Data Protection Notice

BlueInvest Platform

under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF)

In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of 23 October 2018 on data protection

1. Introduction

Your personal data is processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 2018/1725 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data.

This privacy notice covers the services provided for the BlueInvest Platform, hereafter called "BlueInvest". The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) collects your personal data only to the extent necessary to fulfil the precise purpose related to its tasks.

BlueInvest is an assistance mechanism that supports capacity building for investors in the blue economy as well as access to finance for SMEs, start-ups, early-stage businesses and scale-ups in the sector. Its services include:

 

1. Set-up and operation of the BlueInvest Community, an online platform that facilitates cooperation and exchange among SMEs, investors and other relevant players
2. Organisation of physical and virtual community events, such as the annual BlueInvest Days and BlueInvest targeted workshops, and support to the BlueInvest community of companies and investors
3. Maintenance and development of a blue economy project pipeline of bankable/investable and innovative business ventures in different sectors of the maritime economy

 

Key users of the BlueInvest services mentioned above include:

 

• European start-ups, SMEs and scale-ups
• Private and public investors
• Large enterprises
• Business support stakeholders, such as incubators, accelerators, research and innovation institutes, clusters, private and corporate foundations
• Business coaches and investment experts
• Programme operators

 

Some BlueInvest service pages may contain links to third-party websites whose privacy practices may differ from this notice. Neither BlueInvest, CINEA, the European Commission nor the European Union is responsible for the privacy practices or policies of those other sites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of other websites you visit, as we have no control over information submitted to or collected by these third parties.

 

2. Data Controller

Organisation	European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA)
Address	Chaussée de Wavre 910 – BLS2 5/259, B-1049 Brussels
Unit	CINEA Unit D3 – Sustainable Blue Economy
Responsible person	Head of Unit D3
Contact email	CINEA-EMFAF-CONTRACTS@ec.europa.eu

3. Why Do We Collect and Process Your Data?

The legal bases for the processing activities are:

 

• Article 5(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725: processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, including for the management and functioning of CINEA, which is entrusted with the implementation of the programme.
• Article 5(1)(d) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725: personal data may be processed based on your explicit consent for non-mandatory personal data as indicated below.

 

We collect and process your personal data to provide the BlueInvest services mentioned above, for the following purposes:

 

1. To promote BlueInvest to relevant target audiences, primarily businesses, investors and business support stakeholders in the blue economy
2. To enable online interaction, networking and business matchmaking between key users, who are invited to create a profile on the platform for information sharing and exchange
3. To identify and select start-ups, SMEs and investors that could receive readiness assistance
4. To identify and select business coaches that could provide coaching support to BlueInvest assistance beneficiaries
5. To enable the management of the BlueInvest assistance beneficiaries' coaching scheme
6. To enable registration for and participation in BlueInvest events and workshops
7. To support capacity development and learning for SMEs and investors online and through training events
8. To use web-based tools to support the day-to-day management of the above services by the European Commission, CINEA and contracted third parties acting on their behalf, including data collection for reporting and business intelligence, process automation, management dashboards, etc.

 

Data are collected and processed when users engage on the platform and register to:

 

• Access the community, where they can participate in online discussions, collaborate with and learn from other members
• Participate in BlueInvest events, trainings and workshops, both physical and virtual

 

Once registered on the platform, additional screening of personal data may be conducted if the user applies for Readiness Assistance. In such cases, applications are assessed and a final list is drawn up by the European Commission (DG MARE) and CINEA in accordance with the principles of non-discrimination, equal treatment and absence of conflicts of interest.

Personal data will not be used for automated decision-making including profiling, and will not be transferred outside the European Economic Area.

 

4. Data Processor

CINEA and its contractors process your personal data on behalf of the data controller. The following entities process your personal data:

 

• PriceWaterhouseCoopers EU Services EESV (PwC EU Services EESV)
• CARSA

 

All staff of contractors working for the European Commission and CINEA have signed non-disclosure agreements. The processors are bound by specific contractual clauses for any processing operations of your personal data. For more information, please consult the processor privacy statement available at the PwC website.

 

5. What Personal Data Do We Collect?

5.1 Users of the Platform and Related Services

Personal data are collected from users of the BlueInvest platform and related services, including companies, investors, stakeholders and coaches. Note that a number of personal data fields are optional for registration.

 

Action	User Type	Data Collected
Register to the BlueInvest Community platform / Register to events and trainings	Companies & Investors	First name, last name, position in company/project, direct/mobile phone, email, personal LinkedIn (optional), photo (optional)
	Stakeholders	First name (optional), last name (optional), position in organisation (optional), phone (optional), email (optional), photo (optional)
	Coaches	First name, last name, date of birth, nationality, highest degree of education, position in company/project, phone, email, personal LinkedIn (optional), photo (optional), language skills, experience, CV
Apply to Readiness Assistance	Companies	Team skills and expertise; additional personal data may be requested by PwC and CARSA (e.g. address of residence, nationality, CV, competences, experiences, expertise via questionnaires)

 

5.2 Third-Party Tools

To join and participate in the BlueInvest Community, apply for investment readiness assistance, or attend an event or training, you may be redirected to a third-party tool. Please read the relevant tool's own privacy statement for further information:

 

Service	Tool	Privacy Statement
BlueInvest events	Converve GmbH	converve.com/privacypolicy

6. Who Has Access to Your Data?

All recipients of personal data are granted access on a need-to-know basis only. The recipients to whom personal data will or may be disclosed include:

 

• Authorised staff of CINEA and the European Commission (DG MARE) involved in the BlueInvest Platform initiative
• PwC and CARSA authorised staff involved in performing and managing BlueInvest services
• Accredited business coaches, BlueInvest jury panel members, SME beneficiaries of assistance services, large enterprises, investors and other service providers selected by CINEA and the European Commission, where access to a limited subsection of data is required

 

In case of audits or proceedings, personal data may also be disclosed to:

 

• CINEA's Internal Controller, Data Protection Officer and Legal Sector
• Public authorities in accordance with Union and Member State law, such as the European Court of Justice or national judges, as well as lawyers and agents of parties in case of legal proceedings
• The Investigation and Disciplinary Office of the European Commission (IDOC)
• The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
• The Internal Audit Service of the European Commission
• The European Court of Auditors
• The European Ombudsman
• The European Data Protection Supervisor
• The European Public Prosecutor's Office

 

BlueInvest will not share your personal data with any third parties without your express consent. Your personal data will not be transferred to third countries or international organisations.

 

7. How Long Is Your Personal Data Kept?

Your personal information is kept for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected or to comply with legal reporting or statistical requirements, in accordance with the 2022 Commission Retention List.

 

• If you are selected as a BlueInvest Business Coach, your personal data will be kept for 7 years after the end of the relevant programme.
• If you are not selected, your personal data is kept for the duration of the related programme's activities for which you have registered.
• If your application is unsuccessful or withdrawn, your personal data may be retained for up to 5 years after the end of the particular procedure, to allow for any possible appeal. After this period, data will only be stored in anonymised/encrypted form for statistical purposes.
• Website-related data has a retention period of two years.

 

Personal data may be further processed for historical, statistical or scientific purposes.

 

8. Your Rights

You have the following rights with regard to your personal data:

 

• The right to access your personal data
• The right to request rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data
• The right to request restriction of or to object to processing
• The right to request erasure of your personal data
• Where processing is based on consent, the right to withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing

 

Depending on the online service you are accessing, you can:

 

1. Access, check, modify, update or delete your personal profile online yourself at any time
2. Ask for removal of your account by sending a message to: lu-blueinvest@pwc.lu

 

To ensure the consistency of the platform and the coherence of its content, your contributions and comments will be kept on the platform but anonymised, even in the event of removal of your profile.

You can exercise your rights by contacting the data controller at CINEA-EMFAF-CONTRACTS@ec.europa.eu. Your request will be handled without undue delay and within one month.

For further information, you may also contact the BlueInvest team at: lu-blueinvest@pwc.lu.

 

9. How Do We Protect Your Personal Data?

All personal data in electronic format (emails, documents, databases, uploaded data, etc.) are stored on the servers of the European Commission and/or CINEA's processor. All processing operations within the Commission and CINEA are carried out pursuant to Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2017/46 of 10 January 2017 on the security of communication and information systems in the European Commission.

CINEA has put in place a number of technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data:

 

• Technical measures include appropriate actions to address online security, risk of data loss, alteration of data or unauthorised access, taking into account the risk and the nature of the personal data being processed.
• Organisational measures include restricting access to personal data solely to authorised persons with a legitimate need to know.
• Processors are bound by specific contractual clauses and have put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the required level of security.

 

Users of the platform also agree not to share any personal data they have access to with third parties beyond the scope of the services described in this notice.

 

10. Cookies

To make this site work properly, we sometimes place small data files called "cookies" on your device.

 

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size and display preferences) over time, so you do not have to keep re-entering them whenever you return to the site or browse from one page to another.

 

How do we use cookies?

A number of our pages use cookies to remember your display preferences, to understand non-identifiable browsing behaviour within a session, and to record whether you have agreed to our use of cookies. Cookies are also stored by Europa Analytics, the corporate service which measures the effectiveness and efficiency of the European Commission's websites.

When visiting the BlueInvest web page, you have the option not to accept cookies, in which case your browser history is not kept. If you opt to accept cookies, the browser history of your visit will be retained for a maximum of 6 months and then deleted. The collection, aggregation and anonymising operations are performed in the data centre of the European Commission under adequate security measures.

Enabling these cookies is not strictly necessary for the website to work but it will provide you with a better browsing experience. You can delete or block these cookies, but if you do so, some features of the site may not work as intended. Cookie-related information is not used to identify you personally, and pattern data is fully under our control. These cookies are not used for any purpose other than those described here.

Should you not wish for your personal data to be used for anonymised, aggregated statistics, you can opt out on our cookies page. Please refer to the cookies policy of the Commission at:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/cookies_en

The system uses session cookies to ensure communication between the user and the server. Therefore, your browser must be configured to accept cookies. Session cookies disappear once the session has been terminated.

 

11. Contact Points and Complaints

For any queries about the processing of your personal information for the BlueInvest programme, please contact:

 

Data Controller	CINEA Unit D3 – Sustainable Blue Economy
Controller email	CINEA-EMFAF-CONTRACTS@ec.europa.eu
BlueInvest team	lu-blueinvest@pwc.lu
CINEA Data Protection Officer	CINEA-DPO@ec.europa.eu
European Data Protection Supervisor	https://edps.europa.eu

 

You have the right of recourse at any time to CINEA's Data Protection Officer and to the European Data Protection Supervisor if you consider that your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 have been infringed.

The DPO keeps a register of all processing operations on personal data carried out by CINEA, accessible at:

https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/about-us/data-protection/public-central-register-data-protection_en

This processing operation has been included in CINEA record 2021-003/R1-COMM-02. More information on processing your personal data with regard to cookies stored by Europa Analytics is available in Record of Processing DPR-EC-00685, accessible at:

http://ec.europa.eu/dpo-register

Version June 2026