Privacy Policy

WaterBear Network B.V.

Date: 23 March 2023

Who we are

In this Privacy Policy, the terms “we”, “us” or “our” means WaterBear Network B.V., with its registered office at 105 Herengracht, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and with company registration number 73151793. We act as the controller of the personal data we collect and process through your use of the WaterBear platform, which includes our website, www.waterbear.com ("Websites") and WaterBear iOS and Android Apps (collectively: “WaterBear Platform”).

This Privacy Policy is solely intended to provide you with information in relation to the processing of your personal data through your use of the WaterBear Platform.

Your privacy is important to us, so we’ve developed this Privacy Policy that sets out how we collect, disclose, transfer and use (“process”) the personal data that you share with us, and which rights you have in respect of our processing of your personal data. Please take a moment to read through and familiarise yourself with this Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or our processing of your personal data or you wish to submit a request to exercise your rights as set out in this policy, you can contact our Data Protection Officer via this email: dpo@waterbear.com

This Privacy Policy was last revised on 23 March 2023.

What personal data do we collect, and why do we use it?

Personal data refers to any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. The term "identifiable" refers to identifiers (such as name, e-mail, location data, etc.), that can be used to directly or indirectly identify a person.

The following list is the personal data that you provide directly to us:

  • Profile data: this will include your name, your e-mail, your phone number, and address.
  • Usage data. This will include: IP address, device ID and type, referral source, language settings, browser type, operating system, geographical location, length of visit, page views, or information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your use of the WaterBear Platform. This information may be aggregated and used to help us provide more useful information regarding the use of the WaterBear Platform. Usage data is automatically collected through your use of the WaterBear Platform.
  • If you sign up for our newsletter: your e-mail address.
  • In the event that you contact us, we will use your contact details: these will be, depending on the type of contact, a combination of your name, your telephone number, e-mail and/or address.
  • With regards to what personal data we collect through our Website, please also consult our Cookie Policy.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are residing in South Africa, local privacy law prescribes that personal data also includes information relating to juristic persons.

Your personal data will solely be used and processed for the purposes as set out in this policy. The main personal data we collect is used for the following purposes:

  1. Your profile: the purpose is for us to be able to provide you with our services.
  2. Usage data: the purpose is for us to provide you with the best experience of our services.
  3. Newsletter: your e-mail address will be used in order to send you our newsletters, which may include invites to events, seminars, etc. organized by us.
  4. Contact: we will use your personal data to get back to you on your query, either via e-mail or via telephone.
  5. Cookies: we use these to distinguish website users and to constantly improve our services. Please consult our Cookie Policy for more information.

If you do not provide the necessary personal information, we may be unable to provide you with relevant services or all features that you wish to subscribe for.

Our legal basis for our use of your personal data

We will most commonly use the following legal bases to process your personal data:

  1. Your profile: we use your consent to our terms and conditions for your subscription when you sign up to our services.
  2. Usage data: we use your consent to our terms and conditions and to our cookie banner for this.
  3. Newsletter: we use your consent to send you newsletters.
  4. Contact: when contact is established with you we use your consent and our legitimate interest.
  5. For website users, we use your consent via the cookie banner. Please consult our Cookie Policy for more information.

In the event that the legal basis for the processing of your personal data is consent, you will at all times have the right to withdraw your consent. This will, however, not affect the lawfulness of any processing done prior to the withdrawal of consent. You can withdraw your consent by sending us an email at support@waterbear.com or at dpo@waterbear.com.

Where the legal basis for processing is our legitimate interests or public interest considerations, you will have the right to object to such processing: please consult the “Rights” tab of this policy.

How we protect your personal data

We follow reasonable and responsible data processing practices, and use appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure that the personal data we process is protected from unauthorized access, use, destruction, alteration or disclosure in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. In case of data transmission or IT storage problems arise we have appropriate procedures in place to protect your personal data and privacy.

As prescribed by applicable laws, for any accidental/unintended collection of personal information from users under the age of 18, legal guardians or parents may contact us to delete the personal information collected from such users, as applicable in the territory where the user resides.

Who has access to and how we may share your personal data

We may share your personal data:

  • With other service providers and consultants to help us process and store your personal data, and to deliver our services to you.
  • If required to do so by law and/or regulations.

We do not disclose your personal data to our WaterBear NGO Partners (as defined in our Terms and Conditions).

Please note that We will not sell, trade or rent your personal information to any 3rd parties.

We do, however, make use of URL’s to direct you to WaterBear NGO Partners (as defined in our Terms and Conditions) and their respective websites and channels to allow you to interact with them directly. If any WaterBear NGO Partner or any other 3rd party obtains or collects personal data or other information from you, in no event shall we assume or have any responsibility or liability for such processing.

We do not disclose your personal data to our social media partners. We do, however, make use of Social Login and of social media plug-ins and URL’s to direct you to our social media channels to allow you to interact with our content. These social media channels include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Vimeo and TikTok. In the event that you click on a link to any of these social media channels, such social media partner may collect personal data about you and may link this information to your existing profile on their social media channels. Please consult our Cookie Policy for more information.

We are not responsible for the use of your personal data by a social media partner. In such case, the social media partner will act as the controller of your personal data. For your information, we have included the relevant links (which may be changed from time to time by the relevant social media partner):

Facebook: http://facebook.com/about/privacy;

Instagram: https://help.instagram.com/155833707900388;

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy;

Twitter: http://twitter.com/privacy;

Google+: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/;

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/privacy;

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/legal/privacy-policy?lang=en

How long we keep your personal data

We will retain your personal data for as long as is necessary in order to fulfil the purposes for which we have collected your personal data, including any legal requirements. When the personal data is no longer needed for its original processing goal, we will delete it.

Generally, your personal data will be kept for the duration of your membership with WaterBear.

In the event that you withdraw your consent, or you object to our use of your personal data and such objection is successful, we will remove your personal data from our databases. Please note that we will retain the personal data related to the withdrawal or objection itself as to respect your choices in the future. The foregoing will, however, not prevent us from retaining any personal data if this is necessary for the following: (i) to comply with our legal obligations; (ii) to file a legal claim or defend ourselves against a legal claim; or (iii) for evidential purposes.

Your rights

This article lists your principal rights under data protection law. If you wish to exercise any of your rights listed below, please contact us using the information in the section “How to contact us” below. We may have to confirm your identity to make sure you are exercising your rights over the right personal data, but we will respond to your request within 30 days of receiving your request. We reserve the right to extend this period to 60 days for particularly complex requests, in which case we will notify you of this extension. If we are unable to honour your request, we will have to provide you with a reason why.

Insofar as it is practical and required under law, we will notify third parties with whom we have shared your personal data of any request for correction, deletion, and/or restriction to the processing of your personal data (see the corresponding rights below). Please note that we cannot guarantee third parties will follow up on our notification and we encourage you to contact those third parties directly.

PLEASE NOTE: If you reside in New Zealand, “information privacy requests” (e.g. requests for access to and correction of personal information) will be responded to as soon as reasonably practical, and in any case, not later than 20 working days after the day on which the request is received by WaterBear.

The rights that you are entitled to exercise are the following:

  • The right to access information about how we process your personal data.

This right to access includes information about: how we process your personal data, the different categories of your personal data, who receives your personal data and the purposes of processing.

You also have the right to receive from us a copy of your personal data we have in our possession, provided that this does not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others. The first copy will be provided free of charge, but we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee if you request further copies.

PLEASE NOTE: If you reside in Canada, WaterBear may respond to your request at a cost where: (a) we have informed you of the approximate cost of responding to the request; and (b) after providing you with information on the costs, you have advised us that you still want to go ahead with the access request. WaterBear does not use fees to discourage requests and will only charge fees for processing a request when the request is exceptional and then only at minimal cost.

PLEASE NOTE: If you reside in Australia, access shall be given in the manner requested by you, on the basis that it is reasonable and practicable to do so.

  • The right to rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning you

If the personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to have this information rectified or for it to be completed.

PLEASE NOTE: In you reside in Australia, the right of correction applies if the personal information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. In such instances, you may request the information to be corrected.

PLEASE NOET: Individuals that reside in New Zealand also have the right to request that information that is held about them be corrected. This includes the right to provide WaterBear with a statement of correction (indicating which information is incorrect or inaccurate), which statement will be attached to the personal information that is held/stored of such individual.

  • The right to erasure (right to be forgotten)

In some circumstances, you have the right to request your personal data kept by us to be deleted without undue delay. Those circumstances include:

  • The personal data is no longer required in relation to the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed;
  • You withdraw your consent and there are no other legal ground for the processing;
  • You exercise your right to object (see below) and there are no compelling legitimate grounds for the processing;
  • Your personal data has been processed unlawfully;
  • The processing is required for direct marketing purposes;

Or,

  • Erasure of your personal data is necessary for compliance with EU, US, Canadian, or South African privacy laws.

Please note that the right to erasure is not absolute, and that there can be certain exceptions. These include where processing is necessary for exercising the right to freedom of expression and information, for complying with a legal obligation, or for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

PLEASE NOTE: If you reside in Australia or New Zealand, there is no right of erasure or right to be forgotten available to you as data subject.

Furthermore, In terms of WaterBear's data processing practices in Australia, WaterBear will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information that it no longer needs to retain for any permissible purpose under Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

  • The right to restrict processing (meaning data will be blocked from normal processing, but not erased)

You have this right where:

  • You contest the accuracy of the personal data (and only for as long as it takes to verify the accuracy of the personal data);
  • The processing is unlawful and you request a restriction (as opposed to exercising the right to erasure);
  • We no longer require the personal data for the purposes of processing, but you require personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;

Or,

  • You exercised your right to object (see below), pending the verification of whether our legitimate grounds override yours.

PLEASE NOTE: If you reside in Australia or New Zealand, there is no equivalent right for you to "restrict processing".

  • The right to notification

You have the right to be notified by us about the rectification, erasure or restriction of your personal data.

  • The right to data portability

You have the right to obtain a copy of the data concerning you in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and the right to transmit those data to another controller without hindrance from us.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are based in South Africa, Canada, New Zealand or Australia, the right to data portability will not be afforded to you as per local privacy laws.

  • The right to object to processing

When the processing of your personal data is based on our legitimate interests, you have the right to object to it. If you make such an objection, we will stop processing your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which overrides your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

You also have the right to object to our processing of your personal data where such processing is conducted for direct marketing purposes (including profiling for direct marketing purposes). If you make such an objection, we will cease to process your personal data for this purpose.

If you are receiving promotional information from us and do no longer wish to receive such information, you may unsubscribe from any of our mailing lists by contacting us at either support@waterbear.com, or dpo@waterbear.com, or by using the unsubscribe facilities included in our marketing communications.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are residing in New Zealand, you do not have the right to object to data processing activities.

  • The right to not be subjected to automated decision-making

This right means that you have the right to have a real person look at the processing of your personal data if it is done in a fully automated or computerized manner. WaterBear does not make use of automated decision-making, including profiling.

  • The right to complain to a supervisory authority

If you consider that our processing of your personal data infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so within your country, or specific region of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement. In this regard, the relevant authorities are as follows:

  • Netherlands: Authority of personal data (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens), Bezuidenhoutseweg 30, 2594 AV Den Haag, https://autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/nl.
  • Australia: The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 www.oaic.gov.au.
  • New Zealand: The Privacy Commissioner. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s (OPC) website (see here: https://www.privacy.org.nz/your-rights/making-a-complaint/). The OPC/Privacy Commissioner can also be contacted at enquiries@privacy.org.nz.
  • United Kingdom: Information Commissioner - https://ico.org.uk/.
  • Ireland: Data Protection Commission – www.dataprotection.ie.
  • Canada: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada - https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/. For such other matters pertaining to provincial affairs, the applicable offices are: (i) the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nova Scotia; (ii) the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario; (iii) Commission d'acces a l'information (Quebec); (iv) Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Newfoundland and Labrador; and (v) Office of the Access to Information and Privacy Commissioner (New Brunswick).
  • USA: For issues that arise under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), the California Attorney General – https://oag.ca.gov/contact

International transfers

WaterBear's services are provided on an international basis. By using the WaterBear services, you authorise us to transfer and store your information outside of your home country for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. The privacy protections and the rights of authorities to access your personal information in such countries may not be equivalent to those of your home country.

When transferring personal data to countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), we will ensure that it will take place pursuant to the appropriate safeguards and in accordance with applicable data privacy legislation. We will take the legally required steps to ensure that your personal data is adequately protected in each such jurisdiction in particular, for example by concluding agreements with the relevant data recipients based on the Standard Contractual Clauses prescribed by the European Commission.

Please note that WaterBear has agreements in place with third party service providers and we wish to clarify the international transfer of data that is associated with such agreements:

Zendesk, Firebase and Google Cloud Identity Platform are US-based companies and therefore located outside the EEA..

Emarsys is a SAP company, based in Germany: Emarsys may transfer personal data outside the EEA. If this is the case, Emarsys will ensure that appropriate safeguards have been implemented for the transfer of personal data in accordance with applicable laws.

PLEASE NOTE: If you reside in Canada, we wish to point out that the laws of the applicable jurisdiction may not provide the same protections as those available pursuant to Canadian laws. While the information is in another jurisdiction, it may be accessed by its courts and law enforcements agencies in accordance with the laws of that jurisdiction.

Cookies

Our website makes use of cookies. For further information relating to our use of cookies, we refer you to our Cookie Policy.

Amendments to the privacy policy

We have the right to modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. We encourage you to review it periodically. You will always be able to consult the most recent version of the Privacy Policy.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please feel free to contact us.

WaterBear Network B.V.

Herengracht 105,

1015 BE Amsterdam

THE NETHERLANDS

Email: support@waterbear.com

Our Data Protection Officer: dpo@waterbear.com