Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy

Introduction

Essex Chamber of Commerce (“the Chamber”) honours the rights of its members, employees and other users’ including website visitors’ right to privacy and data protection. The Chamber is fully committed to complying with the provisions of all applicable Data Protection legislation and regulations such as Data Protection Act and EU GDPR.

In this Privacy Policy (“Policy”), any reference to you includes:

• You personally; and
• Any legal entity (such as company, partnership, LLP or similar) which you represent in any of your interactions with the Chamber as envisaged under this Policy,

As the context may so require.

The Policy will inform you as to how we collect, use, handle and disclose your personal data, as well as telling you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. If you need any more information about our data protection practices, please contact us.

The Policy describes how the Chamber collects and processes your personal data, including any data you may provide when you contact us via e-mail, telephone, post, through social media or the Chamber’s website, or where you subscribe to our newsletters or other publications, attend our events, use our website, purchase any services or membership from us, interact with us in person, respond to any survey or other similar medium, get in contact with us, or otherwise engage with any of the services we provide to you.

The Policy is effective as of 1st May 2018. The policy will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices, regulatory changes and the evolving needs of the Chamber and the membership services provided by the Chamber. We are registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO); the UK’s Data Protection Authority.

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the ICO, the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

 

Data controller 
The data controller for all personal data collected by the Chamber is the Essex Chamber of Commerce with its registered office at 34a Star Lane Industrial Estate, Star Lane, Great Wakering, Southend-On-Sea, England, SS3 0FF. This means that we are responsible for deciding what data we collect and how we hold and use your personal data. We will implement appropriate data security measures for protecting the data from unauthorised access and loss, as laid out in the Security section of this Policy.

 

Data protection principles

The Chamber adheres to the principles set out in data protection legislation when handling personal data.  These principles require personal data to be:

• Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
• Collected only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
• Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which it is processed.
• Accurate and where necessary kept up to date.
• Not kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data is processed.
• Processed in a manner that ensures its security using appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage.
• Not transferred to another country without appropriate safeguards being in place.
• Made available to data subjects and to allow data subjects to exercise certain rights in relation to their personal data.

We are also responsible and accountable for ensuring that we can demonstrate compliance with the data protection principles listed above.

 

Data Collection
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you.  We collect and process personal data about you when you:

• request information from us about our services, membership and operations;
• engage with us as a prospective member, for the purposes of joining as a member or purchasing services from us;
• provide information relating to a new membership or provision of services;
• request information on any events, training or similar opportunities which we provide or offer to provide to you;
• attend an event or training (whether in person or virtually) arranged or hosted by us;
• request any information in respect of any training opportunities;
• provide us with international trade documentation, to be processed as part of our services;
• engage with any of our social media accounts, website or other electronic means which are managed or regulated by us;
• subscribe to any newsletter or other publications issued by us;
• respond to a client survey, or otherwise provide your opinions on policy related matters which impact upon your business, or that of your clients/customers;
• contact us via e-mail, telephone, post or through social media; and/or
• submit an enquiry to us.

Personal data is usually collected from you through direct interaction with us (either in person, by phone, by e-mail, by post, via social media or through this website).  For example, you will provide your personal information when you submit an enquiry to us, or otherwise engage with us for our services.

The Chamber does not collect personal data about individuals except when there is a legitimate business requirement or when such information is provided on a voluntary basis.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, this website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

Please note: on occasion, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) will act as a data processor on behalf of the Chambers. The BCC may process information from the Chambers and other regional chambers, and specifically may collect the first name and email address from each member of the Chambers for the purposes to conducting a national survey.

The BCC has provided the types of personal data which it collects on, from, or on behalf of the Chambers in its Privacy Policy, as well as its legal basis for doing so. It also has set out how such data will be used, as well as its retention policy and other legal requirements as necessary under law. We advise that you review the BCC’s Privacy Policy before using our website, or otherwise engaging in any membership, or for the provision of services from us. If you are not satisfied with the BCC’s processing of your personal data, please stop using our website (and any membership or services you procure from us) and contact us immediately.

The personal data that we collect will include:

• Contact details including your name, address, telephone number, job title, e-mail address and social media handles;
• Contact history, such as any communications with us by telephone, e-mail, post, through our website or via social media;
• Details about any your interests, including company directorships or secretarial roles, shareholdings, or other controlling interests in a legal entity;
• Payment details, including bank account details, direct debit details, and transaction history;
• Transaction history, including any services engaged for, publications received, memberships undertaken, or any previous other engagement you have had with us;
• Website profile data, including usernames and passwords;
• Social media account details, including linking your account to any website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or similar page or account you may hold;
• Personal and professional interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses, as well as any views you have provided on policy positions held by, or being investigated by, the Chamber or BCC;
• Marketing preferences.

Users should also be aware that non-personal information and data may be automatically collected through the standard operation of the Chamber’s web servers, and by the use of cookies technology and/or Internet Protocol (“IP”) address tracking. Non-personal identification information might include your Device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

If you fail to provide personal data: Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of our contract with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to provide our services.  If so, we may have to terminate our contract with you but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

 

Purpose of Processing
The personal data collected is used by the Chamber to give you information in relation to: Chamber membership, the Chamber’s website, other Chamber services, customer administration, prospecting new members, account management with existing members, to process and respond to queries received from the public or other relevant stakeholders, to contact you to seek your views or comments on emerging political or economic issues and to send marketing communications on the Chamber’s behalf or on behalf of the Chamber’s patrons and strategic partners.

The Chamber may perform statistical analyses of user behaviour and characteristics to measure interest in and the use of various sections of the website.

The personal data held by the Chamber may also be used on an aggregate basis without any personal identifiers to provide third parties with information, such as the composition of membership, and to help us develop new member services and products, improve the features and content of the website or other marketing material, and to provide sponsors and others with aggregate information about our members, website users and their usage patterns in relation to services and/or the website.

If you or your parent company are a current member of the Essex Chamber of Commerce, choosing to opt out of promotional emails will not stop all communication from us. By becoming a member of the Chamber, your business is signing you up to receive certain information related to the organisation. It is a constitutional requirement for us to send this information to you.

If you are not a member of the Chamber or if you or your parent company’s membership has lapsed, you can choose to opt in or out of further contact with us. We also receive non-member data through networking (e.g. business cards, event registrations) and add these details, if relevant, onto our CRM or other data management system. We may on occasion purchase ‘opt-in’ data (lists from reputable providers) for promotional campaigns.

 

Data retention
The personal data collected is stored in the Chamber’s CRM system and other appropriate data management systems, both paper-based and electronic. Personally identifiable information will not be disclosed to any third party except if permission has first been obtained from the users.

The data will not be transferred to any agency located outside the EU.

At regular intervals, we will:

• review the length of time we keep your personal data for.
• consider the purpose or purposes for which we hold your personal data for in deciding whether (and for how long) to retain it.
• securely delete information that is no longer needed for that purpose or those purposes.
• update, archive or securely delete information if it goes out of date.

 

Delete Your Personal Data

You have the right to delete or request that the Chamber assist in deleting the Personal Data that the Chamber has collected about you.

Members may update, amend, or delete company information at any time by signing in to your account, if you have one, and visiting the account settings section that allows you to manage your company information. You may also contact the Chamber to request access to, correct, or delete any personal information that you have provided to the Chamber.

Please note, however, that the Chamber may need to retain certain information when we have a legal obligation or lawful basis to do so.

 

Social media
We may use third party provided tools to manage our social media interactions. If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message may be stored on these platforms. Like other personal data, these direct messages will not be shared with any other organisations.

 

Links to Third-Party Sites
Where appropriate and only for the legitimate business needs of the Chamber and its members, the Chamber may provide links to third-party web sites, or advertisements which contain links to third-party sites. These links are provided as a service to website users. The linked third-party websites are operated by independent entities that have their own privacy policies. This Privacy Policy does not apply to such other websites or to the use that those entities make of your information. The Chamber has no control over the content displayed on such sites, nor over the measures, if any, that are taken by such sites to protect the privacy of your information. The Chamber’s website may also serve third party advertisements, or other content that contains their own cookies or tracking technologies. The Chamber does not control the use of those technologies.

 

Opting Out
The Chamber is a membership organisation and for its legitimate business interests, must maintain contact information on its members and the wider business community to communicate information on membership.

We may use your contact details to send you marketing communications if you are a client and you have expressly given consent to receive those marketing communications.

If you do not wish to receive marketing material, you may opt out. Every marketing e-mail will include an ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom. You may also notify the Chamber in writing via communications@essexchambers.co.uk. If your parent company has nominated you as a relevant contact required to receive information on its behalf, you cannot opt out of important information the Chamber is required to provide you as per the Chamber’s contractual obligations to its members.

From time to time, the Chamber collaborates with other relevant organisations and companies to promote other programs that may be of interest to members and the wider business community. In such cases, the Chamber does not provide these organisations with any personally identifiable information but may distribute the organisation’s information on their behalf to those who may legitimately be benefited from receiving such information or have elected to receive such information.

We will not share your information for marketing purposes with any company or other entity outside of the Chamber and BCC, unless we have your opt-in consent to do so.

You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages by getting in contact with us at any time or clicking the “unsubscribe” button in the relevant e-mail.

 

Lawful basis for using your information

In some cases, we will only use your personal information where we have your consent or because we need to use it in order to fulfil a contract with you (for example, because you have a membership with us, have signed-up to any of our events, or have requested our services, and we need to provide them to you).

Generally, we do not rely on consent as the lawful basis for processing your personal data, although we will get your consent before sending third party direct marketing communications to you. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by getting in contact with us.

There are other lawful reasons that allow us to process your personal information, including where we have a “legitimate interest”. This means that the reason that we are processing information is because there is a legitimate interest for the Chamber to process your information.

Whenever we process your personal data on the basis of a “legitimate interest”, we make sure that we take into account your rights and interests and will not process your personal information if we feel that there is a disproportionate privacy impact on you.

Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

 

Change of purpose                                                                 

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

 

Disclosures of your personal data

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out above.

• The BCC.
• Any sub-contractors and/or agents we may work with from time to time to provide you with the services that you have subscribed for, or otherwise purchased from us.
• Any organisations that from time to time provide hosting services for our website.
• Any designers who are involved in the creation or design of any of our publications.
• Service and infrastructure providers who provide IT, design, security, software, marketing, advertising and system administration services.
• Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, experts, accountants, insurers and other third parties who provide legal, banking, consultancy, accounting, insurance and other related services.
• HM Revenue & Customs, law enforcement agencies, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses, carry out a restructure or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this Privacy Policy.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.  We provide third-party advertising companies with Aggregated Data so that you may receive tailored advertisements, services, and information based on your visits to our website. However, we do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

 

Security
The Chamber uses reasonable measures to safeguard personally identifiable information. The implemented measures will be appropriate to the type of information maintained and compliance with all relevant legislation governing protection of personal information.

Measures are implemented to preserve the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the personal information. We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to only those employees, contractors or agents who have a legitimate business need to have access to that data. The employees, contractors or agents will process your personal data in accordance with our instructions. They will be subject to a duty of confidentiality and due care with respect to handling the personal data.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so. The Chamber’s employees are trained on data security and information protection. Relevant areas of the Chamber’s website will employ Secure Socket Layer (“SSL”) or Transport Layer Security (“TLS”) encryption technology to enhance data privacy and help prevent loss, misuse, or alteration of the information collected and retained by the Chamber.

 

Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data.

• Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

 

No fee usually 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.

 

What we may need from you

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. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

 

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

 

Contacting us
Please e-mail communications@essexchambers.co.uk or send a letter marked “Data Protection” to the Chamber’s offices at 34a Star Lane Industrial Estate, Star Lane, Great Wakering, Southend-On-Sea, Essex, SS3 0FF.

This privacy policy was last updated on 30/10/2023.