This privacy statement applies to all services performed by Thuis Partners advocaten (“Thuis Partners”).
In the course of providing its services, Thuis Partners processes personal data. We handle such data with due care and attach great importance to the privacy of our client and business relations. This is particularly important because we are subject to a statutory duty of confidentiality with respects to matters entrusted to us by our clients. Accordingly, we do everything reasonably within our power to safeguard the confidentiality of data.
This privacy statement provides general information on the manner in which Thuis Partners processes personal data. It further describes the rights that data subjects have regarding Thuis Partners’ processing activities.
The Privacy Officer of Thuis Partners is Mariëlle Stroes
1. The data controller
Thuis Partners is a civil law partnership (maatschap) registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number 14110632. Thuis Partners has offices at Tempsplein 21, 6411 ET Heerlen, and Stationsplein 8N, 6221 BT Maastricht, the Netherlands. You can contact us via the general email address info@thuispartners.nl or by telephone at +31 (0)45-5719005 (Heerlen) or +31 (0)43-3521397 (Maastricht).
As Thuis Partners receives and processes personal data, it qualifies as a data controller within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).
For additional questions regarding the manner in which we process personal data, data subjects may contact our Privacy Officer, Mariëlle Stroes, using the contact details referred to above.
2. Which Personal Data does Thuis Partners process?
Thuis Partners processes various types of personal data for different purposes and on the basis of different legal grounds. Personal data are data by which a natural person can be identified. These include, for example, name, address, date of birth and bank account number. Under certain circumstances, an IP-address or a username may also qualify as personal data.
Legal services
In the provision of legal services, various types of personal data are processed. For example, we require the names and contact details of our clients in order to communicate with them and to identify them. Lawyers are required to do so pursuant to statutory provisions and the rules of conduct of the Dutch Bar Association (Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten).
Depending on the nature of the legal services provided, we may need to process more or fewer personal data and, in some cases (highly) sensitive personal data. In certain cases, we may also be required to share personal data with third parties. Such disclosures will always be recorded so that, upon request, data subjects can be informed thereof.
Acquisition and (direct) marketing
In order to expand our legal services and offer new products, we may from time to time make use of direct marketing activities involving the processing of personal data. Such personal data may only be processed by a limited group of employees within our organisation who are involved in identifying potential new relationships or clients. This form of processing is based on the legal ground of legitimate business interest.
Employees
Thuis Partners also processes personal data of its own employees. This processing is based on the contractual relationship with the employee and on statutory obligations applicable to employers. For further information on the processing of employee personal data, reference is made to Thuis Partners’ internal privacy policy.
Prospective employees
In the context of recruitment and selection procedures, Thuis Partners necessarily processes personal data of job applicants. These include such as name, address, place of residence, telephone number, education history and similar information. We require these data in order to properly assess candidates.
Such data will not be retained for longer than four weeks after a decision has been made regarding the application. Where appropriate, and only with the explicit consent of the data subject, Thuis Partners may retain personal data for a longer period for the purpose of future vacancies and/or applications.
Social Media
Thuis Partners is active on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. It is possible that we process personal data of third parties through these channels.
Contact form
You can contact us via the contact form on our website. This form requests the personal data necessary to enable us to respond to your inquiry as efficiently as possible.
Third parties
In the performance of our legal services, we may obtain access to personal data of third parties with whom we have no direct relationship. For example, in insolvency proceedings, the trustees of Thuis Partners may receive and process volumes of personal data, and our lawyers may be required to process personal data of third parties in the context of legal proceedings.
Employees of Thuis Partners will at all times handle such personal data with due care and will only process them in accordance with the rights and obligations arising from applicable data protection legislation. Such processing will take place either in compliance with a legal obligation or the protection of the legitimate interests of a third party
Suppliers
Thuis Partners processes personal data of individuals from whom it purchases products of services, or who are employed by such suppliers. This typically concerns identification and contact details, including name, initials, titles, gender, address, postal code, city, telephone number, email address and similar communication details as provided by the supplier.
In addition, Thuis Partners processes other supplier-related data insofar as such processing is necessary for the procurement of services (such as financial data) or to comply with applicable laws and regulations.
3. Recipients of Personal Data
In principle, Thuis Partners does not disclose personal data to third parties, except where such disclosure is necessary in one of the situations described below.
Performance of an agreement
It may be necessary, in the context of performing an agreement with the data subject, to provide personal data to other companies, organisations or institutions. This may include, for example, the disclosure of name and address details to a bailiff for the initiation of legal proceedings.
Based on consent
In certain situations, we may disclose personal data to third parties on the basis of the data subject’s consent. Such consent is only valid if it has been given freely and after the data subject has been clearly informed in advance of the purpose for which the consent is granted.
Necessary external processing
Thuis Partners cannot provide its legal services without the involvement of third parties, such as IT service providers. In some cases, these external parties will also process personal data on behalf of Thuis Partners. Such processing will take place exclusively on the basis of data processing agreements, which set out the respective rights and obligations relating to the careful processing of personal data.
In other cases, we may be required to disclose personal data to third parties pursuant to statutory provisions, legal proceedings or requests from public authorities. Where possible, Thuis Partners will ensure that such third parties treat the personal data confidentially and implement security measures.
4. Retention Periods
Personal data will not be retained for longer than is necessary for the purpose for which they are processed. Retention periods may vary depending on the specific circumstances. Once there is no longer a legal or practical ground for retaining the personal data, they will be deleted.
In addition, Thuis Partners applies retention periods in accordance with the guidelines of the Dutch Bar Association (which provide for a minimum retention period of five years) and the statutory retention periods pursuant to the Dutch General Tax Act (Algemene Wet inzake rijksbelastingen), which requires certain personal data to be retained for seven years for tax purposes.
5. Transfer of Personal Data Outside
Thuis Partners may transfer your personal data from the Netherlands to other countries. Countries within the European Economic Area (EEA) provide a level of protection for personal data equivalent to that of the Netherlands.
It cannot be ruled out that, in the performance of legal services, personal data may need to be transferred to a country outside the European Union. Such countries do not always provide the same safeguards as those applicable within the European Union under the GDPR. Thuis Partners will only transfer personal data to parties that can reasonably be expected to maintain a level of data protection comparable to that applied by Thuis Partners.
6. Security
Thuis Partners has implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against loss, destruction, damage, alteration or disclosure.
7. Rights of Data Subjects
Data subjects whose personal data are processed by Thuis Partners may invoke the following statutory rights:
- Right of access;
- Right to rectification;
- Right to erasure;
- Right to restriction of processing;
- Right to data portability;
- Right to object
These rights are explained below.
Right of access
Upon request, Thuis Partners will, in principle, provide the data subject with an overview of the personal data processed by Thuis Partners. When submitting a request, the data subject must identify themselves by means of a valid identity document.
In responding to the request, Thuis Partners will generally provide information on the personal data processed, the purposes of the processing, the recipients of the data, the applicable retention periods and the other rights available to the data subject.
In certain cases, Thuis Partners may process personal data that are subject to lawyers’ professional secrecy obligations. In such circumstances, we may be unable to provide information, or may only provide very limited information, about the personal data processed.
Rectification
If Thuis Partners has processed personal data incorrectly, the data subject has the right to obtain rectification of inaccurate data concerning them. Where personal data are incomplete, the data subject may request that they be completed.
Erasure
Under strict conditions, a data subject may request Thuis Partners to erase processed personal data. Thuis Partners must comply with such a request in the following situations:
- Where the personal data are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected;
- Where processing is based on consent and the data subject withdraws that consent, and no other legal ground for processing exists;
- Where the data subject objects to the processing and there are no overriding legitimate ground for the processing;
- Where the personal data have been unlawfully processed;
- Where the personal data must be erased to comply with a legal obligation;
- Where personal data of a child were collected in connection with the provision of informative society services.
Restriction of processing
If a data subject has requested rectification of personal data, they may also request restriction of processing during the period in which Thuis Partners assesses the request. Restriction may also be requested where the data subject considers that the processing is unlawful, that the data are no longer necessary, or where an objection has been lodged.
If Thuis Partners decides to comply with a request for restriction, personal data will thereafter only be processed with the data subject’s consent or where there is a legitimate interest, including but not limited to the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Data portability
A data subject has the right to request that Thuis Partners provide personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format where such data are processed on the basis of consent or for the performance of an agreement. The data subject also has the right to request that such data be transferred to another data controller.
Objection
The data subject has the right at any time to object the processing of personal data by Thuis Partners, including where such processing is based on profiling, for example in connection with direct marketing. In such cases, Thuis Partners will cease processing unless it can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override the interests, rights and freedoms of the data subjects.
Where an objection relates to processing for direct marketing purposes, Thuis Partners will always immediately cease such processing.
Exercising rights
Data subjects wishing to exercise one or more of the above rights should contact our Privacy Officer. Thuis Partners will respond within the statutory period of four weeks. It is possible that we may not be able to provide a substantive response within that period. In such cases, we will inform the data subject of the reason for the delay and indicate the additional period within which a response will be provided.
8. Withdrawal of Consent
Where Thuis Partners processes personal data on the basis of the data subject’s consent the data subject has the right to withdraw that consent at any time. If no other legal ground for processing exists, Thuis Partners will cease processing the personal data from the moment the consent is withdrawn.
9. Complaints
If a data subject has a complaint regarding the manner in which Thuis Partners processes personal data and considers that the complaint has not been handled adequately, the data subject may submit a complaint to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens). The Authority may then decide to initiate an investigation. The data subject may also initiate summary legal proceedings before the competent court. Further information on such procedures can be found on the website of the Dutch Data Protection Authority.
10. Comments or Questions
For comments or questions regarding the processing of personal data, please contact our Privacy Officer.
This privacy statement has been drawn up in accordance with the GDPR. Thuis Partners reserves the right to amend this privacy statement periodically.
Disclaimer:
For the avoidance of doubt, the Dutch version of this privacy statement remains the governing version in terms of content, interpretation and legal effect. The English translation is provided solely for convenience and may not fully reflect the nuances or precise legal terminology of the original Dutch text.