Privacy Policy

1. Who are we?

KARL SPEDITION ("KARL SPEDITION", "we") is a Belgian public limited company specialising in international air and maritime transport. In the course of our activities, we collect and process personal data in compliance with the GDPR and applicable Belgian legislation.

2. Data collected

We collect the following categories of data:

2.1 Identification data

• First and last name
• Company name
• Full postal address
• Email address
• Phone number

2.2 Browsing data

• IP address (anonymised after 13 months)
• Cookie data (see Cookie Policy)
• Pages visited, visit duration, browser used

2.3 Commercial data

• Shipment information (origin, destination, goods)
• Requested quotes and commercial communications
• Transaction history

3. Legal bases for processing

• Performance of a contract (Art. 6.1.b GDPR): processing of orders and shipments
• Legal obligation (Art. 6.1.c GDPR): customs, tax, and accounting obligations
• Legitimate interests (Art. 6.1.f GDPR): fraud prevention, IT security, service improvement
• Consent (Art. 6.1.a GDPR): marketing communications, non-essential cookies

4. Purposes of processing

• Management and tracking of your shipments
• Processing of your quote requests and communications
• Compliance with legal and regulatory obligations (customs, IATA)
• Improvement of our services and website
• Sending commercial communications (with your consent)
• Fraud prevention and transaction security

5. Data recipients

Your data may be shared with:

• Our logistics partners (air carriers, shipping companies, local agents) — strictly to the extent necessary to carry out your shipments
• Customs and tax authorities — pursuant to legal obligations
• Technical service providers (hosting provider, software publisher) — bound by GDPR-compliant subcontracting agreements
• No sale of data to third parties for commercial purposes

6. Transfers outside the EU

In the context of certain international shipments, your data may be transferred to partners located outside the European Union. Such transfers are governed by Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission or by adequacy decisions.

7. Retention periods

• Active customer data: duration of the commercial relationship + 5 years
• Accounting documents and invoices: 7 years (Belgian legal obligation)
• Customs documents: minimum 5 years
• Prospecting data: 3 years after last contact
• Browsing data: maximum 13 months
• Contact form data: 3 years

8. Your rights

In accordance with the GDPR, you have the following rights:

• Right of access (Art. 15): obtain confirmation of processing and a copy of your data
• Right to rectification (Art. 16): correct your inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to erasure (Art. 17): request deletion under certain conditions
• Right to restriction (Art. 18): restrict the processing of your data
• Right to portability (Art. 20): receive your data in a structured format
• Right to object (Art. 21): object to processing based on legitimate interest
• Withdrawal of consent (Art. 7.3): at any time for consent-based processing

To exercise your rights, contact our DPO: info@karl-spedition.com

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Österreichische Datenschutzbehörde (DSB): Rue de la Presse 35, 1000 Brussels — www.dsb.gv.at

9. Security

KARL SPEDITION implements appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of your data: TLS encryption, access control, logging, regular backups, and staff training.

10. Amendments

We may amend this policy. The current version is always accessible on this page. In the event of a substantial change, we will notify you by email if you are an active customer.