PRIVACY POLICY OF THE BAR EUROPEAN GROUP AND CONDITIONS FOR USE OF THE WEBSITE
A. Introduction
1. This privacy policy (‘the Privacy Notice’) sets out how the Bar European Group uses and protects any information that you give when you use its website at bareuropeangroup.org (‘the Website’). It also sets out how we treat the personal data you supply in the event that you apply to attend one of the lectures, talks, seminars or conferences which we periodically host (‘BEG events’). It also sets out the conditions which apply when you use or access the Website.
2. In addition, if you are a member of the Bar European Group, this Privacy Notice explains what personal data we hold on our database of members and how we use the personal data we hold for the purposes of the Bar European Group as a Specialist Bar Association.
3. The Bar European Group 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 the Website or when applying to attend BEG events, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this Privacy Notice.
4. The Bar European Group may change this Privacy Notice 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.
5. We respect the privacy of every person who engages with us as a member of the Bar European Group or who attends BEG events. We also respect the privacy of every person:
5.1. whose personal information we may process as a result of providing BEG events or other services to members of the Bar European Group or to others (‘our services’); or
5.2. who applies for membership of the Bar European Group; or
5.3. who visits the Website and we are further committed to ensuring a safe online experience; or
5.4. who uses any services that we make available from the Website.
B. Purpose of this Privacy Notice
6. This Privacy Notice explains our approach to any personal information that we might collect from you or which we have obtained about you from a third party and the purposes for which we process your personal information. This Privacy Notice also sets out your rights in respect of our processing of your personal information.
7. This Privacy Notice will inform you of the nature of the personal information that we process about you and how you can request that we delete, update, transfer and/or provide you with access to it. It is intended to assist you in making informed decisions when using our services and the Website and/or to understand how your personal information may be processed by us as a result of providing the services or BEG events to others. Please take a moment to read and understand it.
8. Please also note that this Privacy Notice only applies to the use of your personal information obtained by us. It does not apply to your personal information collected during your communications with third parties who are not joint controllers of the data with us.
C. About the Bar European Group
9. We supply our services though the Bar European Group as a Specialist Bar Association, managed and run by a Committee of members (‘the BEG Committee’) on a voluntary, non-profit making basis (collectively “we”, “us” or “our”). However, we:
9.1. only process information necessary to establish or maintain membership or support for the Bar European Group and/or to provide or administer activities for people who are members of the Bar European Group or have regular contact with it;
9.2. only hold information about individuals whose data we need to process for these purposes;
9.3. the personal data we process is restricted to personal information that is necessary for these purposes.
10. The Bar European Group is the data controller responsible for your personal information processed via engagement with our Services and the Website.
11. Please note also that this Privacy Notice applies to members of the Bar European Group who have been elected or co-opted to serve on the BEG Committee from time to time, and who themselves are data controllers. A list of all members of the BEG Committee is published on the Website and updated from time to time. The BEG Committee is assisted by a paid administrator who provides services for and on behalf of the Bar European Group (‘the BEG Administrator’).
12. Where we refer to the Bar European Group, please understand this to mean a reference also to members of the BEG Committee and/or the BEG Administrator.
D. How to Contact Us
13. If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or want to exercise your rights set out in this Privacy Notice, please contact us by:
13.1. sending an e-mail to bareuropeangroup@gmail.com marked for the attention of the Secretary to the Bar European Group; or
13.2. calling us on (+44) 207 842 1200 to speak to the Secretary of the Bar European Group, Julie Anderson.
E. What Personal Information do we collect and how do we use it?
14. Our primary goal in collecting personal information from you is likely to be one or more of the following:
14.1. verify your identity;
14.2. help us determine your application for membership of the Bar European Group;
14.3. set up a payment mechanism for payment of any subscription fees due to the Bar European Group;
14.4. enable us to inform you of forthcoming BEG events or in relation to our services;
14.5. inform you of services being offered by other organisations which share many common members and pursue similar interests, such as the European Circuit of the Bar of England and Wales or the United Kingdom Association of European Lawyers, with whom we often host joint events;
14.6. send you a copy of our publication, the Advocate;
14.7. carry out requests made by you in relation to our services or on the Website;
14.8. comply with any applicable law, court order, other judicial process, or the requirements of a regulator;
14.9. protect the rights, property or safety of us or third parties, including our other members and users of our services or the Website;
14.10. provide support for the provision of our services;
14.11. use as otherwise required or permitted by law.
15. To undertake these tasks we may process the following personal information.
16. If you are a visitor to the Website:
16.1. Name and job title.
16.2. Contact information including email address.
16.3. Other information relevant to provision of our services.
17. If you are applying to become a member of the Bar European Group:
17.1. Name and job title.
17.2. Contact information including business or home address and email address.
17.3. Payment details for settlement of the annual membership fee, typically to enable us to set up a standing order for payment of that fee.
17.4. Payment details for payment of the charge for attending a BEG event (where provided for a fee).
17.5. Other information relevant to provision of our services or in relation to BEG events.
17.6. Information that you provide to us as part of our providing the services to you.
18. If you are an individual whose personal information may be processed by us as a result of providing the services to others or for the purposes of informing you of third party services, we will process a variety of types of personal information depending on the services provided. This may include personal information relating, without limitation, to any of our members; the third-party’s services; and to the proposed provision of BEG events, including speakers. We may obtain this data from various sources including members of the Bar European Group and third party organisations, and in some cases from publicly accessible sources.
19. In particular we may use your personal information for the following purposes:
(i) Fulfilment of Services
20. We collect, maintain and process personal information that you voluntarily submit to us during your use of our services and/or the Website to enable us to perform the services and/or make the Website available. Please note also that our services to members are supplied in accordance with the terms and conditions found on the Website and pursuant to our constitution. We also collect, maintain and process personal information on other individuals as a result of providing services to others.
(ii) Who do we share your personal information with for this purpose?
21. We may share personal information with a variety of the following categories of third parties as necessary when providing our services, organising BEG events or carrying out the other functions set out below:
21.1. Other members of the Bar European Group;
21.2. Third party organisations, pursuing similar objectives;
21.3. The Inns of Court, conference venues, hotels, hospitality service providers, transport companies and the like, when confirming arrangements for your attendance at BEG Events.
22. Please note this list is non-exhaustive and there may be other examples where we need to share with other parties.
23. Where a third party provider is located outside the European Economic Area (‘EEA’) we will take additional steps to ensure that your information is protected to at least an equivalent level as would be applied by UK/EEA data privacy laws.
(iii) What is our legal basis for the processing?
24. It is necessary for us to use your personal information to perform our obligations in accordance with any subscription you have as a member of the Bar European Group or other agreement that we may have with you or it is in our legitimate interest or a third party’s legitimate interest to use personal information in such a way to ensure that we provide our services and/or host BEG events in the best way that we can, as well as to carry out other functions such as providing the Website and/or other training and educational services.
25. We do not anticipate that we shall routinely process information which falls within one of the special categories of information, but on the occasions when we do, the basis for our processing such information is either that we have secured your explicit consent to do so, which we will seek in advance, or that the processing is carried out with appropriate safeguards by the Bar European Group as a not-for-profit body with a political and/or philosophical aim and on condition that the processing relates solely to the members or former members of the Bar European Group or to persons who have regular contact with it in connection with its purposes. The personal data will not be disclosed outside of the Bar European Group without your consent to do so.
26. If we process special information relating to your health (such as requests from you relating to food allergies) then we would do so only with your express consent, or, exceptionally where the processing is necessary for the purposes of your health care or preventive treatment and/or to ensure high standards of health care when third parties provide services to you at or in the course of BEG events.
27. The special categories of information could include information about your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data or biometric data for the purpose of identifying a person, health or sex life or sexual orientation, and information relating to criminal convictions or offences or related security measures.
(iv) Our Website
28. Our Website may use various user interfaces to allow you to request information about our services: these can include printed and electronic enquiry forms and a telephone enquiry service. Contact information may be requested in each case, together with details of other personal information that is relevant to your services enquiry. This information is used in order to enable us to respond to your requests.
29. We would only share your personal information with third party contractors working for us in relation to our website.
30. It is in our legitimate interest or a third party’s legitimate interest to use your personal information in such a way to ensure that we provide the very best client Website service we can to you or others.
31. Where you have given your consent (where lawfully required), we or a third party contractor assisting us with the operation of the Wesbite may use cookies, log files and other technologies to collect personal information from the computer hardware and software you use to access the Site, or from your mobile. This may include the following:
31.1. an IP address to monitor Site traffic and volume;
31.2. a session ID to track usage statistics on our Site.
32. When you visit the Website, we automatically gather and store the following information in order to track the use of our website:
32.1. the IP address from which the website is accessed;
32.2. the name of the domain from which our visitors access the Internet;
32.3. the type of browser and operating system used to access the Website;
32.4. the date and time of your visit;
32.5. the pages, files, documents and links accessed during your visit;
32.6. the internet address of the website from which you linked to our Website (i.e. the previous site you visited, which may have referred you to our Website).
33. The Bar European Group will not make any attempt to identify individual website users or their particular browsing activities. The information listed above is stored and used in the aggregate only, in order to provide us with information about the general use of the Website. Our website logfiles are analysed in order to make improvements to the Website.
34. Our web pages and e-mails may contain “cookies” “web beacons” or “pixel tags” (“Tags”). Tags allow us to track receipt of an e-mail to you, to count users that have visited a web page or opened an e-mail and collect other types of aggregate information. Once you click on an e-mail that contains a Tag, your contact information may subsequently be cross-referenced to the source e-mail and the relevant Tag. In some of our e-mail messages, we use a “click-through URL” linked to certain websites administered by us or on our behalf.
35. By using this information, we are able to measure the effectiveness of our content and how visitors use our Website and our services. This allows us to learn what pages of our Website are most attractive to our visitors, which parts of our Website are the most interesting and what kind of information our users like to see.
36. Where your personal information is completely anonymised, we do not require a legal basis to use it as the information will no longer constitute personal information that is regulated under data protection laws. However, our collection and use of such anonymised personal information may be subject to other laws where your consent is required. Where your personal information is not in an anonymous form, it is in our legitimate interest to use your personal information in such a way to ensure that we provide the very best Website services to you.
(v) Cookie policy for use on the Website
37. We or our third party contractor may use cookies on our Website for identification and analysis purposes. By using the Website you have consented to the storing and accessing of cookies on your device. This cookie policy (“Cookie Policy “) is intended to inform you how we use “cookies” and similar technologies and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our Website. We may use cookies as part of our Website. Before using our Website, you must consent to our doing so. It is a pre-condition to our permitting you to access our Website that you consent to the use of cookies.
38. Cookies and similar technologies are very small text documents or pieces of code, which often include an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a website or use a mobile application, a computer asks your computer or mobile device for permission to store this file on your computer or mobile device and access information from it. Information gathered through cookies may include the date and time of visits and how you are using our Website.
39. By continuing to use our Website, you are deemed to consent to our use of the cookies described in this Cookie Policy. If you do not consent to the use of cookies, you can block them by activating the relevant settings in your browser. In order to use some parts of our Website you will need to accept cookies. If you choose to withhold consent, or subsequently block cookies, some aspects of our Website may not work properly and you may not be able to access all or part of our Website.
40. We use cookies where they are essential for the operation of the Website, for example to remember that you are signed in to the Website. We also use cookies to allow the Website uniquely to identify your browsing session on our Website, which allows us to coordinate this information with data from our Website server. We may also use “analytics” cookies. These, along with other information, allow us to calculate the aggregate number of people using the Website and which features of our Website are most popular.
41. We use this information to improve the Website. We do not generally store any Information that you provide to us in a cookie. The following specific cookies may be used:
41.1. Session ID. A session cookie is created when a user logs in to the site. This is destroyed when the user logs out.
41.2. Shortlist. This cookie is used to store selected ‘shortlist’ flagged content on the splash page.
(vi) Other terms and conditions for access to and use of the Website
42. The Website is provided by the Bar European Group for the purposes of informing members and potential members of BEG events and other material or information likely to be of interest. It is provided for information purposes only. Any views expressed, or comments made on the law in an article, commentary or note on this web site are not necessarily the opinions of the Bar European Group or any member of it other than the author.
43. Any information, material, opinion, statement or the law or other commentary contained on the Website is provided free of charge for information purposes only. It is not intended to and does not amount to legal advice to any person on a specific case or matter. No reliance should be placed on any content on the Website. You are strongly advised to obtain specific, personal advice from a lawyer about your case or matter and not to rely on the information or comments on this site Please read the disclaimer on use set out in Section O below.
44. The Website and its contents are copyright of the Bar European Group. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following:
44.1. you may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only;
44.2. you may copy the content to individual third parties for their personal use, but only if you acknowledge the website as the source of the material.
45. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system.
46. Please be aware that the Bar European Group does not routinely send out emails or any other form of communication to any persons other than those on its membership list. If you receive an email purporting to be from the Bar European Group in any other circumstances, it may well have been sent by persons unknown for illegitimate purposes. If you have received such a communication it is strongly advised that you ignore it, and do not respond to it or communicate further with the person who sent the email/letter to you.
F. Communications about BEG events and other non-BEG events
47. We may, from time to time, use our database of email addresses or our list of your postal address(es) to provide information that we think will be of interest about us and BEG events. For example, details of forthcoming lectures and the annual BEG Conference. We may also circulate by email details of events which are to be hosted by other similar organisations, such as the European Circuit or UKAEL. We also use your postal address to supply a copy of the BEG Advocate publication to members of the Bar European Group or other third parties who have contractually agreed to receive it.
48. Where your personal data is not in an anonymous form, such as your email address, it is in our legitimate interest to use your personal data for informing you of these events (via post and/or email). We will only send you marketing communications via email where you have consented to receive such marketing communications or where we have an alternative lawful right to do so.
49. Any other purposes for which we wish to use your personal information that are not listed above, or any other changes we propose to make to the existing purposes will be notified to you using your contact details.
50. As mentioned above, we may appoint sub-contractor data processors as required to deliver the Website services and/or to provide email or postal communications, such as, without limitation, fulfilment houses for postal marketing or a Website hosting service who will process personal information on our behalf and at our direction. We conduct an appropriate level of due diligence and put in place necessary contractual documentation in relation to any sub-contractor to ensure that they process personal information appropriately and according to our legal obligations.
G. How do we obtain your consent?
51. Where our use of your personal information requires your consent, you can provide such consent:
51.1. at the time we collect your personal information following the instructions provided; or
51.2. by informing us by e-mail, post or phone using the contact details set out in this Privacy Notice (see Section D above).
H. Extra-EEA Transfers
52. If you are based within the EEA, please note that where necessary to deliver our services we may transfer personal information to countries outside the EEA. When doing so we will comply with our legal obligations in relation to the personal information including, but without limitation, having a lawful basis for transferring personal information and putting appropriate safeguards in place to ensure an adequate level of protection for the personal information. I. Retention of your personal data
53. Regarding visitors to the Website, we will retain relevant personal information for at least three years from the date of our last interaction with you and in compliance with our obligations under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) (or similar legislation around the world).
54. Regarding personal information we have processed as a result of providing our services to you as a member of the Bar European Group or as an attendee at a BEG Event, we will in general retain relevant personal data for up to 16 years from the date of our last interaction with you and in compliance with our obligations under the GDPR (or similar legislation around the world) or for longer in certain cases if we and/or our Members consider it is necessary to do for the purpose of a legitimate interest for example for the purpose of any prospective legal proceedings or complaint, or are required to do so according to our regulatory obligations or professional indemnity obligations. We may then destroy such files without further notice or liability. Where the information is special category personal data it is also necessary to process such information for the purpose of or in connection with legal proceedings including prospective legal proceedings, obtaining legal advice or otherwise necessary for the purpose of establishing, exercising or defending legal rights. If you request your files and documents we may charge you for the costs of copying a duplicate.
55. If personal information is only useful for a short period e.g. for specific promotion of a one-off lecture or event, we may delete it well before the time periods set out above. J. Confidentiality and security of your personal information
56. We are committed to keeping the personal information provided to us secure and we will take reasonable precautions to protect personal information from loss, misuse or alteration. We have implemented information security policies, rules and technical measures to protect the personal information that we have under our control from:
56.1. unauthorised access;
56.2. improper use or disclosure;
56.3. unauthorised modification; and
56.4. unlawful destruction or accidental loss.
57. All of our Committee members, contractors, workers and data processors (i.e. those who process your personal information on our behalf, for the purposes listed above), who have access to, and are associated with the processing of personal information, are obliged to respect the confidentiality of the personal information of all visitors to the Website and all users of our services.
K. How to access your information and your other rights
58. You have the following rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you.
(i) Your right of access
59. If you ask us, we will where you are entitled to this under the GDPR and other relevant legislation confirm whether we’re processing your personal information and, if necessary, provide you with a copy of that personal information (along with certain other details). If you require additional copies, we may need to charge a reasonable fee.
(ii) Your right to rectification
60. If the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you are entitled to have it rectified. If you are entitled to rectification and if we’ve shared your personal information with others, we’ll let them know about the rectification where possible. If you ask us, where possible and lawful to do so, we’ll also tell you who we’ve shared your personal information with so that you can contact them directly.
(iii) Your right to erasure
61. You can ask us to delete or remove your personal information in some circumstances such as where we no longer need it or if you withdraw your consent (where applicable). If you are entitled to erasure and we have shared your personal information with others, we will let them know about the erasure where possible. If you ask us, where it is possible and lawful for us to do so, we will also tell you who we have shared your personal information with so that you can contact them directly.
(iv) Your right to restrict processing
62. You can ask us to “block” or suppress the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances such as where you contest the accuracy of that personal information or you object to us. If you are entitled to restriction and we have shared your personal information with others, we will let them know about the restriction where it is possible for us to do so. If you ask us, where it is possible and lawful for us to do so, we will also tell you who we have shared your personal information with so that you can contact them directly.
(v) Your right to data portability
63. With effect from 25 May 2018, you have the right, in certain circumstances, to obtain personal information you have provided us with (in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format) and to reuse it elsewhere or to ask us to transfer this to a third party of your choice.
(vi) Your right to object
64. You can ask us to stop processing your personal information, and we will do so, if we are:
64.1. relying on our own or someone else’s legitimate interests to process your personal information, except if we can demonstrate compelling legal grounds for the processing; or
64.2. processing your personal information for direct marketing.
(vii) Your rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling
65. You have the right not to be subject to a decision when it’s based on automatic processing, including profiling, if it produces a legal effect or similarly significantly affects you, unless such profiling is necessary for entering into, or the performance of, a contract between you and us.
(viii) Your right to withdraw consent
66. If we rely on your consent (or explicit consent) as our legal basis for processing your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
(ix) Your right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority
67. If you have a concern about any aspect of our privacy practices, including the way we’ve handled your personal information, you can report it to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can find details about how to do this on the ICO website at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or by calling their helpline on 0303 123 1113. L. Collection of information by third-party sites
68. Our Website contains links to other websites whose information practices may be different to ours. Visitors should consult the other sites’ privacy notices as the Bar European Group has no control over information that is submitted to, or collected by, these third parties.
M. UK Data Protection Act 2018 Policy
69. The UK Data Protection Act 2018 requires data controllers to have in place a “special category data processing policy” (sections 34, 42 and Schedule 1 Part 4). This Privacy Notice (and any related documents governing how personal data should be processed by the Bar European Group) are to be regarded as the Bar European Group’s “special category data processing policy” as required by applicable legislation.
N. Changes to this Privacy Notice
70. We may make changes to this Privacy Notice from time to time. To ensure that you are always aware of how we use your personal information, we will update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect any changes to our use of your personal information. We may also make changes as required to comply with changes in applicable law or regulatory requirements.
71. If you are a member of the Bar European Group and have provided us with your email address, we will notify you by e-mail of any significant changes. However, we encourage you to review this Privacy Notice periodically to be informed of how we use your personal information.
O. Disclaimer
72. The Website is maintained by the Bar European Group for visitors’ personal use and viewing. Users must agree to abide by the terms and conditions set out in Section E above and any additional terms and conditions found on the Website itself (‘the Terms and Conditions’) and to comply with any requirements set out more generally in this Privacy Notice.
73. The Bar European Group is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or any loss or damage suffered, by any users of the Website or any of the information published on it. Any inaccuracies in content should be notified using the contact details set out in Section D above. While attempts have been made to ensure the accuracy of information displayed on the Website, no guarantee is given as to the completeness or accuracy of the information or any results obtained from use of the information. No warranty is given in any form as to the satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose, security or accuracy of the material presented.
74. The Bar European Group does not give any warranty that the functions contained in the Website will work or be error free in operation, nor any warranty about any defects in the Website or that it is free from harmful computer viruses.
75. The Bar European Group is not liable for any loss or damage including, without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damages whatsoever arising from use or loss of use of, data or profits arising out of or in connection with the use of the Website. Users of the Website expressly agree that this limitation of liability is a reasonable one.
76. This Privacy Notice and any separate Terms and Conditions on the Website itself are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising under the Privacy Policy and any separate Terms and Conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
the European Advocate 