The following rules of privacy and data protection must be respected by registered Crowdfunding Intermediaries:
- Crowdfunding Intermediaries must make careful use of personal and commercial data that they access while conducting crowdfunding operations.
- The data that is provided by project sponsors and crowdinvestors alike shall not be disclosed to a third party.
- Crowdfunding intermediaries must ask crowdinvestors’ permission to reuse the data which they have accessed during a crowdfunding operation in future ones.
- The data provided by crowdinvestors and project sponsors alike to crowdfunding intermediaries should not be used for any purpose other than that of processing and enabling the transaction, unless the crowdfunding intermediaries obtain explicit consent for each usage.
- Crowdfunding intermediaries must inform visitors to their website about their use of cookies and hyperlinks.
Beyond the rules above, crowdfunding intermediaries are encouraged to formulate their internal Data Protection policy according to Article 5 of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). The latter lists six principles according to which personal data must be:
“(a) processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency’);
(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 (‘purpose limitation’);
(c) adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed (‘data minimisation’);
(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 (‘accuracy’);
(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 (‘storage limitation’);
(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 (‘integrity and confidentiality’).”
