The European Commission (hereafter ‘the Commission’) is committed to protecting your personal data and to respecting your privacy. The Commission collects and further processes personal data pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons about the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies and on the free movement of such data (repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001).
This privacy statement explains the reason for the processing of your personal data, the way we collect, handle, and ensure protection of all personal data provided, how that information is used and what rights you have in relation to your personal data. It also specifies the contact details of the Data Controller responsible with whom you may exercise your rights, the Data Protection Officer, and the European Data Protection Supervisor.
The information in relation to processing operation “Invasive Alien Species in Europe Applications” undertaken by the Ocean and Water Unit of the Joint Research Centre (hereafter JRC.D.2) is presented below.

Purpose of the processing operation: JRC.D.2 collects and uses your personal information to set up the Invasive Alien Species (IAS) in Europe Applications (smartphone and web). This application enable the public to receive and share information about IAS. They enable the users to submit details about IAS regulated by the EU Regulation 1143/2014, which are considered of concern in the European Union. Users are requested to attach pictures of relevant IAS together with complementary information about their observation including date and location. Submitted observations undergo a validation process by the JRC scientific staff and/or by authorized external experts (taxonomists volunteering to check reported observations). Only validated observations are fed into the EASIN (European Alien Species Information Network) system. In case of unclear reports/submissions, validators can get in contact via the IAS application with the user who has submitted the IAS information to verify and clarify the information provided. All EASIN users can explore and see validated observation through the smartphone application and the EASIN website. The following data can be viewed in association with validated observations: Species name, Location, Date of observation, IAS Image, Abundance and Habitat. The IAS images visible from the application are not those reported but linked to EASIN species factsheets (https://easin.jrc.ec.europa.eu/easin/CitizenScience/Factsheets).
Username and email addresses are processed exclusively for EU-Login authentication purposes (for more information see also DIGIT record DPR-EC-03187 on ‘Identity & Access Management Service (IAMS)’).

We process your personal data, because: it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the publicinterest (according to Article 5(1)(a) of Regulation (EU)2018/1725).

The basis for the processing has been laid down in the following Union law:

• The Decision (EU) 2022/591 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on a General Union Environment Action Program to 2030;
• Council Decision (EU) 2021/764 establishing the Specific Program implementing Horizon Europe; and
• Commission Implementing Decision of 15.2.2023 (C (2023) 897 final, on the adoption of the work program of the JRC for 2023 and 2024.
• More specifically the applications were developed in context of JRC support to implementation of the Invasive Alien Species (IAS) Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014) of which EASIN act as the official information system (Art. 25 of EU Regulation on IAS).

To carry out this processing operation JRC.D.2 collects the following categories of personal data: name, surname, email address of all users for the authentication process, EU login username, species location, date of observation, IAS Image, comment (optional) for all species observations reported.

The provision of your personal data is mandatory for the management of the Invasive Alien Species in Europe Applications.

JRC.D.2 only keeps your personal data for the time necessary to fulfil the purpose of collection or further processing, namely for: 4 years after the last active login of the user or upon deletion request of the user (name, surname and email address). Please note that data related to species location, date of observation and IAS Image, and comment will be kept as long as the IAS Application is in use / the IAS project is active. In particular, once the user's identification data (name, surname and email address) are deleted according to the above mentioned retention period, the additional personal data collected which includes species location, date of observation and IAS Image, comment (provided that no personal data is in the comment) will be anonymized.

All personal data in electronic format (name and email for authentication process; species location, date of observation, IAS Image, comment (optional) for all species observations reported) are stored on the servers ofthe European Commission. All processing operations are carried out pursuant to the Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2017/46 of 10 January 2017 on the security of communication and information systems in the European Commission.

In order to protect your personal data, the Commission has put in place a number of technical and organisational measures. Technical measures include appropriate actions to address online security, risk of data loss, alteration of data or unauthorized access, taking into consideration the risk presented by the processing and the nature of the personal data being processed. Organisational measures include restricting the access to personal data solely to authorised persons with a legitimate need to know and only for the purposes of this processing operation.

Access to your personal data is provided to the Commission staff responsible for carrying out this processing operation and to authorised staff, including authorised experts (taxonomists), according to the “need to know” principle. Such staff abide by statutory, and when required, additional confidentiality agreements.
In particular, access to personal data (EU-Login username and email) is provided to the JRC staff responsible for carrying out this processing operation. Species location, date of observation, IAS Image, comment (optional), for all species observations reported, are accessible to JRC staff and authorized taxonomists responsible for species validation. Unauthenticated users/visitors of the IAS applications and EASIN (European Alien Species Information Network) will have access to information related to species' location coordinates and species' names and general images, and pseudonymized date of observation and technical comments from the validators shared in the public Geo-portal.

The information we collect will not be given to any third party, except to the extent and for the purpose we maybe required to do so by law.

You have specific rights as a ‘data subject’ under Chapter III (Articles 14-25) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, in particular the right to access, your personal data and to rectify them in case your personal data is inaccurate or incomplete. Where applicable, you have the right to erase your personal data, to restrict the processing of your personal data, to object to the processing, and the right to data portability.
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data, which is lawfully carried out pursuant to Article 5(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 on grounds relating to your particular situation.
You can exercise your rights by contacting the Data Controller, or in case of conflict the Data Protection Officer.If necessary, you can also address the European Data Protection Supervisor. Their contact information is given under Heading 9 below.

Where you wish to exercise your rights in the context of one or several specific processing operations, please provide their description (i.e. their Record reference(s) as specified under Heading 10 below) in your request.

The Data Controller
If you would like to exercise your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, or if you have comments, questions or concerns, or if you would like to submit a complaint regarding the collection and use of your personal data, please feel free to contact the Data Controller, JRC-EASIN-CS@ec.europa.eu.

The Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the Commission
You may contact the Data Protection Officer (DATA-PROTECTION-OFFICER@ec.europa.eu) with regard toissues related to the processing of your personal data under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)
You have the right to have recourse (i.e. you can lodge a complaint) to the European Data Protection Supervisor (edps@edps.europa.eu) if you consider that your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 have been infringed asa result of the processing of your personal data by the Data Controll

The Commission Data Protection Officer (DPO) publishes the register of all processing operations on personal data by the Commission, which have been documented and notified to him. You may access the register via thefollowing link: https://ec.europa.eu/dpo-register.
This specific processing operation has been included in the DPO’s public register with the following Recordreference: DPR-EC-18348 Invasive Alien Species in Europe Applications.