Privacy Statement

The Dog Welfare Alliance (DWA) Privacy Statement

In safe hands

The Dog Welfare Alliance (DWA) takes your privacy seriously. We are committed to protecting your personal information. This policy sets out how we use the information that you provide us with.

Your data

About us: The DWA is an internationally recognised organisation for professionals and rescues. We keep our promises, and that includes treating your personal details with care.

We will not sell your data to any third parties.

Who we are: By 'The DWA' (the data controller) we mean:

· The Dog Welfare Alliance (DWA)

· Our Data protection officer can be contacted on 01225 873337 or 07910748037

Your Information - what we collect and how we use it: The DWA collects information in a number of different ways. For example, we ask for contact and other information when you contact us to enquire about joining the DWA.

This may include information such as your name, contact information, IP address, your current career and sometimes employer, and the name of any organisations of which you are a member. We use this information to help us fulfil our contract with you, to process transactions, and to keep a record of our communications with you.

We will also continue to ask about your preferences, to ensure that you are still happy to be contacted by us and by which means.

What the Law says about protection of personal information: The Law on Data Protection is derived from various pieces of legislation (can be found in a number of places). These include the Data Protection Act and the incoming General Data Protection Regulation (the 'GDPR') which will become enforceable on 25 May 2018. The GDPR states that personal data (information relating to a person that can be individually identified) can only be processed if there is a legal ground to do so. Activities like collecting, storing and using personal information would fall into the GDPR's definition of processing. The GDPR provides six legal grounds (reasons) under which personal information can be processed (used) in a way that is lawful. For the processing to be permitted by law (lawful), at least one of the legal grounds must apply.

The four legal grounds that are most relevant to The DWA's use of your personal information are:

  • Consent
  • Legitimate Interest
  • Contract
  • Legal Obligation

How the law applies to the DWA's use of personal information: The DWA will only process (use) your personal information if we have:

  • asked you and have a record of your express and recent consent for us to do so;
  • a 'Legitimate Interest' to do so in order to support our purposes. Our use will be fair and balanced and never unduly have an impact on your rights.;
  • a contract with you that we can only fulfil by using your personal information, e.g. to send you an item that you have requested;
  • a legal obligation to use or disclose information about you.

In extreme situations, such as an accident or medical emergency, we may share your personal details with the emergency services if it is essential for the preservation of life (yours or another person's) for us to do so. This is the 'vital interest' ground for using your personal information. After the emergency, we will always try to inform you about how we had to use your information in that extreme situation.

We will not unduly prioritise our interests as an organisation over your interests as an individual. We will always balance our interests with your rights. We will only use personal information in a way and for a purpose that you would reasonably expect in accordance with this Policy.

The DWA will not rent, swap or sell your personal information to other organisations for them to use in their own marketing activities.

Consent: The DWA will always ask for your consent before we communicate with you for certain purposes. For example, we will only email or send you a newsletter if we have an accurate record of your recent and freely given consent to do so.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing [email protected]

What is Legitimate Interest: This legal ground for processing means that organisations can process your personal information if they 1). have a genuine and legitimate reason for doing so and 2). That use does not harm any of your rights and interests as an individual.

The DWA's Legitimate Interest: We do not unduly prioritise our legitimate interests as an organisation over your interests as an individual. We always respect your rights.

What we have a Legitimate Interest to do: We believe that The DWA's members (and anyone enquiring about membership) are connected to The DWA's goal to improve the lives of dogs and their caretakers, and that they want to know how they can continue to get involved with the work we do. Unless you tell us not to, we think you are content for us to process (keep and use) your personal information for the following lengths of time. As of 25 May 2018, we promise not to keep your personal information for longer than we specify below. This is not the length of time that we will continue to contact you - this could be a shorter period of time (see below for an explanation on our personalised approach to communications).

  • Members

For DWA members we need to keep your personal data and details of the organisation of which you are an individual member, if relevant.

  • Demonstrated an interest in The DWA via an enquiry

Those who have demonstrated an interest in The DWA by contacting us for more information: e.g. to find out more about joining The DWA organisation. We think that someone who has contacted us to find out more about The DWA, and what we do, would like us to provide that information; perhaps a little more information; and even some support in fulfilling their initial query or request. To support this, we keep your personal information for a period of one year.

It is always your choice. If you don't think this is quite right for you, you can tell us to change your communication preferences and our use of your information. You can do this at any time by phoning 01225 873337 or 07910748037 or emailing [email protected]

Legitimate Interest to send you direct mail: Unless you tell us not to, we will rely on our Legitimate Interest ground (explained above) for sending you direct mail. From time to time, we would like to post you exciting updates about our news, events, services, research, member organisations and affiliates.

We are always mindful of trying to only send you what you are interested in and only as often as is appropriate. If we do not appear to be sending communications that are of interest, we will review this and will endeavour to reduce and then stop these types of communications in a much shorter time than the above defined period of Legitimate Interest

But you are in control, so if you want to ensure that we do not send this type of communication anymore, you can update your preferences at any time by phoning 01225 873337 or 07910748037, email [email protected], or unsubscribe from the next newsletter you receive.

Legitimate Interest to process your information: We aim to be clear about what information we collect, to enable you to make meaningful choices about how it is used.

When it is necessary we will contact you for administrative purposes, e.g. to contact you regarding a payment. We will also hold the minimum personal information required to support our ability to respect your preferences for communication with us.

To help you to understand when and why The DWA would use Legitimate Interest to process your personal information we provide the following examples:

  • To send postal communications (as explained above)
  • To enhance, modify, personalise and improve our services and communications for the benefit of our members.
  • To improve security of our websites and systems.
  • To prevent fraud when transacting on our website.
  • To process your payments.
  • To fulfil online transactions; process and deliver your order(s). To take payment and arrange delivery, we need to collect personal information, including your payment details, your full name, delivery address and contact details.
  • To analyse your personal information to ensure that our communications are relevant to you.

The above list of examples is on the basis that the processing will not be done if it harms your rights and interests as an individual, or if you tell us that you'd like us to stop. You can do this at any time by emailing [email protected]

Data Analysis: In order to communicate with you more effectively and better understand your preferences we may analyse your data.

Data Sharing: To help us communicate with you we use trusted service providers including direct mailing providers.

The DWA does not share, sell or swap your information with other organisations.

In some circumstances, such as sending logo files, it is necessary for The DWA to give its staff access to your personal information. This access is only granted to the extent necessary for them to perform their services for us. We require all service providers to comply with strict rules to protect the information you have given us.

We process data at our registered offices 15 Meadlands, Corston, Bath BA2 9AS, UK and at the sites of data processors and third parties appointed by us. Some of these processors may be outside the EEA.

We apply UK data protection law to our processing.

Changes to your data: From time to time we may contact you to ensure that the information you have provided us with remains accurate and up to date. Should you wish to change your preferences you can do this by writing to us at 15 Meadlands, Corston, Bath, BA2 9AS, by phone on 01225 873337 or 07910748037 or by email addressed to  [email protected].

Like all organisations, we would comply with requests for the disclosure of personal information where this is required or permitted by law. This could include requests from law enforcement or tax agencies. In these circumstances, the request must be submitted in writing and in accordance with the relevant legal requirements.

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with us or with the Information Commissioners office https://ico.org.uk/.

Cookies and Web Privacy: We at The DWA guarantee our commitment to respecting and protecting your online privacy.

This includes your need and your right to know what we do with the personal information you share with us. It also guides our organisation's policies regarding the management of this data, including how the information is collected, processed, and for what purposes.

"The DWA": refers to the web pages. By accessing this website, you are consenting to the way information is collected and used, as described within this Privacy Policy. In return, The DWA gives the commitment that we will use the personal data you provide only in ways that are compatible with the following Privacy Policy.

The collection of information: Every time you log on to our website your IP (Internet Protocol) address registers on our servers. Your IP address reveals no information other than the number assigned to you. We do not use this technology to get any personal data against your knowledge or free will (i.e., automatically recording e-mail addresses of visitors). Nor do we use it for any purpose other than to help us monitor traffic on our website, or (in case of criminal activity or misuse of our information) to cooperate with law enforcement.

Cookies: We use a number of different cookies on our site. If you do not know what cookies are, or how to control or delete them, then we recommend you visit http://www.aboutcookies.org for detailed guidance.

The list below describes the cookies we use on this site and what we use them for. Currently we operate an 'implied consent' policy which means that we assume you are happy with this usage. If you are not happy, then you should either not use this site, or you should delete the cookies having visited the site, or you should browse the site using your browser's anonymous usage setting (called "Incognito" in Chrome, "InPrivate" for Internet Explorer, "Private Browsing" in Firefox and Safari etc.)

· First Party Cookies

These are cookies that are set by this website directly.

Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to collect information about visitor behaviour on our website. Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got here and what you click on. This Analytics data is collected via a JavaScript tag in the pages of our site and is not tied to personally identifiable information. We therefore do not collect or store your personal information (e.g. your name or address) so this information cannot be used to identify who you are.

Find out more about Google's position on privacy as regards its analytics service.

· Third Party Cookies

These are cookies set on your machine by external websites whose services are used on this site. Cookies of this type are the sharing buttons across the site which allow visitors to share content onto social networks. Cookies are currently set by LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. In order to implement these buttons and connect them to the relevant social networks and external sites, there are scripts from domains outside of our website. You should be aware that these sites are likely to be collecting information about what you are doing all around the internet, including on this website.

You should check the respective policies of each of these sites to see how exactly they use your information and to find out how to opt out, or delete, such information.

Web Security: Financial transactions made online to The DWA using this site are secure. No one can access your credit card details or PayPal details via the internet.

How our website works: When you wish to make a payment you are taken to a secure page for payment.

Our secure server communicates with your browser using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocols, so that all your personal information, including PayPal details or credit card number and your name and address, is encrypted. This process takes the words and figures you enter and converts them into bits of code that are then securely transmitted over the internet.

Information: All information given on this site is to the best of our ability. This information was last updated in April 2018. From time to time, we will make changes to the information on this page. The amended information will apply from the date it is posted on the site and will govern the way in which we collect and use personal information from then on.

By using this site, you are accepting this policy and terms of service.