When you contact a lawyer, you often share sensitive information. We handle it with care. Below you can read which data we process, why, for how long and which rights you have.
Who is responsible for your data?
The controller is Astraelle SRL, trading as Avocat Roulage, with its registered office at Laarheidestraat 48, 1650 Beersel, company number (BCE/KBO) 0787.601.792. You can reach us at info@avocatroulage.be or 02 599 01 06.
Which data do we process?
- Contact details: your name, email address and phone number, and if you contact us via WhatsApp, also your WhatsApp name and profile picture.
- The content of your message and the documents you send us, such as your summons (citation), a police report (procès-verbal) or your insurance policy.
- Data from your case file: your identity details as they appear on the summons, details of your driving licence and vehicle, the criminal file and, where necessary, your criminal record.
- Health data, but only if it is relevant to your case, for example after an accident with injuries or a medical certificate in a case about alcohol or drugs.
- Data of other people who appear in your file, such as an opposing party, victims or witnesses.
- Technical data when you visit the website, such as your IP address, your browser and the time of your visit. Our hosting provider keeps this data to secure the website.
What do we use your data for?
- To answer your question and review your case free of charge. These are steps you ask for yourself before you instruct us (article 6.1.b GDPR).
- To check whether your legal expenses insurance (protection juridique) covers the costs, and to settle our fees with your insurer. We only do this at your request, as part of our engagement (article 6.1.b GDPR).
- To assist and defend you, in performance of our engagement (article 6.1.b GDPR). We process data about criminal offences on the basis of article 10 GDPR and article 10, § 1, 2° of the Belgian Act of 30 July 2018, insofar as the defence of your interests requires it. We only process health data where this is necessary for your defence in legal proceedings (article 9.2.f GDPR).
- To comply with our legal obligations, such as our accounting, tax and professional conduct obligations (article 6.1.c GDPR).
- To keep the website running securely. This is our legitimate interest (article 6.1.f GDPR).
Without your contact details, we cannot answer your question. We do not use your data for advertising and we never sell it. We do not take decisions based solely on automated processing.
Professional secrecy
Everything you tell us is covered by the lawyer’s duty of professional secrecy. We only share your data with others if this is necessary for your case, if you ask us to, or if the law requires us to.
Contact via WhatsApp
If you contact us via WhatsApp, you are using a service of WhatsApp Ireland Limited (Meta). Messages are end-to-end encrypted, but WhatsApp also processes data itself, under its own terms and privacy policy. We add the documents you send us via WhatsApp to your file. Would you rather not use WhatsApp? Then call or email us.
Who receives your data?
- Your legal expenses insurer, if you ask us to check your cover or to settle our fees with them.
- Courts, the public prosecutor’s office (ministère public), court registries, bailiffs, experts and the lawyer of the opposing party, insofar as your defence requires it.
- Our service providers, who only process your data on our instructions: Netlify (website hosting and processing of the contact form), Microsoft (email and storage via Microsoft 365) and our telephony provider.
- Our accountant, for invoicing.
- Public authorities, if the law requires us to.
Transfers outside the European Economic Area
Some service providers, such as Netlify and Microsoft, as well as WhatsApp, may process data in the United States. This only happens with the safeguards required by the GDPR: an adequacy decision of the European Commission (the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) or the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission.
How long do we keep your data?
- Questions that do not lead to a case: up to one year after our last contact.
- Case files: five years after your case is closed. This is the legal period for lawyers’ liability and for keeping their documents (article 2276bis of the former Civil Code).
- Invoices and accounting documents: ten years, as required by accounting law.
- Technical data from website visits: no longer than our hosting provider needs it for security.
After that, we delete or anonymise your data.
Security
We protect your data with appropriate technical and organisational measures. The website only works over an encrypted connection (https), and only the people working on your case have access to your data.
Your rights
You have the right to:
- access your data;
- have incorrect data corrected;
- have your data erased;
- have the processing restricted;
- have your data transferred (data portability);
- object to processing based on our legitimate interest.
Send your request to info@avocatroulage.be. We will reply within one month. To protect your data, we may ask you to prove your identity.
Some rights are limited. We cannot erase data earlier if the law requires us to keep it. Professional secrecy or the protection of others may also prevent access to certain documents.
Complaints
Are you unhappy with how we handle your data? Please let us know first. You can also lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (Autorité de protection des données), Rue de la Presse 35, 1000 Brussels, contact@apd-gba.be, www.dataprotectionauthority.be.
Cookies
This website does not set cookies and does not use trackers or analytics services. That is why we do not ask for your consent to cookies.
Changes
We may update this privacy policy, for example if the law changes or if we start using new services. The date at the top shows the latest version.