Privacy Statement on Personal Data

The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) respects your privacy and fully complies with the Greek and European regulation GDPR.

This Privacy Statement informs you about our practices for protecting privacy and the choices you have regarding the way we collect information about you and your online activity and how we use it. This statement is directly available from our main page https://www.hssmge.gr/ and at the bottom of every page of the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) website.

When developing privacy policies and standards of the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE), we observe and take into account all fundamental principles and frameworks worldwide, including the OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data, EU Directive 95/46/EC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Privacy Framework, and the Madrid Resolution on International Privacy Standards.

The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) has also established a set of binding corporate rules, which have been approved by all data protection regulatory authorities in the European Economic Area. These rules ensure appropriate protection of the personal data of covered individuals in the European Economic Area when processed by any entity of the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE).

The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) is committed to resolving privacy-related complaints and issues concerning the collection or use of personal information. Furthermore, the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) undertakes to report any unresolved privacy complaints from EU citizens or residents regarding the transfer of their personal data under the principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism.

The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) collects personal data of visitors/users only when they voluntarily provide it. Personal data means information that can be used to identify or contact an individual as well as other information relating to that individual. The administrator may use such data for informational purposes or to make suggestions about new offers, unless the user opts out. The website administrator will not sell, transfer, or otherwise disclose visitors’/users’ personal data to unrelated third parties, without the user’s consent, except where required by law to competent authorities.

Scope of this Privacy Statement

The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) is an organization with legal entities, business processes, management structures, and technical systems that cross borders. This Privacy Statement applies to all websites, domains, services, applications, and products owned by the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE), except where a specific privacy policy or statement related to a particular program, product, or service of the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) may override this Privacy Statement or complement it.

Links to Websites not belonging to the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE)

The websites or services of the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) may provide links to third-party applications, products, services, or websites for your convenience and information. If you use those links, you will no longer be on the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) website. The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) does not control these third-party websites or their privacy practices, which may differ from those of the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE). We do not endorse or make any representations about third-party sites. Personal data you choose to disclose or that is collected by such third parties is not covered by this Privacy Statement. We recommend that you review the privacy policy of every site you interact with before allowing the collection and use of your personal data.

The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) may also send you informational electronic or postal mail content corresponding to your field of expertise and provide social media features that enable you to share information within your social networks and interact with the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) on various social media sites. Use of these features may result in the collection or sharing of information about you, depending on the feature. We recommend you check the privacy policies and settings on the social networking sites with which you interact to ensure that you understand what information may be collected, used, and disclosed by those sites.

Collection of Personal Information

The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) collects, exports, and uses personal information to better serve you and personalize your experience and interaction with the Society. Such collection is conducted with appropriate notice and with your consent, as well as the necessary procedures required by data protection authorities, where applicable.

The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) may collect personal information from you to complete various transactions, such as:

• ordering products or services, activations, and registrations
• creating profiles and user verification
• requests for information
• subscriptions to marketing or support services
• participation in competitions or surveys

The types of personal information you provide may include contact details such as name, address, telephone number, and email address; other unique information such as user IDs and passwords, product and service preferences, communication preferences; your corporate contact details may also be provided to the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) by a designated entity within your company (such as an IT department member). If you post, comment, express interest or complaint, or share personal information including photos in any public forum on an HSSMGE website, social network, blog, or similar forum, you should be aware that any information you submit may be read, viewed, collected, or used by other users of these forums and could be used to contact you, send unsolicited messages, or for purposes beyond your or HSSMGE’s control. The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) is not responsible for the personal information you choose to submit in such forums.

In addition to the information you provide, the Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) may also collect information during your visit to an HSSMGE website, an application provided through the web, or a website “powered by” another company on behalf of HSSMGE, through automated data collection tools, including web beacons, cookies, and embedded web links. These tools collect certain traffic information that your browser sends to a website, such as your browser type and language, access times, and the address of the website you came from. They may also collect information about your Internet Protocol (IP) address, your device’s unique identifier, your clickstream behavior (i.e., the pages you view, the links you follow, and other actions you take in connection with HSSMGE websites or supported websites), as well as product information. HSSMGE may also use some of these automated data collection tools in connection with certain email communications and newsletters, and therefore may collect information using these tools when you open the email or click a link contained therein. To learn more, please read the section on how HSSMGE uses automated data collection tools.

Cookies Policy

A “cookie” is a small data file transferred from a website to your computer. The Hellenic Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (HSSMGE) and our partner services send cookies when you browse our website. By accepting cookies, you give us access to information about how you use our website, which may be used by us and/or our partners, anonymously, to personalize your browsing experience.

The two (2) types of cookies we use are:

• Session cookies: they do not remain on your computer after you close your browser
• Persistent cookies: they remain on your computer until you delete them or they expire

Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can refuse them by adjusting your browser settings.