Privacy Policy
Introduction
Welcome to the Whisky Partners privacy notice.
We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal information. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.
We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation, which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.
Key terms
It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:
We, us, our – Blackford Casks Ltd (trading as Whisky Partners)
Personal information – Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual
Personal information we collect about you
We may collect and use the following personal information about you:
• your name and contact information, including email address and telephone number;
• your bank and/or building society or payment card details;
• information to enable us to check and verify your identity, for example, your date of birth or passport details;
• your gender information, if you choose to give this to us;
• information to enable us to undertake credit or other financial checks on you;
• information about how you use our website, IT, communication and other systems; and
This personal information is required to provide products and/or services to you. If you do not provide personal information we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing products and/or services to you.
How your personal information is collected
We collect most of this personal information directly from you – in person, by telephone, text or email and/or via our website. However, we may also collect information:
• from publicly accessible sources, for example, Companies House or HM Land Registry;
• directly from a third party, for example:
– sanctions screening providers;
– credit reference agencies;
– customer due diligence providers;
• from a third party with your consent, for example:
– your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor;
– consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter;
• from cookies and other tracking technologies on our website (for more information on our use of cookies and other tracking technologies, please see our cookie policy); and
• via our IT systems, for example:
– automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, communications systems, email and any instant messaging systems.
How and why we use your personal information
Under data protection law, we can only use your personal information if we have a proper reason for doing so, for example:
• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
• for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
• where you have given consent.
A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.
What we use your personal information for
To provide products and/or services to you
For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
To prevent and detect fraud against you For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to minimise fraud that could be damaging for us and for you
Conducting checks to identify our customers and verify their identity
Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes
Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Ensuring business policies are adhered to, for example, policies covering security and internet use For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you
Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price
Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to protect trade secrets and other commercially valuable information
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Statistical analysis to help us manage our business, for example, in relation to our financial performance, customer base, product range or other efficiency measures For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price
Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for you
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Updating and enhancing customer records For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, for example, making sure that we can keep in touch with our customers about existing orders and new products
Statutory returns To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, for example, to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you
Marketing our services to:
– existing and former customers;
– third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services;
– third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to promote our business to existing and former customers
Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to ensure our customers are likely to be able to pay for our products and services
External audits and quality checks, for example, for the audit of our accounts For our legitimate interests or a those of a third party, i.e. to demonstrate we operate at the highest standards
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
How and why we use special category personal data
Under data protection law, we can only use special category personal data where:
• we have a proper reason for doing so (see above: How and why we use personal data), and
• one of the ‘grounds’ for using special category personal data applies.
If none of the grounds apply, we will seek your explicit consent to process special category data.
Promotional communications
We may use your personal information to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about our products and/or, including exclusive offers, promotions or new products and/or services.
We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal information for promotional purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal information’). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you promotional communications.
We will always treat your personal information with the utmost respect.
We use behavioural remarketing service providers to advertise our service and products to you on third party websites after you have visited our website and/or bought products from us or used our services. We and the owners of such third party websites use cookies to inform, optimise and serve advertisements based on your past visits to our website and your past purchase(s) of our products and our services.
You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:
• contacting us at info@whiskypartners.com
• using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or ‘STOP’ number in texts; and/or
We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further products and/or services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.
Who we share your personal information with
We routinely share personal information with:
• third parties we use to help deliver our products and/or services to you, for example, payment service providers, distilleries and other suppliers
• other third parties we use to help us run our business, for example, marketing agencies, behavioural remarketing service providers or website hosts;
• third parties approved by you, for example, third party payment providers;
• credit reference agencies and identity verification service providers;
• external auditors;
• our insurers and brokers; and
• our banks.
We only allow our service providers to handle your personal information if we are satisfied that they take appropriate measures to protect your personal information. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal information to provide services to us and to you.
We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and statutory obligations.
We may also share personal information with external auditors, in relation to the audit of our accounts.
We may also need to share some personal information with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised, but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.
We will not share your personal information with any other third party.
Where your personal information is held
Information may be held at our offices and those of third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see above: ‘Who we share your personal information with’).
Some of these third parties may be based outside the European Economic Area. For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal information when this occurs, see below: ‘Transferring your personal information out of the UK and EEA’.
How long your personal information will be kept
We will keep your personal information while you have an account with us, or we are providing products and/or services to you. Thereafter, we will keep your personal information for as long as is necessary:
• to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
• to show that we treated you fairly; and
• to keep records required by law.
We will not retain your personal information for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of personal information.
When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal information, we will delete or anonymise it.
Transferring your personal information out of the UK and EEA
To deliver our products and/or services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal information outside the UK and/or European Economic Area (EEA), for example:
• with your service providers located outside the UK/EEA;
• if you are based outside the UK/EEA;
• where there is an international dimension to the services we are providing to you.
These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law. This means we can only transfer your personal information to a country or international organisation outside the UK/EEA where:
• the European Commission has issued an ‘adequacy decision’ in relation to that country or international organisation; or
• there are appropriate safeguards in place, together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for data subjects; or
• a specific exception applies under data protection law
These are explained below.
European Commission adequacy decision
The European Commission has the power to determine whether a country or international organisation provides an adequate level of protection for personal information and, if it does, to issue an ‘adequacy decision’. The effect of such a decision is that personal information can flow from the UK/EEA to that country without any further safeguards being necessary.
It can take several years for the European Commission to issue an adequacy decision and only a small number of countries currently benefit from one.
Transfers with appropriate safeguards
We may transfer your data to a third country or international organisations on this ground where we are satisfied the transfer complies with data protection law, appropriate safeguards are in place, and enforceable rights and effective legal remedies are available for data subjects.
The safeguards will usually include using standard data protection contract clauses approved by the European Commission.
Transfers under an exception
In the absence of an adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards, we may transfer personal information to a third country or international organisations where an exception applies under relevant data protection law, for example:
• you have explicitly consented to the proposed transfer after having been informed of the possible risks;
• the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between us or to take pre-contract measures at your request;
• the transfer is necessary for a contract in your interests, between us and another person; or
• the transfer is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
We may also transfer information for the purpose of our compelling legitimate interests, so long as those interests are not overridden by your interests, rights and freedoms. Specific conditions apply to such transfers and we will provide relevant information if and when we seek to transfer your personal information on this ground.
Further information
If you would like further information about data transferred outside the UK or EEA, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).
Your rights
If you are a resident of the EEA, you have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:
Access The right to be provided with a copy of your personal information (the right of access)
Rectification The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal information
To be forgotten The right to require us to delete your personal information (in certain situations)
Restriction of processing The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal information (in certain circumstances, for example, if you contest the accuracy of the data)
Data portability The right to receive the personal information you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party (in certain situations)
To object The right to object:
• at any time to your personal information being processed for direct marketing (including profiling); and/or
• in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information, for example, processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests.
Not to be subject to automated individual decision making The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you
For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact us or see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/).
If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:
• email, call or write to us (see below: ‘How to contact us’); and
• let us have enough information to identify you (for example, your full name, address and customer reference number);
• let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
• let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.
Keeping your personal information secure
We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.
How to complain
We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information.
The General Data Protection Regulation (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679&from=EN) also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may