Privacy & security

The EMS respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the confidentiality of your personal information. This policy explains how the EMS collects and uses Member information, and how the EMS protects your privacy. It also explains how you can manage your own personal information held in the EMS system through “My EMS” on the EMS Website – www.eurmicsoc.org

This policy applies to personal information held about individuals. It does not apply to information the EMS holds about companies and other organisations.

This general policy is in addition to any specific policies concerning specific products or services. It may be amended at any time. Please ensure that you regularly read the latest version of this Policy.       

The EMS is an association which combines a wide range of activities in the field of microscopy, including:

• Provision of Membership Services
• Collection and dissemination of scientific information

This may require the handling of personal information of the individuals involved in these activities and hence the EMS collects personal information in a number of ways from a number of sources. This information may be communicated to the EMS on paper forms received through the postal services or by fax, or electronically through several forms on the EMS Website and use of the EMS’s online services (“My EMS”).

The sources of personal information received by the EMS are:

• The individuals themselves;
• EMS Affiliated Societies providing details of their Members;

The ways in which the EMS collects personal information are:

• When you register personal details when updating a “My EMS” account on the EMS Website;
• When you, or an agent on your behalf, enter personal details on a form requesting an EMS service (e.g. when applying for an EMS Scholarship);
• When EMS Affiliated Societies provide details of their Members.

We may collect personal data about you when you use this Site, or when you apply for or use other services offered by EMS. We may collect personal data about you from applications, forms or questionnaires you may complete or agreements you enter into with us or in the course of you establishing or maintaining a relationship with us.

Further data may be collected by the EMS as a result of the use of cookies.

As a general rule, to enable the EMS to correctly identify you, to provide you with the services you have requested and to communicate with you. This information may include:

• Title, First Name(s), Family Name(s)
• EMS Affiliate National Society
• Full Postal Address
• eMail
• Password
• Optional Personal Information: if you want to post a job search ad on the EMS website, several information will be mandatory to provide. They will be linked to your personal details and published online if you select the proper option on your profile:
• A personal description
• The position you want to find
• Nationality
• Gender
• Age
• Education
• Ma diploma: University, Discipline, Research group, Supervisor Ma thesis, Title Ma thesis, Grade Ma diploma, Date Ma diploma
• PhD diploma (if relevant): University, Discipline, Research group, Supervisor PhD thesis, Title PhD thesis, Grade PhD thesis, Date PhD diploma
• Technical skills (instruments, scientific codes, programs, …)
• Materials of interest

When registering as an EMS website user, individuals must provide a valid eMail address and a password. EMS cannot give access to anyone as an EMS user without these information.

Your eMail address must be supplied when you use the EMS electronic services on the web (i.e. when you use «My EMS» on the EMS Web Site). In other circumstances the eMail address is optional.

For more information concerning eMails, please go to the section EMail Addresses.

As the EMS website does not provide online membership payment, no credit card information is collected or requested on the EMS website.

Personal information is needed by the EMS to enable it to properly manage its Member profiles. These profiles are used to enable the EMS to fulfill its role in providing a wide range of services to its Members and Affiliate Societies. Personal information may be used for internal EMS purposes by authorized EMS staff.

The personal information which you supply may be specifically used to:

• Enable the EMS to provide you with the services you request;
• Enable the EMS to communicate with you about specific matters;
• Enable the EMS to send you information about EMS activities which it believes may interest you.

Personal data collected about you may be used to verify your identity and eligibility, to provide information to you in your field of interest that we believe may be of interest to you, to record your interest in services that we offer, and to respond properly to your requests for information. Furthermore, we may use such personal data to contact you in order to announce new services or events, for service improvement studies or for internal research.

EMS may use the personal data stored about you jointly with your national affiliate society. EMS do not sell, rent or otherwise disclose to any third party any personal data about the Users, except with such person’s consent or as otherwise permitted or required by law.

EMS does not provide EMS members contact information to third parties for survey distribution purposes. Further, EMS does not distribute surveys to its membership on behalf of third parties.

The EMS website is not set up to track, collect or distribute personal information about its visitors. It does recognize the home server of visitors, but not eMail addresses. For example, in the non-password protected areas of the EMS website, EMS can determine which Internet service provider our visitors use, but not the names, addresses or other information about our visitors that would allow us to identify the particular visitors to our site. Once a member or customer logs into the EMS website, it is possible to determine which areas of the website they visited.

The only third party that will have access to members profiles information is the Company in charge of hosting and managing the website features for EMS. This third party company signed a non-disclosure agreement with the EMS and will not use or provide EMS members information to third parties.

If you are a Member of one of the EMS Affiliate National Societies, your information will be kept in the EMS system while you continue to be a Member of this National Society, even if you do not use EMS services during that time.

Member profiles are updated:

• by you when you edit your personal information in your “My EMS” account;
• on an annual basis by each Affiliate National Society

We will store your personal data, in accordance with the applicable law, for so long as such data is needed for the purposes set out in this Policy.

Electronic communication is for most purposes the EMS’s preferred method of communication because it is generally convenient, rapid, effective and efficient. In order to be able to communicate with you directly electronically the EMS needs your eMail address. You are therefore required to supply your eMail address which enables you to access the EMS services online.

For your convenience and security, your eMail address is unique to you in the system (the EMS does not permit two different persons to have the same eMail address in the system). You are strongly recommended to use an eMail address which is personal to you and that is not shared with others. This is to ensure that communications which are sent to you personally are not read by others, and that others do not gain access to the information in your «My EMS» account.

Additionally, the unique eMail permits automated retrieval of your log-in details, which are sent to your personal eMail address.

The EMS respects the privacy of personal eMail addresses and complies with the current legislation on eMail communication. The objective is not to send you unwanted messages, and your eMail details will not be passed on to any other individual or organisation without your explicit permission.

Without your specific ‘Opt In’ to receive eMailings from the EMS you may receive eMails concerning:

• Events that may be interesting to EMS members;
• EMS Newsletters;
• Emails about activities or scientific information specifically concerning microscopy.

You can manage the extent to which the EMS communicates with you by using the e-News section in your «My EMS» profile. Here you are asked to indicate whether or not you wish to receive EMS generated eMails.

If you decide that you do wish to receive eMail communications from the EMS you can select which categories of news interest you. All mailings sent to you offer the possibility to unsubscribe.

If you indicate that you do not wish to receive EMS generated eMails you will only receive eMails directly related to the transactions you have with the EMS (e.g. confirmation of application, etc.) and other necessary individual communications.

The EMS Website may request, from time to time, participation – and consequently additional information – from its users via surveys or contests. The individual participation to these surveys or contests will be completely voluntary and the information gathered by these submitted to the actual terms of use constraints.

The EMS complies with EC directives and is registered under the laws of The Netherlands, and takes all reasonable care to prevent any unauthorised access to your personal data. The EMS staff and contractors have a responsibility to keep your information confidential.

The EMS does not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others. The EMS may supply your information to its contractors to perform specific services (such as to the company that hosts the EMS website and develops its features). Otherwise, the EMS does not disclose personal information to any other person or organisation without your consent.

You have the absolute right to access, amend, and oppose the use of, your personal data. When you visit «My EMS» you have direct control over the information in your personal profile. You can access and change this information at any time from your «My EMS» section.

If you want to know exactly what personal information the EMS holds on you, you can obtain it. If it transpires that the information is inaccurate, or you wish to oppose its use in future, the EMS will make the necessary amendments and confirm that these have been made. Please contact the EMS in either of the following ways:

• Online through our ‘Contact Us’ page.
• In writing to:

Prof. Dr. Virginie SERIN
CEMES - CNRS
Centre d’Élaboration de Matériaux et d’Etudes Structurales (UPR 8011)
29, rue Jeanne Marvig, BP 94347
31055 Toulouse Cedex 4
France
Tel: (+33)-5- 62-25-78-67 Fax: (+33)-5 -62-25-79-99

The EMS encourages its Members to update and correct their personal information regularly online. A review and update section is included on the EMS website under “My EMS” section to make these changes.

We restrict access to personal data we store about you to those employees or other parties who need access to such data in order to provide services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your personal data, including firewalls, individual passwords and encryption and authentication technology, and take all other necessary and adequate administrative, technical, personnel, and physical measures to safeguard the same against loss, theft, unauthorized use, disclosure, or modification and to ensure its integrity.

Please note, however, that data transported over an open network, such as the Internet or eMail, may be accessible to anybody. EMS cannot guarantee, and is not responsible for, the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted via such open networks. When disclosing any personal data via an open network, you should remain mindful of the fact that it is potentially accessible to others, and consequently, can be collected and used by others without your consent. In particular, while individual data packets are often encrypted, the names of the sender and recipient are not.

Even if both the sender and recipient are located in the same country data may also be transmitted via such networks to other countries regularly and without controls, including countries that do not afford the same level of data protection as your country of domicile.

Your data may be lost during transmission or may be accessed by unauthorised parties. We do not accept any liability for direct or indirect losses as regards the security of your data during its transfer via Internet. Please use other means of communication if you think this is necessary or prudent for security reasons.

Cookies are strings of information that are sent out by a website and saved in your computer. We may use session specific cookies and “web bugs” to automatically collect data about website usage when you visit this Site, including your IP address, “click-stream” data regarding the portions of the site that you visit and the information or other services you obtain or input (including domain name, Internet service provider, protocol, browser type, operating system etc.). This information is collected primarily for purposes of administering the Site, compiling demographic information and monitoring usage and performance of the Site. If you turn off the cookie function you may not receive all the information on this Site.

We may use cookies or web bugs on such portions of our Site to collect Usage Information, and to facilitate your movement within the Site (e.g. remembering passwords during a session and recording the country you may have elected as your country of residence). You can set your internet browser to notify you before you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether to accept it. You can also set your browser to turn off cookies. If you do so, you may not be able to use the online services offered through «My EMS».

The EMS Website contains links to other websites (“hyperlinks”). Please be aware that the EMS is not responsible for the privacy policies of other sites. We recommend that you read the policies used by these websites, and check how these websites protect your personal data and whether they are trustworthy.

You do not need to register to access most of the EMS Website, but you do have to register to use personal services online and access certain web content.

The details you supply the EMS through your EMS Affiliate National Society may be combined with information from intern EMS records to:

• Provide you with online services like Applications to Scholarships;
• Save you having to keep giving the same information for different EMS services;
• Allow you to access specific web content reserved for «My EMS» users;
• Help you to get more out of the EMS by keeping you up-to-date about EMS activities, scientific developments and products and services by eMail (Note: This is an ‘Opt-In’ service only).

«My EMS» enables you to manage your personal information held by the EMS. If you are a Member of the EMS, or if you use EMS services, a record will exist for you which you can potentially access by logging in online through:

• Use of your existing login details (username and password), if you have already used the EMS online services (‘Members Login’);
• The ‘Retrieve your Login’ feature which, if your eMail address is recognised, will automatically send details of your username and a newly generated password (for your protection) to the eMail address given;
• Requesting your login details to be sent to you through ‘Contact Us'.

When matched, Membership and other information regarding services used (e.g. applications, CV) will be assign to your account, and previous personal details held in the EMS system will be replaced by the new ones you entered.

Once logged in to your «My EMS» account, you can easily view and up-date your personal details, eMail address, username and password.

Additionally, you can manage whether or not you wish to be kept informed by eMail of EMS activities and services. The EMS also asks you to provide optional information about your education and activities in order to complete your own CV that you can choose to put online in the “Job” section.

If you any further questions about the EMS Privacy and Security Policy or its implementation, or if at any time you believe that the EMS has not adhered to the principles stated in this Policy, please contact us.

By accessing or using the EMS website, you agree to this Statement and Responsibilities:

1. Users will not post any false personal information on the EMS website.
2. Users will keep their contact information accurate and up to date.
3. Users will not post content or take any action on the EMS website that infringes or violates the rights of another individual or otherwise violates the law.
4. Users will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.
5. Users will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.
6. Users will not upload viruses or other malicious code.
7. Users will not do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working of the EMS website, such as a denial of service attack.
8. Users will not use the EMS website to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.
9. Users will not use EMS copyrights, or any confusingly similar trademarks, without EMS’s written permission.
10. Users will not post anyone’s identification documents or sensitive financial information on the EMS website.
11. Users will not solicit log-in information or access an account belonging to another user.
12. Users will not share their password, let anyone else access their account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of their account.
13. Users will not transfer their account to anyone.
14. When reporting or referencing a post on another site, users will provide a link to the original post or story.
15. Users will not engage in unlawful multi-level marketing, such as pyramid schemes, on the EMS website.
16. Users will not collect users’ content or information, or otherwise access the EMS website, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers).
17. Users will not post any confidential or proprietary information.
18. Users will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on the EMS website.
19. Users will not further their own personal or private commercial interests via the EMS website.
20. Users will not facilitate or encourage any violations of this Statement.

The EMS reserves the right to remove any content or information posted on the EMS website or disable an account as appropriate or even to stop providing all or part of the EMS website if it believes that a user is violating the terms and/or spirit of this Statement or otherwise creating possible legal exposure for the EMS. The EMS will then notify the user by eMail directly or the next time the user attempts to access his/her account.

If any portion of this Statement is found to be unenforceable, the remaining portion will remain in full force and effect. If we fail to enforce any of this Statement, it will not be considered a waiver. Nothing in this Statement shall prevent the EMS from complying with the law.

Effective Date:

This policy has been most recently revised in August, 2015. It will continue in effect until further notice from the EMS. Modifications to this policy shall be posted as the “Privacy Policy” linked to the EMS homepage.