Privacy Statement

This is the privacy statement of Houthoff Coöperatief U.A., Houthoff België B.V., Houthoff London LLP and Houthoff New York B.V. (hereinafter jointly referred to as "Houthoff", "we" and "us"). Houthoff's offices are located in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, London and New York. More information on our offices is available on our website.

This privacy statement aims to inform every visitor of www.houthoff.com and www.werkenbijhouthoff.nl, clients and other interested parties whose personal data we process about:

What personal data we collect and how;
The purposes of and bases for the personal data processing;
How long we retain personal data;
With whom we share personal data;
How we protect personal data;
Your rights in relation to the processing of your personal data;
How you can contact us.

Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies, both our own and those of third parties. Read more about our cookie use in our cookie statement.

Job applications

In our job applicants privacy statement, you will find more information on the processing of personal data as part of the job application process and participation in recruitment and selection activities. We recommend that you read this additional statement if it applies to you.

Personal data

Personal data are any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

We process personal data that you provide to us personally or that we obtain from other sources, such as:

Basic information such as your first and last name, gender and job title;
Contact details such as your personal or business email address, department, business or home address and your personal or business phone number;
Your date of birth, place of birth and nationality;
A copy of your ID;
Personal data that you provide to us in relation to events, seminars and meetings;
Personal data that you provide to us for the purpose of a job application and information from your CV – in this respect, see the job applicants privacy statement;
Information concerning the device you use to visit our website and concerning your visit to our website;
Any other personal data that you provide to us or that we can obtain in relation to the purposes stated below.

To the extent that we process any special personal data, we do so only if the data subject has intentionally made these public, as referred to in Article 9(2)(e) of the GDPR.

How do we obtain these data?

Houthoff can receive personal data from you personally or from third parties authorised to provide your data, such as employment agencies, selection agencies and your employer or colleagues. We can also receive data from public sources (including online sources), such as corporate websites, social media platforms, the Chamber of Commerce's Business Register and the Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency. Finally, we can obtain personal data in the course of providing our legal services.

Purposes of and bases for the processing

We process your personal data for the following purposes and on the following legal bases:

Purpose of processing:	Basis:
To provide legal services to clients (such as litigation, advice, representation in transactions, etc.).	Performance of contracts Legal obligations Legitimate interest
To perform marketing activities, such as sending out newsletters, invitations to our events (including recruitment events) and other communications that may be of interest to you.	Legitimate interest Consent
To perform marketing activities, such as sending out newsletters, invitations to our events (including recruitment events) and other communications that may be of interest to you.	Legitimate interest Consent
To improve or develop our operations or the quality of our own legal and other services.	Legitimate interest
For recruitment activities, we process your personal data to contact you about recruitment and other options.	Legitimate interest Consent
To handle your job application.	Legitimate interest Consent
To comply with legal obligations and requirements, including archiving obligations, accountability obligations, and obligations under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme) and under professional regulations, such as the Legal Profession Bye-law (Verordening op de advocatuur) and the Civil-Law Notaries Act (Wet op het notarisambt).	Legal obligations
To exercise rights in the context of legal dispute resolution so that we can present a defence and substantiate assertions.	Legitimate interest
Insurance purposes.	Legitimate interest
Insurance purposes.	Legitimate interest Performance of contracts

With whom do we share your personal data and why?

In some cases, we can exchange your personal data among the various Houthoff entities as well as with external parties involved in our operations and services, including:

Third parties relevant to the legal services we provide, such as counterparties, other lawyers and advisers, experts, judicial authorities, regulatory authorities and government institutions;
Third parties relevant to the legal services we provide, such as counterparties, other lawyers and advisers, experts, judicial authorities, regulatory authorities and government institutions;
Third party suppliers in connection with the processing of your personal data for the purposes defined in this privacy statement, such as ICT suppliers, communication service providers or other suppliers from whom we purchase certain support services.

We will only transfer your personal data to the above-mentioned third parties for the purposes and on the bases stated in this privacy statement.

Third parties to whom we provide your personal data are themselves responsible for complying with privacy legislation. Houthoff is neither responsible nor liable for these third parties' processing of your personal data. To the extent that any third party processes your personal data in its capacity as processor for Houthoff, we will conclude a data processing agreement that meets the requirements set out in the GDPR with that third party.

Personal data transfers outside the EEA

To enable us to provide our services, it may be necessary to transfer your personal data to a recipient outside the European Economic Area (EEA). We aim to avoid this wherever possible and will ensure that any transfer is compliant with the laws and regulations applicable. For more information on the appropriate safeguards we have implemented for the situation that your personal data are transferred to a recipient outside the EEA, please contact privacy@houthoff.com.

Your rights and how we respect them

You have the following rights when your personal data are processed:

Right of access (Article 15 of the GDPR): you have the right to access your personal data processed by us. However, in some cases our options to provide copies may be limited due to legal obligations opposing this provision, such as the duty of confidentiality and lawyer-client privilege.
Right to rectification (Article 16 of the GDPR): you have the right to ask us to change your data if they are inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to erasure (Article 17 of the GDPR): under certain circumstances, you have the right to have your personal data removed, or the 'right to be forgotten'. We reserve the right, in some cases, to retain data to comply with legal obligations or to protect our legitimate interests. This can result in limitations in honouring your request.
Right to restriction (Article 18 of the GDPR): under certain circumstances, you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data, for example in the event of inaccurate data or unlawful processing.
Right to data portability (Article 20 of the GDPR): you have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format in order to reuse the data and to transfer them to another organisation.
Right to object (Article 21 of the GDPR): you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data if this processing is based on a legitimate interest, for example if you no longer wish to receive any direct marketing communications.
Withdrawal of consent (Article 7(3) of the GDPR): you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. This withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on the consent you provided before withdrawing it.

You can submit your request to us by sending an email to privacy@houthoff.com.

When exercising your rights, please make your request as specific as possible so that we are better able to assist you. Please be aware that Houthoff can request additional information to verify your identity. We observe our professional duty of confidentiality. As such, it will not always be possible to provide the information requested.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority, the Dutch Data Protection Authority. For more details on the rights you can exercise under privacy legislation, please refer to the Dutch Data Protection Authority's website.

Automated decision-making

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling.

Retention periods

We will retain your personal data no longer than necessary for the purposes stated in this privacy statement or for compliance with laws and regulations. In addition, we apply various retention periods for personal data, depending on the purpose of the processing.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you wish to have your personal data removed or would like to receive more information on our retention periods policy. For details on the retention periods applicable to your data, please contact us at privacy@houthoff.com.

The security of your personal data

We place great importance on the security of all data processed by us, including personal data. We are ISO 27001 certified. ISO 27001 is a international information security standard. In that context, appropriate technical, physical, human and organisational measures have been taken to ensure the integrity, availability and confidentiality of your data.

Our employees who have access to your personal data are in principle obliged to observe confidentiality. We use an internal policy framework and minimum data protection and information security standards, which are regularly reviewed, including on the basis of new regulations and market developments. Data protection is embedded in the design of our systems and processes. When introducing new systems or new forms of data processing, we apply the principles of 'privacy by design' and 'privacy by default'.

Our website is hosted on a server in the EU, based in Amsterdam. Our data storage is hosted on servers located on European territory.

Lastly, we have taken measures and set up processes to – if necessary – promptly notify notifiable data breaches to the relevant authorities and, in some cases, to the data subjects.

Contact

If you have any questions, requests or complaints regarding the processing of your personal data, please contact Houthoff's Compliance Officer at privacy@houthoff.com. We will handle your question, request or complaint as soon as possible and inform you of the outcome.

Amendments to this privacy statement

This privacy statement may be unilaterally amended, for example due to legislative or regulatory changes or any change in the way we process personal data. This privacy statement was most recently updated in August 2024. The most recent version is available on our website at all times.