Preamble. Data protection and privacy policy
Privacy statement according to Art. 11 of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001:
What is the legal basis for the ECWS site?
Article 106 of the Treaty establishing the European Community awards the ECB the exclusive right to authorise the issue of banknotes within the Community. Necessary consequence of this exclusive right is the competence to take measures for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting.
The ECWS offers an additional tool to assist in verifying whether a suspect banknote is counterfeit. The main targeted user groups are law enforcement bodies, financial institutions and cash-handling professionals. Your application will be assessed by the ECB on a need-to-know basis.
All personal data provided will be processed by the ECB in accordance with the requirements of
Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 
on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data.
For which purpose do we process your personal data?
All personal data entered in the ECWS is collected and will be processed and used only for the public interest purpose of protecting the Euro against counterfeiting.
Who has access to ECWS information and to whom is it disclosed?
Information provided will be shared only with the authorities referred to in Art. 3(3) of
Council Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 of 28 June 2001
laying down measures necessary for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting, to the extent necessary for the legitimate performance of tasks covered by their competence. Personal information provided, such as contact details, will be processed only for the administration and communication needs of ECWS (e.g. for preparing a response to the users). The ECB will neither process personal data for purposes other than the ones described above nor divulge them for marketing purposes.
What are your rights as data subject?
All information provided shall be treated as confidential and will not be publicly accessible. Data subjects (natural persons) shall have the right of access to, and the right to rectify the data concerning them. Furthermore, they shall have the right to have recourse at any time to the European Data Protection Supervisor .
How long do we keep your data?
Your personal data will be stored as long as you are a registered user of the system. Data about check requests performed by you will be stored/archived, after they have been rendered anonymous, for a time period of up to seven years for statistical purposes.
If you do not use the system for a time period of 36 months your account will expire automatically. 30 days after expiration your personal data will be deleted from the database and your ?expired? user ID will become disabled for future use.
How do we protect and safeguard your information?
The personal information requested will be processed in line with the confidentiality and security requirements of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and the IT security and confidentiality rules of the ECB.
Contact Information
If you have any further questions on data protection, please contact the responsible Controller at the:
ECWS Administration
Head of the Counterfeit Analysis Centre
European Central Bank
Kaiserstr. 29
D-60311 Frankfurt am Main
Contact: 
