West Herts ABC Privacy Statement
Protecting the individual’s privacy on the Internet is crucial to the future of businesses that rely on the Internet. We have created this Privacy Statement to demonstrate our firm commitment to the individual’s right to privacy. This Privacy Statement outlines our handling practices with regard to such information that can be used to directly or indirectly identify an individual (“Personal Data”).
This Privacy Statement applies to www.westhertsabc.com and any other website which references this Privacy Statement. The data controller in the case of www.westhertsabc.com is West Herts ABC and Educational Support CIC (“West Herts ABC”).
I. Global Privacy Fundamentals
Our privacy practices set out herein reflect current global principles and standards on handling Personal Data. These principles include notice of data use, choice of data use, data access, data integrity, security, onward transfer, and enforcement/oversight. We abide by the privacy laws in the countries where we do business.
II. User Consent
By using this website, you consent to the collection and use of your Personal Data as described herein. If you do not agree with the terms set out herein, please do not use this website.
If we decide to make changes to this Privacy Statement, we will post the changes on this website so that you will always know what Personal Data we collect, and how we use it. We therefore encourage you to periodically look for updates to this Privacy Statement.
As may be required by applicable law, we may also seek your explicit consent to process certain Personal Data collected on this website or volunteered by you. Kindly note that any consent will be entirely voluntarily. In case you do not grant the requested consent to the processing of your Personal Data, inform us that you do not want West Herts ABC to further process your Personal Data.
III. Collecting and Processing Your Personal Data
To serve you better and understand your needs and interests, West Herts ABC collects and uses Personal Data with adequate notice (as set out herein) and, where legally required, consent, along with required filings with data protection authorities, when applicable.
When you visit our website, we may record your IP address and use cookies and other Internet technologies (referred to below as “Automated Tools” and “Embedded Web Links”) to gather information about our visitors and their interests. Depending on the Automated Tools used, the gathered data comprise, in addition to your IP address, the type of browser you use, the web pages you have visited, the objects you have clicked on, the time you have spent on the website and the referring website from which you have accessed the website. The technologies used and the information collected are described in more detail in Subsection 5 (Automated Tools) below. After you have granted your consent (where legally required), West Herts ABC may add information collected by way of Automated Tools to user profiles West Herts ABC retains about you. Such additional information includes your user ID, website preferences and your interest in West Herts ABC’s products.
We may further collect and process any Personal Data that you volunteer to us, e.g. subscriptions to to newsletters. In case you provide West Herts ABC with your IDs of social media, West Herts ABC may retrieve publicly available information about you.
Such Personal Data will comprise in the individual case (a subset of): your first and last name, your postal and email address (as further detailed in Subsection 2. (Email Addresses) below), your telephone number, log in data for social networks and certain information about the company you are working for (i.e. your company’s name and postal address, your job title and seniority level) as well as information as to which relationship between West Herts ABC and you exists.
Table of Contents
1. Use and Purpose of Collected Personal Data
2. E-Mail Addresses
3. IP Addresses
4. Automated Tools
5. Sharing Your Personal Data
6. Security of Your Personal Data
7. Links to Other Sites
8. Choice / Opt-Out
9. Data Retention
10. Inquiries, Access and Updating Your Personal Data
11. UK-Specific Provisions
12. Making a Complaint
1. Use and Purpose of Collected Personal Data
The information West Herts ABC collects to understand your needs and interests helps West Herts ABC deliver a consistent and high-quality experience. We will use such information only as described in this Privacy Statement and/or in the way we specify at the time of collection. We will not subsequently change the way your Personal Data is used without your consent, as required by applicable law. We will exclusively use your Personal Data for the following purposes:
To process your enquiries and deliver the products, services and information that you have requested;
To keep you up to date on the latest product announcements, and other information regarding West Herts ABC’s services. This may occasionally include information from other technology companies or business partners about products and services that can add value to your West Herts ABC products. Such communication will only be provided by West Herts ABC. Furthermore, you acknowledge that any information required to track your choices regarding receiving marketing materials (i.e. depending on the country where the relevant West Herts ABC company operates whether you have granted an explicit consent into receiving and/or opted-out of receiving marketing materials) may be stored and exchanged between any of the above mentioned companies;
To tailor information about our products and services to your individual interests;
To provide a personalized user experience and view protected content;
To provide the ability to contact you in order to respond to your inquiries, and provide you with information specific to your enquiry, and to provide customer feedback and support;
To provide contests or other marketing or promotional activities on the www.westhertsabc.com website, Personal Data may be collected to administer those programs;
To conduct questionnaires and surveys in order to provide better products and services to our customers and end users. Your completion of any questionnaires is voluntary;
To prepare anonymized data regarding the use of West Herts ABC’s websites and offerings. West Herts ABC will use such anonymized data only for the improvement of such websites and offerings;
To meet contractual obligations; and
To comply with applicable regulatory requirements, in particular resulting from export laws. West Herts ABC and its products and services are subject to the export laws of various countries, including without limitation, to those of the European Union and its member states, and the United Kingdom. You acknowledge that, pursuant to the applicable export laws, trade sanctions and embargoes issued by these countries, West Herts ABC is required to take measures to prevent entities, organizations and parties listed in government issued sanctioned party lists from accessing certain products and services through West Herts ABC’s websites. You therefore acknowledge and agree that West Herts ABC may (i) automatically check any user data and other information you provide about your identity against applicable sanctioned party lists; (ii) regularly repeat such checks whenever a sanctioned party list is updated or when you update your information; (iii) block your access to West Herts ABC’s services and systems in case of a potential match; and (iv) in case of a potential match contact you in order to confirm your identity.
2. Email Addresses
If you choose to give us your email address, we will communicate with you via email. We do not share your email address with others outside the West Herts ABC group of companies unless this is required for the business relationship between you and West Herts ABC.
Depending on how your email application is set up, information about you may be transmitted automatically when you send email to West Herts ABC.
3. IP Addresses
We use IP addresses to help diagnose problems, to establish the country from which a user is using our websites and services in order to provide appropriate legal statements, to administer our website, and to gather demographic information as further stated in the below Subsection 5 (Automated Tools).
We may also use IP addresses or other information, as further explained in Subsection 5 (Automated Tools) below you have shared on this website or at any earlier occasion or a campaign code, to determine which pages on our sites you visit and which topics may be of interest to you so we can provide you with information about relevant products and services.
West Herts ABC may also collect IP addresses (and other technical information such as browser type) during a Click-to-Call session that you initiate. This information is collected when you connect to West Herts ABC so that we may identify your session, deliver content based on the technical capabilities of your browser, and for quality control purposes. Your IP address will not be used to identify you unless you provide your prior consent.
West Herts ABC will only gather information related to your visit to the West Herts ABC site. We do not track or collect Personal Data from your visits to companies or entities outside the West Herts ABC Group of companies beyond the information stated above in the Subsection III. (Collecting and Processing Your Personal Data).
4. Automated Tools
In addition to the information you provide, West Herts ABC may also collect information during your visit to our website through Automated Tools, which include cookies, embedded web links, and other commonly used information-gathering tools. These tools collect certain standard information that your browser sends to our website such as your browser type and language, access times, and the address of the website from which you arrived at West Herts ABC’s website. Using these tools, West Herts ABC is also able to confirm receipt of emails that the recipient consented to receive, and can track other information such as pages visited on the West Herts ABC site.
Unless another means to make your choice is listed below, you may refuse the use of Automated Tools like cookies (i) if the relevant website supports TRUSTe Consent Manager by clicking on the respective link in the footer of the website or, (ii) if TRUSTe Consent Manager is not available, by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. Kindly note that in the latter case the settings in your browser regarding cookies are limited to the particular browser installed on a particular device and that, as a consequence, if you visit West Herts ABC’s websites with different browsers or different devices, you have to disable the tracking cookies in the browsers of all relevant devices. However kindly further note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of the site.
West Herts ABC is in particular currently using the following Automated Tools for the purposes set out below.
a. Google Analytics
Some websites which refer to this Privacy Statement use Google Analytics. Google Analytics uses cookies, which are text files placed on your computer to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on site activity for site operators and providing other services relating to site activity and internet usage.
Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.
In addition to an opt-out by way of TRUSTe Consent Manager (where available), Google has developed the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. It provides website visitors more choice on how their data is collected by Google Analytics. The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to indicate that information about the website visit should not be sent to Google Analytics. It can be downloaded here: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en
b. Usage tracking for marketing purposes
West Herts ABC’s website may collect the way you are accessing and using the website by other means in order to prepare usage profiles that are used to determine which content is the most appropriate to be displayed while you visit.
In this case, West Herts ABC is capturing your usage behavior (websites visited, point in time a website has been visited, activity on a website/clicks made on (objects of) a website, browser type, operating or computing system used, referring website from which you have accessed a West Herts ABC website, the location from where you access a website) together with a unique identifier (like your IP address or a cookie ID) that allows West Herts ABC to establish that there is a certain person active on its websites but no information like your name that can be used to directly identify you. West Herts ABC will use the collected information only in order to display appropriate and relevant content on its websites.
You may opt-out of this tracking (i) if the relevant website supports TRUSTe Consent Manager by clicking on the respective link in the footer of the website or, (ii) if TRUSTe Consent Manager is not available, by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. Kindly note that in the latter case the settings in your browser are limited to the particular browser installed on a particular device and that, as a consequence, if you visit West Herts ABC’s websites with different browsers or different devices, you have to make the respective adjustments in the browsers of all relevant devices. However kindly further note that depending on the settings made in your browser(s) you may not be able to use the full functionality of the site.
c. Cookies
Cookies are identifiers that can be sent from a site via your browser to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. West Herts ABC uses cookies to deliver personalized content, to save you having to re-enter your password or complete registration forms repeatedly, to keep track of your shopping cart, and to tailor our information offerings to how you and others use the site.
You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. Kindly note that the settings in your browser regarding cookies is limited to the particular browser installed on a particular device and that, as a consequence, if you visit West Herts ABC’s websites with different browsers or different devices, you have to disable the cookies in the browsers of all relevant devices. Furthermore, please note that if you disable cookies you may not be able to use the full functionality of a website.
5. Sharing Your Personal Data
As a member of a global group of companies, West Herts ABC operates a number of websites around the world. Any data and information that you volunteer or that is otherwise collected on one of our sites in any one country may be sent electronically to a server for one of these sites in another country. Such servers or other types of data processing facilities may be located within or outside the European Economic Area or third countries that are regarded by the EU Commission as featuring an adequate level of data protection. However, we safeguard your privacy interests around the world by ensuring that this West Herts ABC website adheres to our data protection principles described in this statement. All companies of the West Herts ABC group may use the information internationally in connection with processing your inquiries and orders, in order to provide services to you, to help improve our products and services to keep you up to date about the latest products and services, for processing and storage and for all other purposes set out in the section “Use and Purpose of Collected Personal Data” above. This includes that all companies of the West Herts ABC group may provide you with marketing materials if (depending on the country in which the relevant West Herts ABC company operates) you have granted your prior consent and/or unless you have opted out of receiving marketing materials.
We do not sell or rent your Personal Data to third parties for marketing purposes unless you have granted us permission to do so.
We may respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process by disclosing your Personal Data and other related information, if necessary. We also may choose to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.
We may collect and share Personal Data and any other additional information available to us in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of West Herts ABC’s terms of use, or as otherwise required by law.
6. Security of Your Personal Data
West Herts ABC is committed to protecting the Personal Data you share with us. West Herts ABC uses a combination of industry-standard security technologies, procedures, and organizational measures to help protect your Personal Data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. West Herts ABC supports online security using secure server technology because we want your data to be safe. There are state-of-the-art security arrangements and facilities on West Herts ABC sites to prevent abuse.
We bind our employees and data processors to observe your privacy and confidentiality rights.
7. Links to Other Sites
This website may contain links to external (i.e. non West Herts ABC of companies) sites. West Herts ABC is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of other websites outside the West Herts ABC domain. Therefore, we recommend that you carefully read the privacy statements of such external sites.
8. Choice/Opt-Out
We communicate with users who subscribe to our newsletter via email, and we may also communicate by phone to resolve customer queries. We may use your email address to send you information about changes to our products and services, and to send notices and other disclosures as required by law. Generally, users cannot opt out of these communications, which are not marketing related but merely required for the relevant business relationship.
With regard to marketing related types of communication (i.e. emails and phone calls), West Herts ABC will (i) where legally required only provide you with such information after you have granted your opt-in and (ii) provide you the opportunity to exercise an opt-out choice if you do not want to receive further marketing related types of communication from us. The opt-out choice may be exercised, depending on the respective West Herts ABC web offering:
(a) To unsubscribe from our email communications, send an email to unsubscribe@westhertsabc.com; or (b) If you receive marketing or similar email messages from us and wish to opt out of receiving such messages, you may simply follow the opt-out procedure specified in such email.
9. Data Retention
West Herts ABC will not retain your Personal Data longer than is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected or as required by applicable laws or regulations. In particular, and if no such contradicting statutory obligation exists, West Herts ABC will delete your Personal Data once you inform West Herts ABC that you do not want us to further process your Personal Data. Please direct any such request to privacy@westhertsabc.com. In case there is a contradicting statutory obligation for West Herts ABC to retain your Personal Data, West Herts ABC will block it against further processing and then delete the relevant Personal Data when the requirement to retain it has ceased.
10. Inquiries, Access and Updating Your Personal Data
If you have any other questions about this Privacy Statement or if you wish to inspect the Personal Data we hold about you, please contact: Webmaster using the email address privacy@westhertsabc.com.
11. UK-Specific Provisions
To the extent that West Herts ABC is subject to UK privacy requirements, the below applies in addition:
a. Do Not Track
Cookies are identifiers that can be sent from a site via your browser to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Thereafter when you visit a site, a message is sent back to the web server by the browser accessing the site. Your browser may allow you to set a “Do not track” preference. Our site may or may not honor “Do not track” requests, but you may elect not to accept cookies by changing the designated settings on your web browser.
b. Requirements to Protect Children’s Privacy
We do not intend for our websites or online services to be used by anyone under the age of 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe we may have collected information about a child, please contact us as described in this Privacy Statement.
12. Making a Complaint
Should you have any concerns about how your personal data is being handled, please contact us in the manner set out in clause 10 of the Privacy Statement. If you are dissatisfied with our response you may contact the government body Information Commissioner’s Office whose details are given here:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113