managing site-specific cookies

For more detailed control over site-specific cookies, check the privacy and cookie settings in your preferred browser

Blocking cookies

You can set most modern browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g. profile logging-in).

Changes to this Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice may change from time to time in line with legislation or industry developments. We will not explicitly inform our clients or website users of these changes. Instead, we recommend that you check this page occasionally for any policy changes.