GDPR

Your privacy and General Data Protection Regulations

How we use your information

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC), registered in England no. 3066963, collects personal information. Personal information is held strictly in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

It applies to information we collect about:

• visitors to our websites
• people who use our services, for example to enquire about the services of our members or acupuncture generally
• our members
• job applicants and our current and former employees
• complaints/share your experience information
• any other information that you choose to send to us

Visitors to our websites

When someone visits www.acupuncture.org.uk we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. We collect this information in a way that does not identify anyone other than in circumstances such as logging into the member area, when we need to identify our members.

We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those non-members visiting any of our websites, which are generally hosted on subdomains of acupuncture.org.uk, for example:

• www.acupuncture.org.uk
• conference.acupuncture.org.uk
• graduate.acupuncture.org.uk

We will not associate any data gathered from these sites with any personally identifying information from any source. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be upfront about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

How the BAcC uses cookies

You can read more about how we use cookies on our websites here in the BAcC Cookie Policy.

Search engine

Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. No user-specific data is collected by either the BAcC or any third party.

E-newsletter

We deliver a monthly e-newsletter to our members and student members. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter.

People who telephone us

When you call the BAcC we may record your call for training purposes and to help us improve our service.

People who email us

Any email sent to us, including any attachments, may be monitored and used by us for reasons of security and for monitoring compliance with office policy. Email monitoring or blocking software may also be used. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to us is within the bounds of the law.

Complaints about the BAcC

All complaints about the BAcC are treated seriously and we will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide. For details see our complaints policy.

Complaints about our members

The BAcC has strict disciplinary procedures and all complaints are treated as confidential. We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to the member concerned, however sometimes we will pursue a complaint against a member where the complainant wishes to remain anonymous. We will keep personal information in a safe place and access will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.

We never publish the names of complainants but we do publish the names of members in the event that findings and/or orders are made against them by the Professional Conduct Committee.

People who use BAcC online services

The BAcC offers various services to the public and to members, including:

Public

• Find an acupuncturist: practitioner search via the website and also via telephone enquiry
• ‘Ask an expert’: an advisory service where people can pose questions to an in-house acupuncturist
• public surveys
• public online promotions
• event booking
• BAcC presence on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Googleplus

Members

• member area of website
• online shop
• forum
• member surveys
• member online promotions
• event booking

Most of services we provide are run in their entirety by the BAcC. Exceptions would be surveys and competitions, which may be partly hosted with third parties.

Where possible, we do not request personally identifiable information unless it is necessary for the functionality of the service being provided. In accordance with the Data Protection Act, we do not request more information than necessary to supply the service. For example, surveys may or may not have personal data attached, whereas competitions will need personal data in order to inform a winner. Similarly, identities are needed in order to sign into the member area of the website. However, we only use these details to provide the service the person has requested and for other closely related purposes. When people do subscribe to our services, they can cancel their subscription at any time and are given an easy way of doing this.

Where financial transactions take place online, personal details such as name and address are stored on the BAcC servers, however we do not directly request or retain financial details such as credit card numbers, back account details, etc. Financial transactions take place via a third party – the BAcC uses WorldPay as a payments processor – who handles transactions in a secure manner. In this workflow, a successful transaction is the only detail notified to the BAcC who are never party to the financial details of an individual in these processes.

In addition, our members are invited to submit Equity Diversity & Inclusion data that falls within the Special Data category, for more information please see Collection of special category data.

Online promotions and competitions

When entering an online promotion or competition run by the BAcC, note that any information gathered is stored in a secure manner on systems administered directly by the BAcC, and not on any third party systems nor on any host social media platforms.

Any personal data relating to entrants will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation and will not be disclosed to a third party without the individual’s prior consent.

The information an individual provides, including name and contact information, will not be sold or distributed in any manner and will be used solely by the BAcC, at the discretion of the BAcC. For further details please see our terms and conditions.

Job applicants, current/former BAcC employees, committee members, Governing Board members

When individuals apply to work or take up a position at the BAcC, we will only use the information they supply to us to process their application and to monitor recruitment statistics. Where we want to disclose information to a third-party, for example where we want to take up a reference or obtain a ‘disclosure’ from the Criminal Records Bureau we will not do so without informing them beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law.

Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for 12 months after the recruitment exercise has been completed, it will then be destroyed or deleted. We may use depersonalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities, but no individuals are identifiable from that data.

Access to personal information

You can obtain confirmation of the basic information that we hold about you at any time. If it is incorrect we will correct it when we have received the appropriate notice or evidence from you in writing. You can make a request in writing for information that we hold about you. This is more commonly referred to as Data Subject Access Request.

To make a request to the BAcC for any personal information we may hold about you, you should put your request in writing, the contact details are below.

Other websites

If you transfer to another website from a link within the BAcC website, this privacy policy does not apply. We recommend you examine all privacy statements for all third-party websites to understand their privacy procedures.

Changes to this privacy notice

We aim to keep our privacy notice under review. This privacy notice was last updated September 2023.

Who to contact

If you wish to request information about our privacy policy or access to personal information, please email info@acupuncture.co.uk or write to:

British Acupuncture Council
63 Jeddo Road
London
W12 9HQ

Should you wish to contact the Information Commissioners Office, you can do so by calling 0303 123 1113 or via live chat, which you can access by visiting the following page and clicking on ‘make a complaint’. You can also write to them at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.