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Privacy Policy

Effective Date: September 19, 2020.

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This policy applies to Access Advisors.

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Access Advisors understands that your privacy is important to you and is committed to safeguarding the confidentiality and privacy of personal information entrusted to it.

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This Privacy Policy describes how Access Advisors handles and protects your personal information in connection with the hosting of this website, and the provision of its diverse business advisory services in the fields of public affairs and strategic communication ("Services"), as explained in more detail here: AccessAdvisors.eu/ourservices

 

Scope of this policy

This policy applies to personal information which is collected and/or used by Access Advisors in its capacity as a controller as that term is defined in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The contexts in which this might occur are explored under "When do we collect personal information" below.

When we provide Services to clients, we sometimes handle personal information as a processor (for example, the hosting of client data on our platforms). This means that we process the information solely on the instructions of our clients, who retain control of the information.

Therefore, if our use of your personal information is not covered by this policy, you may need to contact the client (and controller) on whose behalf the processing of your information is carried out.

 

Who is your controller?

Access advisors is responsible for the personal information collected information from or about you may it be through a direct interaction or in course of providing our services to clients (assuming those Services are provided as a controller, see above for an explanation). Please note that the contact details for the controller at Access Advisors in respect of data protection or privacy issues are set out below.

 

Your Acceptance

In respect of personal information collected over this websites, your continued use of this website constitutes your understanding of, and agreement to, the practices described in this Privacy Policy and in our Terms & Conditions as well as any subsequent updates. Please see the additional information under Terms & Conditions for more information about our online terms of use and policies in general.

 

When do we collect personal information?

We collect information about you if:

  • you use this website;

  • you enquire about, or engage Access Advisors to provide, its Services (either in a personal capacity, or as a representative for your employer or client);

  • the use of your personal information is reasonably necessary to provide our Services (in these circumstances, your personal information may be disclosed to us by our client who may, for example, be your employer or service provider, or we may obtain your personal information from a range of public or subscription sources, directly from you, or from your associates or persons known to you);

  • you apply for a position with Access Advisors;

  • you attend an Access Advisors hosted or sponsored event or webinar;

  • you contact us with any other enquiry, complaint or notice.

 

What types of personal information are collected and what do we use it for?

The following is a summary of the types of personal information we collect, and the purposes for which that information is used.

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Website Users
Access Advisors collects your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number and any other personally-identifiable information which you voluntarily provide as "comments" when you submit an inquiry through the "Contact Us" tool. Access Advisors also collects other background information about you in connection with career-related inquiries that you submit through its website.

Access Advisors may also automatically collect personal information (through the use of Cookies or similar technologies, including your IP address, device identifier, browsing patterns on its websites, click stream data, and HTP protocol elements) to ensure the effective operation of the website. This tracking information is stored in an anonymous, aggregated and non-personal format, and is also used to understand and analyze trends, to administer the websites, and to learn about user behaviour on the website.

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Please refer to our Cookie Policy for a more detailed overview on how Access Advisors uses Cookies.

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In certain instances, Access Advisors may use IP addresses to help identify you when Access Advisors feels, in its sole discretion, that it is necessary to enforce compliance with this Privacy Policy, to protect its services, website, systems, information, employees, business partners, affiliates, users, customers or others, or when required by law or for law enforcement purposes.

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Access Advisor's Former, Current and Prospective Clients
If you submit an enquiry to Access Advisors about our Services (either over the website, or by emailing, telephoning or meeting with one of our colleagues), then we will process information such as your name, job title and contact information in order to respond to your enquiry.

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If you attend an Access Advisors event or webinar, or if you associate with an Access Advisors colleague at, for example, an industry event, then Access Advisors may collect basic personal information, such as contact details, which you voluntarily provide (for example, by filling in a form or handing over a business card) in order to facilitate your participation in the event, and for the management of our relationship with you as an actual or prospective client.

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If you or the organisation you are associated with becomes an Access Advisors client, then we may process your personal information in order to:

  • carry out our checks and screening prior to starting a new engagement (as well as basic contact information, this may mean processing compliance related information such as proof of your identity, information about your professional background, history of directorships and, in some circumstance, details of any criminal convictions or adverse media coverage);

  • carry out background checks for the purposes of complying with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws;

  • carry out client communication, service, billing and administration;

  • deal with client complaints; and

  • administer claims.

 

Taking account of applicable marketing laws, we also process personal information about our clients (former, current and prospective) in order to:

  • send our clients newsletters, know-how, promotional material and other marketing communications;

  • invite our clients to events (and arrange and administer those events).

 

Performing Services for Our Clients
As discussed above, many of our Services involve the processing of personal information. In the majority of cases, personal information is provided to us in strict confidence, subject to restrictive undertakings on its use / disclosure.

 

Other Uses
If you apply for a position with Access Advisors, we will need to collect personal information in order to consider your application, and during any interview and assessment phase.

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If you enquire about, or decide to purchase stock in Access Advisors, then we will collect (either from you or from your broker / investment manager) basic personal information required to register you as a stockholder.

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Finally, if you contact us for any other reason, we will collect basic contact details, as well as any other personal information relevant to the reason for your enquiry, in order to resolve that enquiry.

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What is our legal basis for collecting personal information?
All processing (i.e. use) of your personal information is justified by a "lawful basis" for processing. In the majority of cases, processing will be justified on the basis that:

  • the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps (at your request) to enter into a contract (e.g. where you request certain Services as an individual client, or where we help advise your employer or service provider on fulfilling an obligation to you under a contract);

  • the processing is necessary for us to comply with a relevant legal obligation (e.g. where we are required to collect certain information about our clients for tax or accounting purposes, or where we are required to make disclosures to courts or regulators); or

  • the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (e.g. background checks for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing purposes); or

  • the processing is in our legitimate interests, subject to due consideration for your interests and fundamental rights (this is the basis we rely upon for the majority of the processing of personal information in connection with the provision of our Services, and also for the purposes of most client on-boarding, administration and relationship management activities).

 

In limited circumstances, we will use your consent as the basis for processing your personal information, for example, where we are required by applicable law to obtain your prior consent in order to send you marketing communications.

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Before collecting and/or using any special categories of data (as that term is defined in the GDPR), or criminal record data, we will establish a lawful exemption which will allow us to use that information. This exemption will typically be:

  • your explicit consent;

  • the establishment, exercise or defence by us or third parties of legal claims; or

  • other uses allowed by applicable law including context specific exemptions provided for under local laws of EU Member States and other countries implementing the GDPR, such as in relation to the processing of special category data for the purposes of preventing or detecting fraud in relation to instructions from potential clients.

 

Disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties

Access Advisors will not disclose your personal information to third parties other than as described in this Privacy Policy unless Access Advisors has your permission or is required or permitted by law. Access Advisors may share such information with its affiliates as necessary to carry out the purposes for which the information was supplied or collected. Similarly, third party contractors, consultants and/or vendors engaged by Access Advisors to provide services may have access to your personal information. These third parties will be subject to their own data protection requirements providing the same or greater level of security provided by Access Advisors and in most instances will also have entered into a written agreement with Access Advisors which addresses the protection of your personal information.

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Access Advisors may also disclose your personal information for the purposes of:

  • responding to requests from law enforcement agencies, regulators or courts, or to subpoenas, search warrants, or other legal requests;

  • the prevention and/or detection of crime;

  • establishing legal rights or to investigate or pursue legal claims;

  • a merger, acquisition or corporate restructuring to which Access Advisors is subject;

  • preventing risk of harm to an individual.

 

Information Security
Access Advisors has reasonable technical safeguards, security policies and procedures in place to protect personal information from unauthorised loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction. Measures we take include placing confidentiality requirements on our staff members and service providers, limiting access to your personal information on a "need to know" basis, and providing training to appropriate Access Advisors personnel. We also maintain comprehensive policies addressing data incident response protocols.

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Despite Access Advisor's best efforts, however, security cannot be absolutely guaranteed against all threats.

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Retention of your personal information
Access Advisors retains your personal information for the period of time required for the purposes for which it was collected, any compatible purposes which we subsequently establish, or any new purposes to which you subsequently consent, or to comply with legal, regulatory and Access Advisors policy requirements. This period of time will usually be the period of your, or the relevant client's, relationship or contract with Access Advisors plus a period reflecting the length of time for which legal claims may be made following the termination of such relationship or contract. Some information (such as call recordings, tax records and certain information required to demonstrate regulatory compliance) may need to be kept for longer. Personal information will be kept for a shorter or longer period of time if so required by law or an Access Advisors policy, if the information becomes subject to a legal hold (for example, following a communication from our regulator) or if we have identified through a data protection impact assessment that a different retention period is appropriate.

 

Your Rights in Jurisdictions Covered by the GDPR and Similar Laws

If your personal information is processed by an Access Advisors in the EEA, or other jurisdiction that has adopted the GDPR or similar rules, then, subject to certain exemptions, and dependent on how and why we use it, you have certain rights in relation to your personal information.

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We may ask you for additional information to confirm your identity before disclosing any personal information to you.

You can exercise your rights by contacting us. Subject to legal and other permissible considerations, we will make every reasonable effort to honour your request promptly or inform you if we require further information in order to fulfil your request.

We may not always be able to fully address your request, for example if it would impact the duty of confidentiality we owe to others, or if we are legally entitled to deal with the request in a different way.

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Right to Access
You have the right to access personal information which Access Advisors holds about you, together with certain information about how and why your personal information is processed.

 

Right to Rectification
You have a right to request us to correct your personal information where it is inaccurate or out of date.

 

Right to be Forgotten (Right to Erasure)
You have the right under certain circumstances to have your personal information erased. Your information can only be erased if it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, and we have no other legal ground for processing the information.

 

Right to Restrict Processing
You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal information, but only where:

  • its accuracy is contested, to allow us to verify its accuracy; or

  • the processing is unlawful, but you do not want it erased; or

  • it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, but we still need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or

  • you have exercised the right to object, and verification of overriding grounds is pending.

 

Right to Data Portability
You have the right to data portability, which requires us to provide personal information to you or another controller in a commonly used, machine readable format, but only where the processing of that information is based on (i) consent; or (ii) the performance of a contract to which you are a party.

 

Right to Object to Processing
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information at any time, but only where that processing is based on our legitimate interests. If you raise an objection, we have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate interests which override your rights and freedoms.

 

If you reside in the European Economic Area (EEA) and would like to exercise your right to access, review, correct or discuss how your personal information is processed by Access Advisors please contact us at info@accessadvisors.eu

 

If you reside outside of the EEA you can also make a request to update or remove information about you by contacting info@accesadvisors.eu. Access Advisors will make all reasonable and practical efforts to comply with your request, so long as it is consistent with applicable law and professional standards.

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In addition, under applicable local law you may have the legal right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority or local data protection authority.

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Marketing
Access Advisors may send you information related to its services, products and events that we believe are of interest to you. This information may be sent by post or via email. If at any point you no longer prefer to receive marketing communications from Access Advisors you can (i) unsubscribe from Access Advisors communications sent by email using a link provided in marketing emails sent from Access Advisors; or (ii) contact us to exercise your right to prevent all forms of marketing (both post and email).

 

Children
Access Advisors websites are not intentionally designed for or directed at children under the age of 13. It is Access Advisors’ policy never to knowingly collect or maintain information about anyone under the age of 13, except as part of an engagement to provide professional services.

 

Links
The Access Advisors website may contain links to other sites, including websites maintained by Access Advisors affiliates that are governed by other privacy policies that may differ somewhat from this one. Users should review the privacy policy of each website visited before disclosing any personal information. To the extent that Access Advisors provides links to third party websites, such links do not constitute an endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by Access Advisors of the third parties, the third party websites, or the information contained on those websites, and Access Advisors is not responsible or liable for your use of such third party websites. Where appropriate you should review the privacy polices of any websites or applications before submitting personal information.

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Changes to this Policy
By using Access Advisors websites you consent to the collection, use and storage of personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. Access Advisors reserves the right to make changes to this Website Privacy Policy from time to time. Access Advisors will notify you by posting amendments to the Privacy Policy on this website.

 

Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy or Access Advisors’ personal data processing policies, please contact Access Advisors at: info@accessadvisors.eu or a.aboudaka@accessadvisors.eu

 

If you reside in the EEA and have questions or concerns regarding this policy or processing of your personal information by Access Advisors please contact us at info@accessadvisors.eu or a.aboudaka@accessadvisors.eu

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