NFC business cards in France and Europe: GDPR, hosting, and shipping

A digital business card stores and shows personal data: your name, email, phone, maybe client-facing links. If you work in France or anywhere in the EU, that falls under GDPR (RGPD in French).

This is not scary legal magic. It means: know where data is stored, have a privacy policy, collect only what you need, and do not sell visitor data to random ad networks.

I built HALVE from Nice with EU hosting because European freelancers kept asking where their profile data lives. Fair question.

You have a right to know what data a platform keeps about you and people who view your profile.

Analytics should be proportionate. HALVE uses hashed IPs and tap counts, not "track this person across the internet" behavior.

You can ask for export or deletion of your account data. Serious providers document this in a privacy policy you can actually read.

Using a US-only platform from Paris is not automatically illegal, but transfers of personal data across borders need legal bases. Many European clients prefer vendors who keep data in the EU to simplify that conversation.

If you handle client data on your profile, you are still responsible for what you publish. RGPD does not replace common sense about putting private phone numbers on public pages.

"Hosted in the EU" should mean servers and primary data processing in European data centers, not just a .fr domain.

Check for: company legal entity in Europe, privacy policy naming subprocessors, clear retention periods for analytics logs.

HALVE infrastructure is EU-based. We designed analytics to minimize personal data from visitors while still telling you if a conference generated taps.

Non-EU hosting can be faster for US users. If your network is 90% European clients and collaborators, EU hosting is a feature, not bureaucracy.

France still uses a lot of paper cards in salons, agencies, and traditional industries. NFC is catching up where creatives and tech-adjacent freelancers meet clients in person.

French users care about language. HALVE supports French UI on the marketing site and profile-facing strings. Your profile content is yours to write in French, English, or both.

Pricing in euros matters psychologically. HALVE PVC cards from around €29 one-time fit how people think about a physical tool, not another SaaS subscription.

Shipping from within or near the EU reduces customs surprises for French buyers ordering single cards.

Single-card orders are not Amazon Prime. Realistic EU delivery is often roughly 3 to 10 business days depending on carrier, country, and season.

Track your shipment email. Test the card when it arrives before an important salon or festival.

Brexit note for UK readers: expect possible customs handling and slightly longer times from EU merchants. Plan ahead.

For urgent events, order early. Do not buy the card three days before Cannes and expect miracles.

iPhone penetration is high among professional audiences in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and festival circuits. Android varies by industry.

Same advice as everywhere: test tap on iPhone top edge and Android back. Keep QR backup on your profile for the one person whose NFC is disabled.

More technical detail: how NFC works and tap without app.

Questions to ask any vendor:

Where is data stored?

What analytics do you collect from people who tap my card?

One-time cost vs subscription?

Pre-programmed or DIY encoding?

Privacy policy and legal imprint (mentions légales) available?

HALVE publishes legal notice, terms, and privacy. FAQ covers practical setup.

Free profile to test before you buy hardware. Shop PVC card when ready. Broader freelancer guide: NFC for freelancers.