In Short: We process your information for purposes based on legitimate business interests, the fulfilment of our contract with you, compliance with our legal obligations, and/or your consent.

We use personal information collected via our Services for a variety of business purposes described below. We process your personal information for these purposes in reliance on our legitimate business interests, in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, with your consent, and/or for compliance with our legal obligations. We indicate the specific processing grounds we rely on next to each purpose listed below.

We use the information we collect or receive:

1. To send you marketing and promotional communications. We and/or our third party marketing partners may use the personal information you send to us for our marketing purposes, if this is in accordance with your marketing preferences. You can opt-out of our marketing emails at any time (see the "WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS" below).

2. To send administrative information to you. We may use your personal information to send you product, service, new features, and/or business information and/or information about changes to our Site, terms, conditions, and/or policies.

3. Fulfil and manage your requests and/or service orders. We may use your information to fulfil and manage your requests, service orders, relevant documents, contracts, and/or payments made through the Services.

4. To post testimonials. We may post testimonials about our Services that may contain personal information. Prior to posting a testimonial, we will obtain your consent to use your name and testimonial. If you wish to update, or delete your testimonial, please contact us at info@eecc.energy and be sure to include your name, testimonial location, and contact information.

5. Request Feedback. We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Services.

6. To protect our Services. We may use your information as part of our efforts to keep our Services safe and secure (for example, for fraud monitoring and prevention).

7. To enable user-to-user communications. We may use your information in order to enable user-to-user communications with each user's consent.

8. To enforce our terms, conditions and policies for Business Purposes, Legal Reasons and Contractual Obligations.

9. To resolve disputes, respond to legal requests, and/or prevent harm. If we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond.

10. To deliver services to the user. We may use your information to provide you with the requested service or other business activities as needed.

11. To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users. We may use your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the use of our Services.

12. For other Business Purposes. We may use your information for other Business Purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Services, products, marketing and your experience. We may use and store this information in aggregated and anonymized form so that it is not associated with individual end users and does not include personal information. We will not use identifiable personal information without your consent.

In Short: We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services, to protect your rights, or to fulfil business obligations. This Site is also hosted by Squarespace and HubSpot, which separately collects data to run the Site.

We may process or share data based on the following legal basis:

1. Consent: We may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information in a specific purpose.

2. Legitimate Interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests.

3. Performance of a Contract: Where we have entered into a contract with you, we may process your personal information to fulfil the terms of our contract.

4. Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).

5. Vital Interests: We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.

More specifically, we may need to process your data or share your personal information in the following situations:

Vendors, Consultants and Other Third-Party Service Providers

We may share your data with third party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. These include but are not limited to: 

• Customer relationship management (HubSpot) 

• Website hosting (HubSpot, Squarespace) 

• Website analytics 

• Email marketing and automation 

• Payment processing 

• Data analysis 

• Email delivery and analytics 

• Customer service 

• Marketing efforts

We may allow selected third parties to use tracking technology on the Services, which will enable them to collect data about how you interact with the Services over time. This information may be used to, among other things, analyse and track data, determine the popularity of certain content and better understand online activity. Unless described in this Policy, we do not share, sell, rent or trade any of your information with third parties for their promotional purposes. 

Business Transfers

We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company. We may also receive personal information through acquisitions of other companies. When we acquire a company, we inform affected individuals about the change of ownership and provide them with choices about how their data is used going forward.

Third-Party Advertisers

We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit the Services. These companies may use information about your visits to our Website(s) and other websites that are contained in web cookies and other tracking technologies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

Fonts

This website uses font files from Google Fonts and Adobe Fonts. To properly display this site to you, servers where the font files are stored may receive personal information about you, including:

• Information about your browser, network, or device

• Your IP address

Website Hosting and Customer Relationship Management

HubSpot (eecc.energy)

We use HubSpot to host our website (eecc.energy) and manage customer relationships. When you interact with our website or contact us, HubSpot processes:

• Contact information you provide through forms (name, email, company, phone, etc.)

• Website behaviour and analytics (pages visited, time on site, click tracking)

• Email engagement data (opens, clicks, replies)

• Communication history with our company

• IP address and device information

This data is used to:

• Provide and improve our services

• Respond to your inquiries and provide customer support

• Send marketing communications (if you've opted in)

• Analyse website performance and user behaviour

• Manage our customer relationships

For more information about HubSpot's privacy practices: https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy

Squarespace (apalagroup.com)

Apala Group's website is hosted by Squarespace. Squarespace collects personal data when you visit apalagroup.com, including:

• Information about your browser, network and device

• Web pages you visited prior to coming to this website

• Your IP address

Squarespace needs this data to run the website, and to protect and improve its platform and services. Squarespace analyses the data in a de-personalized form.

Change of Ownership (Updated March 2026)

In March 2026, E&C Group acquired Apala Group, a US-based energy consultancy. As a result:

Data Transfer and Processing:

• Personal data collected by Apala Group may be transferred to and processed by E&C Group for the purposes of providing services, sending marketing communications (if you've opted in), and managing customer relationships.

Notification and Choice:

• Apala Group contacts will receive notification of this change and will have the opportunity to opt out of continued communications.

• If you were a contact of Apala Group and did not opt in to receive communications from E&C Group, your data will be suppressed from our marketing lists but may be retained for legal purposes (such as honouring your unsubscribe request).

Data Storage and Transfer:

• Data from Apala Group is stored on US-based servers and will be gradually migrated to E&C Group's systems.

• We use Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission to protect data during international transfers between our US and European offices.

Your Rights:

• You have the right to object to your data being used by E&C Group or to withdraw consent for marketing communications at any time by: 

  • Contacting us at info@eecc.energy 

  • Clicking unsubscribe in any email

Questions: If you have questions about how Apala Group data is handled following this acquisition, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@eecc.energy.

In Short: We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect and store your information. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, smartphone, or tablet) when you visit our websites. They help us recognize your device and remember information about your visit.

How we use cookies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies (such as web beacons and pixels) for the following purposes:

Essential Cookies (Always Active)

• Enable core website functionality

• Remember your preferences and settings

• Maintain security and prevent fraud

• Enable you to navigate the website and use its features

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems.

Analytics and Performance Cookies (Optional)

• Understand how visitors use our websites

• Count visits and traffic sources

• Measure and improve website performance

• Track which pages are most and least popular

• See how visitors move around the site

These cookies help us improve our website. All information collected is aggregated and anonymous.

Marketing and Advertising Cookies (Optional)

• Deliver relevant advertisements to you

• Track advertising campaign performance

• Limit the number of times you see an advertisement

• Measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns

These cookies may be set by us or third-party advertising partners. They may be used to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant ads on other sites.

Specific cookies we use

First-party cookies (set by us):

• Session cookies (deleted when you close your browser)

• Preference cookies (remember your settings)

Third-party cookies (set by our service providers):

• HubSpot: Analytics, marketing automation, and website personalization

• Google Analytics: Website analytics and performance tracking (if applicable)

• Google Fonts/Adobe Fonts: Font delivery

• Squarespace Analytics: Website analytics for apalagroup.com (if applicable)

Cookie duration

• Session cookies: Deleted when you close your browser

• Persistent cookies: Remain on your device for a set period (ranging from hours to years depending on the cookie)

How to manage cookies

You have several options to manage or delete cookies:

Browser Settings: Most web browsers allow you to:

• Block all cookies

• Block third-party cookies only

• Delete cookies when you close your browser

• Delete specific cookies

Each browser is different, so check your browser's "Help" menu to learn how to change your cookie preferences:

• Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data

• Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data

• Safari: Preferences > Privacy > Cookies and website data

• Edge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Cookies and site data

Cookie Preference Tool: When you first visit our website, you'll see a cookie consent banner allowing you to:

• Accept all cookies

• Reject optional cookies (accept only essential)

• Manage preferences (choose which types of cookies to accept)

You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clicking the "Cookie Settings" link in the footer of our website.

Opt-out of third-party advertising cookies:

• Network Advertising Initiative: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/

• Digital Advertising Alliance: http://www.aboutads.info/choices/

• European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EU): http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/

Effect of blocking cookies

If you block or delete cookies:

• Essential cookies: Website may not function properly

• Analytics cookies: We won't be able to improve the website based on usage data

• Marketing cookies: You may see less relevant advertisements

Do-Not-Track signals

Most web browsers include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature that signals to websites that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Currently, there is no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy policy.

Other tracking technologies

Web beacons (pixels): Small graphic images (also called "pixel tags" or "clear GIFs") embedded in web pages or emails that allow us to track whether you've opened an email or visited a page.

Local storage: Technology that allows websites to store data locally in your browser. Similar to cookies but can store larger amounts of data.

SDKs and APIs: Software development kits and application programming interfaces that allow our service providers (like HubSpot) to collect information about how you use our services.

Updates to this section

We may update our cookie practices from time to time. When we make changes, we will update this privacy policy and the "Last Updated" date at the top.

Questions about cookies?

If you have questions about how we use cookies, please contact us at:

• Email: info@eecc.energy

• Data Protection Officer: dpo@eecc.energy

In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this privacy policy unless otherwise required by law.

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary, how long that is depends on several factors including, but is not limited to:

• Why we collected your information (such as subscribing to a newsletter, contacting us for inquiries, etc.)

• How old the information is

• Whether we need to store it for a certain period of time as required or permitted by law (such as tax – 4 years for the IRS, accounting, or other legal requirements)

• Whether we need it to protect you or ourselves

• Information acquired through business acquisitions: We retain this information in accordance with the retention practices outlined in this policy and applicable law. Contacts acquired through acquisition who do not opt-in to continued communications will have their data suppressed from marketing but may be retained for legal or business purposes (such as honouring unsubscribe requests).

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

In Short: Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries outside your country of residence.

E&C Group operates internationally with offices in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States. As such, we may transfer your personal information to our offices and servers located outside your country of residence, including to countries that may not have the same data protection laws as your country.

Transfers from the European Economic Area (EEA):

When we transfer personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to countries outside the EEA (such as the United States), we use appropriate safeguards including:

• Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission

• Ensuring that recipient countries provide adequate protection as determined by the European Commission

• Implementing additional technical and organizational security measures, including: 

  • Encryption of data in transit and at rest

  • Access controls limiting who can access personal data

  • Regular security assessments and audits

  • Staff training on data protection requirements

Transfers to the European Economic Area:

When we transfer personal data from the United States or other countries to the EEA, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place through Standard Contractual Clauses and compliance with applicable data protection laws.

Your Rights:

If you are located in the EEA and your data is transferred outside the EEA, you have the right to:

• Request information about the safeguards we use for international transfers

• Object to the transfer in certain circumstances

• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority

For more information about our international data transfers, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@eecc.energy.

In Short: We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age.

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent's use of the Services. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at info@eecc.energy.

In Short: We may send emails to you as part of our business and market research. You always have the ability to opt-out of these emails.

General emails

We will send emails to you as part of our business correspondence, which includes but is not limited to inquiries, Services, contracts, general business information, administration, and security.

We are customer-focused and would like to hear your thoughts. We may contact you for market research purposes, which is always optional. It is up to you if you would like to participate in our research.

Service activity

We may email you with messages about your Services being rendered, that will be rendered, or have been rendered. For example, we may email you to tell you that:

• You've contacted us through one of our Site forms

• A Customer Service Account has been created, updated, or deleted

• You've ordered or paid for a Service

It's not possible to unsubscribe from these messages. We may share your contact information with a third-party partner, website, software, and/or email service, in order for them to send these emails to you on our behalf.

Newsletters, updates, and marketing emails

We may send you news and updates about our insights, general business, and Services. We may also send marketing emails. You can unsubscribe from these emails by clicking the link at the bottom of the email and/or emailing us at info@eecc.energy. We may share your contact information with third-party providers we use for email marketing services, so they can send these emails on our behalf.

In Short: You may review, change, or terminate your personal information you have provided to us at any time.

General Privacy Rights

If you no longer wish to receive correspondence, emails, or other communications from us, you may opt-out by:

• Noting your preferences at the time you contact us through any of the contact forms on the Site

• Clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email

• Contacting us at info@eecc.energy 

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, some information may be retained in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use and/or comply with legal requirements.

Third-Parties

If you no longer wish to receive correspondence, emails, or other communications from third parties, you are responsible for contacting the third party directly.

European Economic Area (EEA) Residents

If you are a resident of the EEA, you have certain data protection rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

Your Rights:

• Right to access: You can request copies of your personal data

• Right to rectification: You can request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data

• Right to erasure: You can request deletion of your data in certain circumstances (also known as the "right to be forgotten")

• Right to restrict processing: You can request that we limit how we use your data

• Right to data portability: You can request a copy of your data in a portable, machine-readable format

• Right to object: You can object to our processing of your data based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes

• Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent as the legal basis for processing, you can withdraw it at any time

• Right not to be subject to automated decision-making: You have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects or similarly significantly affects you

How to Exercise Your Rights: To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at:

• Email: info@eecc.energy

• Data Protection Officer: dpo@eecc.energy

We will respond to your request within 30 days (one month). In some cases, we may need to extend this period by an additional two months where requests are complex or numerous. We will inform you of any such extension.

Right to Complain: If you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm

No Fee Required: You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

Identity Verification: We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

Cookies and similar technologies

Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Services. To opt-out of interest-based advertising by advertisers on our Services visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. No uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy policy.

In Short: Yes, if you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the "Shine The Light" law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with the Services, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Services. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Services, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from our systems.

In Short: We try to keep the information you provide to us secure.

We use third-party administrative and technical security measures provided to help protect your personal information. While we have taken reasonable steps to secure the personal information you provide to us, please be aware that despite our efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and no method of data transmission can be guaranteed against any interception or other type of misuse. Any information disclosed online is vulnerable to interception and misuse by unauthorized parties. Therefore, we cannot guarantee complete security if you provide personal information.

In Short: Yes, we will update this policy as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated "Last Updated" date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy policy frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

If you have questions or comments about this policy, you may email us at:

General Inquiries: info@eecc.energy
Data Protection Officer: dpo@eecc.energy

HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?

Based on the laws of some countries, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it in some circumstances. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please email us at info@eecc.energy. We will respond to your request within 30 days.