The NEED project
The NEED project is coordinated by The Belgian Healthcare Knowledge Centre – KCE and Sciensano (hereinafter referred to as “the NEED consortium”. Prof. dr. Robby De Pauw (Sciensano) is hosting this website.
General data processing policy
You are entitled to respect for your private life and, in this context, to the protection of your personal data. These data are those that allow us to identify you directly or indirectly, for example first name, name, e-mail address ...
The NEED consortium would like to inform you about the way in which your personal data is collected, processed and used.
The declaration applies to data from users of our website, our suppliers, our external experts, or our public or private partners.
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The NEED consortium reserves the right to modify this privacy statement and policy at any time. The current version can be consulted on the NEED website.
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1. What personal data is collected and processed by the NEED consortium?
a. Visitor to our website
When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain information. This includes your IP address and the dates, times and frequency you access our site and how you browse its content. This information is collected to improve the usability of the site for visitors (e.g. by retaining the choice of language) and to compile site usage statistics.
We collect this data automatically through the use of cookies. Cookies do not cause any damage to your computer. If you wish to refuse cookies, you can find instructions on how to refuse them in the most commonly used browsers here: Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari. You can also adjust your preferences at https://www.youronlinechoices.com/ and https://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN (US visitors).
The following cookies are used for the NEED website:
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are a minimal need for the website to work well
- cookie-agreed: indicates whether or not the visitor accepts cookies. Lifespan: 3 months.
- cookie-agreed-version: remembers the accepted version of the cookie banner. Lifespan: 3 months.
- cookie-agreed-categories: remembers accepted cookie categories. Lifespan: 3 months.
Analytical cookies/performance cookies
These cookies analyze how our website is used, which pages are most visited, where problems occur, etc. This allows us to improve our website and keep your user experience optimal.
- _pk_ses*: is placed by Matomo and is used to temporarily store data for the visit. Lifetime: 30 minutes.
- _pk_id*: Set by Matomo and used to store some details about the user, such as the unique visitor ID. Lifespan: 13 months.
- _pk_ref*: Posted by Matomo and used to store the attribute information, the referrer originally used to visit the website. Lifetime: 6 months.
- _pk_cvar*: is placed by Matomo and is used to temporarily store data for the visit. Lifetime: 30 minutes.
Targeting cookies
- These cookies analyze your surfing behavior to show advertisements that match your interests and profile. Such cookies generally come from third parties (such as Google) who collect information and also provide the advertisements based on them.
- NID: placed by Google and used to serve Google ads in Google services to logged out users. Lifespan: 6 months.
- PREF: placed by Google on youtube videos to store information such as the user's preferred page settings and playback preferences such as autoplay, content shuffle, and player size. Lifespan: 8 months.
- 1P_JAR: used for targeting purposes to build a profile of the website visitor's interests and thus show relevant and personalized Google ads. Lifespan: 1 month.
- CONSENT: placed by Google. Lifespan 10+ years.
- YSC: placed by Google and used to remember user input and associate a user's actions with it. Lifetime: end of session.
b. Subscriber to our mailing lists
You can subscribe to our mailing lists through our website, so that we can keep you regularly informed about the topics you have chosen. To do so, you must provide us with your name, first name, e-mail address and organisation. We only collect and process these data in connection with your request for information.
For this service the NEED consortium uses AcyMailing as a subcontractor. By filling in the form on our website and sending it to us, you accept that the information you provide will be transferred to AcyMailing to be processed in accordance with AcyMailing 's privacy policy and conditions. AcyMailing is committed to processing data in accordance with the general data protection regulation.
We will keep your data until you cancel your subscription to this service. The effective retention may be some time after your cancellation due to backup copies of the data made and stored by the ICT service provider (or one of its subcontractors). Nevertheless, they will be deleted as soon as possible.
c. External expert consulted by the NEED consortium
If you are an external expert for NEED consortium, we may collect and process certain personal data about you in order to manage and follow-up your work as an external expert. This concerns the data that you communicate via the external expert identification form: name, first name, postal address and e-mail address, professional data and, where applicable, bank details necessary for the payment of your services, or for drawing up a fiscal sheet.
Without your explicit consent, we will not process the data for any use other than the management and follow-up of the services we requested of you. With your consent, we will keep your professional data in order to be able to contact you again within the context of the NEED project activities. We will only share your data with our subcontractors (e.g. accounting office) to the extent necessary for the performance of their tasks or in cases provided for by law.
d. Other suppliers / subcontractors / public and private partners
If you are a supplier, subcontractor or other partner, public or private, of the NEED consortium, we are required to collect and process certain personal data, albeit limited. These are the contact details of the persons who are in charge of the contract or professional relationship between the NEED consortium and your company or institution.
The data in question are: name, first name, company/institution, e-mail, telephone number, and address.
Without your explicit consent, we will not process the data for any use other than the management and follow-up of our professional relationship. We will only share your data with our subcontractors (e.g. accountancy office) to the extent necessary for the performance of their tasks or in the cases provided for by law.
e. Processing of personal data for scientific research in the context of NEED consortium studies
Within the framework of its mission, NEED consortium carries out analyses on the basis of coded (pseudonymised) data and must therefore have access to certain personal data relating to the health of Belgian citizens.
For many studies, the NEED consortium accesses data mainly via:
- the Federal Public Service (FPS) Public Health,
- the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (RIZIV-INAMI),
- the Technical Cell (TCT),
- the Intermutualistic Agency (IMA-AIM) and/or the sickness funds directly,
- the Belgian Cancer Registry,
- and others.
In most cases, however, for example for the communication of data from IMA-AIM to the NEED consortium, or in the case of data linkage of several sources, NEED consortium requests authorisation from the Social Security and Health Chamber of the Information Security Committee ("ISC") to process the data. The decisions of the ISC are public and can be consulted on its website.
In such requests, the NEED consortium must clearly describe the data concerned, the purpose and proportionality of the proposed processing, as well as the measures taken to ensure the confidentiality of the source data and compliance with the applicable legislation on the protection of personal data. Only after authorisation by the ISC shall the data be made available to the NEED consortium. The data are kept for a period of time determined in the authorisation of the ISC.
The NEED consortium collects also personal data directly from the citizens and patients.This is usually done by means of surveys, interviews or focus groups. These data are collected exclusively on the basis of the informed consent of the data subject, to whom the conditions and modalities of the processing, as well as his or her rights, are explained. These data are not communicated to third parties, except where subcontractors are used for research or technical solutions. In this case, these subcontractors act on behalf and under the responsibility of the NEED consortium.
2. Purposes and legal basis of processing
We process the data we collect for the purpose of managing the services you request (e.g. mailing list registration), and/or managing our relationship with you as a supplier, partner, or external expert. In principle, we collect and process your data on the basis of the contractual relationship we have with you and for legal obligations. If the processing is not necessary for the fulfilment of the contractual or pre-contractual relationship, it is based on your explicit consent.
3. Is the data disclosed to third parties?
The NEED consortium will only share your data with its subcontractors to the extent necessary for the performance of their tasks or as required by law. This sharing is done under a subcontracting agreement to ensure an equivalent level of data protection and confidentiality. Apart from the third parties already mentioned in the previous sections, personal data is not disclosed to third parties.
4. What are your rights?
You have the right to consult and correct your personal data processed by the NEED consortium at any time. You also have the right to have your personal data deleted and to limit the use and transferability of your personal data to the extent provided for by the applicable regulations.
You may at any time revoke your consent to certain processing of your data, in particular your registration for the mailing list, or the storage by the NEED consortium of your professional data enabling the NEED consortium to contact you again in connection with NEED consortium activities.
You can contact the NEED consortium for this purpose via the following email address:
Data Protection Authority Rue de la presse 35, 1000 Bruxelles Tel. +32 2 274 48 00 e-mail: contact(at)apd-gba. https://www.dataprotectionauthority.be/
5. Information security
The NEED consortium has implemented numerous technical, physical and organisational security measures to ensure the integrity, confidentiality and availability of the personal data that it processes. The NEED consortium wants to avoid the loss, misuse, disclosure, unauthorised access or alteration of these data.
Retention of data
The NEED consortium will not retain your data longer than necessary for the processing of your data, taking into account any retention authorisations you may have given (e.g. list of external experts) and the need for the NEED consortium to comply with its legal obligations.
6. Questions?
Please do not hesitate to contact us (
Accessibility statement
The NEED consortium is committed to making the site it develops in accordance with the law of 19 July 2018 - Law on the accessibility of websites and mobile applications public sector organizations.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
- This statement was prepared on August 1, 2023.
Improved accessibility
Accessibility is an integral part of our communication dynamic. Our employees always take this issue into account in their work and we systematically raise awareness among our various external partners. In concrete terms, an internal team is working on the topic to improve the accessibility of our various resources.
Level of compliance with the accessibility standard
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the standard for accessibility requirements for people with disabilities. These rules can be implemented at three levels: level A, level AA and level AAA.
Our products are partially compliant with WCAG 2.1 - AA
Limitations and alternatives
We do our best to make all our sites and applications accessible to everyone. Despite our efforts, we have not yet reached our goal. Here is a short list of problems to solve and possible solutions:
Problem |
Solution |
Status |
Date |
WAI-ARIA : Aria Label incorrect |
Check the existence of the label and adaptation |
In progress |
January 2024 |
PDF-file not accessible |
Adaptation of the models used (identification of decorative image) |
In progress |
January 2024 |
Feedback
We appreciate your feedback on our efforts to make our websites and applications more accessible. You can send your feedback by mail to
We will endeavor to give you a first answer within 10 working days.
Disclaimer
All the documents on this site are presented purely for information purposes and the NEED consortium shall have no liability for their content.
The texts of laws and regulations presented in their consolidated form are posted for information purposes. Accordingly, they create no rights or obligations other than those resulting from the texts of the laws and regulations that have been legally adopted and published; only the latter may be considered as authentic.
The NEED consortium shall have no liability for the information communicated on this site. Although our objective is to disseminate information that is up-to-date and accurate, we cannot guarantee the result, but we shall endeavour to correct any errors that are brought to our attention.
The NEED consortium shall have no liability for any errors or malfunctioning of the services offered by this website Furthermore, the NEED consortium shall have no liability for any errors or direct or consequential losses that you may suffer as a result of accessing or using this site, or for any damage or virus infection which may affect your computer or other computer equipment.
Certain documents posted on this site may include references or links to information provided by other organisations. However, the NEED consortium cannot guarantee that such outside information is relevant, up-to-date or accurate and shall have no liability in this regard.
The associations, organisations and Internet sites listed on this site have been selected objectively, with the sole aim of providing visitors to our site with information that is as relevant and complete as possible. However, we cannot guarantee that such information is exhaustive, accurate and up-to-date.
References to certain companies or products may in no event be interpreted as implying that these are recommended in preference to other similar companies or products that are not mentioned.
About this site
CONTENT
The content of this website was developed by the NEED consortium .
Responsible editor: The NEED consortium
The NEED consortium website is funded by the NEED consortium and our website does not accept advertisements. Please also read our disclaimer.
ILLUSTRATIONS
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
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VERSIONS
01/08/2023 Website 1.0