Privacy Policy

EAN Privacy and Data Security Policy

EAN complies with European and Austrian data protection law and takes all reasonable care to prevent any unauthorised access to your personal data. EAN respects your privacy and is committed to safeguarding the confidentiality of your personal information. This policy explains how and why EAN collects and uses the personal information of its members, customers and website visitors, and how EAN protects your privacy. It also explains how you can manage your own personal information held in the EAN system through ‘MyEAN’ on the EAN Website. When disclosing your personal information to us by using ‘MyEAN’ on our website or by completing and submitting paper or electronic forms to us, you consent to the collection, storage and processing of your personal information as stated in this policy. The personal information that we collect from you shall be obtained, processed and transmitted in compliance with applicable data protection legislation – the Regulation (EU)2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and the Austrian Data Protection Act 2018. “Personal Information” means information that relates to a living individual who can be identified from that information or from that information together with other information which is held by or is likely to be held by us. This general policy is in addition to any specific policies concerning specific products or services. It may be amended at any time.

How EAN collects personal information

EAN is an association which combines a wide range of activities in the field of neurology, including:

  • Provision of Membership Services
  • Collection and dissemination of scientific information
  • Organisation of scientific congresses and events
  • Provision of other products and services

This may require the handling of personal information of the individuals involved in these activities and hence EAN collects personal information in a number of ways from a number of sources. This information may be communicated to EAN on paper forms received through the postal services or by fax, or electronically through registration on EAN website and use of EAN’s online services (‘MyEAN’) or through other electronic forms made available through partner websites. The sources of personal information received by EAN are:

  • The individuals themselves
  • Third parties acting on behalf of individuals (e.g. an agent arranging registration or hotel accommodation for an EAN organised Congress)
  • Affiliated Associations providing details of their Members (Note: Members of National Neurological Societies and Corresponding Societies are also members of EAN by virtue of their association’s affiliation to EAN).

Where we receive personal information about individuals from sources other than the individuals themselves (e.g. for EAN membership or congress registrations), we will take all practical steps to contact the person concerned to advise of their rights to oppose the use of their data or to correct it. The principal ways in which EAN collects personal information are:

  • When you register personal details when creating or updating a ‘MyEAN’ account on EAN Website
  • When you, or an agent or other third party acting on your behalf, enter personal details on a form requesting an EAN product or service (e.g. when registering for an EAN organised Congress)
  • When you, or someone on your behalf, submits proposals or content in connection with scientific sessions at an EAN organised Congress or meeting (e.g. Abstracts submission)
  • When you enter personal details on a form applying to become an EAN member , or Member of one of EAN constituent bodies (such as EAN Committees or Scientific Panels)
  • When you enter details on a specific application for an EAN Grant or other award.

What personal information is collected by the EAN

Mandatory Personal Information

As a general rule, the following minimum information must be provided in order for your order, request, application, etc. to be processed: Nominative Information – Title, First Name(s), Family Name(s): Your nominative details are needed to properly identify you, to communicate with you, to provide you with the products and services you have requested and to ensure that items are properly labelled as yours (e.g. congress badges and scientific contributions such as abstracts and presentations, etc). Full Postal Address: The Postal Address is needed when items will be sent to you by post (e.g. paper journals, congress badges …). Although this is not always needed in practice, the full postal address is always requested to save asking for it specifically when needed for a particular transaction and because it helps to correctly verify your identity (where other persons have the same or a similar name). Additional personal information, which is mandatory for persons creating a ‘MyEAN’ account on EAN website is: Email address: Your email address is needed because it is used as part of the login information (to access your ‘MyEAN’ personalised area on EAN website) and is necessary in order to communicate with you. Additionally, because we only permit a particular email to be used once in our system, it reduces the possibility of duplicates. Finally, it permits “Forgot Password” to be handled in an automated secure way. Emailing Preference: We ask you to advise us whether or not you wish to receive information on latest developments in European neurology from EAN. This is so that we can respect your privacy about electronic communications, as required by European and Austrian law. Profile Information: We ask you for information about your Professional Activity, Place of Work, to enable us to provide you with more relevant information and to better understand the preferences of our audience so that we can give a better service generally. Other Personal Information Other information may be requested which is necessary or relevant for specific activities. EAN carries out such a wide variety of activities that it is not practical to provide an exhaustive list, but here are some examples: Mandatory information for specific purposes

  • Credit Card information is required for anyone wishing to make payment by this method.
  • Curriculum vitae, list of publications and other evidence of scientific achievement is requested to support applications for EAN Membership, Membership of certain EAN Working Groups, Committees, panels, task forces, Assembly of Delegates and EAN Grants and Research Fellowships.
  • Affiliation information (to an organisation) is required for all persons wishing to submit an Abstract.
  • Professional status (together with proof) is requested for all persons requesting certain fees (e.g. specific registration fees for congresses and events)
  • Detailed Financial and Position of Influence information is requested for persons required to complete EAN Declarations of Interest. (i.e. persons holding EAN office or representing EAN)
  • Other information is also collected in an automated manner when you use EAN website about your computer and about your visits to and use of EAN websites

Optional information

  • Telephone and Fax information – to enable us to contact you rapidly in case of need
  • Subscriptions to the newsletter and email notifications enable you to request to receive regular EAN newsletters and email alerts on selected neurology topics
  • Date of Birth: Your date of birth is used to help us correctly identify you and avoid duplicate records and also, where specific fees or charges apply which depend on age, to determine eligibility for these fees.
  • Information on Fields of Interest and Areas of Expertise – to enable us to provide you with more relevant information and to better understand the preferences of our audience so that we can give a better service generally.

How EAN uses personal information

Personal information is needed by EAN to enable it to properly manage its member and customer files. These files are used to enable EAN to fulfil its role in providing a wide range of services to its members, contributors and customers. The personal information which you supply may also be specifically used to:

  • process an application for Fellowship or Membership to an EAN Working Group, Committee, panel, task force, Assembly of Delegates.
  • process an application for an EAN grant, fellowship or other awards.
  • process a registration for an EAN congress, meeting, course and other event (both at a physical location or online). Congress badges, online access to courses, etc and certificates of attendance also require the nominative information supplied.
  • handle attendance at a networking event at an EAN congress, meeting or other event.
  • process registration(s) or hotel request(s) for another person(s) if you are acting on behalf of a third party or parties.
  • handle scientific programme activities in connection with EAN congresses and meetings. These include abstract submission and reviewing process, speaker and chairperson management, handling of agreement forms, preparation of the scientific programme, presentation management onsite, publication of the scientific content on the EAN website.
  • process a subscription to the European Journal of Neurology (whether delivered to you in paper form or accessed online) and to handle your online access to its contents.
  • handle specific processes for EAN leadership and volunteers representing EAN, including hotel accommodation, expense claims and Register of Interest.
  • manage access to and use of eBrain (the EAN eLearning platform).
  • manage access to restricted content on the EAN website (certain resources are only available to persons with defined membership status etc.).
  • enable individual communications with you about specific matters – e.g. sending confirmations, receipts, requesting further information to solve queries, responding to EAN Helpdesk Requests, etc. and sending emails to you with information about EAN activities which we believe will be of interest to you (subject to your prior consent to receive EAN generated emails).
  • send electronic newsletters and notifications (alerts) to you (where you have subscribed to receive them).

How long personal information is kept

Personal information is only kept for a reasonable period of time, dependent upon the nature of the information and its intended use. Exceptionally, nominative information (only) is kept indefinitely for persons:

  • who have had leadership positions in EAN (EAN and EAN Board and Committee listings)
  • who have submitted, and had accepted, or contributed to scientific content for congresses, events, journals, guidelines, etc. (The nominative information is kept to reference it and to be used with published material, and to be accessed when those materials are researched or viewed).)

If you are an EAN Member, your information will be kept in the EAN system while you continue to be a Member, even if you do not use EAN products or services during that time, unless you request us not to keep it, in which case your membership of the EAN will cease).

Email addresses

Electronic communication is for most purposes EAN’s preferred method of communication because it is generally convenient, rapid, effective and efficient. In order to be able to communicate with you directly electronically, EAN needs your email address. You are therefore required to supply your email address when you create your ‘MyEAN’ account on the EAN Website, which enables you to access a variety of services online.

Unique Email Address

For your convenience and security, your email address is unique to you in the system. (EAN does not permit two different persons to have the same email address in the system). You are strongly recommended to use an email address which is personal to you and that is not shared with others. This is to ensure that communications which are sent to you personally are not read by others, and that others do not gain access to the information in your ‘MyEAN’ account. Additionally, the unique email permits handling of “Forgot Password”, enabling you to reset your password in an automated and secure way using your personal email address.

Email privacy

EAN respects the privacy of personal email addresses and complies with the current European legislation on email communication. The objective is not to send you unwanted messages, and your email details will not be passed on to any other individual or organisation without your permission. Without your specific ‘Opt In’ to receive mailings from EAN you may receive emails concerning:

  • Products and services similar to those you have already received from EAN
  • If you are a Member of an EAN Working Groups, Committees, panels, task forces, Assembly of Delegates (whose benefits to Members include email newsletters, etc), activities or scientific information specifically concerning the Association or Working Groups, Committees, panels, task forces, Assembly of Delegates of which you are a Member

You can manage the extent to which EAN communicates with you by using the e-News section in your ‘MyEAN’ homepage. Here you are asked to indicate whether or not you wish to receive EAN generated emails. If you decide that you do wish to receive email communications from the EAN you can select which categories of news interest you. All mailings sent to you offer the possibility to unsubscribe. If you indicate that you do not wish to receive EAN generated emails you will only receive emails directly related to the transactions you have with the EAN (e.g. confirmations of registrations, etc.) and other necessary individual communications.

Disclosure of information and Marketing

EAN does not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others. EAN may supply your information to its contractors to perform specific services (such as to the publishers to deliver EAN journals). Otherwise, EAN does not disclose personal information to any other person or organisation without your consent. In this context, your personal data may be disclosed to the following external partners of EAN in the circumstances described below:

  • Congress exhibitors who scan your congress badge: If you accept to have your badge scanned when visiting an exhibiting company stand, or by a hostess at an Industry Sponsor session, your badge will enable them to retrieve the following personal data: nominative (title, first name(s), last name(s)), address (postal address and email), telephone, fax and profile information (professional activity, place of work and fields of interest).
  • Agencies handling EAN managed hotel bookings: Nominative information is provided to the official EAN hotel agency where EAN handles hotel bookings for a particular congress or event.
  • Groups representatives and Agencies handling your congress or event registration: Where your registration is handled by someone other than yourself, your confirmations, badges or vouchers may be sent to this third party. These contain nominative details about you.
  • Travel agency handling flight and hotel bookings on behalf of EAN Leadership and volunteers engaged in EAN business: Appropriate personal information is transferred to the travel agency handling these bookings 
  • EAN Leadership assessing EAN Membership and committee applications: An application to become an EAN Member of certain EAN bodies (e.g. EAN Working Groups, Committees, panels, task forces, Assembly of Delegates) requires the submission of a CV, publication list and, sometimes, other elements to support the application. This information, together with nominative information concerning the applicant, is assessed by a leading neurologist or committee of neurologists, prior to acceptance or refusal of the application.
  • EAN Leadership assessing applications for EAN Grants, Training Fellowships or other awards: An application for an EAN Grant or other award requires the submission of appropriate career and other information to support the application. This information is made available to the committee of neurologists responsible for assessing the applications and making the awards.

Right of access to your EAN information

You have the absolute right to access, amend, and oppose the use of, your personal data. When you visit ‘MyEAN’ you have direct control over the information in your personal profile. You can access and change this information at any time from your ‘MyEAN’ homepage. If you want to know exactly what personal information EAN holds on you, you can obtain it. If it transpires that the information is inaccurate, or you wish to oppose its use in future, EAN will make the necessary amendments and confirm that these have been made. Please contact EAN in writing (accompanied by proof of identity) at: European Society of Neurology – Data Privacy
Breite Gasse 4/7
1070 Vienna
Austria

Data security

To protect your information, EAN uses an industry standard security protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt the transmission of sensitive information between you and our website. SSL is used, for example, when you login or when you make a credit card payment. To know if transmissions are encrypted, look for the lock on your web browser or check that the URL starts with .

Use of Cookies

Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer’s hard disk for record keeping purposes. They are small text files that a website can use to recognise repeat users and facilitate their ongoing access to, and use of, the site. They do not pose a threat to your system or files. 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 use the online services offered through ‘MyEAN’.

Access statistics

This website uses Matomo to record access logs of every page view.

Push Notifications

If you activate push notifications for this website using the “Signalize” service, a function of your Internet browser or mobile operating system will be used to provide the notifications for you. Only anonymous or pseudonymous data is transmitted for the purpose of sending messages. Depending on the configuration of the website,this may be:

  • Pseudonymous User ID: a randomly generated value (example: 108bf9a85547edb1108bf9a85547edb1) stored in a tracking cookie ID
  • Pseudonymous digital fingerprints, pseudonymous mobile device codes and where required pseudonymous cross-device identifiers

This data is only processed to deliver the notifications you have subscribed to and to configure notification-related settings. We ask for your consent to store this data. In this case, the legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR. You can object to receiving notifications at any time via the settings of your browser or mobile device. Information about unsubscribing for push notifications can be found here. In order to make the push notifications meaningful for you in terms of content, we use the preferences collected on the basis of a pseudonymous user profile by means of tracking pixels and, only with your consent, also by means of cookies, and we merge your notification ID with the user profile of the website solely for the purpose of personalised message dispatch. The Tracking technology is also used for statistical evaluation of the notifications on our behalf. This allows us to determine whether a notification was delivered and whether it was clicked.
The data generated in this way is processed and stored on our behalf by etracker GmbH solely in Germany and is thus subject to strict German and European data protection laws and standards. etracker has been independently audited and certified in this regard and is entitled to bear the data privacy seal ePrivacyseal.The data processing for the statistical analysis of the notifications and in order to better adapt future notifications to the interests of the recipients is based on our legitimate interest in personalised direct advertising in accordance with Art. 6 Para. 1 letter f GDPR. As the privacy of our visitors is very important to us, the data that may possibly allow a reference to an individual person, such as the IP address, login or device IDs, are anonymised or pseudonymised as soon as possible. A direct personal reference is thereby excluded. etracker does not use the data for any other purpose, combine it with other data or pass it on to third parties.

You can object to the data processing described above at any time.

External Links

The EAN Website contains links to other websites. Please be aware that EAN is not responsible for the privacy policies of other sites. You are therefore encouraged to read the privacy policies of any other site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected by EAN.

‘MyEAN’ – Managing your contact with the EAN

Access to Personalised Services

You do not need to register to access most of the EAN Website, but you do have to register to use personal services online and access certain web content. The details you supply EAN may be combined with information from other EAN records to:

  • provide you with online services like Abstract Submission, Registration for Congresses, etc.
  • save you having to keep giving the same information for different EAN services
  • allow you to access specific web content reserved for ‘MyEAN’ users
  • help you to get more out of EAN by keeping you up to date about EAN activities, scientific developments, and products and services by email. (Note: This is an ‘Opt-In’ service only – for more information, please go to the section Email Addresses)
  • Access to your personal information
  • To communicate with colleagues via different spaces on “MyEAN”

‘MyEAN’ enables you to manage your personal information held by EAN. If you are a Member of EAN, or have used EAN products and services, a record will already exist for you which you can potentially access by logging in online through:

  • use of your existing login details (email and password), if you have already used the EAN online services (‘MyEAN’) previously.
  • the ‘Retrieve your Login’ feature which, if your email address is recognised, will send an email to the address given which will guide you through a process to set a password for yourself.