1) Identification of the Data Controller
Mercantel Aveiro, located at Cais dos Mercanteis, no. 13, Aveiro, hereinafter referred to simply as Mercantel, is the data controller responsible for the processing of your personal data, whether by automated means or otherwise, from its collection and organisation through to its storage and deletion.

2) Information and Consent
The General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, hereinafter referred to simply as the “GDPR”), ensures the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data. Under the law, “personal data” is defined as any information, of any nature and regardless of its medium, including sound and images, relating to an identified or identifiable natural person; consequently, the protection does not cover data relating to legal persons. By accepting this Personal Data Protection and Privacy Policy, the data subject gives their informed, express, free and unambiguous consent for the personal data provided to be included in a file under the responsibility of Mercantel, the processing of which, in accordance with the GDPR, complies with appropriate technical and organisational security measures. The data contained in this database consists solely of the data provided by the data subject at the time of their contact with Mercantel, and is collected and processed automatically by Mercantel. Under no circumstances will information be requested regarding philosophical or political beliefs, party or trade union membership, religious faith, private life, or racial or ethnic origin, nor will data relating to health or sex life, including genetic data, be requested.
The Mercantel team reserves the right to amend this agreement without prior notice. We therefore recommend that you consult our privacy policy regularly to ensure you are always up to date.

3) Necessity and Purpose of Personal Data Processing
3.1. All personal information collected from you will be used to help make your visit to our website as productive, enjoyable and dynamic as possible. Ensuring the confidentiality of our website users’ personal data is important to Mercantel.
3.1.1. Your personal data is processed because it is necessary for the negotiation, conclusion and/or performance of a contract, to comply with legal obligations imposed on Mercantel, to pursue Mercantel’s legitimate interests, or because you have given your consent.
3.2. The personal data we process will be used solely for the following purposes:
a) To communicate with users regarding any updates to our services and policies, as well as promotions and exclusive offers;
b) Communicating with customers and answering queries;
c) Processing requests for information;
d) Handling complaints;
e) Preventing and combating fraud;
f) Studying and researching how users and visitors use the services;
g) Requesting feedback on purchased products or services;
h) Conducting satisfaction surveys;
i) Providing periodic information about the content of the Website, in accordance with the notification preferences configured by each user;
j) Collection of debts arising from the supply of goods and provision of services, based either on the performance of contracts or on its legitimate interest in enforcing its right to such collection.
3.2.1. Under no circumstances may the Data Controller:
a) sell or rent any personal data collected on this website, for any reason whatsoever;
b) use any personal data collected on this website for marketing or any
commercial purpose.

4) Disclosure of Personal Data
Mercantel may disclose personal data to third parties engaged by it to comply with legal requirements applicable under Portuguese and EU law.

5) Security Measures
Mercantel declares that it has implemented and will continue to implement the necessary security measures to ensure the security of any personal data provided to it, with a view to preventing its alteration, loss, unauthorised processing and/or access. Taking into account the current state of technology, the nature of the data stored and the risks to which it is exposed, personal data is processed with the level of protection required by law.
Whenever Mercantel accesses any personal data, it undertakes to:
a) Store it using security measures required by law;
b) Use the data exclusively for the purposes previously defined;
c) Ensure that the data is processed only by staff whose involvement is necessary for the provision of the service, and who are bound by a duty of secrecy and confidentiality.

6) Retention of Personal Data
Personal data processed for any purpose shall not be retained for longer than is necessary for that purpose and, in any event, for no longer than one year from the date of granting this consent or, if you have entered into a service contract with us, for the duration of the contract plus the limitation and expiry periods of the associated rights. After this period, Mercantel may still retain such data to comply with legal obligations and/or for statistical purposes, in which case it must anonymise the data for the latter purpose.

7) Procedures for accessing Personal Data
a) Every user has the right to access all their personal data and information collected through this service and to find out how that information is processed. If you wish to know what personal data and information has been collected, you should contact Mercantel in writing, by email to Mercantel
(geral@mercantel.pt) responsible for this service, in accordance with the procedure
set out in the Terms of Service (link).
b) The right to rectification of your data – the data subject has the right to obtain, without undue delay, from the controller the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning them.
c) The right to erasure of your data – the data subject has the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of all or part of their personal data, without undue delay, where such data are no longer necessary for the purpose for which they were collected or processed, where the data subject withdraws the consent on which the processing is based (where the processing is based on consent) and where there is no legal basis for such processing, and also where the data subject objects to the processing and there are no legitimate interests justifying it. Where any of these cases apply, the data controller is obliged to erase the data subject’s personal data without undue delay.
d) The right to restriction of processing in relation to the data subject – where the accuracy of the personal data is contested, for a period enabling the controller to verify its accuracy, and also where the data subject has objected to the processing, until it is established that the legitimate grounds of the controller override those of the data subject.
e) The right to object to processing – where processing is carried out for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by Mercantel, the data subject has the right to object at any time, on grounds relating to their particular situation, to the processing of personal data concerning them. The data controller shall cease processing the personal data, unless it can demonstrate legitimate and lawful grounds for such processing that override the interests, rights and freedoms of the data subject, or for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending a legal claim in court proceedings.
f) the right to data portability – the data subject has, under the terms and conditions laid down by law, the right to receive the personal data concerning them which they have provided to a controller
g) The right to withdraw consent at any time – if the processing of data is based on consent, the data subject has the right to withdraw their consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out on the basis of consent previously given.
If you wish to exercise any of the rights mentioned in points (a) to (g), please contact us in writing via email at geral@mercantel.pt

8. Links to Third-Party Websites
a) Mercantel contains links to other websites which, in our view, may contain useful information or tools for our visitors. Our privacy policy does not apply to third-party websites; therefore, if you visit another website from ours, you should read that website’s privacy policy.
We are not responsible for the privacy policy or content on these websites.

It is precisely within this framework of total customer focus that Mercantel makes a serious commitment to its customers. In this regard, Mercantel has the following objectives:
– Total customer satisfaction as the basis for business success, providing the best solutions;
– To comply with all requirements regarding the handling of suggestions and complaints;
– To foster customer loyalty and stand out positively in the market, through the personalisation and freedom offered to the customer in the solutions provided;
– To ensure a commitment to meeting all customer service requirements, with careful procedures aligned with its objectives;
– Build relationships of trust with partners in order to promote the best solution for the customer;
– Ensure professionalism, which enables the improvement of service quality, guaranteeing greater competitiveness for the company and its partners, and greater job satisfaction for its employees;
– Develop values such as innovation, creativity and
personalisation, recognising, promoting and establishing improvement projects with partners;
– Always ensure strict compliance with regulations.

In this way, Mercantel is able to provide a service of excellence that is constantly evolving, is committed to continuous innovation and provides its employees with the necessary means to honour this commitment.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS VERSION OF THE POLICY
The current version of the privacy policy is 2.0.
It is valid from 20 March 2023 until a new version of the policy is made available.