HELLENIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANIZATION S.A.

Transcription

1 HELLENIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANIZATION S.A. ΟΤΕ Group Code off Conductt For tthe Prottecttiion off tthe IIndiiviiduall s Riightt tto Priivacy iin tthe Handlliing off Personall Datta wiitthiin OTE Group Approved by the Board of Directors of OTE S.A. at its meeting No 2831 held on May 20, 2009 effective as of May 20, 2009

2 Table of Contents Preamble... 1 Article 1: Scope... 2 Article 2: Legal nature of the Code of Conduct- Connection of the Code to the National and European Legislation..2 Article 3: Transparency of data protection Article 4: Subject s Right to Information and Access... 2 Article 5: Information s Availability Article 6: Permissible data handling requirements- Data subject s consent Article 8: Use of personal data for direct marketing purposes... 4 Article 9: Special categories of personal data... 4 Article 10: Principles relating to data quality Article 11: Data Archiving... 5 Article 12: Transmission of data to third parties... 5 Article 13: Responsibility Article 14: Subcontracted Data Processing... 5 Article15: Responsible Officers... 6 Article 16: Checks on the Level of Data Protection... 6 Article 17: Technical, Organizational and Employee- Related Measures... 6 Article 18: Rights of Data Subjects... 7 Article 19: Right to Protest / Right to have Data erased... 7 Article 20: Right to Correction... 8 Article 21: Right to Clarifications and comments Article 22: Exercising of Rights Article 23: Responsibility of personal data handling... 8 Article 24: Coordination by the Officer of the Group... 9 Article 25: Supervisory and Consultation Duties... 9 Article 26: Employee Training and Commitment Article 27: Cooperation with Supervisory Authorities... 9 Article 28: Definitions

3 CODE OF CONDUCT FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL S RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN THE HANDLING OF PERSONAL DATA WITHIN O.T.E GROUP. Preamble The protection of personal data of natural persons and/or legal entities, especially the handling of personal data of customers and employees is a significant concern for all companies of the OTE Group. Furthermore, OTE Group wishes to protect the personal data of the listed companies shareholders. In this frame, OTE Group adopts a Code of Conduct for the Protection of the Individual s Right to Privacy in the Handling of Personal Data within the OTE Group in accordance with the national and European legislation applied. The present Code of Conduct is a declaration of principles regarding the handling of personal data, is supplementary to the applied legislation and legally binding for all the companies of the OTE Group, wherever they take action. Hereunder follows the Code of Conduct for the protection of the individual s Right to Privacy in the Handling of Personal Data within OTE Group.

4 Article 1: Scope The scope of the present Code is to ensure a uniformly high level of data protection regarding the protection of personal data of subjects, within the companies of the OTE Group through the proper application of the national and European legislation referring to data protection and confidentiality of communication. Article 2: Legal nature of the Code of Conduct- Connection of the Code to the National and European Legislation. 2.1 The present Code of Conduct sets the general guide-lines regarding the handling of personal data within the OTE Group, is binding for all the companies of the OTE Group and comes into force upon publication by the respective management of the companies of the OTE Group on the official website of the company. 2.2 The present Code applies in combination to the national and European legislation in force for the collection, handling and use of the personal data of all data subjects, especially the personal data of customers and employees of all the Group s companies, as well as - for all group listed- companies- the shareholders. 2.3 The companies of the Group shall handle personal data and transmit them to the Public Authorities, if so required, in accordance to the national legislation of the country, which regulates the operation of each company of the Group. Article 3: Transparency of data protection. Persons, to which the personal data refer to ( data subjects in the meaning of article 28 hereof), will have access to all information concerning the handling of personal data though proper methods of informing, especially through the publication of the Code of Conduct on the official website of the company. Article 4: Subject s Right to Information and Access. 4.1 Data subjects have the right to be informed whether their personal data are or have been handled. 4.2 The data subject must be informed in an appropriate and expressed manner of the following data The identity of the data controller/s as well as their contact details The personal data regarding the subject, as well as their origin The intended scope and purpose of the collection, processing and/or use of personal data. This information should include which data are being recorded and/or processed/used, why and for what purpose and for how long. 2

5 The manner of processing and in case of transmission to third parties, the recipient, extent, and purpose of transmission The provisions of this Code of Conduct, regarding the rights of the data subject The relevant information should be at the disposal of the applicant in a comprehensible form and within a reasonable time. In general, information should be given in written The data subjects are entitled to request and obtain from the Controller, the information related to the handling of their personal data and the Controller is obliged to respond in written in an understandable form and without culpable delay in a reasonable time or in the peremptory period as provided by the national legislation 4.5. When permissible by the national legislation, the company may charge a fee for the information supplied. Article 5: Information s Availability. Information should be available to the data subjects, when data are collected for the first time and subsequently, whenever it is requested. Article 6: Permissible data handling requirements- Data subject s consent. 6.1 Personal data handling is permissible only when the subject gives its consent. The data subjects consent should concentrate the following features: The data subjects consent shall be obtained at the latest when data starts to the collected, processed or used Consent should be given expressly and voluntary, in a form appropriate to the circumstances Consent must be given on an informed basis regarding the purpose of handling, the recipients or list of recipients, as well as the identity of the Controller or the data processor. 6.2 Subjects consent can be withdrawn at any time without any retroactive effect. 6.3 Exceptionally, data handling is permissible without the subject s prior consent, when handling is necessary for purposes of fulfilling a contract, to which the data subject participates or when it is allowed by the national or European legislation. Article 7: Personal data shall not be used for purposes other than those for which the data was originally collected. 3

6 Article 8: Use of personal data for direct marketing purposes. 8.1 Personal data will be used for direct marketing purposes according to the national and European legislation. 8.2 Data subjects have the right to object to the company, which handles his personal data for direct marketing purposes. 8.3 The companies of OTE Group are obliged -upon subject s request- to inform the subjects for their abovementioned right, as well as for the manner and the process of applying this right. Article 9: Special categories of personal data. The collection and handling of special categories of personal data is prohibited unless the subject has expressly given his/her consent or the handling is permissible according to the applied national or European legislation. It shall also be permissible if it is necessary to process the data in order to fulfil the rights and obligations of the responsible company in the area of labour law, provided that this is permissible due to the applied national law. Article 10: Principles relating to data quality All companies should take the necessary measures, in order ensure that personal data are at all times correct,and where necessary, kept up to date (data quality) The companies of the Group should also take all necessary measures, in order to ensure that any incorrect or incomplete data is erased or corrected Personal data shall be appropriate, adequate and not excessive for the purposes for which the data were used. Data shall be collected only for particular, definite and legitimate purposes upon a relevant request and should be processed only according to these purposes (Data avoidance) Personal data should be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which data were collected or for which they are further processed. After this period, the companies shall destroy or erase the identification features of the data subjects (anonymization). Anonymization shall be carried out in such a manner that the original identities of the data subjects cannot be revealed, or can only be revealed with disproportionately great effort. 4

7 Article 11: Data Archiving. The principles of data processing, particularly the principles of data economy and data avoidance, shall be taken into account when developing data archive. In order to develop a personal data archive, the national legislation is applicable. Article 12: Transmission of data to third parties. Transmission of data to third parties is prohibited, unless the subject has expressly given his consent or in case transmission is necessary to fulfill a contractual requirement towards the data subject or in all cases data transmission to third parties is permissible according to the national legislation. Article 13: Responsibility. When transmitting personal data to a third party, which is not a public body, the company, which had originally collected the personal data, should cooperate with the third party, in order to ensure that personal data are legally handled. Indicatively the Controller shall ensure that appropriate data protection and data security measures are provided or shall be discussed and agreed with the recipient. Where agreements are concluded with bodies in countries without adequate data protection levels, sufficient guarantees must be ensured with respect to the protection of the right to privacy of the individual and the exercising of rights connected with this, without prejudice to the prior permission by the competent authority, if so required by the national legislation. Article 14: Subcontracted Data Processing When the company engages the services of a subcontractor, then, the relevant written contract shall refer to the obligations of the subcontractor as the party engaged for processing the data. Such provisions shall set out the instructions of the company (the party which controls the data) regarding the type and manner of the processing of personal data, the purpose of the processing as well as the technical and organizational measures required for data protection The subcontractor shall not use the personal data revealed to him due to his contractual relation with the relevant company without its prior consent The criteria of personal data security and legal handling of personal data shall be taken into consideration when selecting a subcontractor. 5

8 Article15: Responsible Officers Each company of the OTE Group shall appoint an officer, competent to ensure that the individual departments are adequately informed on the applied legislation as well as the Group s internal processes and data protection policy The Officer must be involved in the design of new products and services from the early stages in order to ensure the protection of personal data OTE shall appoint an Officer competent group-wide for the protection of privacy of personal data, which reports directly to OTE s Board of Directors and coordinates the company s strategy regarding the protection of personal data and the confidentiality of communications Each company shall cooperate with Group Officer of OTE in order to establish a uniformly high level of data protection within the companies of OTE Group. Article 16: Checks on the Level of Data Protection Internal audits on the processes of data handling, as well as on the processes of waiving of privacy should be carried out at a regular basis to review the effectiveness of the implemented measures. Such audits should be carried out by the Officer of each company competent for the protection of privacy of personal data or by other units authorized to conduct internal audits. Article 17: Technical, Organizational and Employee- Related Measures When commencing their work within the company and each year, the companies employees will sign appropriate confidentiality clauses, as well as observance clauses regarding the internal processes implemented in the company for the protection of personal data of customers, employees and, for all inserted companies, shareholders The internal processes of each company should include the appropriate organizational and technical measures, in order to ensure the legal processing of personal data. These processes must at least guarantee the following: Preventing unauthorized persons from gaining access to data processing systems on which personal data are processed or used (physical access control) Ensuring that data processing systems cannot be used by unauthorized persons (denial-of-use control); Ensuring that those persons authorized to use a data processing system are able to access exclusively those data to which they have authorized access and that 6

9 personal data cannot, during processing or use or after recording, be read, copied, altered or removed by unauthorized persons (data access control) Ensuring that, in the course of electronic transmission or during their transport or recording on data carrier, personal data cannot be read, copied, altered or removed by unauthorized persons, and that it is possible to examine and establish where personal data are to be transmitted by data transmission equipment (data transmission control) Ensuring that it is possible retrospectively to examine and establish whether and by whom personal data have been entered into data processing systems, altered or removed (data entry control) Ensuring that personal data which are processed by subcontractors can only be processed in conformance with the instructions of the ordering party (subcontractor control) Ensuring that personal data are protected against accidental destruction or loss (availability control). Article 18: Rights of Data Subjects. Every data subject has the right to contact the responsible company with questions regarding the present Code of Conduct and his/her rights mentioned in articles 4, 19 and 20 hereof. Article 19: Right to Protest / Right to have Data erased Data subject has the right to protest to the responsible company against the use of his personal data All complaints shall be directed to the Officer competent for the protection of privacy of personal data or to the properly authorized person and shall include a request for a certain operation such as correction, temporary non use, blocking, non transmission, erasure The right to protest applies even if the data subject had in a former case consented to the use of his personal data Rightful requests to have data erased shall be promptly met. Such requests are rightful particularly when the legal basis for the use of the data ceases to apply. Statutory retention periods shall be observed. 7

10 Article 20: Right to Correction Data subject shall at any time request that the responsible company corrects his personal data insofar as such data are incomplete or incorrect. Article 21: Right to Clarifications and comments If a data subject claims that his/her rights have been breached in the form of unlawful data processing, particularly in the event that this Code of Conduct has been breached, the responsible companies shall clarify the facts without culpable delay and in the time-limit pursuant to the Laws in force. In this case they shall work together closely and grant each other access to all information necessary for establishing the facts of the case The company s responsible data protection department most closely associated with the relevant issues must coordinate all the relevant correspondence with the data subject. Article 22: Exercising of Rights. Data subjects shall not be disadvantaged because they have availed themselves of these rights. Article 23: Responsibility of personal data handling Companies shall guarantee their compliance with the legislation regarding the protection of personal data and the waiving of privacy as well as the provisions of this Code of Conduct The officer competent for the protection of privacy of personal data of the respective company shall be informed without delay about any breaches (including suspicion of a breach) of data protection provisions and of this Code of Conduct. In the case of incidents that are of relevance to more than one company, the Group officer competent for the protection of privacy of personal data should also be informed The officer competent for the protection of privacy of personal data of the respective company shall be informed about any changes in the legislation regarding the personal data protection The Officers of each company of the OTE Group should coordinate their activities within the framework of the Group s Data Protection and Privacy Waiving policy. 8

11 Article 24: Coordination by the Officer of the Group The Officer of the Group competent for the protection of privacy of personal data shall coordinate the activities of the Officers of each company in case of generalized incidents of breach of provisions regarding data protection, which endanger the purpose of this Code of Conduct The duty of the Group Officer competent for the protection of privacy of personal data is to develop the Group s policy regarding data protection. In order to accomplish this purpose, all Officers must cooperate. Article 25: Supervisory and Consultation Duties The officers of the respective companies shall be responsible for monitoring compliance with national and international data protection regulations and with this Code of Conduct The respective Officers shall examine on-site all processing techniques that involve the use of personal data. Article 26: Employee Training and Commitment. The Group companies attend the employees training regarding lawful handling of personal data as well as implementing this Code of Conduct. Article 27: Cooperation with Supervisory Authorities Companies of the OTE Group shall agree to respond to enquiries and to comply to the recommendations of the supervisory authorities, which are authorized to supervise the application of the national legislation regarding personal data protection and Waiving of privacy. Article 28: Definitions ΟΤΕ Group: Ο.Τ.Ε S.A as well as all companies in which OTE SA directly or indirectly holds more than a 50% share or over, or which it has control. 9

12 Responsible or respective company: The Company, which pertains to OTE Group and determines the purposes and means of data processing of customers, employees and shareholders. Data subject: Any natural person or legal entity to which data refer to and which identity is known or can be revealed by the responsible company, with which the subject is related as a client or employee or shareholder. Personal data: Any information relating to the data subject. Statistical information, from which the subject can not be identified, is not considered personal data. Special Categories of Data: Shall mean data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership or concerning health or sex life criminal charges or convictions as well as membership to societies dealing with the aforementioned areas.. Handling of personal data: Shall mean any operation or set of operations which is performed upon personal data such as collection, recording, organization, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, blocking, erasure or destruction. Consent: shall mean any freely given, explicit and specific indication of will, whereby the data subject expressly and fully cognisant signifies his/her informed agreement to personal data relating to him being processed. Such information shall include at least information as to the purpose of processing, the data or data categories being processed, the recipient or categories of recipients of personal data as well as the name, trade name and address of the Controller and his/her representative, if any. Such consent may be revoked at any time without retroactive effect. Data recipient: Shall mean any natural person or legal entity, public authority, agency or any other body to whom data are disclosed, whether a third party or not. Third party: Any natural person or legal entity, public authority, agency or any other body other than the data subject, the controller, and the persons authorised to process data provided that they act under the direct supervision or on behalf of the Controller. Controller : shall mean any person who determines the scope and means of the processing of personal data, such as any natural or legal person, public authority or agency or any other organisation. Where the purposes and means of processing are determined by national or Community laws or regulations, the Controller or the specific criteria for his/her nomination shall be designated by national or Community law. 10

13 Processor : shall mean any person who possesses personal data on behalf of the Controller such as any natural person or legal entity, public authority or agency or any other organisation. Personal Data Archive/file : shall mean any structured base of personal data, which is accessible taking into consideration specific criteria. 11