Privacy Policy

1.       Introduction

1.1     We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and service users.

1.2     This policy applies where we are acting as a data controller with respect to the personal data of this website’s visitors and service users; in other words, where we determine the purposes and means of the processing of that personal data.

1.3     In this policy, "we", "us" and "our" refer to GDS UK.

2.       Cookie consent

2.1     We use cookies on our website. Insofar as those cookies are not strictly necessary for the provision of our website and services, we will ask you to consent to our use of cookies when you first visit our website. For more information on cookies, see sections 9-12 below.

3.       How we use your personal data

3.1     In this Section 3 we have set out the general categories of personal data that we may process, the purposes for which we may process personal data and the legal bases of the processing.

3.2     We may process data about your use of our website and services ("usage data"). The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use. The source of the usage data is our analytics tracking system. This usage data may be processed for the purposes of analysing the use of the website and services. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely monitoring and improving our website and services.

3.3     We may process your account data ("account data"). The account data may include your name and email address. The account data may be processed for the purposes of operating our website, providing our services, ensuring the security of our website and services, maintaining back-ups of our databases and communicating with you. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.

3.4     We may process your information included in your personal profile on our website ("profile data"). The profile data may include your name, address, telephone number and email address.  The profile data may be processed for the purposes of enabling and monitoring your use of our website and services. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.

3.5     We may process your personal data that are provided in the course of the use of our services ("service data”). The service data may be processed [for the purposes of operating our website, providing our services, ensuring the security of our website and services, maintaining back-ups of our databases and communicating with you. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.

3.7     We may process information contained in any enquiry you submit to us regarding goods and/or services ("enquiry data"). The enquiry data may be processed for the purposes of offering or selling relevant goods and/or services to you. The legal basis for this processing is consent.         

3.8     We may process information relating to transactions, including purchases of goods and services, that you enter into with us and/or through our website ("transaction data"). The transaction data may include your contact details and the transaction details. The transaction data may be processed for the purpose of supplying the purchased goods and services and keeping proper records of those transactions. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps, at your request, to enter into such a contract and our legitimate interests.

3.9     We may process information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our email notifications ("notification data"). The notification data may be processed for the purposes of sending you the relevant notifications. The legal basis for this processing is consent.

3.10   We may process information contained in or relating to any communication that you send to us ("correspondence data"). The correspondence data may include the communication content and metadata associated with the communication. Our website will generate the metadata associated with communications made using the website contact forms. The correspondence data may be processed for the purposes of communicating with you and record-keeping. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business and communications with users.

3.11   We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others.

3.12   We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, or obtaining professional advice. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper protection of our business against risks.

3.13   In addition to the specific purposes for which we may process your personal data set out in this Section 3, we may also process [any of your personal data] where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

4.       Providing your personal data to others

4.1     We may disclose your personal data to any member of our group of companies (this means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and all its subsidiaries) insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes, and on the legal bases, set out in this policy.

4.2     We may disclose your personal data to our insurers and/or professional advisers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, obtaining professional advice, or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.

4.4     Financial transactions relating to our website and services may be handled by our payment services providerPayPal. We will share transaction data with our payment services provider only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing your payments, refunding such payments and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments and refunds. You can find information about the payment services providers' privacy policies and practices at https://www.paypal.com/en/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full

4.5     In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this Section 4, we may disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. We may also disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.

5.       International transfers of your personal data

5.1     In this Section 5, we provide information about the circumstances in which your personal data may be transferred to [countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA)].

5.2     The hosting facilities for our website are situated in the USA. The European Commission has made an "adequacy decision" with respect to the data protection laws for this country. Transfers to the USA will be protected by appropriate safeguards, namely the use of standard data protection clauses adopted or approved by the European Commission.

5.3     You acknowledge that personal data that you submit for publication through our website or services may be available, via the internet, around the world. We cannot prevent the use (or misuse) of such personal data by others.

6.       Retaining and deleting personal data

6.1     This Section 6 sets out our data retention policies and procedure, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal data.

6.2     Personal data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.

6.3     We will retain your personal data as follows:

(a)     Personal data will be retained for a minimum period of 30 days following your visit to our website, and for a maximum period of 5 years following your last visit to our website.

6.4     In some cases it is not possible for us to specify in advance the periods for which your personal data will be retained. In such cases, we will determine a sensible the period of retention, that can always be terminated at your request, using the Contact form on our website.

6.5     Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 6, we may retain your personal data where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

7.       Amendments

7.1     We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.

7.2     You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this policy.

7.3     We may notify you of changes to this policy by email.

8.       Your rights

8.1     If necessary you may instruct us to provide you with the personal information we hold about you and the provision of such information will be subject to the payment of a reasonable fee and the supply of appropriate evidence of your identity.

8.2   We may withhold personal information that you request to the extent permitted by law.

9.       About cookies

9.1     A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

9.2     Cookies may be either "persistent" cookies or "session" cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.

9.3     Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

10.    Cookies that we use

10.1   We use cookies for the following purposes:

(a)     authentication - we use cookies to identify you when you visit our website and as you navigate our website;

(b)     status - we use cookies [to help us to determine if you are logged into our website;

(c)     Personalisation - we use cookies to store information about your preferences and to personalise the website for you;

(d)     security - we use cookies as an element of the security measures used to protect user accounts, including preventing fraudulent use of login credentials, and to protect our website and services generally;

 (f)     analysis - we use cookies [to help us to analyse the use and performance of our website and services; and

(g)     cookie consent - we use cookies to store your preferences in relation to the use of cookies more generally.

11.    Cookies used by our service providers

11.1   Our service providers use cookies and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.

11.2   We may use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our website. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of our website. Google's privacy policy is available at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

12.    Managing cookies

12.1   Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:

(a)     https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome);

(b)     https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences (Firefox);

(c)      http://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/ (Opera);

(d)     https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer);

(e)      https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411 (Safari); and

(f)      https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge).

12.2   Blocking all cookies will have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.

12.3   If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features on our website.

13.    Our details

13.1   This website is owned and operated by GDS UK.

13.2   Our principal place of business is at 120 TN28 8RF United Kingdom.

13.3   You can contact us using our website contact form.