Terms of personal data processing

The Agency for the Financing of Rural Investments (RIFA) with headquarters in Știrbei Vodă no. 43, Bucharest, Sector 1, telephone 021.402.27.50 ensures the efficient management of European funds, the transparency of the management of these funds and equal opportunities in accessing non-reimbursable European funds. In this context, our responsibility is also how we take care of the personal data you have made available to us.

What personal data do we process?

Depending on the purpose pursued, the Agency for the Financing of Rural Investments processes the personal data of the following categories of physical people:

- representatives (natural persons) of applicants and beneficiaries of European funds through SAPARD or FEADR;
- representatives (natural persons) of suppliers or providers of services, goods or works, directly/indirectly involved in contractual relations with the Agency;
- media representatives;
- representatives (individuals) of public and private partners involved in the implementation of the National Rural Development Program (PNDR).

AFIR, in accordance with the provisions of EU Regulation 679/2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulation" and applicable starting from May 25, 2018), legally processes the data your personal character, in accordance with art. 6 of the Regulation which stipulates:

- "the data subject has given his consent to the processing of his personal data for one or more specific purposes;"
- "the processing is necessary for the execution of a contract to which the data subject is a party or to take steps at the request of the data subject before concluding a contract;"
- "the processing is necessary in order to fulfill a legal obligation owed to the operator;"
- "the processing is necessary for the performance of a task that serves a public interest or that results from the exercise of the public authority with which the operator is vested;"

How we use personal data and what is the legal basis for processing

The purposes for which personal data are processed by AFIR are technical implementation, financial implementation (payment) and monitoring for the National Rural Development Program (PNDR), reporting, debt recovery, as well as ex-post monitoring for the SAPARD Program, in accordance with GEO no. 41/ 2014 regarding the establishment, organization and operation of the Agency for the Financing of Rural Investments, through the reorganization of the Payments Agency for Rural Development and Fisheries, approved by Law no. 43/ 2015. Thus, data processing is carried out, without limitation, for the following:

- receiving funding requests;
- verification of financing applications;
- selection of financed projects;
- establishing contractual obligations;
- carrying out field visits;
- verification of the awarding procedures carried out by the beneficiaries;
- reporting the progress of the measures;
- authorization of payment to beneficiaries;
- making the payment to the beneficiaries;
- registration of payment commitments and payments;
- IT management of payments made to project beneficiaries;
- information and promotion of PNDR;
- evaluation of the bids submitted during the awarding procedures;
- execution of contracts for the purchase of services, goods or works.

The basis of the processing is constituted by the financing request, the financing contract, the supply/service/use contract, etc. and the applicable legal provisions. Thus, in order to facilitate the activities related to the financing request, the financing contract, supply, rendering, use, etc., and in order to fulfill legal obligations, we communicate this data to public authorities, third parties or their proxies.
In some cases, we will only process your personal data with your consent. In these cases, we will ask for your consent separately, at the time of providing your personal data. Afterwards, you will be able to withdraw your consent at any time via the e-mail address dpo@afir.info. However, withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing that took place prior to its withdrawal.

If we require personal data to comply with legal or contractual obligations, your provision of such personal data is mandatory. This means that if such personal data is not provided, we will not be able to manage the contractual relationship or fulfill the obligations imposed on us. In all other cases, the provision of personal data is optional and you are not obliged to provide it.

How and to whom we disclose your personal data
The collected information is intended only for use by the Agency and is communicated only to the following categories of recipients: suppliers, service providers, third parties or their proxies involved directly or indirectly in the processes related to the aforementioned purposes, rights holders, public authorities empowered by law or with which the Agency has concluded collaboration protocols/delegation agreements for the purpose of fulfilling the specific duties conferred by European and national legislation, as well as the European Commission, for the purpose of monitoring and control regarding the SAPARD and PNDR Programs.

Transfer of data outside the country


Your data may be transferred outside the country to the European Commission, according to applicable national and European legislation.

Personal data retention period


In the case of processing personal data based on consent, your data will be kept until the date on which you request the withdrawal of consent.
In the case of all other grounds for data processing, we note that in order to determine the period for which personal data will be processed and kept, we take into account the contractual duration until the fulfillment of the contractual obligations or the purpose and the archiving terms provided by the legal provisions in the matter.

Your rights

In order to ensure correct information, we inform you that the Regulation grants the following rights to the persons whose personal data is processed:

- right of access;
- the right to rectification of data;
- the right to data deletion ("the right to be forgotten");
- the right to restrict processing;
- the right to data portability;
- the right to opposition;
- rights regarding automated individual decision-making, including the creation of profiles;
- the right to withdraw consent in the case of processing for the purpose of information or promotion;
- the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority for the processing of personal data;
- the right to a judicial remedy;
- the right to be notified by the operator;

Contact

If you have requests related to the processing of personal data, you can directly contact the Data Protection Officer at the RIFA level at dpo@afir.info.
We may update this information periodically and will notify you of any changes by posting the new version within this section. Please refer to this notice periodically for any changes.