Privacy Policy

The Via Pontica Foundation respects your right to privacy. This policy explains what personal data is processed in connection with this website, on what legal basis, how long it is kept and what rights you have. We have tried to keep it short and readable rather than fill it with legal boilerplate.

Who processes your data

The data controller is the Via Pontica Foundation, UIC 176942493, a non-profit legal entity established in Bulgaria.

• Registered seat: 20 Petrova Niva Str., Marinka 8154, Burgas Municipality, Bulgaria
• Office: 1 Ivan Vazov Blvd., floor 2, office 1, Burgas 8000, Bulgaria
• E-mail: office@viapontica.org
• Telephone: +359 898 35 01 03

The foundation has not appointed a data protection officer. For any question concerning your personal data, please write to the e-mail address above.

What data we process and on what basis

When you browse the website

The hosting provider’s server automatically logs technical information about each request — IP address, date and time, the address of the requested page, browser type and operating system. These records serve to keep the site secure and operational and to detect abuse. Legal basis: legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation).

When you write to us

The website has no contact form. If you send us an e-mail or call us, we process the data you have provided yourself — name, e-mail address, telephone number and the content of your message — solely in order to reply and to keep track of the correspondence. Legal basis: legitimate interest, or Article 6(1)(b) where the message relates to the conclusion or performance of a contract.

When you like a post

There is a like button under the blog posts. If you use it, the site stores your IP address together with the post number and the time of the vote. The sole purpose is to prevent the same visitor from voting repeatedly. Legal basis: legitimate interest.

When you take part in a procurement notice

In the “Announcements” section we publish calls for tenders and contractor selection procedures under publicly funded projects. When you submit an offer, we process the personal data it contains — names, contact details, details of the entity you represent, the price offered and the accompanying documents. This data is used to run the procedure, to conclude a contract and to report to the funding authorities. Legal basis: Article 6(1)(b) (steps prior to entering into a contract) and Article 6(1)(c) (compliance with a legal obligation arising from the rules of the relevant programme).

What we do not do

• We do not use Google Analytics or any other web analytics system
• We do not use advertising or tracking technologies, nor social media pixels
• We do not carry out profiling or automated decision-making
• We do not sell, rent or exchange personal data
• The site has no user registration, no newsletter and no contact form

Who receives the data

We do not pass personal data to third parties for their own purposes. Data reaches the following providers, acting either as processors on our instructions or as independent controllers for their own services:

• SuperHosting.BG — hosting of the website and technical handling of e-mail
• Google Workspace (Google Ireland Limited) — our organisational e-mail
• YouTube and Google Maps (Google Ireland Limited) — only if you click the button to load a video or a map yourself; until then nothing is sent to Google
• Competent authorities, auditing and funding institutions — where we have a legal obligation or an obligation under a grant agreement

Google may also process data outside the European Economic Area. For such cases the transfer relies on the standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission.

How long we keep the data

Data	Retention period
Server logs	In line with the hosting provider’s standard practice — normally up to a few months
E-mail correspondence	Up to 3 years after the exchange ends; for project-related correspondence, for the period required by the relevant programme
Documents from contractor selection procedures	For the retention period set by the rules of the funding programme (usually up to 5 years after the final payment)
IP address recorded when liking a post	Up to 12 months
Cookies	See the Cookie Policy

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have the right to:

• obtain access to your personal data and a copy of it (Article 15)
• request rectification of inaccurate data (Article 16)
• request erasure of the data (Article 17)
• request restriction of processing (Article 18)
• receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format (Article 20)
• object to processing based on legitimate interest (Article 21)
• withdraw your consent at any time where processing is based on consent

To exercise any of these rights, write to us at office@viapontica.org. We reply within one month. We may ask for further information in order to be sure that the request comes from you.

If you believe that we process your data unlawfully, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Commission for Personal Data Protection of Bulgaria — 2 Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov Blvd., Sofia 1592, kzld@cpdp.bg, www.cpdp.bg. You may also bring the matter before a court.

Security

The site runs over a secure connection (HTTPS). Access to the administration area is limited to designated people and protected by passwords. The software in use is kept up to date. No measure offers a complete guarantee, however — if we learn of a security breach that poses a risk to your rights, we will notify the supervisory authority and you as required by law.

Children

The site is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal data of persons under 14 years of age. If we find that we have received such data without parental consent, we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy if our services or the way we process data change. The date of the latest update is shown at the top of the page.