Data Privacy Policy
We take data protection and confidentiality very seriously and adhere to the provisions of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as current national data privacy regulations. Please read this data privacy information carefully before submitting a report.
Responsible entity and data protection officer
The party responsible for data privacy in the whistleblowing system is:
National Bank of Belgium
14 Boulevard de Berlaimont
1000 Brussels
Belgium
www.nbb.be
Our organisation has appointed a data protection officer. Questions on data protection and privacy can be sent to dataprotection@nbb.be.
The whistleblower system is operated on our behalf by a company specializing in this area, EQS Group, Karlstraße 47, 80333 Munich in Germany.
Personal data
Personal data and information entered into the reporting system are stored in a database operated by EQS Group in a high-security data centre located in Europe. Only the Compliance unit has access to the data. EQS Group and other third parties do not have access to the data. This is ensured in the certified process by comprehensive technical and organizational measures.
All data is stored in encrypted form with multi-level password protection and is subject to an authorisation concept so that access is restricted to a very narrow group of recipients who are expressly authorized.
Purpose of the whistleblowing system and legal basis
The whistleblower system (BKMS® System) is used to receive, process and manage reports on compliance and legal violations in a secure and confidential manner. We process your personal data as this is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in our behalf (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. e GDPR). As a public institution we process personal data relating to notifications of potential or actual breaches or violations of the provisions of the Belgian laws and European regulations, including all their statutory implementing provisions, concerning the status and supervision of financial institutions and the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing, over which the National Bank of Belgium is responsible for exercising supervision.
Type of the collected personal data
Use of the whistleblowing system takes place on a voluntary basis. If you submit a report via the whistleblowing system, we collect the following personal data and information:
- your name, if you choose to reveal your identity,
- the names of persons and other personal data of persons that you name in your report.
Confidential handling of reports
Incoming reports are received by a small selection of expressly authorised and specially trained employees of the Compliance department and are always handled confidentially. The employees of the Compliance department will evaluate the matter and perform any further investigation required by the specific case.
During the processing of a report, it may become necessary to share reports with additional employees of our organisation but on an anonymous basis.
All persons who receive access to the data are obligated to maintain confidentiality.
Information of the accused person
We could inform the accused persons that we have received a report concerning them, unless this threatens the anonymity of the whistleblower or further investigations into the report or the anonymity of the whistleblower. In doing so, your identity as whistleblower is not revealed as far as is legally possible.
Rights of the data subjects
According to the GDPR and under reservation of article 12quater of the law of February, 22, 1998 establishing the organic statue of the National Bank of Belgium ("Organic Law"), you and the persons named in the report have the right to inquiry, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and the right to object to processing of personal data concerning them. If the right of objection is claimed, we will immediately examine to what extent the stored data is still necessary for the processing of a report. Data that is no longer required is deleted immediately. In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
Retention period of personal data
Personal data is retained:
- for 10 years for cases linked to money laundering/terrorism financing in accordance with articles 60 and 62 law of September 18, 2017 without anonymization
- up to 10 years with anonymization of cases
- with regard to other files, and in an ad hoc manner, for 2 years after closure in order to ensure the absence of a link with other files/additional complaints
- for employees of institutions under supervision until at least the end of their contract
- if the file is in court, is followed by another department, processed elsewhere, for the processing time (until the proceedings in question are concluded and the time limit for appeal have expired) with anonymization or conservation according to the defined criteria
Use of the reporting portal
Communication between your computer and the reporting system takes place over an encrypted connection (SSL). Your IP address will not be stored during your use of the reporting system. To maintain the connection between your computer and the BKMS® System, a cookie is stored on your computer that merely contains the session ID (a so-called session cookie). This cookie is only valid until the end of your session and expires when you close your browser.
It is possible to set up a postbox within the reporting system that is secured with an individually chosen pseudonym/ username and password. This allows you to send reports to the responsible employee either by name or in an anonymous, safe way. This system only stores data inside the reporting system, which makes it particularly secure. It is not a form of regular e-mail communication.
Note on sending attachments
When submitting a report or an addition, you can simultaneously send attachments to the responsible employee. If you wish to submit an anonymous report, please take note of the following security advice: Files can contain hidden personal data that could compromise your anonymity. Remove this data before sending. If you are unable to remove this data or are unsure how to do so, copy the text of your attachment into your report text or send the printed document anonymously to the address listed in the footer, citing the reference number received at the end of the reporting process.
Version: July 2024