Privacy policy

YFU Nederland is an association that promotes intercultural education, democracy education and social responsibility by offering young people the opportunity to experience a different culture and to gain new perspectives as a member of a host family. As the responsible entity for the data processing we, YFU Nederland undertakes all necessary technical and organisational measures to ensure comprehensive data protection. For questions related to this Privacy Policy, please contact us via contact@yfu.nl.

2.1 General information
Personal data is information and/or facts related to a specific individual. Personal data includes, for example, name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. We use personal data in accordance with the applicable law.
2.2. Automatically collected usage data
Every time the YFU website is used, so-called “usage data” is recorded in server log files, as is common on the internet. This log file information is automatically transmitted by your internet browser. This includes the following data: IP address of the computer from which the YFU website is accessed; Internet address of the website from which the YFU website was visited (so-called origin or referrer URL); Name of the retrieved files or information; Date and time as well as duration of the retrieval; amount of transferred data; Operating system and information about the internet browser of the computer accessing the YFU website; http status code (for example, "request succeeded" or "requested file not found"). Log file information of the above kind is stored by YFU Nederland for security reasons (e.g. for the identification of attack attempts) for a maximum of seven days and then deleted (except for data where further storage is required for evidence purposes). Log file information may, in individual cases, be forwarded to investigative authorities. Otherwise, log file information is stored solely in anonymous form and statistically analysed in order to continuously improve this internet presence, to adapt it to the interests of the users and to find or correct errors more quickly.
2.3. Online notifications
Through the YFU website, you can request access to the application for a YFU exchange programme, stating your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and date of birth. In the event that we do not receive a fully completed application, we will use the email address or phone number to inquire as to whether you are still interested in an exchange programme with YFU. If this is not the case, all data will be deleted after the end of the application period.
2.4. Online applications
It is possible to apply for a place in an exchange programme directly through the YFU website. In an online application, contact information and personal data such as language skills, interests and hobbies, dietary needs, school performance, international experience, social commitment and personal development information are requested. In addition, so-called special personal data is collected for any health impairments (e.g. allergies). Since we are not permitted to process health-related data without explicit consent, we will request the consent of the applicants and the consent of their legal guardians in the application documents. All data from the application will be transferred to our database, and managed and used for carrying out the application process. In the case a programme contract is executed, it will be used for carrying out the exchange programme as well. Following the exchange programme, we use the contact details of the exchange students to invite them to a follow-up meeting and in where legally permissible, for alumni work, the host family search, for information about YFU, to indicate the possibility of volunteering at YFU Nederland and for fundraising for our non-profit work.
For further information on data processing by YFU Nederland in connection with carrying out the exchange programme, please refer to section 4 of this privacy policy "Further information on data protection for certain groups of persons".
2.5. Contact forms
You can send us a message via the general contact form on the YFU website. Providing your name, phone number and your e-mail address is obligatory. We use your data from the contact form exclusively to process your questions and suggestions and to be able to reply.
2.6. Subscriptions to regular information
To receive the YFU Newsletter regularly, please contact YFU by e-mail. The YFU Newsletter will be sent by e-mail. To send the Newsletter, the name and e-mail address of the recipient will be stored. You can unsubscribe from the YFU Newsletter at any time by sending a message to YFU Nederland. You will be explicitly informed about this option every time the newsletter is sent (by email in the imprint, electronically in the e-mail).

In the case of applying to or participating in an exchange programme, as well as the acceptance of an exchange student, we also collect information on health (e.g. allergies and other pre-existing medical conditions). If information on political opinions, religious or ideological beliefs is given, this will also be collected in order to carry out the application process and the exchange programme. For more information, see Privacy Policy sections 4.1 and 4.2 below.

For different groups of people, there is additional privacy information collected that you will find below. For example, this information is sent as part of the documents when applying or when contracting.
4.1 For applicants of an exchange programme abroad
Applicants for an exchange programme receive further information on data protection together with the application documents.
4.2. For participants of an exchange programme abroad
Applicants selected for an exchange programme will receive, with the contract of participation, an information sheet after subscription.

5.1 We use your data to fulfil the contract
To fulfil exchange programme contracts with students and their parents, we process personal data as detailed in section 4.2 above.
5.2 We use your data prior to executing the programme contract
As part of the application process for an exchange programme, we process the data of applicants and their parents to carry out the pre-contractual measures as detailed in section 4.1 above.
5.3 We use your data for advertising purposes and for managing the YFU website
We use contact details of participants of YFU exchange programmes and their parents as well as host families as is legally permissible in order to stay in contact with our alumni, to attract members, volunteers or host families. The legal basis for this is a weighing of interests - we have a legitimate interest in promoting our activities.
YFU Nederland will never transfer your personal data to third parties for advertising purposes or use it for advertising purposes of third parties. Of course, the use of data for YFU’s promotional purposes can be objected to at any time. If the YFU website is used, personal data will also be processed following a weighing of interests, see also Section 2 (Which data do we collect?), Section 12 (Social Plugins), Section 13 (Cookies) and Section 14. (Web analytics). Our legitimate interest is to manage the content of the YFU website safely and informatively and to analyse, optimize and operate this online content.
5.4 We use your data with your consent
In the case of an application to or participation in an exchange programme, as well as the admission of an exchange student, we process personal data of parents and exchange students with the consent of the persons concerned (detailed in sections 4.1, 4.2).

Within YFU Nederland, full-time employees use your data only to the extent necessary to implement pre-contractual measures, to fulfil contracts or to protect legitimate interests. We can only provide a large part of our services thanks to the contribution of volunteers (e.g. organising the preparation/orientation meeting or taking care of exchange students on site). Volunteers will therefore also receive your data, as far as this is required for the specific task. Outside of YFU Nederland, when participating in an exchange programme, the recipients of your data are the YFU partner organisation of the host country including their volunteers, host schools, host families, potential host families and travel agents, as well as insurance companies, airlines, visa and local authorities. In addition, some service providers undertake the sending or printing of documents for us or are employed by us in the areas of IT services, telecommunications or debt collection. These providers will only act on our behalf and under our responsibility in accordance with our instructions.

If an exchange visit is planned in the countries outside the EU / EEA or if an exchange student from these third countries is admitted, data will also be transferred to those "third countries". In these cases, national data protection laws in the third country may not meet European standards. However, data transfer is required to comply with the contract of participation or to make arrangements for the exchange student and it takes place only to the extent necessary for implementing the contract.

Not only do we value your privacy, but we also want to provide you with comprehensive information on the use of your data and to answer your questions as quickly as possible. For inquiries about the use of your data, we will contact you immediately. In exceptional cases, where we may need more than a month to answer your question, we will let you know in advance how long that will take. If we have provided data to third parties, we will notify them to the legally required extent about the correction, deletion or processing restriction of your data. You have the following rights when processing your data:
8.1 Your right of access and to rectification
You have the right to know which personal data we process concerning you. This includes, among others, information about the purposes of processing, categories of personal data concerned, recipients of the data and duration of the storage. If data is stored incorrectly, you have the right to have inaccurate personal data corrected or to have incomplete personal data completed.
8.2. Your right to erasure
You have the right to erase your data for the following reasons:
- your personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected.
- you withdrew consent on which the processing is based, and where there is no other legal ground for the processing.
- you object to the processing and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing.
- when the personal data have been unlawfully processed.
- when the personal data have to be erased for compliance with a legal obligation.
- when the data of children under the age of 16 are processed without parental consent.
8.3. Your right to restriction of processing
You have the right to request the restriction of processing where one of the following applies:
- you have contested the accuracy of the personal data and we have had the opportunity to verify the accuracy of the data.
- when the processing is unlawful, and you request the restriction of processing instead of the erasure of the data.
- when we no longer need the personal data to process, but you need the data subject for the establishment of legal claims.
- when you have objected to processing the data pending verification of whether your legitimate grounds override.
8.4. Your right to data portability
You have the right to receive the personal data concerning you in a machine-readable format, based on consent or on a contract and the processing is carried out by automated means.
8.5. Your right to object
You have the right to object to data processing in certain cases. Detailed information about your right to object can be found in Section 9.
8.6. Right to lodge a complaint
You have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent supervisory authority about the processing of data by YFU Nederland if you believe that we have improperly processed your personal data.

9.1 Your general right to object
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data, where the data processing takes place based on weighing of interests. In case of an objection, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for processing that outweigh your interests and rights, or the processing is for the purposes of the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. The objection does not require any specific form and can be sent by e-mail to contact@yfu.nl
9.2 Your right to object to data processing for advertising purposes
YFU Nederland uses the data of exchange students and their parents to a limited extent for promoting the activities of our organisation. YFU Nederland will never transfer the data of exchange students and their parents to third parties for advertising purposes or use it for advertising purposes of third parties. Of course, the use of data for YFU’s promotional purposes can be objected to at any time. In the event of an objection, we will no longer process your personal data for these purposes. The objection does not require any specific form and can be sent by e-mail to contact@yfu.nl.

The transfer of your data to us is always voluntary. However, without the data requested from the exchange students or parents, we are generally unable, for example, to carry out an application process for an exchange programme or the exchange programme itself or to place an exchange student with the host family.

We retain your data only as long as it is necessary for organisational reasons and permitted by data protection law. Data of persons who are interested in an exchange programme but do not apply will be deleted after the end of the application period. For organisational reasons and due to legally-required retention periods, the data of applicants will be kept by YFU Nederland for one year after the end of the current programme year. If you participate in the exchange programme, this period is extended to six years. For contact details stored in our alumni database, this period will be extended if the alumni continue to keep in touch with us. YFU partner organisations retain the data transferred to them by YFU Nederland, in accordance with their respective national regulations.

We use social plugins on the YFU website based on our legitimate interests. Our legitimate interest lies in the analysis, optimization and economically viable operation of our website.
The plugins of the social network Facebook are used, and are available at www.facebook.com of Facebook Inc. (1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA) as well as at www.facebook.nl from Facebook the Netherlands Limited. For the purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing and use of the data by the plug-in providers, as well as your rights in this regard and settings options for the protection of your privacy, please refer to the privacy policy of Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

The YFU website uses cookies from Google Analytics. Cookies are small files with textual information that are transmitted to the internet browser (such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox) while the content is being accessed. Cookies are automatically saved on your computer. Using cookies, YFU Nederland is unable to establish a personal reference to unregistered users. However, cookies help making the website more user-friendly. You can disable the storage of cookies on your computer in your internet browser settings, but this may result in an impairment of the correct functioning of the website. Alternatively, you can set your internet browser to inform you about the transmission of cookies. Already stored cookies can be deleted at any time in the system settings of your internet browser.

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC (1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, hereafter "Google"), on the YFU website, based on our legitimate interests (the analysis, optimization and economically viable operation of our website). Google Analytics uses cookies (see section 13 above) that are stored on your computer and allow an analysis of the use of this website. The information generated by the cookies about your use of the YFU website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. Google is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, which provides a guarantee to comply with the European data protection law.

On behalf of YFU Nederland Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the YFU website, compile reports on website activity and provide other services related to website activity and internet usage to YFU Nederland. The IP address transmitted by your browser within the framework of Google Analytics will not be merged with other data provided by Google but will be anonymised by shortening it. The data collected by Google Analytics are also not used by YFU Nederland to identify the visitor to the YFU website and are not merged with personal data. You may also disable the cookies used for web analytics using your internet browser settings, but this may result in an impairment of the correct functioning of the website (see the "Cookies" section above).
You may also prevent the collection of the data generated by the cookies and related to your use of the YFU website by Google, as well as the processing of such data by Google, by downloading the add-on for your current internet browser available at the link below and install: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en
If you use different internet browsers on your computer (e.g. the Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox), you should download the add-on for each internet browser with which you use this website.

For general information about the Google Analytics and Google's privacy policy, visit the following Google website: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=nl
We use Sales IQ, a web analytics service provided by ZOHO One (www.zoho.com/nl/ hereafter "Zoho"), on the YFU website, based on our legitimate interests (the analysis, optimization and economically viable operation of our website). With Zoho SalesIQ, we use cookies to collect and analyse the visitor's data when they land on the website. This helps us provide the best user experience to the visitors on the website. Here, we will discuss what cookies we add to the site, what visitor metrics we track, for what purpose. The cookies set by Zoho SalesIQ vary based on the functionality it provides. SalesIQ uses cookies to provide certain functionality of our chat widget, such as storing the embed position on the screen, requesting tracking permission using GDPR. These cookies also help us manage visitor preferences to enhance the experience in the website/app based on their interest and needs. Cookies are also used for analytics and reporting purposes. Please refer to the cookie policy of Zoho Sales IQ at https://www.zoho.com/salesiq/cookies-policy.html.

Websites of other providers, which can be accessed from our website via a link, have been designed and provided by third parties. YFU Nederland has no influence on the design, content or function of the linked websites. Despite reviewing the content within the legally required framework, we must therefore decline any responsibility for the content of all linked websites of other providers. Please note, the third-party websites linked via our website may install their own cookies on your computer or collect personal data. YFU Nederland has no influence on this. Please inform yourself on respective data protection policies directly at the providers of any linked websites.

YFU Nederland reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time without notice. If necessary, please inform yourself about the current privacy policy before using our website.

Update: 2021