This Privacy Notice outlines the information we may collect about you in relation to your use of our websites and related publications and services (“personal data”). We also explain the legal rights that you have in relation to your data and how you may exercise these rights. Wherever possible and unless a more appropriate basis for processing your data exists, we rely on your consent to use your data for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

We also process personal data to fulfil our obligations to you, such as: when you register for any of our services, subscribe to a publication, sign up for an event or purchase a product from us, we will be required to process some of your personal data to deliver on our commitments.

We may determine that processing your personal data serves both of our legitimate interests. This is the case in relation to many of our research, customer survey, direct marketing and advertising activities described in this Privacy Notice.

These activities allow us to better understand your requirements, which in turn enables us to continue to grow as a business and to provide you with more of the high quality content, services and events that you expect from us.

We review the bases for our processing decisions carefully and you can object to these activities at any time (see the “Your Rights” section of this Privacy Notice).

Our primary goal in collecting personal data from you is to give you an enjoyable customised experience of our products whilst allowing us to provide services and features that will be most adapted to your needs.

REGISTRATION, FREE TRIALS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

When you register with our website and/or sign up for a free trial of our products, you provide your name, address, email address and telephone number, and details relevant to your occupation or employer.

If you have subscribed to one of our products, we will also ask for payment details. Credit/debit card payments are processed using a third supplier and we do not retain this data (see the Third Party Sites of this Privacy Notice). Address details may be shared with third party service providers engaged by us for order fulfilment and delivery. This personal data is used by us to complete subscription requests and, subject to your consent or legitimate interests, for advertising and marketing purposes as described in this Privacy Notice.

Your personal data is also used to record your interests, send you the content your have requested and for the advertising and marketing purposes described in this Privacy Notice.

ADVERTISING & MARKETING

We use the personal data you provide us and which we collect from you to inform you about our similar products and services. If you have consented to receive information from other ERC or your brans, we will share your personal data with these companies so that they can fulfil your request to receive marketing materials in accordance with your preferences.

Each of the ERC HOLDING GROUP LLC, or your companies that may contact you is a data controller in relation to the personal data that you have agreed to share with them. If you have any questions or concerns, you may contact the individual company, or us – using the contact details set out in the “About Us” section. You can opt out from receiving such materials at any time.

The personal data we use for advertising and marketing purposes includes your name, email address, job title, phone number, company name/employer, and data collected using cookies and other similar technology (see the Cookies section of this Privacy Notice for more details).

Marketing materials are sent by post and email and we may occasionally call you.

ONLINE TARGETED ADVERTISING

We use targeted advertising on our websites to display advertisements that are relevant to what we believe are your interests. In order to deliver relevant ads, we use third parties to deliver cookies that collect information about your computer, your IP address and how you interact with our sites (e.g. browsing information, which articles you have read). This data is used by the third parties to create interest categories and to determine which advertisements will be delivered to you based on the projected interest categories.

We may also share your personal data with third parties to deliver targeted advertising to you on other websites (e.g. Twitter Tailored Audiences or Facebook Custom Audiences). This could include your email address, cookie data, and information obtained from third parties. Third party cookies may also be used to enable us to target advertisements to you on other websites that you visit. Please read our separate Cookies Policy to find out more about which cookies we use, how they work and how you can control your cookie options.

LEAD GENERATION AND SCORING

We occasionally use the services of trusted third parties in order to ensure that the personal data we use for advertising and marketing purposes is accurate and up-to-date. To accomplish this, we transfer personal data of individual leads (Name, email, job title, location and phone number) to these third parties who conduct research to verify the data – primarily against public information.

We also use algorithmic software technology to help us determine whether someone is appropriate to sell to, and this enables us to improve the quality and pertinence of marketing activities. The personal data analysed by the software includes email address, phone number, job title, address, purchase history and account information.

SURVEYS, MARKET RESEARCH & CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

We want to understand the needs of our readers and customers. We may therefore use the information you provide us – including your name and contact details –to contact you to request your feedback, or to participate in our customer and market research. Your participation is incredibly valuable and very much appreciated – but you can opt out of receiving such requests at any time.

SALES & OTHER BUSINESS OPERATIONS

If you have purchased a subscription or some other product or service from us, or registered for an event, then we will need to process certain information in order to collect payment from you, including your name, address, email and telephone number. If individual accounts are outstanding, we may pass account details (including personal data such as name, phone number and address) to third parties who are responsible for collecting payment.

We use a third party supplier to process payment card details (see section on “Third Party Sites”).

ADDITIONAL THIRD PARTY DISCLOSURES

We may disclose your personal data to third parties in the following situations:

• To third party partners who help us by providing data storage and disaster recovery services. These third parties only receive encrypted data may only process personal data to help us in limited emergency situations.
• We may be required to disclose personal data about our users in response to court orders, law enforcement measures or in the context of other mandatory legal processes. In each case we will seek to minimise the amount of data that is disclosed.
• If required to protect other users and/or to defend the legal rights, interests and security of ERC and its affiliates (including our employees, agents and contractors). [This may include exchange information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection.

E-MAIL TRACKING

We may include small pixel tags (small image files) within the emails we send you in order to determine whether our emails are opened and/or whether the hyperlinks inside our emails are clicked through. This information allows us to better understand whether we are meeting our users’ needs and how we can improve our communications. No other information is collected. You can opt out of receiving our direct marketing emails either by following the instructions in each email, or by contacting us (see the “About Us” section of this Privacy Notice).

ERC, adheres to a strict data retention policy that ensures we don’t use or store your personal data for longer than necessary.

We apply the following criteria to determine retention periods:

• Guidance from the United States of America Information Commissioner or other regulatory agency, or industry best practice recommendations;
• The business rationale for collection and expiry of the purpose for which personal data was collected;
• Our ongoing ability to ensure the accuracy of the data; and
• Whether there is a specific law or regulation that imposes a mandatory retention period.

There may be limited circumstances in which it will be necessary for documents and associated personal data to be kept for either shorter or longer periods than specified in our retention policy. In such circumstances, application of the retention period to the data will be temporarily suspended. The suspension of an applicable retention period will be carried out in a manner that respects the rights and interests of all persons concerned.