Privacy

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) takes great care to protect personally identifiable information of all data subjects with whom ECMWF interacts.

Throughout 2018 and 2019, ECMWF has been implementing all elements of ECMWF's Policy on Personally Identifiable Information Protection (PIIP) that aims to ensure an adequate level of protection relative to the European Union’s standards reflected in Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While these standards do not directly apply to ECMWF, an inter-governmental organisation, ECMWF has chosen to provide, as controller or processor, similar and appropriate safeguards through its PIIP. PDF icon The PIIP is available to download.

Please check this website for further updates.


Data Protection and Privacy Statement

When you access the ECMWF web, some of your personal data will be collected and processed by ECMWF.

When you register on our web and agree to their terms of use, access data made available by us, register for events on our web, sign up to one of our mailing lists, submit a request for a Special Project or use any other services offered on our web, you are entering into a service contract with ECMWF. ECMWF will collect and process your personal data to process that service contract.

When you apply for a job at ECMWF, we have a legitimate interest in considering you as a candidate and manage the recruitment process.

1. Data controller

ECMWF is an inter-governmental organisation established by its Convention which entered into force on 1 November 1975 and was amended on 6 June 2010. ECMWF is supported by 34 Member and Co-operating States. In accordance with Article 16 of the Convention, ECMWF has certain privileges and immunities which are set out in its Protocol on Privileges and Immunities.

ECMWF is committed to achieving an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of individuals in respect of the processing of personal data and assume the responsibilities akin to a data controller in the context of GDPR.

ECMWF owns and operates the ECMWF web. In general, our web serves as a supporting tool for our activities in pursuance of ECMWF’s purposes and objectives as laid down in Article 2 of the Convention.

2. Categories of Data Processed

When accessing our web, your Internet Protocol (IP) address will be recorded. The IP address is a number that is automatically given to your computer and is used when you are browsing the web on the Internet. Web servers that host web pages automatically identify your computer through its IP number. It is possible to derive users' locations from their IP addresses.

Depending on the nature of the services requested, we may collect and process further personal data:

When registering on our web, the only personal data collected and further processed is the information you enter yourself in the registration form. The compulsory fields concern your name and surname, a valid email account, and your country of residence (if you provide one) as well as your sector of work (if you provide one). If you access our web as a registered user, we will also process your username you received upon successful registration.

When accessing data or software made available by us, the only personal data collected and further processed is your name, email address, country and organisation.

When registering for an event, the only personal data collected and further processed is the information you submit to us as part of the event registration process. This includes your title, name, email address, postal address (if you provide one), country, phone number (if you provide one), affiliation and position.

When signing up to one of our mailing lists, the only personal data collected and further processed is your name and email address.

When submitting a request for a Special Project, the only personal data collected and further processed is the information you enter yourself in the request. The compulsory fields concern your name, affiliation, address, email address and member state.

When you use any other services offered on our web, the only personal data collected and further processed is the information you enter yourself in the request, e.g. in an email to User Services.

When applying for a job, the only personal data collected and further processed is the information you submit to us as part of the application process. This includes your name, contact information (such as address details, phone numbers, email address), date and place of birth, gender, nationalities, military service commitment if applicable, family details, marital status, language skills, your employment and education history, qualifications, your current employment status, your employment and remuneration details, your membership in professional societies, details of the persons providing references for you, your photographic image if you provide one and any other personal data you include in your CV, cover letter or other document you provide to us during the application process.

3. Purpose(s) of the Processing

When you access our web, we may use the personal data collected to perform an analysis of the use of the services and to derive use statistics of all items and services available on the ECMWF web in order to improve service performance as well as user relations and experience.

In addition, when you register on our web, access data made available by us, register for events on our web or sign up to one of our mailing lists, submit a request for a Special Project or use any other services offered on our web and enter into a service contract with us, we collect and process your personal data to provide you with an ever-improving service experience and the products and services you have requested, including educational resources and online information portals, data, software or hardware tools and support, information updates, events and to promote our services and educational events. 

When you apply for a job, we collect and process your personal data to process your job application and manage the selection process.

The personal data you provide in registration forms will not be used for any other purpose. It will be processed in accordance with the ECMWF data protection rules.

4. Recipients of the Data Processed

For the purpose detailed above, access to your personal data is given to ECMWF. Where it is necessary in the operation of our services, we may share (or enable access to) your personal data with trusted partners including:

  • service providers or other partners who help us deliver our products and services, perform statistical analysis, manage email or postal mail services, provide user support or arrange events you elect to attend;
  • partners on whose behalf we are organising events;
  • partners who help us with managing the selection process for certain job applicants or scientific consortium partners with whom we collaborate; and
  • other international organisations.

We will only transfer personal data outside the European Economic Area or to another international organisation if we determined that adequate safeguards are in place to protect such personal data.

5. Security of your personal data

ECMWF secures your personal data from unauthorised access, use or disclosure.  Our computer servers and software applications operate in a controlled, secure environment and we adopt internationally recognised security best practice standards and techniques to manage the security of your personal information throughout its lifetime, from creation to destruction. We have implemented robust processes to deal with any suspected security incidents that may include notifying you of any breaches of your personal data.

Where you create an account to use our online services and software tools, you are responsible for keeping your password confidential.  We advise you not to share your password or use a password you commonly use otherwise as the transmission of information over the internet is not guaranteed to be secure.

6. Right of Access, Rectification, Erasure and Objection

You may ask ECMWF to access a copy of your personal data, as well as to rectify and erase any such data. If you are a registered user, in order to do either, you can request deletion of your account at any time. Deletion of the account will terminate your service contract with ECMWF. You have right to object to ECMWF processing your personal data. Any such as well as further requests you should address in writing to the ECMWF PII Protection Officer at the following addresses: pii-protection-officer@ecmwf.int or ECMWF, PII Protection Officer, Shinfield Park, Reading, RG2 9AX, United Kingdom.

7. Data Retention

The information collected and processed when accessing our web will be retained for 5 years.

The information you provide in order to enter into the service contract will be retained for the duration of this contract.

The information you provide during a job application process will be retained for 12 months. If you're successful in the application process, we will retain the information you provided during the application process, and information about your application process, as part of your employee records.

Please note that ECMWF will not be in control of personal data which it legally passed on to other data controllers.

8. Concerns and Complaints

ECMWF does not accept any liability with a view to obligations under applicable personally identifiable information legislation for any third-party website which are linked to through the ECMWF web. Please refer to the privacy policy governing each of these websites.

If you have a concern or complaint about the way that your personal data has been or is being processed, please direct it to the ECMWF PII Protection Officer, Shinfield Park, Reading, RG2 9AX, United Kingdom (pii-protection-officer@ecmwf.int).

9. Changes to this Data Protection and Privacy Statement

ECMWF will occasionally update this Data Protection and Privacy Statement to reflect organisational changes and user feedback.  We encourage you to periodically review this Data Protection and Privacy Statement to stay informed on how we use and protect your personal information. 

25 January 2023

Use of Cookies

A cookie is a small file temporarily placed on your computer, that enables the collection of the usage and statistical information we use to improve, maintain and manage the operation of the website service.  Our cookies automatically keep track of the website pages you visit to determine what services are the most popular and is only used internally for website traffic analysis and to ensure the website responds to your needs. 

We use the Google Analytics cookie which automatically collects information about your computer hardware and software that can include your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring website addresses, as well as the services you searched for, viewed, length of visits to certain pages, navigation and how you left our site.

The purpose of a cookie is to tell the web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you register to use a website service, a cookie helps ECMWF to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, so that when you return to the same ECMWF website, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the ECMWF features that you prefer.

You can accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline them if you prefer.  If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the ECMWF online services or websites you visit.