1. General
The police and judicial authorities of several European countries decided to cooperate in order to combine their efforts to track down and prosecute perpetrators of war crimes in Ukraine.
The website aims to identify persons who have been victims or witnesses of war crimes in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, and who have sought refuge in Belgium. For this purpose, a questionnaire is offered with the objective of enabling the competent judicial authorities to prosecute these war crimes.
The Federal Police attaches great importance to the protection of privacy and processes the personal data received or collected very carefully.
This policy describes the way in which this website processes personal data, and this in compliance with the transparency obligation provided for in the data protection regulations.
The applicable regulations in this regard are the following:
- The Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and on the free movement of such data and repealing Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA (Data Protection Directive).
- Title II of Law of 30 July 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data (Data Protection Act or DPA).
2. Who are we?
This website belongs to the Federal Police and the daily management is done by the Directorate of Police Information and ICT (DRI).
3. What is personal data?
Personal data is any information that allows a natural person to be identified directly or indirectly, such as a name, address, identification number, IP address, license plate, etc.
4. What personal data are processed by us?
We only collect and process personal data that the competent police authorities allow us to identify and/or contact you after you have filled out an online form.
The following personal data are processed by this website: e.g.
- name, first name, address, telephone number date of birth, place of birth, nationality, etc.);
- electronic identification data (e.g.: cookies);
5. What do we do with your personal data?
Three types of processing of personal data may be carried out through this website:
5.1 use of cookies for the purpose of consulting the website and/or providing information
One of the objectives of this website is to provide the visitor with an online form. Therefore, the use of the essential cookies is necessary to ensure the proper functioning, security (cfr. Cookies Policy for more info on the types of cookies and retention periods).
5.2 collecting contact details
When you contact the Federal Police via the website, you must fill in a series of personal details such as your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc.
The Federal Police use your personal details to achieve the purpose for which you sent them.
NB: E-mail messages originating from the website are kept for 1 year in the e-mail archives. You can oppose this archiving by indicating in each message to which your request relates that you wish this message to be deleted once the request has been dealt with.
Your personal data will not be stored on the website.
5.3 collection of data for a police process (i.e. within the framework of an order from the administrative and/or judicial police)
The federal police uses your personal data to achieve the purpose for which you sent your data, as well as to carry out their administrative and/or judicial police orders.
The processing and conservation of personal data for administrative and/or judicial purposes is regulated by:
- The Police Act; the Integrated Police Act; the Code of Criminal Procedure;
- Data Protection Directive
- Title II DPA
6. Retention of your personal data
- In the absence of legal provisions stipulating a specific retention period, such as those provided for in the Law on the Police Service, the Federal Police will not retain your personal data any longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data was collected.
7. Who has access to the personal data collected via the website?
- The Federal Police processes the personal data that is sent after the forms on the website have been sent.
- For technical and security reasons the IP addresses are collected by the FPS Chancellery of the Prime Minister.
As a rule the personal details are not passed on to other organisations, except to comply with legal obligations or if the judicial authorities expressly request it.
8. What rights do you have and how can you exercise them?
8.1 Rights of data subjects
The persons concerned (i.e. the persons whose personal data are processed via the website) have several rights:
- right to information: within the framework of the obligation of transparency, the Federal Police is obliged to provide the person concerned with information about the processing of his/her personal data. This web page aims to meet this requirement.
- right of access: the person concerned has the right to consult the personal data concerning him/her which he/she has communicated to the Federal Police via the web page.
- right to correction: the person concerned may ask for incorrect or incomplete data to be updated or corrected.
- right to removal: the person concerned has the right to obtain the removal without delay of personal data concerning him/her. However, this right is not absolute.
- right to withdraw consent: where the processing of personal data is based on consent, the data subject may withdraw his consent at any time. However, this right may be limited.
These rights vary depending on the type of processing carried out through the website: if the processing consists in the use of cookies or the collection of contact information through a form, then the data subject may have all the aforementioned rights (points 1 to 5);
if the processing consists of the collection of data for a police process (order of administrative and/or judicial police), then the data subject only has the rights listed in points 1 to 3.
8.2 Exercise of data subjects' rights
The request to exercise these rights also varies according to the type of processing carried out through the website:
- if the processing consists of the use of cookies or the collection of contact details via a form, the request should be addressed to the Federal Police via the online privacy form
- if the processing consists of the collection of data for a police process (assignment of administrative and/or judicial police), then the request should be addressed to the Controlling Body on Police Information (C.O.C.).
The request should be sent to the following address:
Control Organ for police information
Chaussée de Louvain 48
1000 Brussels
E-mail: info@controleorgaan.be
The user of the website can also contact the C.O.C. if he is not satisfied with the answer of the Federal Police.
9. Remedies
Without prejudice to other possibilities of administrative appeal or judicial remedy, you may lodge a complaint with the Police Information Control Organ and file an appeal with the courts, if you believe that your rights have not been respected or that any processing of your personal data constitutes a violation of data protection legislation.
10. Security of the data
The Federal Police and the FPS Chancellery of the Prime Minister take all necessary steps to ensure the security of your personal data. They ensure that your data is protected, among other things, against unauthorised access, unlawful use, loss or unauthorised modification. To ensure the security and confidentiality of your personal data, the Federal Police and the FPS Chancellery of the Prime Minister have taken technical and organizational measures.
11. Processor and DPO (Data Protection Officer)
11.1 Party responsible for processing
The Federal Police is the data controller.
11.2 DPO (Data Protection Officer)
Comments and complaints regarding your personal data on the website can be directed to the DPO.
Updating this policy
This policy may be updated and modified. You are therefore asked to reread it regularly so that you are aware of the latest updates and changes.