Associations & Conference Forum, also known as AC Forum, is a not-for-profit association in accordance with the Austrian Association Act (Vereinsgesetz), Federal Law Gazette No 233 of 1951. Our registered address is: c/o Herbst Kinsky Rechtsanwälte GmbH, Dr. Karl Lueger-Platz 5, A-1010 Vienna, Austria.

AC Forum is the data controller for personal data supplied by you, or on your behalf, through our online services and we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We use this information subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and any applicable data protection legislation in Austria, Ireland and the EU.
This Privacy Statement sets out the basis on which we collect personal information from you. If you have any queries in relation to our use of your information please contact us at secretariat@acforum.net.
The laws on data protection set out a number of different reasons for which an organisation may collect and process your personal data, including:
– You have given us your consent; and / or;
– In specific situations, we require your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our organisation and which does not materially impact your rights, freedoms or interests.

The personal data we collect on our website and on our apps from you, or someone acting on your behalf, includes without limitation the following:
– When you register with the AC Forum website we will ask for personal information such as your name, email address, title, professional interest, association membership and country of residence. In specific circumstances, we may collection additional data, for example on forms such as registration forms, evaluation forms, applications or case study submissions;
– Photos and video footage which may be taken of you during events;
– Any emails sent by you to us and any messages received through our online Contact Us form;
– Analytical information about your use of our website (including how and when you contact us, details of your visits to our website and which site you came from to ours;
– Our websites use cookies. The purpose of the cookies is solely to assist us in redesigning our website to ensure we provide relevant information in an easily accessible format. Please see below for more information on our use of cookies.
The AC Forum website does not collect any personal information, including email addresses, unless it is voluntarily provided by you.
Any email addresses given to AC Forum via this site will be used for the purpose for which they have been provided. This data will not be passed on to any other organisation without prior approval.

We may use your personal information for the purposes of:
– Providing services to you;
– Making a tailored website available to you;
– Administering your account.

We take photos and video footage at many of our events. By registering and/or attending an online or in-person event or a meeting organised by AC Forum you grant consent that we may use images resulting from the photography and video filming, including any reproductions or adaptations of the images for marketing, publicity or other purposes to help achieve AC Forum’s aims and legitimate interests. This might include (but is not limited to) the right to use them in printed and online publicity, social media, and press releases.

To make this website work properly, we sometimes place small data files called cookies on your device. Most websites do this. A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the website. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you do not have to re-enter them every time you come back to the website or browse from one page to another.
The use of cookies is an industry standard, and many websites use them to provide useful features. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a computer. Most browsers are set initially to accept cookies. You can set your computer to reject cookies. However, if you do choose to disable cookies, you will not be able to fully use the online services offered through our website.

Our website includes links to social media features and widgets. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted directly on our site or by a third-party platform. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

We use your personal information for the purposes of processing all necessary documentation in the supply of services to our members and to facilitate AC Forum activities.
– Specific aspects of the information you supply is recorded and only accessible by the relevant person for that task. Your name and email address will remain visible to all staff tasked with dealing with your general application or query and you will receive correspondence directly from those individuals in the planning and administration of necessary services.
– When you subscribe to additional services for future updates, e-newsletters or other communications from us, your email is recorded on a mailing list. You may unsubscribe from these mailing lists by contacting us at secretariat@acform.net.

We share your information with third parties (“data processors”) insofar as this is necessary to fulfil our purposes as set out above and only where it is necessary to perform their specific services to AC Forum.
We will never sell your data.

This website contains links to websites owned and operated by third parties. Please be aware that AC Forum is not responsible for the privacy practices of these sites. We encourage users to read the privacy policies of other websites. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.

Information is retained for as long as is necessary in order to fulfil the purposes for which it was gathered.
The data that we collect from you is held in the European Economic Area (“EEA”). In the case that we need to transfer such data outside the EEA we will ensure that an adequate level of data protection in that country exists that is no less protective than that which is provided in the EEA. We will do this by implementing an appropriate safeguard such as a model contract which will set out each party’s obligations and ensure that your data protection rights are protected.
We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to provide you with our services, or for other important purposes such as complying with legal or tax obligations. At the end of that retention period your data will either be deleted completely or anonymised, for example by aggregation with other data so that it can be used in a non-identifiable way for statistical analysis and business planning.

If you are accessing the web in a public location, we recommend that you always log out and close the website browser when you complete an online session.
In addition, we recommend that you take the following security measures to enhance your online safety:
– Keep your account passwords private. Remember, anybody who knows your password may access your account.
– When creating a password, use at least 8 characters. A combination of letters and numbers is best. Do not use dictionary words, your name, email address, or other personal data that can be easily obtained. We also recommend that you frequently change your password.
– Avoid using the same password for multiple online accounts.

At any time you may:
– Ask what personal data we hold about you;
– Ask us to update and correct any out-of-date or incorrect personal data that we hold about you;
– Opt out of any marketing communications that we may send you.
Whenever you have given us your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw that consent.
In cases where we are processing your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest, you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. We must then do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your personal data. If we choose not to action your request we will explain to you the reasons for our refusal.
If you wish to exercise any of the above rights, please contact us at secretariat@acforum.net.

This policy was last updated in July 2021 and is subject to change. Details of any changes will be posted to this page.