Last updated on 23 November 2021
This Privacy and Cookie Policy (hereinafter “Privacy Policy”) explains how we process your personal data. We are bv Sirius Legal Business Law Firm based at Veemarkt 70, 2800 Mechelen and registered with the CBE under number 0742.701.086 (hereinafter “Sirius Legal”).
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. It contains essential information on how your personal data is processed and what cookies are used. By sharing your personal data on www.siriuslegal.be, by contacting us by e-mail/by phone/by any other means, by submitting a question/complaint/file, you declare to have read this Privacy Policy and you explicitly agree with its content. When we contact you, we will inform you of this Privacy Policy. By contacting us, you declare that you have read this Privacy Policy and explicitly agree with its contents.
Sirius Legal processes the following personal data of you within the framework of its activities:
Category 1: if you engage the services we offer as a lawyer, we process your surname, first name, sex, address, telephone and/or mobile phone number, e-mail address, company name, invoicing data, copy of your identity card and any other personal data you voluntarily provide us with in order to be able to handle your case or which we obtain from another party to the proceedings or their counsel, bailiffs, notaries, court experts or other actors in the context of the cases we handle for our clients;
Category 2: in some cases it is necessary for the handling of your case to also process special categories of data such as personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health data or data relating to your sexual behaviour or orientation. Depending on the case, we may also process personal data relating to your criminal convictions and offences or related security measures;
Category 2: in some cases, it is necessary for the handling of your case to also process special categories of data such as personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs or trade union membership, or data concerning health, sexual behaviour or sexual orientation. Depending on the file, we may also process personal data concerning your criminal convictions and offences or related security measures;
Category 3: even if you have not used our services yourself, it is possible that we process your personal data as part of the services we provide to our clients. In this case, we will process any personal data that you transmit to us yourself or that is transmitted to us by your counsel, the counsel of another litigant, experts, the court or other actors in the context of the files we manage for our clients. It is possible that the data we mention in category 2 belong to this category;
Category 4: Every time you visit our website, we may use cookies and similar technologies to collect various personal data about you, in particular your IP address, surfing behaviour, origin and search terms. You can find more information about the way we use cookies in Article 7.
Category 5: via the forms on our website, we process your surname and first name, possibly the name of your company and VAT number, address details, e-mail and any other details you provide us with in the free input field.
Category 6: if you call us or send us an e-mail, we process your first and last name, e-mail address and/or telephone number, as well as the data you supply yourself.
Category 7: if you subscribe to our newsletter, we process your e-mail address, first name, surname and company name.
We use your personal data exclusively for:
Categories 1, 2, 3: to provide the service and to issue the invoice with the legal basis of the performance of a contract that you have requested or for the performance of the services that you have requested and for which the processing of your personal data is necessary or, in certain cases, because the law requires it or because we have a legitimate interest to do so in the context of our case management as lawyers.
Category 4: to maintain and improve our website and to include personal data in anonymous statistics from which the identity of specific persons or companies cannot be ascertained, with the legal basis of Sirius Legal’s legitimate interest in ensuring the security and proper functioning of our website in the case of necessary and functional cookies or your explicit, prior consent upon your first visit to our website for all other cookies.
Category 5 and 6: to be able to answer the question you have asked with the legal basis of carrying out a service you have requested.
Categories 5, 6 and 7: direct marketing and newsletters by Sirius Legal itself, with the legal basis being our legitimate interest in respect of existing clients or your explicit, prior consent if you are not already a client of Sirius Legal. You can indicate at any time that you no longer wish to receive our newsletters by using the opt-out option in our newsletters or by contacting us directly by e-mail or telephone.
We never pass on your data to third parties for commercial reasons. If necessary due to internal reorganisation or transfer of activities, we may transfer your data to new entities within the Sirius Legal group or to third parties who may guarantee the continuity of our services. Sirius Legal will always inform you in advance to the extent possible, but you understand that this is not technically or commercially feasible in all circumstances.
In rare cases, we may be obliged to disclose personal data on the basis of a court order or to comply with other mandatory laws or regulations. We will do our best to inform you in advance, unless this is not possible for legal reasons.
We do, of course, share your data with third parties in the context of managing your case. Your data may be transferred to and processed by courts, bailiffs, notaries, other lawyers, government agencies, consultants, software and cloud providers, financial partners or any other third party involved or affected by your case. The current list can be obtained upon simple request by e-mail. For each transfer to a third party, we ensure the appropriate security measures with respect to your personal data, including the conclusion of processing agreements where necessary.
We always try to make maximum use of European suppliers, but if we have to rely on non-European third parties we ensure that your data is just as safe outside Europe as it is here in Europe. Thus, where necessary, we conclude Standard Contract Clauses with these partners and provide additional guarantees.
We keep your personal data for as long as is necessary for the purposes of processing.
For legal reasons, we have to keep all case data for at least 5 years after the closure of your case. We will also keep your contact details for 10 years after the closure of your case to ensure the continuity of our services to our clients.
For legal reasons, we have to keep your invoice data for 7 years from the calendar year following the invoice date. We keep contact details of clients and contacts as long as we have a commercial relationship with them and for 10 years after the end of that relationship, for the sake of the continuity of our services and our marketing interests.
You have the right to consult your personal data and the use we make of them at any time and free of charge. You have the right to request us to correct, supplement or in certain cases delete your personal data. You may also request to restrict the processing of your personal data in a number of cases listed in the GDPR. You have the right to oppose the processing of your personal data if you have serious and legitimate reasons for doing so that exceed our need to process your data. You also have the right to object at any time to the use of personal data for direct marketing purposes, even without having to provide a reason for doing so. You have the right to request your personal data in digital and readable form and/or to have them transferred to another service provider of your choice. Insofar as our processing is based on your prior consent, you have the right to withdraw such consent.
You can exercise your rights by sending an e-mail to info@siriuslegal.be, by post to Sirius Legal, Veemarkt 70, 2800 Mechelen or by using the forms on our website.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority:
Drukpersstraat 35
1000 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0)2 274 48 00
contact@apd-gba.be
We have taken appropriate technical and organisational security measures to guarantee the safety of your personal data. Our systems and software tools are secured with a username and password, two-step verification, access restrictions apply, encryption is used where possible. Furthermore, we provide training to our staff on data protection, we have internal guidelines on data security and we take appropriate security measures in the form of up to date antivirus and firewall protection.
In no event can Sirius Legal be held liable for any direct or indirect damage resulting from a wrongful or unlawful use of the personal data by a third party.
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies. This helps us to provide you with a better user experience when you visit our website and also allows us to optimize our website. Without your prior consent, we only place the cookies strictly necessary for our website to work properly. For all other cookies, we ask your permission first. The cookie list below gives you an overview of the cookies that our website uses.
If you notice that other cookies are placed via our website, we thank you for informing us immediately, so that we can make the necessary adjustments.
We provide you with as much information as possible about cookies placed by third parties. If you still want to know more, we would like to refer you to the privacy statements of these parties on their respective websites. Please note: we have no influence whatsoever on the content of those statements, nor on the content of the cookies of these third parties.
On your first visit to our website you will be asked to accept our cookies. Afterwards you can manage your choices yourself at any time in the preferences menu via the “cookie preferences” button.
If you have any further questions or comments about the processing of your personal data, please contact us by e-mail to info@siriuslegal.be, by post to Veemarkt 70, 2800 Mechelen or via the forms on our website.
You can also find more information about cookies at: www.allaboutcookies.org.
More information about online behavioral advertising and online privacy can be found here: www.youronlinechoices.eu.