Privacy Statement of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet

We have updated our privacy statement on 23 May 2022

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet protects the personal information of service users and partners under the Data Protection Act and other applicable laws, as well as privacy best practices. This Privacy Statement describes how the Finnish National Opera and Ballet collects and processes personal information. Personal information includes any data item that can be associated with an identifiable person.

The primary basis for handling personal information is the use of the services of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, your consent, or in the casis of our partners, a contract or legitimate interest.

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet electronic services such as the live streaming of performances are provided on various platforms and may include links or access to the sites or services of other parties. When purchasing performance-related services, you may be directed to our service provider’s site. The Finnish National Opera and Ballet is not responsible for third-party privacy practices or terms of use.

By submitting your personal information to the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, you agree to the terms specified in this Privacy Statement. If you are under 13 years old, you will need the consent of your parent or guardian to use our services.

What information do we collect?

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet may collect necessary information about individual users of its services, donors, partners, and potential partners for the purposes specified in this Privacy Statement. The purpose determines which kind of information is collected in a particular situation.

For example, your personal information may be collected when you buy tickets for performances of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, subscribe to our newsletter, visit our website or otherwise interact with us. The Finnish National Opera and Ballet collects personal information from the categories listed below.

Information provided by you or user behaviour related information collected by us:

  • Name
  • Contact details: address, telephone number, email address
  • Interests
  • Language selection
  • Information about linked customer accounts (for example, when interacting with us on behalf of a family member)
  • Payment methods
  • Purchase channels
  • Reservation and purchase history for Finnish National Opera and Ballet services
  • Customer feedback, contacts, and survey responses, including date of birth and gender
  • Memberships and representations
  • Sign-in details, such as username, display name, password (encrypted) and customer number, communication across venues, events, services, and channels, as well as information about the use of our services, including user-generated content
  • Any permits and consents
  • Any opt-outs
  • Donations
  • Organisation, title, or profession (corporate customers, partners, stakeholders)
  • Data collected by the analytics systems of online services (see “How do we use cookies?”)
  • The address of the previously visited website
  • Device identifiers, such as device model and unique device and/or cookie ID
  • Browser type and version as well as device operating system
  • IP address and the associated region
  • Session ID and session time and duration
  • Information obtained from prior use of the services, such as areas of interest
  • the CCTV footage and recordings

Why do we process personal information?

  1. Customer service and sales

We use your personal information to complete your purchases and to manage customer relationships. It is also used to identify you in order to provide personalised services that are of interest to you. Your personal information may also be used to respond to your requests and questions, implement your choices, and perform other similar tasks.

We also use your personal information for customer communications like service updates and to contact you for customer service-related issues. Our Privacy Statement is based on an agreement between you and the Finnish National Opera and Ballet or a legitimate interest to manage and maintain a customer relationship.

  1. Development of services and operations

We use your personal information based on a legitimate interest and customer relationship to develop and manage our services, customer service, as well as sales and marketing.

Your personal information may be used for questionnaires and surveys related to the services and content provided by the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. We can combine data collected through various services and generate statistics as is necessary for service development.

  1. Marketing and communications

With your consent, your personal information can be used in the marketing of the services of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. Our subscription-based newsletter may also contain offers from partners approved by the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, various news and events at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, and donor opportunities.

As a donor, you may consent to the use of your personal information in donor communications and donor relationship management.

  1. Partner relationship management

When you act as a representative of our service provider or another partner, we handle your personal information based on a contract to enable and manage partner relations and communications. The information of potential partners and different external stakeholders is handled based on legitimate interest to enable communications and the building of partner relations.

  1. Compliance with statutory requirements

We use your personal information to comply with statutory requirements and decisions made by competent authorities. These include, for example, statutory requirements for accounting and tax-related obligations.

  1. Security and abuses

We also process your personal data to ensure the information security of our services and communications networks. CCTV footage is used to ensure the safety of our premises. When necessary, we also use personal information to prevent and investigate a variety of potential abuses.

Who can process your personal information?

Your information is only processed by individuals who have the right to do so, such as customer service representatives and other such individuals who need to process your information in their daily work.

Your personal information may be disclosed to the subcontractors and service providers of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet only for processing requested by us. These third parties may only use your information for purposes defined by the Finnish National Opera, and they have no right to use the information for their own purposes.

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet uses several subcontractors, such as for service provision, technical maintenance of its services, customer service, user data management and analysis, surveys, customer communications, and the implementation of various campaigns.

Do we disclose personal information?

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet will not, in principle, disclose your personal information to third parties without your consent. With your explicit consent, however, your personal information may be disclosed for purposes involving third-party services.

Your personal information may be disclosed to satisfy the demands of competent authorities and statutory requirements.

International data transfers

To carry out services and process your personal information, the Finnish National Opera and Ballet primarily uses providers and services located within the EU or EEA. Even if the information is transferred outside the EU, the Finnish National Opera and Ballet will ensure an adequate level of protection of your personal information by agreeing on the confidentiality and processing of personal data as required by law. For example, the standard contractual clauses are approved by the EU Commission. Processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with this Privacy Statement.

How do we ensure the information is up to date?

We take reasonable care to ensure that the personal information in our possession is valid by removing unnecessary data and updating outdated information.

Some services of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet allow users to manage their personal information, choices, and consents collected by us. From time to time, we will ask you to review your details by signing in to your account. Please note that it is up to you to update your personal information in the event of any changes.

How do we protect your personal information?

We pay special attention to data protection and security in the design, implementation, and maintenance of our services. We use appropriate physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to protect your personal information. Data protection and security are in the hands of specifically assigned persons. Access to systems containing customer data is limited to employees who need to process such data in the course of their work duties. The data is saved in databases protected by firewalls, passwords, and other technical means.

In the implementation of data protection and security, we use measures such as proactive risk management, awareness of data protection and security during service design, providing training to our employees, and regularly verifying that our services comply with laws and regulations.

How do we use cookies?

Cookies are small text files, which are installed on a user’s device by a website, an application, or a clicked advertisement. We use cookies and related analytics tools to better understand our users’ needs and to improve the user experience of our website. We also use cookies to save your settings and to communicate to you about your areas of interest.

The information collected via cookies is also used for targeted advertising based on the user’s interests. Cookie-based targeted advertising does not collect information that personally identifies the user, nor is the information we collect associated with any personal details provided in another instance.

Cookies may be used to collect information such as the website you previously visited, which pages you have visited on our website and when, the duration of your visit, the way you navigate on our website, your browser and operating system, the resolution of your display, the IP address of your device, your language preference, and your country.

You have the opportunity to choose which cookies you accept. You can modify your cookie preferences from the Cookie Settings link at the footer of our website. You can also change your browser settings to disable cookies. However, disabling cookies may affect website functionalities.

To see the cookies we use, please visit our List of Cookies page.

How long is your information retained?

We will retain your information in accordance with current legislation only for as long as it is necessary for the purposes defined in this Privacy Statement. Once the basis for processing your personal information has ceased to exist, we will remove your personal information.

What are your rights?

You are entitled to review the information the Finnish National Opera and Ballet has collected about you and request your information to be corrected or updated. You can also deny the Finnish National Opera and Ballet’s right to use your information for direct marketing or customer satisfaction surveys and other research. However, we may still continue to send you notices related to our services, for example, information regarding changes to performances.

In certain situations, you have the right to request for your information to be deleted. We will delete your data upon request unless we are legally obliged to keep it for accounting or tax-related purposes. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation also specifies situations in which you have the right to limit the use of your information. If the use of your information is based on consent or agreement, you have the right to request us to transmit any information, which you have personally provided to us, in a commonly used and machine-readable format, and to have it transmitted to another organisation.

You can make a request for the review or removal of your customer data by emailing ainomaija.peramaki[at]opera.fi. For identification purposes, the request must be sent from the email address you have provided to the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. Information about the personal data we have on file will be sent to that address. The review or removal request can be made free of charge once a year.

If you have any other questions regarding the processing of your data or you want to exercise your user rights, please email your enquiry to tietosuoja[at]opera.fi.

Please contact us if you have any feedback or questions regarding the processing of your data. If you are not satisfied after being in touch with us, you have the right to file a complaint with the Data Protection Ombudsman.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

As our operations and services evolve, we will make changes to this Privacy Statement as necessary. Such changes may also be warranted by changes in legislation or data protection best practices. We recommend that you read this Privacy Statement periodically to stay up to date about any changes.

Who is the controller and who can I contact?

The controller of your personal information is the Finnish National Opera and Ballet Foundation at Helsinginkatu 58, 00251 Helsinki.

For privacy-related enquiries, please email tietosuoja[at]opera.fi. You can also use the feedback form, the mailing address Finnish National Opera and Ballet Foundation, P.O. Box 176, FI-00251 Helsinki, or call +358 44 592 2359.

Please note that we may need to verify your identity for data protection purposes before fulfilling your request.