A. Terms of Use

The MELCHIOR project website https://melchior-project.eu/ is owned by the MELCHIOR Consortium and managed by the Center for Security Studies (KEMEA), as a Consortium member.

MELCHIOR is a research project that has received funding from the Horizon Europe Framework program under grant agreement no. 101073899. The project started on 1 September 2022 and ends in 31 August 2025. The MELCHIOR consortium consists of 15 partners from academia and industry, as well as public authorities. The present website is part of the dissemination and communication activities undertaken by the MELCHIOR consortium within the aim to successfully communicate its research output on a rather innovative topic to a wider public and facilitate the creation of synergies with interested stakeholders.

This website can provide all (hereafter referred to as ‘users’/‘visitors’) with information, participation, content delivery or content collection services regarding the project MELCHIOR, under the terms of use included in this document.

The website is the sole responsibility of the Parties of the Consortium and cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Commission. The use / visit of this website and / or its services is provided under the unconditional acceptance of the terms of use described herein. Navigating through this website, staying on this website, creating links to it (URL) or to its files / services, archiving / bookmarking it, constitute acceptance of its terms of use.

The use of the website must be conducted solely under legitimate purposes and in a manner that does not restrict or impede its use by third parties. The user / visitor of this website is obligated to use it in accordance with the law and the present terms of use. The user / visitor of the website shall not commit any acts or omissions that may cause damage or malfunction and may adversely affect or endanger the provision of services provided through the website to citizens.

The content of the website, including (indicatively and not exhaustively) texts, graphics, images, videos, sounds, services, etc. (hereafter referred to as ‘Content’) is legally protected under Intellectual Property Rights Law and we reserve all rights of use and ownership of the Content, all copies created based on it, as well as all intellectual property rights and all other property rights pertaining to it.

We use all endeavours to ensure that the information and content that appears on the website is as accurate, true and up to date as possible. It also provides the content (e.g., information, names, photographs, pictures, images, data, etc.) and the services made available through the website ‘AS IS’. Under no circumstances, can we be held liable for any legal claims, civil or criminal or damages of any kind (direct loss, special damage or indirect loss) to the user / visitor of this website.

The website may contain links to third party websites for the sole purpose of providing information to the user / visitor. The referral to links belonging to third-party websites does not constitute an endorsement of their views and actions or the acceptance of the content they express, publish or post. Third-parties -owners of the websites/responsible under the law- are solely responsible for the content of their websites or for any damage that may result from their We make all efforts to ensure the proper function of  our network but we do not guarantee that our server operations will be uninterrupted or error-free, free from viruses, malicious software or other similar elements.

The terms and conditions of use of this website, as well as any amendment thereof, are governed by and supplemented by national and European law and the applicable international treaties. Any provision of these terms which is found to be against the above legal framework or is rendered invalid ceases to be valid and enforceable and shall be withdrawn from the present terms, without in any way undermining the validity of the remaining terms.

The terms and conditions of use of this website constitute the overall agreement between the Consortium and the users / visitors of its webpages and services and bind solely them. No modification of the terms of use is taken into account and is part of this agreement, unless it is expressed in writing and is incorporated in the present Terms of Use. Unless otherwise stated on this website, the above terms of use are immediately applicable in their entirety. We unilaterally reserve the right to modify, add, alter the content or services of the Website and its terms of use, whenever it deems necessary, without prior notice, through this website, always within the legal framework in force.

You may access the website https://melchior-project.eu/ without having to disclose any data about your person. Nevertheless, the installed browser on your device sends automatically information to the server of the MELCHIOR website, including information about your browser type and version, as well as the date and time of access, so as to establish a connection and permit your access to the website.

B. Cookies Policy

We use cookies and analytics services to maintain and monitor the performance of the MELCHIOR website and to optimize our services, as well as to receive aggregate data that we can use in our dissemination reports for the European Commission.

Cookies are data files that are transferred from a web server to the Website visitor’s computer, in order to keep statistics and to provide the best experience to the visitor -strictly necessary and functional cookies. Cookies are an industry standard used by most websites to facilitate the user’s repeated access to a website and its use through the personalisation of the service provided as they can store the personal choices of the user. Cookies are not harmful to the user’s computer system or its files, and apart from the user himself, only the website from which a particular cookie has been transferred to his or her computer can read, modify it or delete it.

If the user / visitor does not wish his or her information to be collected through cookies, he or she can use the “reject” option on banner. It should be noted, however, that discarding cookies may result in making it more difficult or impossible to use certain parts of the Website, and / or that there is a change in its intended appearance and operation, as a permanent connection will be required. At all events, the user/ visitor can manage the collection of any cookies through the website’s settings.

We may also use reCAPTCHA, a free service provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (Google). This tool, which may have different forms, helps protect websites from spam, malicious behavior and abuse, by checking whether the data entered on the website (for instance, via a contact form) is being entered by a human or by a bot, i.e. an automated program. This determination occurs based on the monitoring and analysis of the behavior of the website visitor. The collected data, which include user and browser information, such as cookies placed by Google, the number of clicks you have made on that screen and installed browser plug-ins, are forwarded to Google and stored in servers in USA. Data processing for the version of reCAPTCHA used by our website (reCAPTCHA v2 – “I am not a robot” sign and ticking box) is based on your consent under Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR.

We shall contain such data in hardcopy and electronic files and / or databases in full compliance with data protection legislation, including security and confidentiality requirements based on the principles of good practice, proportionality and transparency regarding processing.

The MELCHIOR website may use Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free web analytics service offered by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (Google). Its purpose is to monitor, keep record of website traffic and report website usage statistics. You can read in detail how Google processes your data when you use sites or apps, which employ Google Analytics tools here.

The MELCHIOR website may use Google Analytics exclusively with the extension “_anonymizeIp()”, which ensures an anonymization of the IP address by shortening it. The IP address sent from your browser is not merged with other data by Google.

Please, note that you will be asked to consent on the use and storage of these cookies.

C. Data Protection Policy

The present data protection policy clarifies in a layered manner the processing of personal information of visitors of the MELCHIOR project website. The data processing on the MELCHIOR website is pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation), Greek Law 4624/2019 on the protection of personal data and any other applicable law.

  1. Data Controller

The Data Controller is the Center for Security Studies (KEMEA) with offices in Athens, at P. Kanellopoulou str., 4, 10177 Greece. The Data Controller can be contacted by writing to the address above or by sending an e-mail message to kemea@kemea.gr , or by calling at Telephone: +30 2107710805 or sending a Fax at Fax number:  +30 211 100 4499.

  1. Data Protection Officer (DPO)

KEMEA’s Data Protection Officer may be reached at dpo@kemea-research.gr in case you have any question about the processing of your data when using the MELCHIOR website or you wish to exercise any of your rights as a data subject.

  1. Types of personal of personal data to be processed:

 

  • When visiting the MELCHIOR website

The IT systems and applications designated for the operation of this Website detect, during the course of their ordinary operation, certain data – the transmission of which is implicit in the use of Internet communication protocols – not associated with directly identifiable users.

The data collected may include cookies, IP addresses of computers used by users connecting to the site, the URI – Uniform Resource Identifier – addresses of the resources requested, the time of the request, the method used to send the request to the server, the size of the file obtained in response, the numerical code indicating the status of the response from the server (completed successfully, error, etc.) and other parameters relating to the operating system and the user’s IT environment.

  • When filing a question/request via our contact form

Other personal data collected are those provided by the user/visitor when corresponding with the e-mail addresses indicated on our website or when filling our online contact form or registering on the website (providing e.g., name, surname, username, password, e-mail address, institution/body etc.).

The sending of personal, non-mandatory data also by email on an optional, explicit and voluntary basis to the addresses indicated on this website means that the address of the sender is then acquired, this being necessary in order to respond to the request, together with any other personal data included in the message.

  1. Purposes of processing

The personal data of the user/ visitor are processed for the following purposes:

  • communication for responding to any requests/questions submitted by the user/visitor,
  • dissemination of the MELCHIOR project and its results, invitation to other relevant activities
  • compliance with legal or administrative obligations.

 

  1. Legal basis

The data processing takes place according to article 6(1)(a) GDPR, your informed consent. You may withdraw your consent at any time with future effect, by sending an informal email to dpo@kemea-research.gr. We may also process personal data based on art. 6(1)(c), when the processing is necessary for our compliance with a legal obligation.

 

  1. Data recipients

Data recipients for:

  • Elements that the Consortium is obligated or entitled by law, contract, judgement and regulatory decision to notify may be: public and independent administrative authorities, judicial authorities and public officials.
  • All the elements necessary for the achievement of each specific purpose: the Administration and the relevant services of the Consortium.

The Consortium shall not disclose, assign, exchange, grant or otherwise dispose, without the consent of the user / visitor, to third parties, natural or legal persons, personal data other than the cases mentioned above within the scope of national laws provisions.

 

  1. Data transfer

No transfer to non- EU countries/ international organizations is foreseen. 

  1. Rights of the data subject

You have the following rights:

  • pursuant to Article 7(3) GDPR, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and without any consequences for you. This means that in future we may no longer continue to process the data as based on this consent;
  • pursuant to Article 15 GDPR, you have the right to obtain information about whether your personal data are processed by us and where that is the case, access to those personal data. In particular, you may obtain information about the purpose of processing, the category of the personal data, the categories of recipients, to whom your data has been or is disclosed to, the storage period planned, the existence of a right to request from the controller rectification, erasure, restriction of processing or objection, the existence of a right to lodge a complaint and the source of your data if it has not been collected by us. Pursuant to Article 12, we must provide any communication relating to the processing to the data subject in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language.
  • pursuant to Article 16 GDPR, you have the right to request the rectification of inaccurate personal data without undue delay or the completion of your personal data stored with us;
  • pursuant to Article 17 GDPR, to request the erasure of your personal data stored with us unless processing is necessary to exercise the right to freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
  • pursuant to Article 18 GDPR, you have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data;
  • pursuant to Article 20 GDPR, you have the right to receive your personal data, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to obtain the transmission to another data controller (right to data portability);
  • pursuant to Article 77 GDPR, to lodge a complaint with a national supervisory authority. You can contact the supervisory authority of your habitual residence or workplace or our company headquarters. In the latter case, you can file a complaint with the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (dpa.gr)

If you wish to exercise any of your rights, you may contact us via e-mail at dpo@kemea-research.gr.

  1. Data retention

Your personal data is retained only for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purposes described above, and they will not be retained more than 5 years after the end of the project (by 31 August 2030), unless a longer retention period is required by legal obligations or regulations.

  1. Data security

Your personal data are processed by electronic means in compliance with the provisions of art. 32 of GDPR 2016/679, national law and in compliance with the principles of data’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Your personal data are transferred in an encoded manner using the widely used and secure TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption standard. You will recognize a secure TLS connection by the additional “s” after “http” (i.e., https://..) in the address bar of your browser or from the lock icon. Moreover, we use suitable technical and organizational measures, which are being continuously enhanced, to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against unauthorized access by third parties.

  1. Amendments to this Data Protection Policy

This data protection policy is effective as of November 2022.

We keep our Data Protection Policy under regular review to make sure it is up to date and precise. Thus, it may become necessary to change it due to the potential addition of new features to the MELCHIOR website or due to further legal requirements. You can have access to the latest data protection information on the MELCHIOR website at the “permanent link of data protection policy”.