Privacy Notice

European Microbusiness Compliance Project and Network Research

Effective date: 01.09.2026

This privacy notice explains how personal data is collected and used in connection with the following questionnaires:

  • European Microbusiness Compliance Project – Seller Research

  • European Microbusiness Compliance Network – Potential Partner Research

This notice applies only to these research questionnaires. Any separate privacy notice on the Siren Ink Studio website continues to apply when you visit that website.

1. Data controller

The entity responsible for processing the information collected through these questionnaires is:

Email: design@sireninkstudio.com

No data protection officer has been appointed because one is not currently required for this project.

2. Purpose of the research

This is an independent exploratory research project examining whether European packaging-compliance services could be made more accessible and affordable for microbusinesses selling across borders.

The project currently includes two types of research.

Seller research

The seller questionnaire is used to:

  • understand how packaging and producer-responsibility requirements affect microbusinesses;

  • identify the countries and sales channels used by participating sellers;

  • understand current compliance costs and administrative difficulties;

  • assess interest in affordable compliance support; and

  • develop aggregated research findings about microbusiness needs.

Potential-partner research

The potential-partner questionnaire is used to:

  • assess interest in a possible network of independent local compliance providers;

  • understand respondents’ professional roles, services and country coverage;

  • explore respondents’ understanding of their local eligibility;

  • assess capacity to support microbusiness clients;

  • compare preferred network, referral and commercial arrangements;

  • identify concerns, operational requirements and possible safeguards; and

  • identify people or organisations that may be interested in an introductory conversation or limited pilot.

Completing either questionnaire does not create a client relationship, partnership, agency, franchise, employment relationship or obligation to participate in any future project.

3. Information collected

Depending on which questionnaire you complete, information collected may include:

  • your country;

  • the type and structure of your business or professional activity;

  • products, sales channels and countries into which you sell;

  • estimated packaging volumes or numbers of orders;

  • current compliance arrangements and estimated compliance costs;

  • professional role, experience, languages and services;

  • countries in which you provide compliance services;

  • your understanding of local authorised-representative requirements;

  • client capacity and preferred working arrangements;

  • concerns and views about a possible provider network;

  • answers entered into optional free-text fields;

  • your optional name, organisation, professional website or LinkedIn profile;

  • your optional email address; and

  • your communication preferences.

Please do not provide:

  • passwords or login information;

  • confidential client information;

  • identity-document numbers;

  • financial-account information;

  • health information;

  • information about criminal convictions; or

  • other sensitive personal information.

4. Anonymous and identifiable responses

You may complete the questionnaires without providing your name, organisation, website or email address unless a particular form clearly states otherwise.

If you do not provide identifying information, the project organiser may not be able to identify you from the answers received.

However, the questionnaires should not be described as technically anonymous because Google may process technical information when you access or submit a Google Form. The project organiser does not normally receive your IP address through the standard Google Forms response record.

If you voluntarily provide your name, email address, professional profile or other identifying information, your response will be treated as personal data and will no longer be anonymous.

5. Legal basis for processing

The legal basis for processing questionnaire responses is your consent under Article 6(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation.

Participation is voluntary. You are not legally or contractually required to complete either questionnaire. If you do not consent, you should not submit the form.

Where you provide an email address and select one or more communication options, your consent also provides the legal basis for the requested follow-up communication.

You may complete a questionnaire without consenting to receive future project updates.

6. Follow-up communications

If you provide an email address, you will be contacted only for the purposes you select in the questionnaire. These may include:

  • arranging an introductory research conversation;

  • sending you the results of the research;

  • providing information about a possible pilot; or

  • telling you whether the proposed network progresses.

Your contact information will not be added automatically to the Siren Ink Studio author, publishing or commercial marketing mailing lists.

You may withdraw your communication consent at any time by emailing design@sireninkstudio.com.

7. Google Forms

The questionnaires are hosted using Google Forms, a service provided by Google.

When you access or submit a Google Form, Google may process survey responses and technical information necessary to provide and secure its services. Depending on Google’s systems and service arrangements, information may be processed on servers located outside Germany or the European Economic Area.

Google describes its privacy practices and international data-transfer arrangements in the Google Privacy Policy.

Please do not submit either questionnaire if you are uncomfortable with the use of Google Forms.

8. Recipients of the information

Questionnaire responses will normally be accessible only to the data controller and service providers required to operate and store the questionnaires.

Personal data will not be:

  • sold;

  • provided to unrelated businesses for their own marketing;

  • published with your identity;

  • used for automated decision-making or profiling; or

  • shared with prospective network members without an appropriate legal basis.

Aggregated or anonymised research findings may be shared publicly or with prospective service providers, marketplaces, professional organisations or other interested parties. These findings will not intentionally identify individual respondents.

Personal data may also be disclosed where required by law or where reasonably necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

9. International data processing

The project is administered from Germany.

Because Google Forms and other online service providers may operate internationally, personal data may be processed outside the European Economic Area.

Where required, international transfers must be protected through an applicable adequacy decision, standard contractual clauses or another legally recognised safeguard.

The project organiser will not intentionally send identifiable questionnaire responses to prospective partners outside the European Economic Area without informing the affected respondents and establishing an appropriate legal basis.

10. Retention period

Identifiable questionnaire responses will be retained for no longer than 24 months after the relevant questionnaire closes, unless a longer period is necessary for a respondent-requested pilot discussion or developing professional relationship.

Contact information provided for project updates may be retained until:

  • you withdraw your consent;

  • the proposed project is discontinued; or

  • the information is no longer required for the purpose for which you provided it.

Contact lists will be reviewed periodically, and information that is no longer required will be deleted.

Aggregated information that has been genuinely anonymised may be retained for longer because it can no longer be connected to an identifiable individual.

11. Withdrawal of consent

You may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing design@sireninkstudio.com.

Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

To help locate your response, you may be asked to provide the email address or other identifying information originally entered in the questionnaire.

If you submitted a response without any identifying information, it may not be possible to locate or delete that individual response. Information that has already been irreversibly anonymised and included in aggregated results can no longer be attributed to you.

12. Your data-protection rights

Subject to the conditions established by applicable law, you may have the right to:

  • request access to your personal data;

  • request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data;

  • request deletion of your personal data;

  • request restriction of processing;

  • receive certain information in a portable format;

  • withdraw your consent; and

  • lodge a complaint with a data-protection supervisory authority.

Requests can be sent to design@sireninkstudio.com.

The competent supervisory authority for the project organiser is:

Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen

Current contact and complaint information is available at:
www.ldi.nrw.de

You may also contact the competent supervisory authority in the EU or EEA country where you live or work.

13. Security

Reasonable organisational and technical measures will be used to protect questionnaire responses against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or loss.

Nevertheless, no online service or internet transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Respondents should therefore avoid entering confidential, sensitive or unnecessary personal information.

14. Changes to this notice

This privacy notice may be updated if the questionnaires, service providers or research purposes change materially.

The current version will be published on the same webpage and identified by its effective date.

If a material change affects the way identifiable information is used, affected respondents will be informed where reasonably possible and additional consent will be requested where required.