Fairphone Privacy Policy
At Fairphone, we’ve got a mission to challenge the tech industry and push for better practices, all based on some core principles we really believe in. And to make that happen, we know transparency is key. So, we’re transparent about everything we do, including our Privacy Policy. We want You to know exactly what’s going on with Your personal information and be able to make informed decisions. That’s why we’ve put together this Privacy Policy, which tells You all about the personal data (meaning any information through which We can, directly or indirectly, identify You by) we collect, why we collect it, and what we do with it.
This Privacy Policy applies to the website fairphone.com (including Fairphone webshop, forum, blogs and Fairphone support platform) owned and operated by Fairphone B.V. and the processing by Our devices and My Fairphone App. Apart from the device set-up, Your Fairphone comes with a native application called the My Fairphone App.
In general We only use Your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use Your personal data in the following circumstances:
- Where you have provided Your (explicit) consent for direct marketing activities whereby Fairphone will proactively notify you e.g. through emails or push-notification. Where consent was required for processing, You can revoke Your consent for future data processing at any time. However, this does not affect the lawfulness of data processing based on the consent before the revocation. In certain cases, we may continue to process Your information after You have withdrawn consent, this would apply when we process the same data for a different purpose or if Your withdrawal of consent was limited to certain processing activities.
- Where there is a necessity for the performance of our contract with you, e.g. providing warranty service.
- Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and Your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
- Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
We will provide You with access to Your Data, so You may control and update, modify and, where legally possible, delete it.
You can contact us at privacy@fairphone.com if You want to:
- Review, change or delete Your Data;
- Object to certain processing of Your Data;
- Receive a copy of Your Data in a machine-readable format;
- Ask us any other questions regarding Your Data and its protection
When providing us with Your Data, it is Your responsibility to ensure that Your Data is accurate, complete and up-to-date. You should also take all reasonable measures to keep Your Data secure at all times. For instance, You are responsible for keeping Your password and other log-in details confidential. Moreover, You remain responsible for any personal data You freely publish on our forum, in our social media accounts or in the comments section under our blogs or in Your communication with our Customer Support team. We will not ask You for Your password, except when You log into our website or My Fairphone App.
When providing us with the Personal Data of other people, it is Your responsibility to collect this Personal Data in compliance with the GDPR and other local legislation. This includes informing the people whose Personal Data You are providing about this Privacy Policy and obtaining their consent.
2.1 To enable you to use our platforms, provide our services and fulfil our contracts with you.
2.2 To improve and personalise Your Fairphone experience.
2.3 To support our promise of product longevity.
2.4 To carry out marketing activities.
2.5 To ensure safety, security and legal conditions.
2.6 To conduct research and development (incl. surveys).
We will not store Your Data for a longer period than permitted by law and only as necessary for the purpose for which we have collected or processed Your Data. Therefore, how long we retain Your Data depends on the type of data and the purpose for which we collected or processed Your Data. Please keep in mind that in certain cases a longer retention period may be required or permitted by Law.
The criteria we take into account when determining our retention periods include:
- How long Your Data is needed to provide You with our product or to operate our business;
- Do You have an account with us? If yes, then we will keep Your Data while Your account is active or for as long as needed to provide our services;
- Are we subject to a legal, contractual, or similar obligation to retain Your Data.
For details on the retention periods for various types of data, please see the different categories below:
Types of information | Retention Period |
To provide our services and fulfil our contracts with you. | In order to fulfil our contracts with you, we store Your data for 7 years for record keeping purposes (minimum). |
To apply for a job at Fairphone | If an applicant has consented, we keep their Data for a period of 12 months. The Fairphone People team is responsible for the deletion of applicant Data from Homerun after 12 months have passed. If no consent has been given, Personal Data is deleted 3 months after a decision on the position has been reached. |
To participate in the reuse and recycle program. | In order to comply with legislation surrounding the purchase of second-hand electronic products, this data will be stored for 5 years (minimum). |
To submit a research request. | Your Data will be deleted after three months in case we are not able to follow-up or one year after completion of Your research. |
To organise an event with (or for) Fairphone | Your Data will be deleted from our server three months after the event has passed or upon Your request. |
To post on the forum | We can only delete Your account if you have not made any posts. First delete Your posts if you want Your Data removed. Posts older than 60 days cannot be deleted in order to protect the coherence and reliability of our forum. If you have posts that are older than 60 days, Your data can be anonymized upon request. |
To improve and personalise Your Fairphone experience. | Upon request, We will anonymise or delete Your data. If Your request is not explicit, we will only anonymise the data. |
Invitations to write a review on Trustpilot | For TrustPilot, if You would like to unsubscribe from our review invitations, You can do this via the footer of the email invitation.
If You would like us to delete Your personal data connected to the invitation, please email privacy@fairphone.com. Kindly note, Trustpilot processes review invitations data on our behalf (as a data processor). Trustpilot stores Your data for 3 years, this is the data included in Your order confirmation from Your purchases on our website. |
To support our promise of product longevity. | Upon request, We will anonymise or delete Your data. If Your request is not explicit, we will only anonymise the data. |
To carry out marketing activities. | Upon request, We will anonymise or delete Your data. If Your request is not explicit, we will only anonymise the data. |
To ensure safety, security and legal conditions. | We store Your data for 7 years for record keeping purposes (minimum). Upon request, We will anonymise or delete Your data. If Your request is not explicit, we will only anonymise the data. |
To conduct research and development (incl. surveys). | Upon request, We will anonymise or delete Your data. If Your request is not explicit, we will only anonymise the data. Kindly note there is a 2-year data retention on Hello Customer. |
We will never sell Your Data or information about You to any third parties. Furthermore, we never purchase Data from third-parties to enrich Our database.
We do not share Your Data except in the limited cases described in this section and only for the following purposes.
- Service providers: We have outsourced certain business functions and their associated data processing activities to third party service providers. These service providers are authorised to use Your Data only as necessary to fulfil these services to us, which include, but are not limited to IT services, advertising services, billing services and shipping services. None of these providers will contact You by electronic means to provide You with any newsletter, marketing e-mail or information, unless You have provided Your consent to them;
- Business Partners: we may share Your Data with business partners, so that they can provide You with the services You requested. None of these partners will contact You by electronic means to provide You with any newsletter, marketing e-mail or information, unless You have provided Your consent to them;
- Professional advisors and others: we may share Your Data with banks, insurance companies, lawyers, auditors, and other professional advisors. These parties only receive Your Data when this is needed to fulfil a contractual obligation.
- Public and governmental authorities: when required by Law, or as necessary to protect our and/or Your rights, we may share Your Data with entities that regulate or have jurisdiction over Fairphone;
- Affiliates: should Fairphone establish affiliates, we may share Your Data with those affiliates on a need-to-know basis;
- Social Media Plug-ins: our website does not use social media plug-ins. The social media symbols on our website are regular links and do not transmit data to social media platforms.
We process Your Data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation. To protect Your Data, we will take appropriate measures, including requiring our service providers to use appropriate measures to protect the confidentiality and security of Your Data. Your Data is stored on our secure servers or the servers of our trusted partners.
We want you to feel confident in using our website and we are committed to protecting Your Data that we collect or process. We have implemented appropriate technical and security procedures to help protect Your Data against any unlawful destruction, accidental loss, alteration or unauthorised disclosure or access. However, please be aware that the transmission of information and data over the Internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the Internet.
We attempt to collect, store and, if applicable, process Your Data within the European Union, European Economic Area (“EEA”) and Switzerland.
We may transfer Your Data to countries located outside the European Union, European Economic Area (“EEA”) and Switzerland. Some of these countries are recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection. With regards to transfers to countries which are not recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection, we will ensure adequate data protection and privacy requirements through the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission. You can request a copy of these clauses through privacy@fairphone.com.
We do not intentionally collect information from children under the age of 16.
- If You are under the age of 16, we advise You to speak with Your parent or guardian and get their consent before sharing Your Data with us;
- If You are the parent or guardian of a child under the age of 16, we recommend You make sure that Your child does not share Personal Data through the use of our products, services, website and other digital channels without asking Your permission.
The most current version of the Privacy Policy governs Our processing of Your Data. We reserve the right to amend our Privacy Policy from time to time. If We do revise this Privacy Policy and make changes that are determined by Us to be material, We will notify You.
If You have any questions about Our Privacy Policy, or wish to invoke Your legal rights, please contact us via privacy@fairphone.com. The supervisor of privacy legislation is the Authoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP) or Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA). You can find the contact details of the Personal Data Authority here.
This privacy policy was updated in February 2023 An older version will always be available on our website with indication of changes where possible. Previous version of our privacy policy can be found here.