Privacy Policy
This policy explains how Fontana Trading Europe, Sociedade Unipessoal Lda. (the "Company", "we") and our group subsidiaries process personal data. It is written to satisfy the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, "GDPR"), the Portuguese Lei da Proteção de Dados Pessoais (Lei nº 58/2019), the Brazilian Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (Lei nº 13.709/2018, "LGPD") and the UK Data Protection Act 2018.
1. Who we are
The data controller is Fontana Trading Europe, Sociedade Unipessoal Lda., NIPC 519 541 227, with registered office at Rua Filipe Folque 2, 2º, 1050-113 Lisboa, Portugal. Our Brazilian and UK subsidiaries — Fontana Agronegócios Ltda. (CNPJ 54.793.783/0001-37) and Fontana Trading UK Ltd. — act as joint controllers or processors depending on the activity.
Data protection contact
Written requests should be addressed to privacy@fontana.trade or by post to the Lisbon address above, marked for the attention of the Head of Compliance.
2. Personal data we process
We only process personal data that is necessary for us to trade, comply with law, and manage the relationship with counterparties and their representatives. Specifically:
- Counterparty contact data — name, business email, business phone, job title, employer, business address, spoken languages.
- Know Your Counterparty (KYC) documentation — corporate registration certificates, beneficial ownership statements, officers' identification, sanctions screening results, adverse media checks.
- Commercial correspondence — emails, WhatsApp messages, WeChat messages, call notes and meeting minutes exchanged for the purpose of negotiating, executing or settling grain trades.
- Transaction and settlement records — contracts, invoices, shipping documents, letters of credit, bank references.
- Website usage data — IP address, browser type, pages viewed, session duration, referring URL. Collected only when strictly necessary for site security and analytics (see §7).
- Job applications — CVs, cover letters, references, and interview notes for candidates who apply to work with us.
3. Legal bases for processing
Under Article 6 GDPR (and equivalent Article 7 LGPD), we rely on the following legal bases:
| Processing | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Negotiating and performing contracts with counterparties and their representatives | Contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) |
| KYC, sanctions screening, anti-money-laundering checks | Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) and legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Retaining records for tax, customs and regulatory reporting | Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) |
| Managing the counterparty relationship, business development, market intelligence distribution | Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Marketing to prospective counterparties | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) or legitimate interest with opt-out |
| Site security cookies and essential analytics | Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
4. Who we share data with
We share personal data only with recipients who need it to help us perform a contract or comply with law. Categories include:
- Group subsidiaries — Fontana Agronegócios Ltda. (Brazil) and Fontana Trading UK Ltd. (United Kingdom).
- Banks and trade finance providers — for settlement, credit facilities and letter-of-credit processing.
- Freight forwarders, shipping lines and port operators — for cargo movement and documentary compliance.
- Cargo and credit insurers — Coface, Atradius, and equivalent.
- Independent auditors and legal counsel — for audit, litigation and regulatory advice, under professional secrecy.
- Regulators and public authorities — when required by law (Receita Federal, Banco Central do Brasil, HMRC, Portuguese Autoridade Tributária, EU competent authorities, sanctions bodies).
- IT service providers — cloud hosting, email, backups, security tooling. Contractually bound as data processors.
We do not sell personal data. We do not transfer personal data to unrelated third parties for their own marketing.
5. International transfers
As a business active on three continents, we transfer personal data between the European Union, the United Kingdom, Brazil and the countries where our counterparties are located (including China, EU member states, the UK, Egypt, Nigeria and other markets). Transfers outside the European Economic Area are made under one of the following safeguards:
- The European Commission's adequacy decisions (currently in force for the UK).
- Standard Contractual Clauses adopted by the European Commission (Decision (EU) 2021/914) for other destinations, supplemented by a Transfer Impact Assessment.
- The LGPD's international transfer safeguards for movements between Portugal and Brazil.
6. How long we keep data
| Category | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Contracts, invoices and shipping documents | 10 years from the end of the accounting period (Portuguese Commercial Code, Art. 40) |
| KYC records | 7 years after the relationship ends (AML Directive 5) |
| Sanctions screening results | 7 years after the last screening |
| Commercial correspondence (email, chat) | 7 years after the trade closes |
| Unsuccessful KYC / declined counterparties | 5 years, for audit trail |
| Marketing lists | Until opt-out, reviewed annually |
| Job applications (unsuccessful) | 12 months, with candidate consent |
7. Cookies and website
fontana.trade uses only strictly necessary cookies for form submission (Netlify Forms) and security headers. We do not use advertising, retargeting or third-party analytics cookies. If we introduce analytics in future we will update this policy and, where required, request your consent through a cookie banner.
8. Your rights
Under GDPR and LGPD you may exercise the following rights in respect of personal data we hold about you:
- Access — request confirmation and a copy of the personal data we hold.
- Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Erasure — ask us to delete data where we no longer have a legal basis to retain it.
- Restriction — ask us to limit processing while a dispute is resolved.
- Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
- Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests, including profiling.
- Withdraw consent — where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
- Complaint — lodge a complaint with your data protection authority: CNPD in Portugal, ANPD in Brazil, or the ICO in the United Kingdom.
To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@fontana.trade. We will respond within one month (GDPR) or fifteen days (LGPD), extendable if the request is complex.
9. Security
We apply technical and organisational measures appropriate to the risk: encrypted transport (TLS 1.2+ for all web traffic), encryption at rest for backups, multi-factor authentication on business systems, least-privilege access controls, quarterly access reviews, and a documented incident response plan. Personal data breaches affecting the rights of data subjects will be notified to the competent supervisory authority within 72 hours and to affected individuals without undue delay, as required by GDPR Art. 33–34 and LGPD Art. 48.
10. Changes to this policy
We review this policy at least annually and update it if our processing activities, legal obligations or safeguards change. The date at the top of the page reflects the latest revision. Material changes are notified through the site header, and to counterparties by email where the change affects a live relationship.
Not legal advice. This policy states how Fontana Trading Europe processes personal data. It does not constitute legal advice for readers. Counterparties should consult their own counsel where necessary.