Website Privacy Policy
The Irish Taxation Institute trading as the “Irish Tax Institute” (the Institute) values our dealings with Institute members, subscribers and the general public. We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
This privacy policy aims to give you information on how the Institute collects and processes your personal data (“data”) through your use of our site, www.taxinstitute.ie (regardless of where you visit it from), including any data you may provide through this site. This site is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.
It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them. Please do not use our site or sending us any personal data if you do not want your data to be used in the way set out in this policy.
Controller
The Institute (collectively referred to as “we”, “us”, “our” in this policy) is the controller and responsible for your data.
Data we collect from you
“Personal data” means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect and process the following data which you volunteer when you email us or use our online forms or subscribe to a service we provide or order products from us or submit comments or if you report a problem with our site or you contact us or when you use our site:
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- your name,
- your address,
- your firm’s name,
- your e-mail address,
- your phone number,
- your membership number if applicable,
- your credit or laser card details,
- your bank account details,
- the time and date of your visit,
- your IP address,
- your browser type,
- your access time,
- your referring URL
- information that you provide by filling in forms on our site,
- details of transactions you carry out through our site and of the fulfilment of your orders, and
- details of your visits to our site (including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, whether this is required for our own billing purposes or otherwise, and the resources that you access).
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If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
Statistical and analytical information collected through the standard operation of our Internet server and logs provides us with general and not individually specific information. We will not attempt to identify individual users or to associate any technical information collected through the standard operation of our Internet server and logs with any individual user.
We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
If you fail to provide personal data
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
Uses made of your data
We may use data that we hold about you where necessary for our legitimate business interests including to:
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- ensure, in the case of the membership number, that you can avail of any membership discount, if applicable,
- manage our relationship with you,
- sending on a confirmation of your order by e-mail, which you can retain for your records,
- provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or that we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes (see below),
- ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer,
- improve the content of our site and the services we offer,
- compile statistical data on the use of our site,
- allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so, and
- notify you about changes to our service
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We may also use your data to perform a contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you in relation to the purchase of products or services online, such as TaxFind, TaxFax, etc. or ensure that any delivery (such as a book or publication), and, where required, a VAT invoice, is delivered to the correct address.
We may also use your data to send you information relating to new services and products that may be of interest to you if you have requested such information or you purchased products/services and you have not opted out of receiving such marketing. If you do not want us to use your data in this way, please e-mail dataprivacy@taxinstitute.ie with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line of the e-mail, and your data will be removed or rectified.
The Institute does not sell, rent or share personal information that you provide to us to any other outside organisation.
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
Use of cookies
Our site uses cookies. A cookie is a small text file that is generated by our site, sent to a user’s browser and stored on the hard drive of the user’s computer. Cookies store user information including IP addresses, navigational data and user preferences.
The purpose of cookies is to keep track of what items you are ordering online. Once you have completed your order and had the order confirmed via your credit or laser card, the cookie is deleted and is not stored for future reference.
Some browsers do not support cookies, and other browsers provide a way to turn off cookie functionality by changing the settings on the browser. If you wish, you can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether to accept it. If you have specified that no cookies be allowed on your computer or if you turn off cookie functionality, you will not be able to make any online purchases.
Please see our cookie policy for further details.
Security measures
We are committed to protecting the security of your data. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your data from unauthorised access and use. As effective as modern security practices are, no physical or electronic security system is entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the complete security of our database, nor can we guarantee that information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet. We have implemented strict internal guidelines to ensure that your privacy is safeguarded at every level of our organisation. We will continue to revise policies and to implement additional security features as new technologies become available. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password that enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping that password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
The transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site. Any transmission of data is at your own risk. Once we receive your data, we use appropriate security measures to seek to prevent unauthorised access; for example, we maintain the following controls to protect the security of information you provide us, including credit or laser card and address details:
- use of secure server using SSL technology to verify credit or laser card details and
- security controls to restrict access to databases housing personally identifying information.
International Transfers
Your data may be stored and transferred within the European Economic Area (EEA) or transferred to, and stored in, countries outside the EEA. Those countries may not provide an adequate level of protection in relation to processing your data. Your data may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. Such staff may be engaged in activities that include the fulfilment of your order, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services.
Whenever we transfer your data outside of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
- we will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission
- where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe
- Where we use providers based in the US, we may transfer data to them if they are part of the Privacy Shield which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the Europe and the US
Please contact us if you wish to obtain information on the specific mechanisms used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.
Data Retention
We will only retain your data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your data, the purposes for which we process your data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means and the applicable legal requirements.
Details of retention periods for different aspects of your data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us.
Links to other sites
Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from other websites. If you follow a link to any of those websites, please note that those websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for those policies. Please check those policies before you submit any personal data to those websites.
Disclosure to third parties
We may disclose your personal data if required to do so by law or in good faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on the Institute or (b) protect and defend the rights, property and products of the Institute, its customers and others.
We may share your personal data with other third parties, for example to our professional / legal advisors and other third parties in order to investigate complaints and disciplinary matters or to exercise or defend our legal rights.
We may also share your data with third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
Your legal rights
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your data. These rights are to (i) request access to your data, (ii) request correction of your data, (ii) request erasure of your data, (iii) object to the processing of your data, (iv) request restriction of your data or (v) request transfer of your data.
In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal data for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact dataprivacy@taxinstitute.ie. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.
We will respond to your request in writing, or orally if requested, as soon as practicable and in any event within one month of receipt of your request. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated. We may request proof of identification to verify your request. All requests should be addressed to our Martin Carney at Irish Tax Institute, South Block, Longboat Quay, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 or by email at dataprivacy@taxinstitute.ie.
You will not have to pay a fee to access your data (or to exercise any of the other rights) but we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is manifestly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
Changes to our privacy policy
We reserve the right to change and amend this privacy policy from time to time in our sole discretion. If we make any changes, we will post those changes here so that you can see what information we gather, how we might use that information and in what circumstances we may disclose it. By continuing to use our site after we post any such changes, you accept and agree to this privacy policy as modified.
Contact us
If you have any questions in relation to this privacy policy or any complaints or if you would like to exercise your rights as stated in this policy, you may contact our Martin Carney at Irish Tax Institute, South Block, Longboat Quay, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, or contact us on +353 1 6631700 or email us at dataprivacy@taxinstitute.ie
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Data Protection Commission (DPC), the Irish supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.dataprotection.ie). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the DPC, so please contact us in the first instance.