Legal notices

The Council of Europe portal and the websites which are linked to it are intended to provide public access to information on the aims, activities and achievements of the Council of Europe in general.

The Council of Europe declines to accept any responsibility for the content of those sites. The information which they contain

• is solely of a general nature and does not refer to the specific situation of any individual or legal entity
• is not necessarily complete, exhaustive, accurate or up to date
• occasionally refers to external sites over which the Council of Europe has no control and in respect of which it declines to accept any responsibility
• does not constitute a professional or legal opinion

It is not possible to guarantee that a document available on line faithfully reproduces an officially adopted text, because it does not constitute an official publication

While it cannot guarantee that there are no errors on its site, the Council of Europe does endeavour, where appropriate, to correct those that are drawn to its attention. The Council of Europe reserves the right to deny, at its sole discretion, any user whatsoever access to the Site or to a part thereof.

Protection of personal data

The Council of Europe is committed to respect for private life. Its policy on protection of personal data is founded on Secretary General’s Regulation of 17 April 1989 outlining a data protection system for personal data files in the Council of Europe.

Most pages of the Council of Europe site require no personal information except in certain cases to allow requests for on-line services to be met. In such cases, the information is processed in accordance with the Confidentiality policy described below.

Confidentiality

Where a user connects to the site, certain of his/her particulars, such as Internet digital address (IP), navigation round the site, software used, time spent and other like data are stored on the Council of Europe servers. These items do not specifically identify the user. The information is only put to internal use, for purposes of analysing the traffic on the site.

Any personal information, such as name, electronic or postal address or other information, which may be supplied when completing the forms stored on this site, is not made available to the public, or disclosed or sold to third parties. The Council of Europe retains the data only for as long as needed for their processing and for the purpose to which consent has implicitly been given. Beyond that, the information is not re-used.
Conversely, the Council of Europe accepts no responsibility as regards the security of the information in question – this policy covers all Council of Europe websites.

Reproduction of material

Unless otherwise indicated, reproduction of material posted on Council of Europe websites, and reproduction of photographs for which the Council of Europe holds copyright – see legal notice “photo credits” – is authorised for private use and for informational and educational uses relating to the Council of Europe’s work. This authorisation is subject to the condition that the source be indicated and no charge made for reproduction.
Persons wishing to make some other use than those specified above, including commercial use, of information and text posted on these sites are asked to apply for prior written authorisation to the Council of Europe, Directorate of Communication.

Failure to comply with these mandatory conditions will render the offender and any other person responsible, liable to the criminal and civil penalties provided for in law.

The ECML is also  committed to ensuring data is processed  in accordance with Article 5  of the  General Data Protection Regulation

stating that personal data shall be:

a. processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals;

b. collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes shall not be considered to be incompatible with the initial purposes;

c. adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed;

d. accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay;

e. kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed; personal data may be stored for longer periods insofar as the personal data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes subject to implementation of the appropriate technical and organisational measures required by the GDPR in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals; and

f. processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.”