Legal

PRIVACY NOTICE BACKGROUND:

HLB International understands that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your personal data is used. We respect and value the privacy of all of our website users, members, their affiliates and their associated entities and will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described here, and in a way that is consistent with our obligations and your rights under the law.

HLB International is a world-wide network of independent professional accounting firms and business advisers, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity, and as such HLB International Limited has no liability for the acts and omissions of any other member. HLB International Limited is an English company limited by guarantee which co-ordinates the international activities of the HLB International network but does not provide, supervise or manage professional services to clients. Accordingly, HLB International Limited has no liability for the acts and omissions of any member of the HLB International network, and vice versa.

This privacy statement (“Privacy Statement”) applies only to HLB International websites (or the “web site”) which is provided by HLB International (also referred to below as “we”, “us”, “our” or “HLB”) and not to the various separate web sites as per each location.

By using our website and submitting any personal information to us, you agree to the use by us of your personal information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Notice.

1 – What Does This Notice Cover

This Privacy Notice explains how we use your personal data: how it is collected, how it is held, and how it is processed. It also explains your rights under the law relating to your personal data.

2 – What is Personal Data

Personal data is defined by the General Data Protection Regulation (EU Regulation 2016/679) (the “GDPR”) as ‘any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified in particular by reference to an identifier’.

Personal data is, in simpler terms, any information about you that enables you to be identified. Personal data covers obvious information such as your name and contact details, but it also covers less obvious information such as identification numbers, electronic location data, and other online identifiers.
The personal data that we use is set out in How We Use Personal Data section below.

3 – Rights

Under the GDPR, you have the following rights, which we will always work to uphold:

1. 1. 1. 1. The right to be informed about our collection and use of your personal data. This Privacy Notice should tell you everything you need to know, but you can always contact us.
       
      1. 1. The right to access the personal data we hold about you.
       
      1. 1. The right to have your personal data rectified if any of your personal data held by us is inaccurate or incomplete.
       
      1. 1. The right to be forgotten, i.e. the right to ask us to delete or otherwise dispose of any of your personal data that we
       
      1. 1. The right to restrict (i.e. prevent) the processing of your personal data.
       
      1. 1. The right to object to us using your personal data for a particular purpose or purposes.
       
      1. The right to data portability. This means that you can ask us for a copy of your personal data held by us to re-use with another service or business in many cases.

For more information about our use of your personal data or exercising your rights as outlined above, please contact us.

Further information about your rights can also be obtained from the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office www.ico.org.uk

If you want to know what personal data we have about you, you can ask us for details of that personal data and for a copy of it (where any such personal data is held). This is known as a “subject access request”.

All subject access requests should be made in writing and sent to the email or postal addresses.

4 – Personal Data We Collect

We collect personal information about users of this website and other individuals in the ordinary course of our business (this may vary according to your relationship with us).

Website users

We collect personal information you provide when you complete online forms, subscribe to our newsfeed, make an online enquiry or report a problem with our site.

When you visit our site:

Our website incorporates Google Analytics which uses cookies to collect information about visitor behaviour patterns to improve our website. The information collected may include your IP address and browser type but not any information which identifies individuals. Google Analytics stores information such as which pages are visited, how long is spent on the site and how web site visitors arrived on the site.

Cookies: Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

Suppliers: if you do business with us on your own behalf or you are the point of contact for an organisation that we do business with, we collect your personal information in the form of contact details, job title and name of your organisation.

Others: we collect the personal information you give us when you correspond with us by phone, email or otherwise.

Member Firms: HLB International collects data to operate effectively and provide you the best experiences within the network. You provide some of this data directly, such as filling in forms and surveys on our site, submit an email query, register for an International event, seek assistance with cross-border work for your clients, create an account on our website, order our products or services, complete a membership form or contact us for support. We may ask you to provide necessary information relating to your staff for the purposes of running the network. This information is solely used to facilitate communications and processes approved by the international board of directors. Please ensure that you adhere to local regulations pertaining to providing this information about your people for processes by HLB. Member firms are responsible for obtaining the consent and recording such consent for each employee that is represented on the HLB website and for ensuring that their details are removed from the HLB website when they are no longer employed by the member firm.

We may get data by recording how you interact with our products by, for example, using technologies like cookies.

Third parties or publicly available sources: We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below or from your firm’s public website:

Professional bodies and institutes, such as national and international accountancy bodies;

Identity and Contact Data from publicly availably sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register based inside and outside the EU.

Social Media Platforms: You may wish to participate in the various blogs, forums, wikis and other social media platforms hosted by HLB (“Social Media Platforms”) which we make available to you. The main aim of these Social Media Platforms is to facilitate and allow you to share content. However, HLB cannot be held responsible if you share personal information on Social Media Platforms that is subsequently used, misused or otherwise appropriated by another user.

5 – How We Use Personal Data

Under the GDPR, we must always have a lawful basis for using personal data. This may be because the data is necessary for our performance of a contract with you, because you have consented to our use of your personal data, or because it is in our legitimate business interests to use it. The most common uses of your personal data are:

Providing Information: To provide you with information which you have requested from us in our legitimate interest or, where required with your consent.

Member support: We use data to provide other member care and support services.

Business Operations: We use data to develop aggregate analysis and business intelligence that enable us to operate, protect, make informed decisions and report on the performance of our business.

Communications: We use data to communicate with you and personalise our communications with you. For example, we may contact you by phone or email to discuss your membership, invite you to participate in a survey / conference / meeting, or tell you that you need to take action to keep your account up to date.
You will not be sent any unlawful marketing or spam. We will always work to fully protect your rights and comply with our obligations under the GDPR, and you will always have the opportunity to opt-out.

6 – How Long Will we Keep your Personal Data

We will not keep your personal data for any longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s) for which it was first collected.

We make reasonable efforts to retain personal information only for so long i) as the information is necessary to comply with an individual’s request, ii) as necessary to comply with legal, regulatory, internal business or policy requirements, or iii) until that person asks that the information be deleted. The period for which data is retained will depend on the specific nature and circumstances under which the information was collected.

7 – Security and Transfer of Personal Data

We may store or transfer some or all of your personal data in countries that are not part of the European Economic Area (the “EEA” consists of all EU member states, plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein). These are known as “third countries” and may not have data protection laws that are as strong as those in the United Kingdom and/or the EEA.

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 those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know such data. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

8 – Sharing Personal Data

We may share your personal data within our membership, which may involve transferring your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

For the purposes of supporting cross-border business, we will share your contact details and those of your partners, directors and staff with other professional service firms, clients and potential clients in countries across the world. We do this on the basis of legitimate interest between you and us and it is in your interests for us to share that information.

We may also share your data with third parties, such as our press relations agents, strategic alliance partners and suppliers of services relevant to your business to whom we transfer contact details.

Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, foreign exchange payment, legal, insurance and accounting services, HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities based in the United Kingdom and other relevant jurisdictions who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.

You will be providing credit or debit card information directly to the provider in order to process payment details and authorise payment. Information which you supply to in such cases is subject to the payment gateway provider’s own privacy policy and terms and conditions.

9 – How Do I Contact You?

To contact us about anything to do with your personal data and data protection, including to make a subject access request, please use the following details:

     Data Controller

    HLB International Limited

     21 Ebury Street

     London

     SW1W 0LD

     United Kingdom

     Tel: +44 (0)20 7881 1100

     Fax: +44 (0)20 7881 1109

     Email: [email protected]

10 – Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time. This may be necessary, for example, if the law changes, or if we change our business in a way that affects personal data protection.

Any changes will be made available on our website under Privacy.

This Privacy Notice was last updated on 25 May 2018.