Tell us your story
DATA PROTECTION NOTICE
on the processing of the Surveys on Asylum-related Migrants (SAM) survey data by the Research Programme of the EUAA Data Analysis and Research Sector (DARS)
The European Union Agency for Asylum (hereinafter ‘the EUAA’ or ‘the Agency’) is committed to protecting your privacy. The EUAA collects and further processes personal data pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/17251 (hereinafter ‘the EUDPR’).
This Data Protection Notice explains inter alia the reasons for the processing of your personal data, the way we collect, handle, and ensure protection of your personal data and what rights you have in relation to your personal data. It also specifies the contact details of the responsible Data Controller with whom you may exercise your rights, as well as of the Data Protection Officer (DPO) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) to which you may have recourse as well to exercise the said rights.
Go back to topYour data are processed for the purpose of the tellusyourstorysurvey.eu survey conducted by the Research Programme of the EUAA Data Analysis and Research Sector (DARS) by using the online platform LimeSurvey.
This survey is intended to help the EUAA learn more about the asylum situation in Europe, migration experiences, journeys, expectations, and needs of asylum-related migrants in Europe. The insights from this survey will help the EUAA to better understand asylum-related migration and contribute to a fairer and more efficient international protection system in Europe, providing further assistance, more efficient support, higher quality, and consistency within the field of asylum
Accordingly, the survey is intended to be filled by participants such as asylum-seekers, asylum-applicants, persons with refugee or subsidiary protection status, people with international protection, persons with a negative asylum decision that did not return to their country of origin or other displaced persons based in Europe, as well as persons involved in temporary protection procedures. Survey participants must be 18 years old or above
The survey is available on the EUAA webpage tellusyourstorysurvey.eu, which is hosted on the EUAA server installed instance of LimeSurvey, an open-source software platform. The survey mostly contains closed-ended multiple-choice questions, as well as open-ended free-text boxes where participants can volunteer information, whilst being reminded and encouraged not to share any personally identifying data concerning themselves or others
Still, all answers to closed-ended questions collected via the survey are processed in aggregated form, i.e., participants’ answers will be aggregated to the answers of other survey participants at the country or EU-level and only then will they be analysed. Moreover, during the analysis phase, any data provided in open-ended free-text boxes will be screened by EUAA personnel to redact any information that could potentially be used to identify the individual(s) concerned, to ensure the highest standards of confidentiality of sources, and compliance with the EUAA’s ethical principles with respect to research. Once such redaction takes place, the data provided in open-ended free-text boxes may be used in the form of quotes for reporting purposes. Potentially identifying information in open-ended free-text boxes, volunteered by participants despite reminders to the contrary, may remain in the EUAA servers but only until such time as it is redacted and deleted by authorized EUAA personnel and, accordingly, is not used for further processing, analysis and reporting.
Please also be advised that the survey is not intended for the collection and processing of any data that can be linked to an identifiable individual person, such as data related to personal ID, asylum application, registration for international and/or temporary protection, nor any other form of identification. In fact the Research Programme openly discourages any disclosure of this sort. Rather, the processing of data will be exclusively linked to the purposes set out in this section, no further analysis will be performed.
Due to the nature of the data collection process described above, survey participants should rest assured that it is not possible, in any way, to connect their answers to the survey with any individual asylum applications or any other administrative procedure they may be involved in.
Go back to topWe process survey data on the basis of Article 2(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2021/23032 (hereinafter ‘the EUAA Regulation’), pursuant to which the Agency is tasked with “gather[ing] and analys[ing] information of a qualitative and quantitative nature on the situation of asylum and on the implementation of the CEAS”.
This task is further described in Article 5(1) of the said Regulation, which provides that “[t]he Agency shall gather and analyse information on the situation of asylum in the Union and in third countries insofar as it might have an impact on the Union, including up-to-date information on root causes, migratory and refugee flows, the presence of unaccompanied minors, the overall reception capacity and resettlement needs of third countries, and possible arrivals of large numbers of third-country nationals which might subject the Member States’ asylum and reception systems to disproportionate pressure, with a view to providing timely and reliable information to the Member States and to identifying possible risks to the Member States' asylum and reception systems”.
Therefore, the processing of survey data is lawful under point (a) of Article 5(1) of the EUDPR.
Additionally, to the extent that processing of survey data may include personal data voluntarily provided by survey participants in the available free-text boxes, which are stored by EUAA personnel prior to their redaction, the processing operation is based on your consent and therefore lawful under point (d) of Article 5(1) of the EUDPR.
Go back to topIn the survey, participants are asked to provide socio-demographic information, such as age, gender, marital status, education, citizenship, asylum legal status. All multiple-choice questions allow survey participants the possibility to answer, “I don't know” or “I prefer not to say”. Participants are also asked about their migration journey, experiences and expectations.
All survey data collected are analysed in anonymous and/or aggregated form and therefore do not involve the processing of personal data per se, as defined in Article 3(1) of the EUDPR.
In light of the settings chosen by the EUAA, when accessing the survey on LimeSurvey, the IP addresses and/or cookies of survey participants will not be collected or stored.
Go back to topSurvey data will be retained for no longer than it is necessary for the purpose for which they were collected and processed. The data analysed will be retained in anonymised and/or aggregated form for 10 years.
Go back to topTo protect survey data, the EUAA has put in place several technical and organisational measures
Technical measures include appropriate actions to address online security, information protection, alteration of data or unauthorised access, limitation of telemetry data, conditional access, encryption of data in transit and at rest, taking into consideration the risk presented by the processing and the nature of the personal data being processed, as well as the latest technological means available.
Organisational measures include safeguarding access to data, auditing, removal of unilateral amendments of contractual provisions, strict purpose limitation, compliance with processor agreements, strict limitation of sub-processors, control of location(s), reporting on any eventual breaches via contractual means and restricting access to the personal data on a need to access and for the purposes of this processing operation.
Go back to topThe following (categories of) recipients have access to your (personal) data:
The following (categories of) recipients may have access to survey data which has been redacted, anonymised and/or aggregated:
This processing operation does not involve the transfer of personal data to third countries or international organisations (outside the EU/EEA). Only anonymised and/or aggregated subsets of survey data may be shared with analysts of international organisations (e.g., the OECD), strictly for the purposes of data analysis.
Go back to topThis processing does not involve automated decision-making, including profiling.
Go back to topAccording to the EUDPR, if you voluntary provide personal data in the open-ended free-text boxes, you are entitled to access your personal data and to rectify them in case the data are inaccurate or incomplete. If your personal data are no longer needed by the EUAA or if the processing operation is unlawful, you have the right to erase your data. Under certain circumstances, such as if you contest the accuracy of the processed data or if you are not sure if your data are lawfully processed, you may ask the Data Controller to restrict the data processing. You may also object, on compelling legitimate grounds, to the processing of data relating to you. Additionally, you have the right to data portability which allows you to obtain the data that the Data Controller holds on you and to transfer it from one Data Controller to another. Where relevant and technically feasible, the EUAA will do this work for you
However, in general, since the survey does not collect personal data, it is not possible to identify specific responses and link them to any identifiable individual. Additionally, any personal data volunteered by survey participants in open-ended free-text boxes will be redacted and deleted by authorised EUAA personnel.
As a result, please be advised that there will not be any personal data of any (identifiable) data subjects which could technically be rectified and/or erased.
If you wish to exercise your rights, please contact the Data Controller, i.e., the EUAA DARS Research Programme, by sending an e-mail to research-programme@euaa.europa.eu.
You may always submit queries, remarks or complaints relating to the processing of your personal data to the Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the EUAA by using the following e-mail address: dpo@euaa.europa.eu.
In case of conflict, complaints can be addressed to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) using the following e-mail address: edps@edps@europa.eu.
Updated in July 2024.
Go back to top1Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC, OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39-98.
2Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2021 on the European Union Agency for Asylum and repealing Regulation (EU) No 439/2010, OJ L 468, 30.12.2021, p. 1-54.
3Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L 145, 31.05.2001, p. 43–48.