Privacy Policy & Data Protection

This Privacy Policy transparently sets forth how the International Institute for Geopolitical Studies (IIEG) collects, processes, protects, and retains personal data belonging to visitors, registered users, and subscribers on https://institugeo.org.

IIEG rigorously observes the provisions of:

• Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (General Data Protection Regulation — GDPR);
• The French Data Protection Act (Loi n° 78-17 "Informatique et Libertés");
• European Directive 2002/58/EC ("ePrivacy" Directive).

The Data Controller within the meaning of Article 4(7) of the GDPR is:

You may contact our Data Protection Officer directly regarding any inquiries or to exercise statutory privacy rights.

We collect personal data based upon your degree of interaction with our platform:

Every processing activity conducted by IIEG is anchored in a defined GDPR legal ground:

Personal data is retained only for the time strictly necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was gathered:

• Active Accounts: Retained throughout the duration of user membership. Accounts inactive for three (3) consecutive years without sign-in are safely purged or anonymized.
• Paid Subscriptions: Transaction and invoice records are preserved for ten (10) years pursuant to statutory requirements under the French Commercial Code.
• Newsletter Subscriptions: Maintained until the subscriber unsubscribes via the 1-click link included in every newsletter or via profile settings.
• Security Logs: Kept for a maximum of twelve (12) months before automated deletion.

Personal data is accessible solely by:

• Authorized personnel of IIEG under strict confidentiality obligations;
• Trusted technical sub-processors under GDPR Article 28 data processing agreements (secure email delivery, payment gateway processing).

Data processed by IIEG is stored and maintained primarily within the European Union (European Economic Area — EEA).

Where any technical processing requires international transfers outside the EEA, IIEG ensures that adequate protection is guaranteed via an adequacy decision of the European Commission or through standard contractual clauses (SCCs) approved by the EU.

IIEG deploys state-of-the-art security safeguards:

Pursuant to Articles 15 to 22 of the GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of Access (Art. 15): Obtain confirmation as to whether your data is being processed and receive a full copy.
• Right to Rectification (Art. 16): Require inaccurate or incomplete data to be corrected without delay.
• Right to Erasure / Right to be Forgotten (Art. 17): Request deletion of your data when it is no longer required.
• Right to Restriction of Processing (Art. 18): Request temporary freezing of processing in contested circumstances.
• Right to Data Portability (Art. 20): Receive your personal data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to Object (Art. 21): Object at any time to processing based on legitimate interest or research communications.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

Cookies are small text files placed on your device. IIEG categorizes them as follows:

IIEG reserves the right to revise this Privacy Policy to ensure continued compliance with legislative and regulatory developments.

In the event of material revisions, registered account holders will receive prior notice via email or through prominent notifications posted on the platform.