Skip to main content

QBB ONLINE SERVICES USER PRIVACY POLICY

It is Qatar BioBank's policy to respect participants/researchers’ privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our portals or website.

The privacy policy outlined here and is applicable for the following websites/portals and mobile applications managed by QBB:

-    Official Website: https://www.qatarbiobank.org.qa/
-    Participants Portal: http://participantportal.qatarbiobank.org.qa/
-    Research portal: https://researchportal.qatarbiobank.org.qa/
-    QBB Mobile App on iPhone and Android

Please read carefully and feel free to contact us for any concerns related to your data privacy:

For Official website

  • Phone Number: +974 44541177
  • Email: takepart@qf.org.qa

For Research portal

  • Email: qbbresearch@qf.org.qa

For Participants Relationship Management Portal and Mobile applications

  • Phone Number: +974 44541177
  • Email: takepart@qf.org.qa
  • QBB collects personal information by lawful and fair means and, where appropriate, with the knowledge or consent of the individual concerned.
  • Before or at the time of collecting personal information, we will identify the purposes for which information is being collected.
  • We will collect and use personal information solely for fulfilling those purposes specified by us and not for other ancillary purposes, unless we obtain the consent of the individual concerned.

Cookies (or browser cookies). This Website may use two types of cookies (small data files placed on the hard drive of your computer when you visit a website): a "session cookie," which expires immediately when you end your browsing session and a "persistent cookie," which stores information on your hard drive so when you end your browsing session and return to this website later, the cookie information is still available.

Web Beacons. Pages of this Website and any e-mails sent to you may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened our e-mails.

Service providers and partners: We use several service providers to help us operate the site and provide high quality user experience to our visitors. Some of those providers can access Non-PII about you via automatic data collection technologies.

  1. We use a self-hosted instance of GitLab for developer tools.
  2. We use Microsoft Azure subscription to host our website/portal
  3. We use google analytics to analyze activities on the website (i.e., Number of hits, most visited pages, source (country) of hits, etc.)
  4. We use Drupal as content management system for our website

-    We usually collect and use your information to provide, understand, and improve our Services.
-    Microsoft CRM is used to store participants information and reservations.
-    We partner with MEEZA data center to host Participants Relationship Management Portal

Usage of Collected Information:

We collect several types of information from and about you, including:

  1. Your email address and password. We treat this information as "Personally Identifiable Information" or "PII". We never store passwords in plain text format, only secure password hashes.
  2. Non-personally identifiable information. This is information about your computer system or device, your preferences, your online activity, and your location information ("Non-Personally Identifiable Information" a "Non-PII"). Non-PII, by itself, does not identify you, but it can be combined with other information in way that allows you to be identified. If this happens, we will treat the combined information as PII.
  3. Contact Information: Phone number, email addresses, occupation, DOB, Gender, organization name (for research portal only) will be collected to:
  • Send updates to the subscribers on the status of their submitted requests.
  • Provide service and support, such as sending confirmations, invoices, and administrative messages, and customer support, including responding to your requests and questions and troubleshooting and resolving problems or complaints
  • Verify the information you provide to us
  • Communicate with you for feedback on your satisfaction on the services delivered
  • To generate your clinical reports and make it available for online collection upon your consent during your visit to QBB (this is applicable for participants portal subscribers). The reports remain for online review by you within 15 days and is then discarded automatically. They are password protected and password shared only with you by the portal.
  • The information above is collected to further communicate the subscription module within our portal/website.
  • Personal data should be relevant to the purposes for which it is to be used, and, to the extent necessary for those purposes, should be accurate, complete, and up to date.
  • We will protect personal information by using reasonable security safeguards against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification.
  • We will make readily available to participant/researchers’ information about our policies and practices relating to the management of personal information. We will only retain personal information for as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.
  • We are committed to conducting our business in accordance with these principles to ensure that the confidentiality of personal information is protected and maintained.
  • We will not use your information for any marketing or advertising materials without consent from you
  • Qatar BioBank may change this privacy policy from time to time at Qatar BioBank sole discretion

Exemptions for controllers

  • According to Qatari Law No. 13 of 2016 (Qatar Data Privacy Law) QBB shall be relieved of complying with Article 4 permitted reasons for processing personal data, in respect of the following processing purposes:
    • Executing a task related to the public interest as per the law.
    • Implementing a legal obligation or an order rendered by a competent court.
    • Protecting vital interests of individuals.
    • Achieving purposes of scientific research for public interest.
    • Gathering necessary information for investigation into a criminal offence in response to an official request by investigative bodies.