1. Who we are
The Meetern service is operated by Meetern SRL (Belgian company no. BE0735.747.671) — Avenue de Tervueren 259, 1150 Woluwe‑Saint‑Pierre, Belgium.
Privacy contact: privacy@meetern.com (and via the in‑app Help Center / chat).
Meetern acts as controller for the data collected and processed via www.meetern.com and app.meetern.com.
Data location. Our application servers, databases and backup/disaster‑recovery environments are hosted within the European Economic Area (EEA).
2. Scope
This policy applies to all users of the platform: Students (free access), Companies/Professionals (free and paid plans), and Academic Institutions (B2B contracts).
3. Data we process
We do not request special categories of personal data under the GDPR. Please avoid including such information in your profiles/documents. If you choose to provide it (e.g., in a CV), you authorise us to process it solely for the purposes described in §4.
3.1 Data you provide
- Students: identity (first/last name), contact details, school, programme/year, skills, preferences, CV/portfolio (optional), photo or .
- Companies/Professionals: company name, VAT/BCE number, sector, location, contact details, description, company pages, linked professional profiles, subscription options, billing information.
- Academic Institutions: identity and contact details of admins/referents, showcase information, internship periods/events.
3.2 Data generated by your use
Profiles and pages created on the platform, in‑app messages, filter‑based searches and profile views, visibility settings, posted content, support tickets, security events, technical logs, and aggregated usage metrics (analytics).
3.3 Data from third parties
Service providers (hosting, e‑mailing, analytics, support, B2B payment), interactions with our content on social networks (e.g., LinkedIn) — see §10 & §4 (marketing).
4. Purposes & legal bases
- Service delivery (account creation/management, profiles, company/institution pages, messaging, filter‑based search, academic CRM, basic analytics) — contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Matching: matching is performed manually through filters/sorting chosen by users. No algorithmic recommendations are used to produce decisions with legal or similarly significant effects.
- Security, fraud/abuse prevention, moderation & support (reports via Help Center/chat, detection of abnormal usage, account protection) — legitimate interest (6(1)(f)).
- B2B operations (billing, contract performance and follow‑up, debt collection) — contract/legal obligations (6(1)(b)/(c)).
- Service improvement & statistics (aggregated/anonymous measurements; A/B testing where cookies consent is required) — legitimate interest (6(1)(f)).
- Marketing; B2B references: use of company/institution name and logo (website, presentations, case studies, LinkedIn posts) — legitimate interest, with opt‑out available at any time via Support. // Natural persons (students/professionals): any identifying use (name, image, testimonial, profile excerpt) or ad audiences (e.g., uploading hashed emails to platforms) is based only on explicit consent, withdrawable at any time. For ages 15–17, consent of the legal guardian is required.
5. Minors
Registration is prohibited under age 15. For ages 15–17, registration and certain processing (marketing) require the legal guardian’s authorisation. We may request reasonable proof of such authorisation.
6. Sharing & recipients
- Processors: hosting/cloud, e‑mailing, analytics, service desk/support, anti‑spam/anti‑fraud, B2B payment.
- Hosting & cloud: application infrastructure, databases and backups are exclusively located in the EEA ([to be completed: provider, EEA country/regions]).
- Academic/Company users: access via the platform according to plan/entitlements. They are controllers for their use of data they consult (e.g., applications received) and must comply with the GDPR.
- Authorities/courts where required by law or for the defence of our rights.
7. International transfers
- No transfers outside the EEA for primary hosting and storage. Application data are hosted and stored within the EEA.
- Vendors that may involve transfers. For some categories (e‑mailing, analytics, service desk), occasional transfers outside the EEA may occur. In such cases, we apply appropriate safeguards (e.g., EU Standard Contractual Clauses), conduct a transfer risk assessment, and prioritise EU data residency or transfer‑free configurations where available.
8. Retention periods
We keep data only as long as necessary for the purposes above, then delete or anonymise them. Internal benchmarks:
- Active account: for the duration of service use.
- After account closure (or erasure request): retain for [180 days] to handle GDPR requests, prevent abuse and defend legal claims, then delete/anonymise.
- Prospects & marketing:
- B2B (professionals): up to 3 years after the last meaningful contact, or until opt‑out.
- Natural persons (students/professionals): based on consent, until withdrawal or 2 years of inactivity.
- Security logs: 12 months.
- Billing/accounting (B2B): 7 years (or other statutory periods).
- Technical backups
9. Cookies & trackers
We use necessary cookies (authentication, security, load balancing) and, subject to your consent via our banner, analyticsand, where applicable, marketing cookies.
- You can manage your preferences at any time via the Cookie Preferences Center.
- Data residency & transfers. We favour solutions offering EU data residency and/or transfer‑free modes. Otherwise, any non‑essential tracker relies on your consent, with appropriate safeguards in case of transfers outside the EEA.
10. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures: encryption in transit, access controls, vulnerability management, logging and incident detection, internal policies and training. Location & continuity. Production, backups and disaster recovery are hosted in the EEA. Backups follow a rotation policy with regular restore tests. In case of a personal data breach, we will notify the Belgian Data Protection Authority and, where required, the affected individuals.
11. Your rights
You have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection (including to marketing), and portability.
- A self‑service export is not offered; this does not affect your GDPR rights: please submit your requests via the Help Center, in‑app chat, or privacy@meetern.com. We will respond within one month (extendable under legal conditions) and provide a copy in a structured, commonly used and machine‑readable format.
- You may withdraw consent at any time (without affecting prior processing).
- You may lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD/GBA).
12. Settings & controls available to you
- Profile & information visibility: adjust visibility within the closed Meetern environment.
- Messaging: manage your conversations and report abuse.
- Third‑party access: Companies/Institutions may consult certain information according to their plan and platform permissions. Self‑service data exports are not offered to end‑users.
13. Roles & responsibilities (GDPR)
- Meetern is controller for processing related to the operation of the platform and user accounts.
- Academic Institutions and Companies are controllers for processing they perform for their own purposes (e.g., handling applications received via Meetern) and must comply with the GDPR.
- Where Meetern processes certain data on behalf of a B2B client (e.g., an institution importing a list of students), Meetern acts as processor, under a data processing agreement.
14. Changes to this policy
We may amend this policy to reflect legal or product changes. Material changes will be announced 15 days in advancebefore taking effect (except where required for legal/security reasons or to correct an obvious error). Continued use after that date constitutes acceptance.
15. Contact
- Privacy / data‑subject requests: privacy@meetern.com (or via Help Center/chat).
- Support: support@meetern.com.
- Postal address: Meetern SRL — Avenue de Tervueren 259, 1150 Woluwe‑Saint‑Pierre, Belgium.
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