What exactly are cookies?
1. In order to collect the information including personal data as described in this Notice, we may use cookies and similar technology on our website. A cookie is a small piece of information which is sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive, mobile phone or other device. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie. This enables you to decide if you want to accept it or not. However, some of the Services offered through our website may not function properly if your cookies are disabled.
1. Cookies can be first party or third party cookies.
● First party cookies – cookies that the website you are visiting places on your device.
● Third party cookies – cookies placed on your device through the website but by third parties, such as, Google.
The cookies placed on our website
1. We use the following cookies on our website:
● Strictly necessary cookies. These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around our website and use its features. Without these cookies, Services you have asked for cannot be provided. They are deleted when you close the browser. These are first party cookies.
● Performance cookies. These cookies collect information in an anonymous form about how visitors use our website. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around the website when they are using it and the approximate regions that they are visiting from. These are first party cookies.
● Functionality cookies. These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in, if applicable) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites. These are first party cookies.
● Targeting or advertising cookies. These cookies allow us and our advertisers to deliver information more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as to help measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. They remember that you have visited our website and may help us in compiling your profile. These are persistent cookies which will be kept on your device until their expiration or earlier manual deletion.
● Social Media cookies. These cookies allow you to connect with social media networks such as LinkedIn and twitter. These are persistent cookies which will be kept on your device until their expiration or earlier manual deletion.
1. We may combine information from these types of cookies and technologies with information about you from other sources.
Cookie consent and opting out
1. We assume that you are happy for us to place cookies on your device. Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies. However, if you, or another user of your device, wish to withdraw your consent at any time, you have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying your browser setting. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of our website, our platforms and Services.
1. When you arrive on our website a pop-up message will appear asking for your consent to place advertising cookies on your device. In order to provide your consent, please click ‘I understand’. Once your consent has been provided, this message will not appear again when you revisit. If you, or another user of your device, wish to withdraw your consent at any time, you can do so by altering your browser settings otherwise we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies from our website. For more information please visit www.allaboutcookies.org and http://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/.
Disclosure of personal data
1. There are circumstances where the Business may wish to disclose or is compelled to disclose your personal data to third parties. These scenarios include disclosure to:
● our subsidiaries or associated offices;
● our suppliers and service providers to facilitate the provision of the Services, including couriers, translators, IT consultants and legalisation and other handling agents, webhosting providers, identity verification partners (in order to verify your identity against public databases), consultants, for example, in order to protect the security or integrity of our business, including our databases and systems and for business continuity reasons;
● public authorities to carry out acts which are necessary in connection with the Services, such as the Foreign Office;
● foreign organisations to carry out acts which are necessary in connection with the Services, such as Embassies,
Consulates and High Commissions;
● professional organisations exercising certain public, governance and archiving functions in relation to the notaries profession, such as Chambers of Commerce, The Notaries Society and the Faculty Office;
● [subject to your consent, our advertising and marketing partners who enable us, for example, to deliver
personalised ads to your devices or who may contact you by post, email, telephone, SMS or by other means;]
● successor or partner legal entities, on a temporary or permanent basis, for the purposes of a joint venture, collaboration, financing, sale, merger, reorganisation, change of legal form, dissolution or similar event relating to a Business. In the case of a merger or sale, your personal data will be permanently transferred to a successor company;
● public authorities where we are required by law to do so; and
● any other third party where you have provided your consent.
International transfer of your personal data
1. We may transfer your personal data to a third party in countries outside the country in which it was originally collected for further processing in accordance with the purposes set out above. In particular, your personal data may be transferred to foreign organisations such as foreign Embassies located in the UK or abroad. Such organisations will process personal data in accordance with the laws to which they are subject and international treaties over which the Business has no control.
1. If the Business transfers personal data to private organisations abroad, such as subcontractors, it will, as required by applicable law, ensure that your privacy rights are adequately protected by appropriate technical, organisation, contractual or other lawful means. You may contact us for a copy of such safeguards in these circumstances.
Retention of personal data
1. Your personal data will be retained for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes listed above or as required by the law. For example, the Notaries Practice Rules require that that notarial acts in the public form shall be preserved permanently. Records of acts not in public form shall be preserved for a minimum period of 12 years. Please contact us for further details of applicable retention periods. Personal data may for reasons of security and convenience be stored on remote data facilities but in an encrypted form.
1. [We may keep an anonymized form of your personal data, which will no longer refer to you, for statistical purposes without time limits, to the extent that we have a legitimate and lawful interest in doing so.]
Security of personal data
1. The Business will implement technical and organisational security measures in order to prevent unauthorised access to your personal data.
1. However, please be aware that the transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure. Whilst we can do our best to keep our own systems secure, we do not have full control over all processes involved in, for example, your use of our website or sending confidential materials to us via email, and we cannot therefore guarantee the security of your information transmitted to us on the web.
Data subject rights
1. Data subjects have numerous rights in relation to their personal data. For further information about your data protection rights please visit the ICO https://ico.org.uk/.
● Right to make a subject access request (SAR). Data subjects may request in writing copies of their personal data. However, compliance with such requests is subject to certain limitations and exemptions and the rights of other data subjects. Each request should make clear that a SAR is being made. You may also be required to submit a proof of your identity and payment, where applicable.
● Right to rectification. Data subjects may request that we rectify any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
● Right to withdraw consent. Data subjects may at any time withdraw their consent to the processing of their personal data carried out by the Business on the basis of previous consent. Such withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on previous consent.
● Right to object to processing, including automated processing and profiling. The Business does not make automated decisions. [Profiling may be carried out for Business administration purposes, such as monitoring trends in user visits of our website, and in order to deliver targeted ads.] The Business may use third party due diligence platforms which provide recommendations about data subjects by automated means. We will comply with any data subject’s objection to processing unless we have a compelling overriding legitimate ground for the processing, the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or we have another lawful reason to refuse such request. We will comply with each valid opt-out request in relation to marketing communications.
● Right to erasure. Data subjects may request that we erase their personal data. We will comply, unless there is a lawful reason for not doing so. For example, there may be an overriding legitimate ground for keeping the personal data, such as, our archiving obligations that we have to comply with.
● Restriction. Data subjects may request that we restrict our processing of their personal data in various circumstances. We will comply, unless there is a lawful reason for not doing so, such as, a legal obligation to continue processing your personal data in a certain way.
● Right to data portability. In certain circumstances, data subjects may request the controller to provide a copy of their personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and have it transferred to another provider of the same or similar services. To the extent such right applies to the Services, we will comply with such transfer request. Please note that a transfer to another provider does not imply erasure of the data subject’s personal data which may still be required for legitimate and lawful purposes.
● Right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. We suggest that data subjects contact us about any questions or complaints in relation to how we process personal data. However, each data subject has the right to contact the relevant supervisory authority directly.