Infosheets

We process your personal data to be able to provide reception and counselling during your asylum procedure in the Netherlands (our primary objective). This is still very broad and can be divided into several (compatible) objectives. Our main objectives are:
•Providing reception and counselling. Reception comprises accommodation, provisions and giving access to basic facilities, such as healthcare, in one of our COA centres.
Providing counselling in a COA centre, among other things by:
•Supporting your preparation for a future in or outside the Netherlands;
•Strengthening your self-reliance in the reception centre and for the future;
•Specific counselling with respect to education, living, emancipation, integration and participation, or return;
•Carrying out accommodation management, for example through room visits and inspections, registration of signals of human trafficking and migrant smuggling, and registration of incidents.
•Supporting you in your path to adulthood if you are an unaccompanied minor (hereinafter: 'AMV').
•Ending your reception, among other ways by:
•Supporting your outflow to a municipality;
•Mediating with a municipality for housing;
•Counselling your independent or forced return to your country of origin or Dublin country.
•Assuring safety and liveability in a centre; not only your safety, but also that of other residents and/or COA employees, for instance by registering aggression, violence and other incidents.
•Acting in emergencies, for example an accident or illness which requires acute care.
•Carrying out academic and historical research, for statistic purposes and for archiving purposes in general interest.

We may share your personal data with others because this is necessary for your reception and counselling. Of course, this is something we only do with good reason.
We will only share the data necessary and only with those persons who need the data to be able to carry out their work. Just like the COA, other parties must handle your personal data with care. We make clear agreements about this.

We may share your data with:
•Agencies of the Ministry of Justice and Security:
oDienst Terugkeer en Vertrek (Repatriation and Departure Service, DT&V);
oImmigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (Immigration and Naturalisation Service, IND);
oThe police and its bodies, such as the Afdeling Vreemdelingenpolitie, Identificatie en Mensenhandel (Aliens Police, Identification and Human Trafficking Department, AVIM);
oDienst Justitiële Inrichtineng (Custodial Institutions Agency, DJI) and its body Dienst Vervoer en Ondersteuning (Transport and Support Agency, DV&O);
•Healthcare partners:
oGezondheidsZorg Asielzoekers (Health Centre for Asylum Seekers, GZA), via healthcare organisation Arts en Zorg;
oMediFirst;
oRegeling Medische zorg Asielzoekers (Medical Care for Asylum Seekers Regulation, RMA), via healthcare insurer DSW;
oThe Municipal or Joint Health Service and Regional Medical Assistance Organisation (GGD and GHOR).
•Other partners with whom we cooperate:
oThe Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (KMar);
oThe International Organisation for Migration (IOM);
oStichting Nidos (Nidos Foundation, the independent custody and family custody institution in the Netherlands);
oThe Dutch Council for Refugees (VWN);
oVeilig Thuis (the reporting centre for domestic violence and child abuse);
oThe Expertise Centre for Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling (EMM).
•Other categories of partners with whom we cooperate:
oMunicipalities;
oBanks;
oTransport services, such as taxi and coach operators;
oEducational institutions, such as day nurseries and schools;
oGovernment inspectorates, emergency services, supervisory authorities or judicial institutions, for carrying out a legal duty or in case of emergency;
oLawyers of residents for representing their interests;
oLawyers, accountants and auditors for representing the interests of the COA;
oInsurance companies in connection with the liability insurance of asylum seekers;
oInterpreting services;
oCooperation partners specialising in children in reception centres and AMVs (UAMs).

Your personal data will stay within the European Union as long as we are responsible for your data. If we send your data to a country or organisation outside of the EU after all, we will not do so without taking appropriate security measures.

The COA has appropriate measures in place to protect the processing of your personal data and to prevent data abuse. To protect personal data within COA, we comply with, among other things, government security standards and regulations. In addition, all COA employees, temporary employees, and volunteers are obliged to observe confidentiality.

In you have any questions, requests or complaints about your data being processed by the COA, please contact the COA information line via the email address: info@coa.nl. We try to respond as fast as possible, but at least within one month. In highly exceptional situations, we can extend this term to up to three months.
Postal address:
Centraal Orgaan opvang asielzoekers
Postbus 30203
2500 GE Den Haag

The COA also has a Data Protection Officer (FG) with the important task to supervise compliance with the GDPR by the COA internally.

Contact details of the FG: fg@minjenv.nl attn Mr Pieter de Groot.
 
This privacy statement was laid down by the board on 27 August 2019.

Welcome to the Centraal Orgaan opvang asielzoekers (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, hereinafter: 'COA,' 'we,' 'us,' or 'our')! We would like you to be aware of the careful way we process your personal data. When doing so, we comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter: 'GDPR'). The COA collects and uses data to be able to provide asylum seekers with reception and counselling. If you applied for asylum in the Netherlands and are (or perhaps have been) a resident of one of our reception centres, this privacy statement applies to you.