Privacy Policy

Smartesting has always recognized the importance of protecting personal data for its partners in the digital age. It is also aware of the responsibilities associated with processing such data. This Privacy Policy outlines Smartesting’s practices concerning the protection of personal data related to the collection, use, retention, and other processing of personal information in connection with its websites, mobile applications where this Privacy Policy is referenced, and its social media pages (“Sites”). It explains the rights and choices individuals have concerning their personal data.

Please note that additional country-specific terms may apply, as outlined at the end of this Policy.

SCOPE OF THIS POLICY – SUMMARY

This Policy applies to the processing of personal data carried out by Smartesting as a data controller—that is, the entity that determines the categories of personal data to be collected, whether online (including through Smartesting Sites) or offline, as well as the purposes for their collection.

This Policy does not apply to:

Personal data of Smartesting employees and job applicants;
Personal data that Smartesting processes on behalf of its clients or other third parties, as specified in the applicable agreement.

This Policy provides information about:

The types of personal data Smartesting may collect about you (e.g., your contact details);
How personal data is collected;
The purposes and legal bases for processing your personal data (e.g., compliance with legal obligations, marketing with your consent);
Your rights and choices regarding your personal data: depending on your jurisdiction, you may have legal rights regarding Smartesting’s processing of your personal data, including rights to access, correct, delete, transfer, or object to its processing. Regardless of your place of residence, Smartesting will honor your request to opt out of marketing communications;
How to contact us.

For ease of navigation, Smartesting Sites may contain hyperlinks to other websites or applications that Smartesting does not own or control. This Policy does not apply to such third-party websites, and Smartesting disclaims any responsibility for their content. Smartesting encourages you to read the privacy policies of any external websites or services you use.

WHY YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS PROCESSED BY SMARTESTING

Smartesting uses your personal data in compliance with the law. The legal bases and purposes for which Smartesting processes your personal data are outlined below:

With Your Consent

To communicate with you, especially when you request information about Smartesting Services, register on Smartesting Sites, participate in surveys, or enable Smartesting to perform specific actions (e.g., publish your testimonials or recommendations on Smartesting Sites), and more generally, to manage Smartesting’s marketing and communication activities;
To understand your needs and interests and provide you with the most suitable Services;
To enable interactive and personalized use of Smartesting Sites and access to all their features;
To allow you to display certain personal information from your profile when sharing ideas or other information about Smartesting Services with other users of the Sites, including the Yest Community platform.

To Enter into a Contract to Provide Smartesting Services

To allow you to: register for events, seminars, webinars, or contests, including managing and tracking your participation, and to register for Smartesting community forums; create an account to access Smartesting Services;
To manage Smartesting’s business relationship with you (e.g., business opportunities, offers, purchases, contracts, orders, invoices, delivery, support services—including key information for Smartesting Services users—and service security or professional services);
To manage your training and/or certification on Smartesting Services, which may include tracking your learning progress and making this information available to you;
To operate, maintain, administer, and improve the Services.

To Fulfill Legitimate Interests

Before processing personal data based on legitimate interest, Smartesting assesses the potential impact (positive or negative) of such processing on your privacy and your rights. Unless your consent has been obtained or permitted by law, Smartesting will not process your personal data if the impact on your privacy outweighs its legitimate interests:

To improve your experience, better understand your needs and interests, and personalize your use of Smartesting Services, including remembering your settings;
To manage marketing activities for similar products or services if you already use Smartesting Services;
To manage business relationships when you act on behalf of a Smartesting prospect or customer (e.g., business opportunities, offers, purchases, contracts, orders, invoices, delivery, support services, and service security);
To manage Smartesting’s Anti-Piracy and Compliance Program;
To create anonymized data for analytical purposes;
To protect against, investigate, and deter fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical, or illegal activities, including within Smartesting’s Cybersecurity Program.

Smartesting may combine your personal data with other relevant publicly available information or with personal data collected through other processing activities.

To Comply with the Law

To comply with legal requests and procedures, such as subpoenas or requests from government authorities, as further detailed.

To meet Smartesting’s obligations under applicable compliance laws, including anti-corruption regulations, export control laws, trade sanctions, and embargoes issued by the European Union and its Member States. This may include automated checks of all registration data (as outlined in this Policy) and other identity-related information against sanctions lists; periodic rechecks whenever such lists are updated or when you update your data; blocking access to Smartesting Services in case of potential matches; and contacting you to confirm your identity in case of such matches;

To store your financial data with a third-party payment provider;

WHY YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS PROCESSED BY SMARTESTING

Smartesting processes your personal data in accordance with the law. The legal bases and purposes for processing your data are as follows:

With Your Consent

To communicate with you, especially when you request information about Smartesting Services, register on the Smartesting Sites, participate in surveys, or allow Smartesting to carry out specific actions (e.g., publishing your testimonials on the Sites), and more broadly, to manage Smartesting’s communication and marketing activities.
To understand your needs and interests and offer the most suitable Services.
To enable interactive and personalized use of Smartesting Sites and access to all features.
To allow you to display parts of your profile when sharing ideas and other information with other users, including via the Yest Community platform.

To Fulfill a Contract for Smartesting Services

To register you for events, webinars, contests, and manage your participation; register you in Smartesting community forums; or create an account to access the Services.
To manage commercial relationships with you (business opportunities, offers, purchases, contracts, orders, invoices, support, service security, and essential user information).
To manage your training and/or certification, including tracking your learning progress.
To operate, maintain, administer, and improve the Services.

To Serve Legitimate Interests

Smartesting carefully evaluates how processing your data may affect your privacy. Unless consent is given or law permits, Smartesting will not process your data if the impact on your privacy outweighs its legitimate interest:

To enhance your experience, understand your preferences, and personalize your use of Services, including remembering your settings.
To manage marketing activities for similar services if you’re already a user.
To manage commercial relationships when acting on behalf of a prospect or client (e.g., purchases, offers, support, delivery, service security).
To manage its Anti-Piracy and Compliance Program.
To create anonymized data for analytics.
To protect against, investigate, and deter fraud, abuse, and illegal or unethical activities, especially under the Cybersecurity Program.

Smartesting may combine your personal data with publicly available or previously collected data.

To Comply with Legal Obligations

To meet compliance requirements (e.g., anti-corruption, export laws, EU sanctions). This may include automated checks of your registration data and identity against sanctions lists, periodic rechecks, service access blocking in case of potential matches, and contacting you for identity confirmation.
To store financial data with a third-party payment provider.
To comply with legal requests and procedures (e.g., subpoenas, government inquiries).

HOW LONG YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS RETAINED BY SMARTESTING

Smartesting does not keep your personal data longer than necessary, only for the time needed to fulfill the purposes described above. Retention periods vary depending on data categories and processing. To determine the appropriate retention time, Smartesting considers the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure, the purposes of processing, possible alternative ways to achieve those purposes, and applicable legal requirements:

When you have given consent, until you withdraw it;
When Smartesting has a contract with you or your employer, for the duration of the contract plus applicable local limitation periods;
When Smartesting relies on legitimate interest, for a limited and appropriate period to ensure fair processing or until you object to the processing, unless overriding legitimate reasons or legal claims prevail;
When required by law, retention is according to applicable legal timeframes;
When necessary to establish or defend legal rights, data is kept until the relevant retention period ends or the case is resolved.

At the end of the retention period, your personal data will be deleted or anonymized using methods compliant with data protection standards.

WITH WHOM SMARTESTING SHARES YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Smartesting does not rent or sell your information but may share your personal data, necessary for certain business purposes, with the following categories of organizations:

Third parties to protect legal and commercial interests: In business transactions (mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations, sales, bankruptcy, changes of control), Smartesting may transfer or share your data, ensuring the recipient respects this Privacy Policy.

Within Smartesting: As an international organization present in Europe, Smartesting may share your data internally for purposes consistent with this Policy (e.g., providing support services).

Trusted Smartesting Partners:

Event or marketing sponsors: Smartesting may share your name, company details, and email with trusted sponsors and other participants for communication and idea exchange related to events you attend.

Business partners, such as assigned resellers, to provide you or your employer with appropriate offers or Services.

Third parties acting on Smartesting’s behalf: Third-party companies or individuals may be engaged to provide services (training, customer support, hosting, payment processing, email campaigns, database management) and will process your data only under Smartesting’s instructions and compliant with this Policy. They are prohibited from using or disclosing your data for other purposes.

Third parties to comply with laws: Smartesting may disclose your data to government authorities, law enforcement, or private parties when required by law or to enforce terms, protect rights or safety, or investigate fraud or illegal activities. Requests will be reviewed for legal compliance, minimized if excessive, and challenged if possible.

INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

When you access a Smartesting Site, please note that by continuing to use it while located in a country different from the Smartesting Site’s country, you consent to the transfer of your personal data to a country other than yours, where data protection laws may not be as protective as those in your country.

As part of its multinational organization, Smartesting may transfer your personal data from one country or region to another, including anywhere in Europe. This can occur, for example, when Smartesting provides you with Services such as training, customer support, or hosting services.

Whenever Smartesting transfers your personal data to countries not considered by your country’s authorities (e.g., the European Commission) as providing an adequate level of data protection, the transfer will be based on safeguards recognized by your country’s authorities as providing adequate protection, such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses, your informed consent for the transfer, or other relevant mechanisms.

Please contact us if you want more information about the mechanism used by Smartesting when transferring your personal data.

YOUR RIGHTS

Depending on applicable data protection laws, you may have some or all of the following rights regarding your personal data:

The right to access your personal data;
The right to obtain a copy of your personal data held by Smartesting;
The right to request correction, completion, updating, or deletion of your personal data;
The right to restrict processing;
The right to object to specific processing based on legitimate interests;
The right to data portability.

If the processing of your personal data is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time (for example, to unsubscribe from marketing communications).

If you have an account, you can exercise your rights by logging into your account. Otherwise, you may submit your request here: hello@smartesting.com

Depending on the scope of the request, Smartesting may charge a reasonable fee to cover costs related to your request. Smartesting reserves the right to refuse access to your personal data in specific cases provided by applicable laws and regulations.

Smartesting may ask for specific information to confirm your identity or to process your request. Applicable laws may require or allow Smartesting to deny your request, but Smartesting will always provide an explanation of its position, subject to legal restrictions.

DATA SECURITY

Smartesting has implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to prevent loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration, or destruction of your personal data during transmission to Smartesting and while in its possession. However, despite Smartesting’s efforts to protect your personal data, it cannot guarantee absolute protection against data breaches due to the unavoidable risks related to the Internet.

It is important that you take care to prevent unauthorized access to your personal data. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your… [text cuts off]e mot de passe et des informations figurant sur votre compte. Par conséquent, vous devez vous assurer de fermer votre session en cas d’utilisation partagée d’un même ordinateur.

COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

Cookies used by Smartesting

To improve your browsing experience on Smartesting Services, Smartesting uses cookies or other similar technologies that may process your personal data.

Smartesting uses different types of cookies depending on the Services involved:

Strictly necessary cookies are always used; they are essential for you to properly use Smartesting Services and cannot be disabled. For example, they allow you to save your customization settings (language choice, service display, saving your shopping cart).
Functional cookies are used to enhance the performance of Smartesting Services, offer optimized features, and provide a more personalized experience by collecting information when you use Smartesting Services. Functional cookies also include analytics and performance cookies used to collect information about traffic to Smartesting Sites and how users use the Services. Information collected may include the number of visitors to Smartesting Sites, websites that referred you to Smartesting Sites, pages you visited on Smartesting Sites, time of day and duration of your visit, whether you visited before, and similar data. Smartesting uses this information to improve the operation of Smartesting Sites, gather general demographic information, and monitor activity levels on Smartesting sites.
Advertising cookies are implemented by Smartesting or third parties to profile your interests and provide you with personalized, targeted content. They do not directly store personal data but rely on the unique identifier of your browser and internet device.

To see the detailed list of cookies used by Smartesting and their purposes, click here.

Disabling cookies

You can delete or reject functional and advertising cookies via the cookie banner. However, if you do not accept some of them, certain features and functions of the Services may not work properly and you may experience some inconvenience. For example, Smartesting may not recognize your computer or mobile device and you may need to log in each time you visit Smartesting Sites. If you choose to delete advertising cookies, you will still see ads, but they may not be relevant to you.

CONTACT – DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Smartesting is committed to protecting your personal data. You can contact the Data Protection Officer at Smartesting via the following email: hello@smartesting.com if:

You have questions about this Policy;
You experience any difficulty accessing your personal data or exercising the rights listed above;
You believe Smartesting is not complying with the GDPR or applicable local data protection laws;
You have reason to believe your personal data security has been compromised or misused.

If you wish to file a complaint with the Group Data Protection Officer at Smartesting, you must send a letter to the address listed at the end of this Policy, reasonably requested by the Group Data Protection Officer.

If you normally reside in the European Union, you have the right to file a complaint with your local data protection authority.

EFFECTIVE DATE AND UPDATES TO THE PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY

Smartesting reserves the right to modify and update this Policy at any time in accordance with its needs and circumstances or when required by applicable laws and regulations. Smartesting encourages you to review this page regularly for the latest information on its data protection practices. In the event of major changes to this Policy, Smartesting may notify you by email or by any other means reasonably likely to reach you. This may include posting a specific notice on Smartesting Sites.

Any changes to this Policy will take effect upon publication of the updated terms by Smartesting and/or upon implementation of the changes in the Services.

SMARTESTING

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