When six years pass from the implementation of a project, the information gets automatically deleted from the Youthpass database. That means that these projects do not show up in the project list of the editors any longer, nor do the editors have access to the certificates issued within these projects.
The reasons
This is needed to comply with the EU data protection policies, especially with the „right to be forgotten“. The Youthpass database is also connected to the databases of the European Commission, and the data cannot be kept longer in Youthpass than it is kept in the respective Commission databases.
Warnings system
It is of utmost importance that the editors of the projects become aware that a project that they have inserted in the Youthpass database will become unavailable in the future. For that, we have set up a system of e-mail notifications: all editors of the respective projects receive three warnings in advance of the deletion, and will have about two months from the first notification to take action. Also, the concerned projects are clearly marked in the Youthpass database: the editors can see upon logging in, which projects are about to be deleted, and when.
Do the older certificates stay valid?
Definitely! Even though the Youthpass certificates and the related personal data become unavailable in the database after six years have passed from the project, the information that is needed for verifying the certificates stays in the database in a pseudonymised manner. Through that, the verification service stays available for all Youthpass certificates, regardless of when the project took place.
What to do as an editor?
If a project where you are an editor is about to deleted soon, we recommend the following:
- If there are other editors in your project, it may be a good idea to discuss and agree upon which steps you would like to take in regards to the certificates in your common project.
- Check with the participants of the concerned project, if they would like to receive the pdf of their old Youthpass certificate, and send it to them, for example, by e-mail.
The Youthpass Helpdesk sometimes receives requests from participants of previous projects to have their Youthpass certificate re-issued when they have lost their original. On behalf of the Youthpass Team we cannot re-issue the certificates, only the editors of the project can. Sometimes the need for an older certificate appears unexpectedly and only after a few years; it is good to be prepared for such a case.
What if the Youthpass certificate was never issued, but suddenly the need appears?
It will stay possible to add a new project into the Youthpass database, also if it took place more than six years ago. However, the system will recognise that this is an old project, and will start preparing for its deletion. The editor will have about two months to issue the needed certificates for the participation in that project, before it gets deleted from the database.