Data protection statement

At Aboa, we take your personal privacy seriously. We want you to feel comfortable with how we process your personal data. In this statement we set out how, why and on which legal bases we process your personal data, as well as the rights you have concerning us, in terms of your personal data. All of our processing of your personal data is carried out in accordance with applicable legislation and regulations, including the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Certia Oy, Aboa Events (Business ID 2327422-3)
Assistentinkatu 5, 20500 Turku
tel. +358 (0)40 565 6716
Email: aboaevents@certia.fi

Gunilla Sjöberg
Certia Oy, Aboa Events (Business ID 2327422-3)
Assistentinkatu 5, 20500 Turku
tel. +358 (0)40 515 1537
Email: gunilla.sjoberg@certia.fi

We collect, store and process your personal data for pre-defined purposes.

We collect data and process them in order to be able to supply our services (contractual obligations) to our customers and in order to execute and complete our customer orders. During the customer relationship we process personal data primarily to implement projects, for invoicing and for the management of customer responses. For these measures, the bases for the processing of personal data are primarily the fulfilment of contracts and legitimate interest.

We also process personal data as an element of customer and interest group relationship management, as well as in our marketing, communications and sales activities. The legal basis for the processing of personal data is primarily our legitimate interest. However, you are entitled to prohibit direct marketing

targeted at you at any time. Direct marketing may also, in some instances, be based on consent (e.g. signing up for newsletters).

Personal data is also processed in invoicing activities and to some extent in our reporting activities. We may process personal data in order to fulfil our legal obligations (e.g. accounting, taxation).

Personal data may also be processed within the company’s business development activities. The legal basis for the processing of personal data here is our legitimate interest.

Aboa processes personal data on behalf of congress and event organisers. In such instances, Aboa serves as the data processor, and the organiser as data controller.

Our register may contain the following data on customers, potential customers and other interest groups:

• name, language and contact information (email, telephone number)
• organisation and position
• the organisation’s contact information (telephone number, email address, address, web address and invoicing information)
• information on the service delivered/ordered
• customer relationship level
• contact person at Aboa
• data on meetings, telephone conversations and email correspondence
• information on event participants and communication and marketing measures
• basis for the processing of personal data
• marketing consent/refusal

The information saved in our register is provided when a potential customer or cooperation relationship is initiated or on the basis of the messages a potential customer sends to Aboa. This information comes from sources such as emails, telephone calls, website contact form messages (aboaservices.fi – SSL-secured), social media, personal meetings and other occasions where the customer or cooperation partner provides us with personal data.

We can also collect contact and customer information through marketing and communication measures and from online, publicly accessible sources.

If you wish to refuse consent for direct marketing, please contact Aboa to inform us of this.

Personal data is processed by Aboa’s employees. Employees have access to Aboa’s customer and interest group register.

We disclose and transfer personal data to our cooperation partners where it is necessary to do so in order to fulfil our tasks. The personal data is saved in electronic format in Aboa’s cloud services. We use suppliers for event registrations, storage of information (cloud services), financial management, invoicing and accounting, for example. We ensure that in such situations, personal data is processed in accordance with valid legislation.

Information may be published on Aboa’s website to the extent Aboa has agreed on with the data subject.

We do not disclose personal data to third parties, and will only disclose data as required by the Finnish authorities.

In our operations, Aboa strives to work with operators and services that process personal data within the EU and EEA. As Aboa’s operations entail international cooperation, in some cases we may be required to work with or purchase services from suppliers who process personal data outside the EU and EEA. In such cases, Aboa adheres to the requirements regarding an adequate level of protection and appropriate safeguards as set out in the EU’s GDPR, for the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA.

The data will be stored for the duration of the cooperation between you, your company or your organisation and Aboa, and for 10 years after it has ended.

Personal data may be deleted if you so wish or if a contract is terminated, unless Aboa has a legal basis for the processing of the personal data. Data is also deleted if it becomes out of date or incorrect.

All personal data is treated as confidential and the register is processed with care. Furthermore, the data stored in our IT systems is protected appropriately and in accordance with current standards (firewalls, passwords). Only employees whose job descriptions require the processing of personal data have personal data access rights. The systems have different user levels, and rights are restricted so that users can only access register data to the extent required for their tasks.

Material in paper format is stored in a locked area.

Aboa requires your personal data in order to stay in touch with you as a potential customer and in order to enter into a contract with you and your organisation.

You are entitled to have your data deleted if the processing is based on consent or if the data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.

As a data subject you have the right to:

• withdraw your consent
• be provided with information on the processing of your personal data
• be provided with access to personal data that concerns you
• demand that inaccurate data be rectified
• demand that personal data be deleted
• restrict the processing of personal data
• object to the processing of your personal data
• transfer your personal data to other personal data controllers
• oppose decisions based on automated processing.

Additionally, you may submit a complaint to the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman in Finland.

We update our data protection statement on a continual basis in order to ensure that we are acting in accordance with applicable legislation, when changes are made to our services, or if we for some other reason make changes to our personal data processing procedures. You can find the latest version of the data protection statement on Aboa’s website. The statement was last updated on 27 March 2024.

If you have any questions concerning how we process your personal data, or if you would like to talk to us for any other reason relating to your personal data, please contact us via the contact form on our website, or by email or post.

Aboa’s data protection statement was approved by Aboa’s board of directors on 26 February 2019. The data protection statement is available on Aboa’s website: https://aboaevents.fi.