The Orchid Society of Great Britain

The OSGB and the UK Data Protection Law
As many of the members are aware, a new data protection law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in the United Kingdom on 25th May 2018. This new law intends to give back to individuals, better control over their personal data and under the new GDPR, the OSGB is required to comply with the new regulation. To help members better understand this, the Society has produced a Data Protection Policy and a Privacy Statement that hopefully, explains how the Society processes, administers and stores members’ personal information.

OSGB Data Protection Policy

The Orchid Society of Great Britain (“the Society”) is fully committed to comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation. The Society’s Management Committee, who are volunteers, will aim to ensure that all Members who have access to any personal data, fully abide by their duties under the General Data Protection Regulation.

The Society will ensure that personal data is:

1. processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to Members;

2. collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes;

3. adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed;

4. accurate and kept up to date; every reasonable step will be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay;

5. kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed;

6. processed 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 measures.

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Privacy Statement for Members
This privacy statement explains how the Orchid Society of Great Britain (‘the Society’) uses any personal information that is collected when you become a member of the Society.

Why information about you is needed and how it is used?
The Orchid Society of Great Britain needs to collect and store your personal contact information in order for the Society to administer your membership, to communicate with you on a regular basis (sending information of the Society, its Journal, monthly meetings, events and activities) and to notify members of matters relating to annual membership renewal. Occasionally, the Society may also inform members about other orchid-related events that may be of interest that are not directly connected with the Society. The membership data is stored securely and electronically in a password-protected format and is transmitted, where necessary, in a password-protected and encrypted form. Officers and members of the Management Committee and the Society’s Trustees are required to permit the publication of their contact details on the Society’s website, in the Society’s Journal and in member communications (if deemed necessary) to permit members to contact them about society matters.

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Who will have access to your information?
In line with the new GDPR guidelines, applications for membership (by post, email, or on-line via the Society’s website), payment records and members’ personal information will be processed and retained by the Membership Secretary and the Treasurer. Data may be shared with members of the Society’s Management Committee, as required, in order that they may fulfill their individual roles associated with the management of the Society. The lawful basis for the ‘processing’ of your data is entirely by consent given by you ‘opting-in’ at the time of joining the Society, and then annually at the time of your membership renewal.

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How to access your information?
You have the right to request a copy of the information the Society holds about you. You may also ask the Society to correct or remove information about you, or withdraw your consent altogether, by contacting the Membership Secretary - osgbmembership@yahoo.co.uk. A Member’s personal data will be deleted permanently from all Society databases after an appropriate time following the non-renewal/lapsing of your membership.

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Orchid Society of Great Britain website
The website is used to provide information about the Society’s activities meetings and events, the Society’s Journal, and to give the Management Committee and Society Trustees contact details to members and persons interested in joining the Society. Our privacy policy applies only to our own website.

Nevertheless, our website may contain links to other websites and online services (e.g. Facebook and PayPal) and once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over those other websites. 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 the OSGB privacy statement. You should therefore exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

A copy of the Society’s Privacy Policy and the Privacy Statement to Members is available to download here.

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Cookies
Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information can be used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity using analytics.

Overall, cookies help to provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer, or to any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Facebook

The OSGB uses Facebook as the means of communicating news and information about the Society’s events and activities to members and to the wider general public. Facebook uses cookies extensively, to navigate its pages and to collect, process and analyse information about visitors to its sites and services.

Changes to the privacy policy
The Society keeps its privacy policy under regular review and where appropriate and necessary, it will be updated. Members will be kept informed of these updates through the website.

If you have any questions about the Society’s privacy policy, or the information that we hold about you, please contact the Membership Secretary, in writing, by e-mail or letter.