Privacy and Cookie Policy

Who are we?

Our Privacy Policy applies to personal data collected and used by Balco-Global Ltd.

References to “Balco-Global LTD”, ‘the business’, “our’, ‘us’ and “we” mean Balco-Global LTD registered limited company 12189047 with our registered office at Beaufort Building, Bristol Road, Allington Bar, Chippenham, SN14 6NA.

We are registered with the ICO, registration number ZB054281.

What personal data do we collect and why?

What we need to collect

The term ‘personal information’ (or data) means information that relates to you or another individual that means you can be identified, either directly or in combination with other information that we may hold.  We need personal information about our prospective customers, customers, suppliers, employees and contacts to allow us to provide you with the information and services that you ask us to provide and/or to conduct our business services. 

As a Prospective Customer, we will usually collect personal data about you such as: 

• Name, postal address, telephone number, email address.

As a Customer, we will usually collect personal data about you such as: 

• Name, postal address, telephone number, email address.
• Payment/Bank details.

As a Supplier, we will usually collect personal data about you such as: 

• Name, postal address, telephone number, email address.
• Payment/Bank details.

Why we need it

We need your personal information in order to perform functions such as:

• To comply with the law. To comply with the law as a data controller and employer there are lawful data processing purposes which must be completed.  These include but are not limited to company employment, social security, social protection law and due diligence processes. 
• Manage your relationship with us. To keep a record of your relationship with us and any direction you give on how we are to comply with your data rights. 
• Communicate with you. To know how you prefer to be contacted and to make adjustments as you specify.  To provide you with specific and, where appropriate, personalised services, information, products, updates, newsletters, feedback, competitions.  To assist with technical problems related to our websites or apps.
• Operational requirements. The operational use of your personal data will be compatible with the original purpose of use.  If an unexpected or new purpose of use for your personal data is necessary, we will inform you and / or seek your consent to make use of your personal data for this new purpose.
• Marketing. If you provide us with your email address or telephone number, we may contact you for marketing purposes.  We may use your email or mobile number for both marketing and targeted advertising, but only where we have your opt-in consent to do so. If you provide us with your postal address or telephone number, we may send you direct mail or telephone you about our work.  We will not do so if you have told us you would prefer not to hear from us by these means.  We check telephone numbers against the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and if you are registered, we will only contact you if you have specifically consented to us making such calls.  We make it easy for you to tell us how you want us to communicate, in a way that suits you.  Our forms have clear marketing preference questions, and we include clear information on how to opt-out or opt-in when we send you marketing information.  
• To personalise and improve your customer experience. We may use your personal data in order to tailor our information and services to your specific needs and preferences to ensure a personalised customer experience.  To understand how we can improve our services, products or information.  To provide personalised direct marketing and communication in a way that you control and that suits you. 
• To improve our services and administration. To ensure the most efficient and appropriate use of the resources we have.  To drive efficiency through statistical and market analysis. 

If you choose to withhold certain personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the information, products or services you would like.

If you don’t want to hear from us, or do not want us to use your data for direct marketing please call us using the details at the end of this policy “How to Contact Us”.  We will retain your details on a suppression list to ensure that we respect your preferences.

How we collect your personal data

We collect information about you in a variety of ways.  We may collect information you provide directly to us as well as information indirectly available from other sources.  The information we get from other organisations may depend on your privacy settings or the preferences you have selected with them, so you should regularly check them to fully understand how they will process and share your data.

Direct from you

You may give us personal data directly yourself:  in order to contact us as a customer (prospective or existing); use our websites, portal or apps; sign up for direct marketing at an exhibition or otherwise; purchase one of our products, enter a draw or raffles, leave a review; or communicate with us. Sometimes when you contact us, your information is collected by an organisation working for us (e.g. a recruitment agency or marketing service). 

Indirectly from other sources

We may obtain your personal data indirectly when you give permission to other organisations to share it.  We may purchase your personal data in a commercial transaction from a third-party organisation or alternatively make use of personal data where it is publicly available:

• Independent event/exhibition organisers. Your information may be shared with us by independent event organisers, for example when you attend such things as trade shows. These independent third parties will only pass on your data when you have indicated that you wish to share your information and with your explicit consent.
• Third party organisations. We may obtain information from third parties if you have agreed we can approach them, for example the Disclosure and Barring Service or websites listing tenders.  You may have provided permission for a company or other organisation to share or sell your data with/to third parties.  This could be when you buy a product or service, register for an online competition or survey or install an application on your mobile phone.  We can only use this data where we have been named as a recipient of the data.  We may collect information through our website and mobile apps, about what browser you are using, your IP address and computer operating system and may use this information to improve the services we offer.
• Social media. Depending on your settings or the privacy policies for social media and messaging services like Facebook or Twitter, you might give us permission to access information from those accounts or services. You should check your privacy settings with those organisations to make sure that you understand how they may use your personal data.
• Publicly available sources. Public information may include information from places such as Companies House, the electoral register and information that has been published in articles / newspapers.  Additionally, the Post Office’s National Change of Address database allows us to keep your information up to date.

The lawful basis of processing

Data protection law and regulation require us to have a lawful basis for processing your personal information.  These include:

• Where you have given consent to do so for notified purpose(s). This may include marketing material via e-mail or text or to provide you with a product, service or information that you have requested or require.  Where we need your consent, it will be clearly identifiable as a consent for a specific purpose.  You are able to withdraw consent at any time by contacting us, if you make this choice it may affect our continuing relationship as some services may no longer be able to be supplied.
• To comply with a legal obligation. For example, where we are required to do so by a court, regulatory authority the police or security services or we are legally required to, such as to comply with social security or social protection law, such as Health and Safety, a criminal records check or in order to comply with HMRC requirements.
• The performance of a contract. If we are setting up or have a contract with you we will process your data to comply with the obligations of the contract.
• Where we have a legitimate interest. Where we have a legitimate interest, we must ensure that we are not harming any of your interests or rights and only use it in a manner that you would reasonably expect us to. For example, we have a legitimate interest in using our customers’ data, contacts and preferences for the purposes you would expect; in marketing to customers; and research to better understand who our customers are.  We also have a legitimate interest in fraud prevention and informing authorities about possible criminal acts or security threats.
• Special category. Where we process ‘special category’ personal information (such as health) we will ensure we do so in accordance with a lawful basis under Art. 6 and the additional “exception” condition for processing special category data under Art. 9 of GDPR. An example is, where a data subject has provided explicit consent or where the information has been made public by yourself. 
• To protect the vital interests of yourself or another person. If we believe that the vital interests of you or a third party is at risk, we have a duty to protect.

Sharing and protecting your information

How we protect your personal data

We ensure that there are reasonable and appropriate technical and organisational controls in place to protect your personal details against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage.  For example, our computers, online systems and our network are protected and routinely monitored.  We have policies and procedures in place which staff are expected to comply with and for which they receive training.

• Online security. We will ensure that when collecting personal information over the internet that this is done securely.  Our online forms are always encrypted and our network is protected and routinely monitored.  If you use a credit or debit card to pay us, the card details are securely handled by external compliant providers. We use TLS (Transport Level Security) to encrypt data sent between you and us.  We do not use cookies to store this type of information nor do we store credit or debit card details following completion of your transaction.  To protect yourself when sending us sensitive information, please ensure that you use devices running supported operating systems that are regularly updated / patched and have malware protection.  Only connect your devices to networks that you trust.  We cannot guarantee the security of data disclosed or transmitted over public networks.   
• Password security. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our website or portal, you are responsible for keeping the password confidential.  You agree not to share that password with anyone else.
• Third party website links. Our website and apps may include links to other third-party websites, not owned or managed by Us.  Whilst we try our best to only link to reputable websites we cannot be held responsible for the privacy of data collected by sites not managed by Us nor can we accept responsibility or liability for the implications to you of those policies.  For this reason, you should consult the privacy policy on any external website you link to before you submit any personal data.

You should be aware that the use of the Internet is not entirely secure and although we will do our best to protect your personal data we cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any personal information which is transferred from you or to you via the Internet.  Any transmission is at your own risk.

Managing accessing and sharing your personal data

We undertake reviews of who has access to information that we hold to ensure that your information is accessible only by the necessary and appropriately trained staff, volunteers and trusted third parties.  Where we share your data with a third-party, or require you to share your personal data directly with a third party processor on our behalf, we require that they have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to protect your information. 

We may be compelled by law or agree to disclose your personal data to third-parties, such as law enforcement agencies, courts, government bodies or regulators. Examples include, where we believe a crime has been committed or to assist with the apprehension of an offender or when required by company and social welfare law, e.g.  The Information Commissioner’s Office or the Health and Safety Executive. We have limited control over how it is processed by these parties and we recommend that you consult their own privacy policies.

Occasions, other than by law, when we may share your data include:

• If you have agreed that we may do so.
• When we use external service providers to collect or process personal data on our behalf, for example:
  
  
  • To conduct a DBS Criminal records check (Personnel Checks
  • Eligibility to drive vehicles, (Our insurance company)
  • Our other service providers such as our accountants.
    
    
• To other companies within our Group.
• If we receive a complaint about any inappropriate content you have posted or transmitted to or from one of our sites, forums, social media pages or apps we may share your personal data with your internet provider or law enforcement agencies.
• To enforce or apply the Terms of Use for our website or other agreements or if we believe that we need to protect our rights,  our property or the personal safety, our customers, employees, visitors or websites and for other lawful purposes.
• We may disclose aggregate statistics about our customers, employees and sales to describe our services and operations to prospective customers and other reputable third parties and for other lawful purposes, but these statistics won’t include any personally identifying information without your explicit consent.
• In some instances, the third parties that we work with might also retain your information for their own purposes and in these circumstances they are also the Data Controller. Where this is the case, it will be made clear when your information is initially gathered and we recommend you look at their privacy policy for more information on how your data will be used.  
• If we merge with another organisation to form a new entity, information may be transferred to the new entity.

We will never sell your personal information.  We will not share or swap it with other organisations for their own purposes or to make money out of your data without your consent.

Where we store your information

The information that you provide to us will be held in our systems and servers, which are located in our premises or those of a trusted third-party who processes data on our behalf. 

We may need to use the services or provide access and processing to service providers and other organisations located outside of the United Kingdom   This may mean your data is transferred, processed and stored outside of the UK.  However, we will put in place appropriate safeguards to protect your data and rights, such as asking for your explicit consent, using appropriate contractual clauses and / or other recognised data protection safety measures with our third-party supplier and / or by using encryption.  With the appropriate safeguards in place, by submitting your personal information, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing at a location outside the UK.  In cases when we use external websites provided by other organisations such as Twitter or Facebook, then we would ask you to consult their privacy policies too.

Retaining your information

We hold your information for only as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which the data was collected and our legitimate interests or in order to comply with legal or regulatory rules and requirements.

Your details on the internet and website

Like most organisations, our website and apps use “cookies” and other tracking software to help us make our site and the way you use it better and more relevant to you.  We will not be able to personally identify you from the information gathered but it may help us improve our online services.

• Cookies mean that a website will remember you. They’re small text files that are transferred to your computer (or phone or tablet).  They make interacting with a website faster and easier, for example by automatically filling your name and address in text fields. You can change your cookie preferences whenever you wish.
  
  
• When visiting our website or apps we may collect information about the type of device you’re using to access them and the settings on that device. This might also include the IP address and your operating system and certain device settings as well as diagnostic information.

[include here specific details of the cookies that you do use]

What are your rights?

The UK Data Protection laws gives everyone a number of very important rights.  In abbreviated form these are:

• The right to be informed. Transparency over how we use your personal information. 
• The right of access. You may request information about the personal data that we hold about you.
• The right of rectification. Update or amend the information we hold about you if it is incomplete or inaccurate.
• The right to erase or ‘right to be forgotten’. Ask us to remove your personal information from our records where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.
• The right to restrict processing. Ask us to supress the processing of your information.
• The right to data portability.  Obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes.
• The right to object. Object to the processing of your information for certain purposes (such as marketing, research, statistics or our legitimate interests).
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.

If you would like to know more about your rights under the data protection law see the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website.

You can exercise your rights in relation to your personal information and change the way you hear from us or withdraw your permission for us to process your personal data at any time through the contact details set out in the ‘How to contact us’ section of this policy.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law and your rights, you can complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

How to contact us

If you wish to raise any comments or questions regarding this Privacy Policy or you would like to change your preferences for how we process your information you are very welcome to do so by contacting us as below:

• Post:  Balco-Global LTD, Beaufort Building, Bristol Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 6NA
• Phone:      01249 464465
• Email:      [email protected]