Website privacy policy

The MSC is head quartered at Marine House, 1-3 Snow Hill, London, EC1A 2DH. The MSC is the data controller of your personal data. 

This policy affects your legal rights and obligations so please read it carefully. If you have any questions, please contact us via info@msc.org or call us on +4402072468900. 

If you are based in the European Union, you may also contact us via the MSC’s designated establishment in the Union. Email: dataEU@msc.org post: Schwedter Str. 9A, 10119 Berlin, Germany.

1. Personal data we collect

The MSC collects, processes, stores and uses personal data when you visit our website and submit your data via our online forms. This may include your name, your email address and the name and email address of any other individual who is aware of this policy and who has granted you permission to submit their information. 

You do not need to provide us with any personal data to view our website, however, we may still collect the information set under section 2 of this policy, and undertake marketing communications in accordance with section 3 of this policy. 

When you contact us by email, we will keep a record of the correspondence only for as long as we need it. In most circumstances this means no longer than two years.  

2. Data we automatically collect and why we use this information

When you visit our website, we collect standard internet log information and details of user behaviour patterns. Information MSC collects from you when you visit our website may include:

• traffic data; 
• location data; 
• details of the information you access; 
• statistical data relating to your browsing activities, including information about your computer, operating system and browser type.

MSC collects this information to understand users' browsing behaviour and how users engage with the website. This information assists us in identifying areas for improvement on our website. We collect this information using cookies in accordance with the Cookie section (section 7) of this policy.

3. Marketing Communications

If you opt in to receive marketing communications from us you consent to the processing of your data to send you such communications, which may include newsletters, blog posts, surveys and information about new events. We retain a record of your consent. 

You can choose to no longer receive marketing communications by contacting us at info@msc.org or clicking unsubscribe from a marketing email. If you unsubscribe to marketing communications, it may take up to five business days for your new preferences to take effect. We shall therefore retain your personal data in our records for marketing purposes until you notify us that you no longer wish to receive marketing emails from us.

4. Lawful processing of your personal data

We will use your data to satisfy our legitimate interests in the effective and lawful operation of this website. We may also use your personal data for our legitimate interests, including enforcing the terms of any other agreement between us and for regulatory, legal and auditing purposes.

5. Who do we share your data with?

The MSC will never sell your personal information to any third party.

MSC may share statistical information with its subsidiary, the Marine Stewardship Council International Limited (MSCI) and/or its regional offices. This information will not identify you or enable you to be identified.

Under certain circumstances we may have to disclose your personal data under applicable laws and/or regulations, for example, to protect a third party's rights, property, or safety.

 

6. Where we hold and process your personal data

The majority of all personal data held by the MSC is stored on servers in the UK or European Union (EU). Some or all of your personal data may be stored outside of the UK or EU  for any reason, including for example, if our email server is located in a country outside the UK or EU or if any of our service providers or their servers are based outside of the UK or EU. Other than in exceptional circumstances, we shall only transfer your personal data to organisations that have provided adequate safeguards in respect of your personal data. Where the laws applicable to a recipient are not recognised as providing adequate protection for personal data, the adequate safeguards we will employ, if any, will be those approved under UK law, including data transfer contracts based on the so-called "Standard Contractual Clauses", or so-called "Processor Binding Corporate Rules".  You can obtain additional information by contacting us using the contact details provided above.

7. Cookies

A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that is transferred (through your browser) from a website to the hard drive of your computer. The cookie identifies your browser but will not let a website know any personal data about you, such as your name and/or address. These files are then used by websites to identify when users revisit that website.

Our website uses cookies so that we can recognise you when you return, potentially personalising your settings and preferences. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. You can change your browser settings either to notify you when you have received a cookie, or to refuse to accept cookies. Please note that our website may not operate efficiently if you refuse to accept cookies.

Cookie	Description
Google Analytics	Cookies installed by Google Analytics are used to analyse the traffic on our website and understand how our users use our website (for example, which pages they visit the most, the source where they have come from or if they get error messages from our web pages). The cookies store information in an anonymous form.  These cookies have a lifespan of up to 24 months.  Google uses analytics data for product improvement, benchmarking, technical support and for improving the way we use Google products.  For more information on how Google Analytics collects and processes data, please see: Google’s Privacy & Terms Google Analytics and privacy page Google Privacy Policy You can opt out from sharing information with Google through Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Google Optimize	Google Optimize tailors our website to optimize user experience. It allows us to test variants of our web pages, to see how they perform and to personalise our website.  These cookies have a lifespan of up to 24 months.  Google Privacy Policy
Google Ads	Google Ads are used to show you personalised advertisements that you may find interesting. Google Privacy Policy These cookies have a lifespan of up to 24 months. To find out more on how to opt out of Google’s personalised ads, please see here: https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662922?hl=en-GB
YouTube	Cookies set by Youtube are used to:  track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website (advertising) register a unique ID for tracking users based on their geographical location (analytics) track the views of embedded videos (performance) These cookies have a lifespan of up to 5 months. Google Privacy Policy
DoubleClick (Google Marketing Platform)	DoubleClick cookies are used by Google for advertising purposes, to: store information about how website users use the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile  These cookies have a lifespan of up to 12 months.  Google Privacy Policy
Facebook Ads	Cookies set by Facebook are used for advertising purposes, to:  deliver advertisement when website users are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website show relevant advertisements to the users and measure and improve advertisements and to track the behaviour of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. These cookies have a lifespan of up to 2 months. To manage your Off-Facebook Activity, click here. Facebook Data Policy
LinkedIn	Cookies set by LinkedIn are used to:   track website users on multiple websites, in order to present relevant advertisement based on the user’s preferences (advertising) enable LinkedIn functionalities on the page (functional) enable and track LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags (advertising) routing (functional) These cookies have a lifespan of up to 24 months. To opt out of LinkedIn advertising cookies, click here. LinkedIn Privacy Policy
AddThis	These cookies are used to enable Share and Follow buttons so as to share content across social networks and to present relevant content (advertising). These cookies have a lifespan of up to 14 days. AddThis Privacy Policy
MailChimp	MailChimp uses session cookies to remember changes as users move from page to page, it does not use cookies to track contacts. Links and images are used to track open and clicks for email campaigns. More information on how MailChimp uses cookies
sf-trckngckie	sf-trckngckie is a Progress/Sitefinity Cookie that is associated with personalisation. These cookies have a lifespan of up to 6 months.

Disable cookies: If you wish to prevent cookies from tracking your activity on our website or visits across multiple websites, you can set your browser to block certain cookies or to notify you when a cookie is set. If you block cookies, certain features on our website may not work. For more information on how you can customize your browser’s cookie setting please visit the link to your web browser below:

• Chrome
• Safari
• Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Edge
• Mozilla
  
  

8. Security

We shall process your personal data in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures. All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers.

9. Your rights

You have the right to obtain from us a copy of the personal data that we hold for you, and to require us to correct errors in the personal data if it is inaccurate or incomplete. You also have the right at any time to require that we delete your personal data. To exercise these rights, or any other rights you may have under applicable laws, please contact us at info@msc.org.  

Please note, we reserve the right to charge an administrative fee if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.  

If you have any complaints in relation to this policy or otherwise in relation to our processing of your personal data, you should contact the UK supervisory authority: the Information Commissioner, see www.ico.org.uk.  

Our website may contain links to other sites of interest. Once you have used these links to leave our website, you should note that we do not have any control over that other site. 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 policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy applicable to the site in question. 

10. Retention

If you register with us, we shall retain your personal data we will keep a record of the correspondence only for as long as we need it. In most circumstances this means no longer than 2 years. 

If you receive marketing communications from us, we shall retain your personal data until you opt out of receiving such communications. 

If you have contacted us with a question or comment, we shall retain your personal data for 6 months following such contact to respond to any further queries you might have.

11. General

If any provision of this policy is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, then such provision shall be construed, as nearly as possible, to reflect the intentions of the parties and all other provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

This policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales, and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. 

We may change the terms of this policy from time to time. You are responsible for regularly reviewing this policy so that you are aware of any changes to it. If you continue to use our website after the time we state the changes will take effect, you will have accepted the changes.