Legal information

The website focusonbelgium.be is edited by the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of Belgium, hereinafter referred to as the FPS Foreign Affairs.

The publication director is the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

 
Liability

The FPS Foreign Affairs undertakes to do its utmost to ensure users have access to the site at all times. However, it may not be held responsible in the event of the site being unavailable for whatever reason.

The site's users acknowledge having read this legal notice and undertake to comply with it.

Users acknowledge having the competence and the means necessary to access the site and use it and acknowledge having checked that the computer configuration used does not contain any viruses and that it is in perfect working order.

The FPS Foreign Affairs cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information distributed via its site, nor the permanency of its good functioning or its complete IT security.

The FPS Foreign Affairs does its utmost to offer users available and verified information and tools, but may not be held responsible for any errors, lack of availability of information and/or the presence of viruses or other infections on its site.

The information supplied by the FPS Foreign Affairs is for information purposes. The FPS Foreign Affairs is unable to guarantee the complete accuracy, completeness and up-to-date nature of the information distributed via its site.

Users understand that they are solely responsible for using the information and tools available on the site.

 
Personal Data Protection

Personal data processed in the frame of the site focusonbelgium.be is integrated into the FPS Foreign Affairs' register of processing operations.

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the FPS Foreign Affairs, which is responsible for processing, informs users that it processes their personal data. The information communicated by users via the forms available on the site are destined for use by staff certified by the FPS Foreign Affairs for administrative purposes.

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), users have the right to access, query, modify and rectify their personal data.

They also have the right to oppose the processing of their personal data for legitimate reasons.

To exercise their rights, users must send an email to the Data Protection Officer of the FPS Foreign Affairs, accompanied by a scan of their signed identity document, at the following address: dpo@diplobel.fed.be.

Rules concerning personal privacy protection are available in the "Privacy Policy" section of our website.

Users are also informed that, when visiting the site, a cookie may be installed automatically on their browser. Rules concerning cookies are available in the "Cookies Policy" section of our website.

 
Copyright

The website focusonbelgium.be as a whole, as well as each of the elements that make it up when taken individually, especially content, including data, text, fixed or animated images, logotypes, audio, graphics, files, are the exclusive property of the FPS Foreign Affairs or third parties which have granted it a licence. Any complete or partial representation of the site or of one of the elements which make it up without the express authorisation of the FPS Foreign Affairs is forbidden and constitutes an infringement sanctioned by the Economic Code on intellectual property rights.

Databases appearing on the site are protected by the Economic Code on intellectual property rights and any qualitatively or quantitatively substantial extraction or reuse of the content of these databases may be sanctioned.

The brands and logotypes that appear on the site are trademarks registered by the FPS Foreign Affairs or by third parties. Any reproduction, imitation or use, whether total or partial, of these distinctive signs without express authorisation and in violation of the prohibitions provided for in the Economic Code on intellectual property rights incur the liability of their author.

The other distinctive signs, in particular the brands and domain names reproduced on the site, are the property of the FPS Foreign Affairs or third parties and any reproduction without express authorisation may constitute theft incurring the liability of its author on the basis of Article 1382 of the Civil Code.

 
Links

The FPS Foreign Affairs reserves the right to delete links proposed by its site to a third party if it is likely to be contrary to the basic principles of the ethical code of the civil service.

The site's users cannot create a permanent link to this site without the FPS Foreign Affairs' prior written agreement.

 
Professional electronic messages

The electronic mail addresses of the FPS Foreign Affairs and each of its members are reserved for professional use. Professional documents destined for the FPS Foreign Affairs should be sent to these professional electronic mail addresses. In the frame of employees' right to a private life outside of work, the rules of the FPS Foreign Affairs are as follows:

  • the use of professional email for sending or receiving private messages is only possible within the limits of the right to a private life outside of work;
  • the subject of the electronic message must contain the term "PERSONAL-PRIVATE";
  • failing that, the message will not be processed automatically as a private electronic mail.

 
Applicable law

This site is governed by Belgian law.

 
Modification

The FPS Foreign Affairs reserves the right to modify the content of this legal notice at any time and without prior notice. Therefore, users are invited to consult it regularly.

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