Customer Privacy Policy  

 

  1. Commitment of RCF Protecting Innovation, S.A.

The protection of privacy and personal data is a fundamental commitment of RCF Protecting Innovation, S.A. (hereinafter RCF) regarding the customers (“Customers”) of its products and services. RCF recommends you to read this Privacy Policy as well as the respective updates.

  1. Responsible for data processing

The responsibility of collecting and processing your personal data will be undertaken by RCF, which provides you with support services and internationalization of innovation, such as searches and registration of trademarks and patents, as well as management of arbitration and disputes, in addition to other related services and, thereby, it will decide which data are to be collected, which means of processing are to be used and for what purposes the data will be used.

  1. Personal data, personal data owners and categories of personal data

What is personal data? Personal Data is any information of any kind and in any media relating to an identified or identifiable individual. It shall be considered as identifiable any person who can be directly or indirectly identified, for example by the name, the identification number, a location data, an electronic identifier or by other elements that enable to identify that individual.Who owns the personal data?The Customer, that is to say the individual, to whom the data concerns, and who has used services or products provided by RCF PI. For example, a RCF Customer will be anyone who has entered into a contract to provide a service. A potential Customer will be anyone who is targeted by the RCF advertising campaigns, as well as anyone who requests information on the services commercialized by RCF. With this regard, RCF informs that it also protects personal data and respects the Customers’ rights.Which categories of personal data do we process? Identification data:Identification and contacts Examples: Company, contact name, address, e-mail, phone number

  1. Grounds, Purposes and Duration of Personal Data Processing

On what grounds can RCF PI process your personal data? Consent : when you have given your express consent – in writing, orally or through the validation of an option – and prior, and only when such consent is free, informed, specific and unequivocal. Examples of such consent is your consent to send direct marketing messages; profile definitions; recording of phone calls or Contract enforcement and pre-contractual proceedings: when processing personal data is necessary to enter, enforce and manage a contract concluded with RCF PI, for example concerning requests for information, preparation of a proposal of services, provision of services, management of contacts/complaints, billing/collection/payments or Compliance with legal obligation: when processing personal data is necessary to comply with a legal obligation to which RCF PI is subjected to, such as providing data to the Police, Judicial, Fiscal or Regulatory Authorities or Legitimate interest: when processing personal data corresponds to a legitimate interest of RCF or of third parties, such as improvement of the quality of service or detection of fraud, and when the reasons for their use must prevail over the data owners’ rights. For what purposes and for what lengths of time can RCF PI process your personal data?

Your personal data are processed by RCF PI only for the time period necessary to achieve the purpose established or, depending on the applicable law, until you exercise your right to object, your right to be forgotten or until you withdraw your consent. After the expiry of the storage period, RCF PI will eliminate or anonymize the data whenever they are not to be kept stored for any different purpose.

Purposes

Client Management and Service Provision

Accounting, Tax, and Administrative Management

Sales and Marketing

Litigation Management

Physical Security Control

Examples of Purposes

  • Management of contacts, information, or requests;
  • Complaint management;
  • Management of invoicing, collections, and payments;
  • Call recording as evidence of commercial transactions and communications within the scope of the contractual relationship.
  • Accounting, invoicing;
  • Commission management;
  • Tax information, including reporting to the Tax Authority.
  • Marketing or sale of new products or services;
  • Consumer profile analysis;
  • Adaptation and development of new products or services.
  • Judicial and out-of-court debt collection;
  • Management of other disputes.
  • Video surveillance of the premises.

What are the periods for processing and retaining personal data?

RCF PI processes and retains your personal data in line with the purposes for which it is processed. There are cases in which the law requires processing and retention for a minimum period—namely, for 10 years for the data necessary to inform the Tax Authority for accounting or tax purposes or data related to commercial bookkeeping, as well as for 7 years for the purpose of combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Whenever there is no specific legal obligation, the data will be processed only for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes that motivated its collection and preservation, and always in accordance with the law and with CNPD guidance and decisions. Accordingly: RCF PI will process and keep your personal data for as long as it maintains a contractual relationship with you. As regards video surveillance of its premises, RCF PI will retain image recordings and the corresponding personal data for a maximum of 30 days. RCF PI may retain other personal data for periods longer than the duration of the contractual relationship—based on your consent, to secure rights or duties related to the contract, or because it has legitimate interests that justify it—but always for the period strictly necessary to achieve the respective purposes and in line with CNPD guidance and decisions. Examples include contact for marketing and sales purposes, retention of data in the context of invoice complaint processes, the exercise of warranty rights, or pending court proceedings.

  1. Form and timing of the collection of personal data

When and how do we collect your personal data? We collect personal data with your consent or when you purchase RCF PI services. Collection may occur orally, in writing, or by email. Your personal information may also be collected from publicly accessible sources or other sources, namely websites.

  1. Rights of the data subject

What are your rights? Right of Access – the right to obtain confirmation of which of your personal data is processed and information about it, such as the purposes of processing, retention periods, and more. You have the right, for example, to view/listen to or obtain a copy, such as of invoices or written agreements. Right to Rectification – the right to request the rectification of inaccurate personal data or to request that incomplete personal data be completed, such as your address, Tax ID (NIF), email, telephone contacts, or others. Right to Erasure or the “right to be forgotten” – the right to obtain the erasure of your personal data, provided there are no valid grounds for its retention, such as cases where RCF PI must retain the data to comply with a legal obligation or because court proceedings are ongoing. Right to Portability – the right to receive the data you have provided to us in a commonly used, machine-readable digital format or to request the direct transmission of your data to another entity that will become the new controller, but in this case only if technically feasible. Right to Withdraw Consent or Right to Object – the right to object to or withdraw your consent to data processing at any time, such as in the case of processing for marketing purposes, provided there are no legitimate interests that prevail over your interests, rights, and freedoms, such as the defense of a right in legal proceedings. Right to Restriction – the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data, in the form of: (i) suspension of processing, or (ii) limiting the scope of processing to certain categories of data or processing purposes. Right to Lodge a Complaint – the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority, the CNPD, in addition to the company itself. How can you exercise your rights? Exercising your rights is free of charge, except where a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, in which case a reasonable fee may be charged taking into account the costs. Information must be provided in writing but, if you request it, may be provided orally. In that case, RCF PI must verify your identity by means other than oral communication. Responses to requests must be provided within a maximum of 30 days, unless the request is particularly complex. Exercise your rights via: – privacydata@rcf.pt or – Rua Tomás Ribeiro, 45 – 2º  1050-225 Lisbon, Portugal.

  1. Disclosure of Personal Data

Under what circumstances is your personal data communicated to other entities, processors, or third parties? Your data may be transmitted to processors so that they process it on behalf of RCF PI, such as industrial property agents or translators. In such cases, RCF PI will take the necessary contractual measures to ensure that the processors respect and protect the Client’s personal data. Data may also be transmitted to third parties—entities other than RCF PI or its processors—where the data subject has consented or to entities to whom the data must be communicated by law, such as the tax authority. Under what circumstances does RCF PI transfer your data to a third country?

RCF PI may need to transfer your personal data to a third country outside the European Union that is not on the EU list of countries deemed to ensure an adequate level of personal data protection. In such cases, RCF PI will ensure that data transfers are carried out in strict compliance with the applicable legal rules.