Privacy Policy

General privacy policy (including cookies)

Last update: 06/12/2023

The ORCaSa project (“the Project”) is a Horizon Europe project standing for Operationalising the International Research Cooperation on Soil Carbon. Coordinated by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) and uniting over 10 partners from all over the world into a dedicated consortium, the Project aims to establish the first International Research Consortium (IRC) on soil carbon, expected by autumn 2023.

Communication is therefore a key aspect of the Project, as it will allow us to develop and sustain the IRC. As such, the Project commits to protecting at all times the privacy of its participants, including through this website, and more specifically as regards personal data protection.

ARCTIK, partner in charge of the ORCaSa website, thus undertakes as data controller, together with the Project consortium, to comply with applicable regulations regarding the processing of personal data, in particular General Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (known as “GDPR”) (together “applicable regulation”).

The present policy (“the Policy”) is designed to inform you of our practices regarding the collection, use and sharing of information that you may actively or passively provide to us through the ORCaSa project website (“the Website”).

We recommend that you read it carefully before using our services.

What kind of information are we collecting about you?

When you use the ORCaSa website, as a user (“User), you may be asked to provide us with information, some of which may identify you directly or indirectly (“Personal data” or “Data”). This may include, but is not limited to:

• Data provided through our contact form or our newsletter subscription: your name, first name and email address.

• Data related to your use of the Website: we collect browsing data that can identify your terminal (computer, phone, tablet) when you visit our pages. In this context, we may collect the IP address of your terminal, the type of browser and operating system you are using, as well as other information such as your Internet service provider, the website from which you visited our Website, the number of pages viewed and the time spent on each page of our Website, etc. This data is used to ensure the proper functioning of the Website, particularly its performance and security. It is also used to analyse the number of visitors to the Website, within the limits and under the conditions set out in this policy.

• Data related to your request to exercise your rights: if you are to place a request for exercising the rights you have regarding your Personal data processed through the Website, this information may include your name, first name and contact details, as well as a proof of identity if needed, as well as the details of your request.

How do we collect your Personal data?

Your Personal data is either collected passively or actively:

• Passive collection: information about your use of our Website is automatically collected when you interact with its features. To do this, we use the “cookie” technology to collect information about our visitors. Cookies are small files that are stored on any communication device used by the User (e.g., computer, phone, and tablets) while browsing our Website. These files allow the exchange of status information between the Website and the User’s terminal. If you wish to adjust your choices regarding the activity of cookies, you can use the cookies banner settings at all times. However, some cookies are necessary for the full functioning and security of the Website and cannot be refused if you use the website.

• Active Collection: we collect Data directly from you when you provide information via our Website (contact form, newsletter subscription). If you do not want your Personal data to be processed, please do not provide it. However, whenever this information is necessary for the provision of our services and do not wish to provide it, you will not be able to benefit from these services.

For what purposes and on what legal basis do we process your Personal data?

Your Personal data is collected and processed for the following purposes and on the following legal basis:

• Management of your contact requests: the information you provide on our contact form is processed based on our legitimate interest in answering your requests as part of the Project’s communication.

• Newsletter subscription and management: this processing operation is based on our legitimate interest in communicating on the Project and the new IRC. Once you subscribe to the newsletter, you will be registered in the Project’s mailing list and receive our communications by email. If you change your mind, you can unsubscribe at any time via the unsubscribe link which will be included in each newsletter you receive/writing to contact@irc-orcasa.eu

• Measure and analysis of our Website’s audience: we use your browsing data to measure and analyse the traffic on our Website. This processing operation is based on [our legitimate interest to monitor the use of our Website / on your consent to the use pf associated cookies in order to improve communication on the Project. You can withdraw your consent to the use of cookies at any time through the cookie management module.

• Distribution of video content: the video content on our website requires the deposit of cookies to function. This processing operation is based on your consent. You can withdraw your consent to the use of cookies at any time through the cookie management module.

• Management of your requests to exercise your rights related to your personal data: this processing operation is based on our legal obligations under applicable data protection regulations.

• Optimization of our Website: the use of navigation data ensures an adapted display on your device guarantees a fluid and secure navigation. This processing operation is based on our legitimate interest in providing you with a satisfactory and secure browsing experience.

• Social media sharing: when you have accepted it, navigation and connection data are used through the use of cookies to allow you to share contents from our Website to social medias. This processing operation is based on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time using the cookie banner.

How long do we keep your personal data?

Your Personal data is kept only as long as necessary to achieve the different purposes of their processing. The table below summarizes our retention and archiving policy.

Active collection
Purposes	Active retention period	Additional retention period
Contact requests	Period required to manage your request.	Duration of the ORCaSa Project.
Newsletter	Your data is kept until you ask to unsubscribe from the newsletter, or until the end of our newsletter.	The proof of consent is archived for the duration of the project, to which is added an additional duration of 5 years, according to applicable statute of limitations, as evidence.
Requests to exercise your rights related to your personal data	Period required to manage your request. Any proof of identity that may be required to check the admissibility of request is not kept beyond the time required for verification.	The elements related to your request as well as the given responses are archived as evidence for the current calendar year + 5 years.

Passive collection
Cookies’ names	Storage period	Purposes
_pk_id	13 months	Used to store a few details about the user such as the unique visitor ID.
_pk_ses	30 minutes	Short lived cookies used to temporarily stores data for the visit.
cookieyes-consent	1 year	Necessary cookie set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin (CookieYES) to store user preferences for cookie consent. It stores the user’s choice of each category.
wordpress_test_cookie	session	When the front end of the website was checked, the cookie found to be installed on the browser was wordpress_test_cookie, the cookie used to check whether cookies are enabled to provide the proper user experience.

To whom is your Personal data disclosed?

As a rule, we share your Data only when and as far as it is necessary to achieve the purpose of its processing.

Only the team in charge of the Website, the contact requests and the newsletter may access your data within the Project consortium. When possible, only anonymised data will be shared with the partner. In any case, each of the partner undertakes to guarantee the security and confidentiality of your information.

Your personal data may also be made available to our suppliers, data processors, who are bound by contractual confidentiality and security obligations, when their part in the processing operations requires it, notably for hosting or maintenance on our Website and associated softwares.

When you accept the use of cookies and according to your choices, your data may also be shared with the third-party companies behind these cookies, some of which are located outside the European Union or the European Economic Area.

When your data is transferred outside the European Economic Area to countries that are not subject to an adequacy decision by the European Commission, we undertake to secure the transfers through appropriate safeguards, such as the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.

What are the main security measures implemented by our team to protect your Personal data?

We are committed to ensuring the security and the safety of the Data you entrust to us.

As to prevent unauthorized access, use, alteration, destruction, loss, damage, or disclosure, and to protect the data we collected, appropriate technical and organisational measures are in place. Personal data we collect is kept in a secure environment.

Our employees and partners are subject to contractual obligations of confidentiality and must respect our information system protection policies.

We also check that our data processors offer sufficient guarantees regarding security and confidentiality.

What rights do you have regarding your Personal data and the processing operations we carry out?

Pursuant to applicable regulation, depending on the context of the processing operations, you have the right to:

• Access all Personal data we hold about you,
• Have rectified inaccurate, outdated and/or incomplete Data,
• Ask for deletion of your Data,
• Ask for portability of your Data, when technically possible,
• Request the limitation of the processing of your Data,
• Object at any time, for reasons related to your personal situation, to the processing of your Data,
• Withdraw your consent to the processing of your Data for a specific purpose, when such processing operation is based on that consent,
• Define advance directives concerning the fate of your Data in the cas of your death.

To exercise your rights, or if you have any questions regarding our processing of your Data, you can contact our team at the following address: contact@irc-orcasa.eu

To enable you to exercise these rights, we may ask you to provide proof of identity, where reasonable doubt regarding your identity is expressed.

In this case, the copy of the proof of identity is not kept beyond the time necessary for verification.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request, you also have a right to place a complaint to the competent supervisory authority.

What happens if this Policy is modified?

Our Website and the activity of the Project may be lead to change, for instance, as a result of our communication plan evolution or new technology choices.

Consequently, we may update this privacy Policy accordingly with those changes. We reserve the right to update and amend this privacy Policy at any time and without cause.

We encourage you to review this Policy periodically, especially before you submit any personal information.

If we believe that the planned changes constitute a major revision to this Policy, we will place a notice on our Website to inform Users of such changes and allow you to take certain actions prior to their implementation.