This privacy policy sets out how The General Council and Register of Naturopaths (GCRN) uses and protects any information that you give the GCRN when you use this website https://gcrn.org.uk and also bna.gcrn.org.uk and bnj.gcrn.org.uk
The GCRN is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.
The GCRN may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 26th May 2018
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
We may collect the following information:
- name and job title
- contact information including email address
- demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests
- other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers
- the i.p. address of the Internet service that you are using
What we do with the information we gather
We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, for the security of the website, and in particular for the following reasons:
- Internal record keeping
- We may use the information to improve our products and services
- We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided
- From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone or mail. We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Contact forms
If you submit your details on a contact form on this website your details may be stored to help us respond to your enquiry. This may include your IP address.
Cookies
A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.
We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.
Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.
You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
Use of this website may involve collecting anonymised data through cookies to help us understand the usage of the site. This may also include information about your browser and your i.p. address, which relates to the country in which you are using the Internet.
Security
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. The site is protected with secure https encryption which reduces the likelihood that others can view your data while it is being transmitted.
Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
Controlling your personal information
You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:
Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes
if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us at admin@gcrn.org.uk
We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.
The GCRN is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. The registration number is Z3137030. You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to the GCRN Data Controller at Lytchett House, 13 Freeland Park, Wareham Road, Lytchett Matravers, Poole, Dorset, BH16 6FA, United Kingdom.
If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to us as soon as possible at the above address or email us at admin@gcrn.org.uk. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.
Organisations with whom we share your data
We may share some of your data (name, email address) with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) with your permission if you ask us to notify them of your GCRN membership status when applying for CNHC registration.
If there is a complaint against you as a GCRN member, we may share details of the complaint with regulators with whom you are also registered.
Essential data to complete payment may be retained by our payment processor for the purposes of recording your payment transaction if you purchase anything from this website.
We do not share your information with third parties other than those listed in this privacy policy.
The duration for which we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Places to which we may send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. This may include all the details that you entered when submitting the comment, including your i.p. address.
Your contact information
You can request the information we hold about you, which is limited to your contact information, your membership status and your payment status.
Additional information
How we protect your data
Your data is secured using https encryption, which reduces the likelihood of any data being available to third parties during transmission other than the name of the website, which may be available to your Internet service provider. This data is stored on servers in the United Kingdom.
About the data breach procedures that we have in place
Additional security measures are in place to prevent unauthorised users from accessing your stored data.
About the third parties from whom we receive data
We receive information from spam protection services to indicate whether comments submitted to the website are genuine.
About automated decision making and/or profiling that we may do with user data
We do not carry out automated decision making or user profiling other than for spam protection.
Industry regulatory disclosure requirements
None apply to our management of this site.