Privacy Policy
Bulgarian Women In Business ("the Company") honours the rights of its members, employees, and other users, including website visitors' right to privacy and data protection. The Company is fully committed to complying with all applicable Data Protection legislation, including the Data Protection Act and EU GDPR. This Privacy Policy ("Policy") describes how the Company collects, uses, shares, and retains personally identifiable information provided by users of this website. The Policy is effective as of 25th May 2018 and is continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices, and regulatory changes. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's Data Protection Authority.
Data Controller
The data controller for all personal data collected via this website is Bulgarian Women In Business, registered office at 21 St Peter's Road, Woking, Surrey, GU22 9JG. We are responsible for deciding what data we collect and how we hold and use it, and we implement appropriate data security measures to protect it.
Data Collection
The Company collects and maintains personally identifiable information including names, email addresses, phone numbers, payment information, social media profiles, business addresses, demographic information, and details of Company services users may be interested in. Information is collected through emails, phone calls, online registration forms, event registration forms, and face-to-face meetings, and only when there is a legitimate business requirement or it is provided voluntarily.
Non-personal information may also be automatically collected through the standard operation of our web servers and cookies technology — browser type, device information, pages visited, time spent on pages, and similar analytics data. Most browsers accept cookies by default; you can set yours to refuse them, though this may limit site functionality.
Purpose of Processing
Personal data is used to provide information about Company membership, our website and other services, customer administration, prospecting new members, account management, responding to queries, and sending marketing communications on the Company's behalf or on behalf of its patrons and strategic partners. We may perform statistical analyses of user behavior, and may use aggregated, non-identifying data to help develop new services or provide sponsors with aggregate information about our membership.
If you are a current member, opting out of promotional emails will not stop all communication from us — sending certain organizational information is a constitutional requirement of membership. If you are not a member, you may opt in or out of further contact freely.
Data Retention
Personal data is stored in the Company's CRM and other appropriate data management systems, both paper-based and electronic. It will not be disclosed to third parties without your permission, and will not be transferred outside the EU. We regularly review how long we retain data, and securely delete or archive it once it's no longer needed.
Security
We use reasonable, legally-compliant measures to safeguard personal information, preserving its confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Access is limited to employees, contractors, or agents with a legitimate business need, who are bound by confidentiality obligations. We have procedures for handling any suspected data security breach, including notifying affected users and regulators where legally required. Relevant areas of our website use SSL/TLS encryption.
Links to Third-Party Sites
Where appropriate, we may provide links to third-party websites as a service to users. These sites are operated by independent entities with their own privacy policies, which this Policy does not cover. We have no control over their content or privacy practices.
Opt-Out
As a membership organization, we maintain contact information to communicate about membership, events, training, policy, and other Company offerings, and occasionally on behalf of partner organizations (without sharing your personal data with them directly). Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you may also notify us in writing at any time.
Social Media
We may use third-party tools such as Hootsuite to manage social media interactions. Direct messages sent to us via social media may be stored by Hootsuite, and — like other personal data — will not be shared with other organizations.
Access, Review and Correction
Under GDPR you have the right to access your personal data held by us (a "subject access request"). Requests must be made in writing to the details below; we aim to respond within one month, as required by GDPR. We take reasonable measures to keep your data accurate, and will verify your identity before fulfilling access or correction requests.
Privacy Rights
You have the right to object to your data being processed for any particular purpose, or to request we stop using your information. To exercise these rights, or with any questions, please email bulgarianwomeninbusiness@gmail.com or write to "Data Protection Administrator", 21 St Peter's Road, Woking, Surrey, GU22 9JG. You may also complain at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection authority.