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Automate UK is the trading name of PPMA Limited (registered office: New Progress House, 34 Stafford Road, Wallington Surrey, SM6 9AA, United Kingdom Registered in England No. 02116944).
In this policy reference to Automate UK or we/us is a reference to PPMA Limited. Reference to “you” is to the data subjects in respect of which we process their personal data.
Automate UK is committed to protecting your privacy. We are governed by the provisions of UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which are enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk) (ICO). Automate UK is registered with the ICO – registration number - Z1752505.
Automate UK is the leading trade association for automation suppliers and end users of technology across processing, packaging, robotics and machine vision. Reference to “Stakeholders” is to the businesses in that sector who take a membership and those which work with us or are also involved in our space. Automate UK has three core divisions:
This Privacy Policy details our processing of personal data in connection with our business dealings with you. We organise trade shows “Exhibitions”, and invite our members to training sessions and other events “Events”. We also provide ancillary business services for the benefit of our Stakeholders these are referred to as “Services”.
Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or the ICO if you have a complaint. There are separate internal policies for our staff and other partners and stakeholders. We may also circulate specific privacy guidelines for each Event or Exhibitions.
We exclude from the policy our charitable incorporated organisation (registered charity no. 1156041), PPMA Business Education Skills and Training.
The personal data we typically process relates to the employees, officers and other personnel of Stakeholders. Although we provide our Services to our Stakeholders in order to do this we process the personal data of their employees.
The Exhibitions attract visitors (Visitors) who are not necessarily associated or working with our Stakeholders. We process their personal data in accordance with this policy.
The categories of personal information that we collect directly from you depends on the Events and Exhibitions you attend or the Services that are used and how you otherwise interact with us, and may include:
Event filming and photography: We may photograph, film, broadcast or record our events in which case if you are identifiable from such photograph, film, broadcast or recording we may process information such as your voice, likeness and image which is personal data. If you attend our Events or Exhibitions you do so knowing that filming and photography occur. As an association it is important to showcase to all stakeholders our involvement and interactions with the businesses we represent. Our processing of this data is limited to these purposes;
Sensitive Data: Certain, limited, personal data we collect is treated as “special category” to which additional protections apply under data protection law. The processing of special category data will be incidental and will only be relevant if you share that information with us. This will typically relate to how your circumstances relate to you attending an Event or Exhibition we organise. An example would be any particular access or dietary requirements.
Automate UK process your personal data for the following purposes:
In accordance with United Kingdom data protection legislation, we will only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis for doing so. These are:
The lawful basis for processing the personal data as summarised in this policy is legitimate interest. There is no contract entered into between us and you - our contract is with the Stakeholder. It is in Automate UK’s legitimate interest to deal with you in relation to the Stakeholder’s dealings with Automate UK. The use of photography and filming is purposively unintrusive and you can ask not to be filmed or request the deletion of this data. You can limit the use or collection of your personal information and unsubscribe from direct marketing. We do not need your consent to send you marketing information.
Automate UK work with service providers to host the Events and Exhibitions and provide the Services. These range from entities from who we hire venues, who provide ancillary services such a security or catering. If the lanyard badge you are issued with at an Event or Exhibition is scanned your personal data will be shared with the third party who is engaged to provide this facility.
When you attend an Event or an Exhibition the contact data for all who attend maybe be shared.
We work with a number of marketing agencies in relation to our business with whom we may share your personal data.
We may also occasionally also share personal data with:
We work with third-party service providers to provide website and application development, hosting, maintenance, backup, storage, testing, virtual infrastructure, analysis and other services for us, which may require them to access or use information about you. If a service provider needs to access information about you to perform services on our behalf, they do so under close instruction from us, including policies and procedures designed to protect your information.
In the event that we sell or transfer all or part of our business or assets, certain personal data may be disclosed to the prospective buyer or transferee and their advisers. This disclosure will be made under strict confidentiality obligations and only to the extent necessary for the purposes of the transaction.
We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell personal data.
Events and Exhibitions: we will retain records of who attends for 7 years as this data is financial – we charge the Stakeholder for the individual’s attendance. We do not retain specific information gathered e.g. notes taken or other communication during the course - just the financial booking information.
Exhibitions: these are the “bedrock” of our business. We will retain records of who attend so that we can analyse trends and improve the offering. There is a three year show cycle with the “Total Show” every third year. We will typically retain all records pertaining to the Exhibition for six years.
Marketing: given that our sector is niche and those who we market to typically remain in that sector for their careers we will retain the personal data until the unsubscribe function is utilised.
Website: if enquiries made to our website are communications regarding possible attendance at Events or Exhibitions then we may include on our marketing data base.
Our website may provide you with links to other websites. If you use these links to leave the Automate UK website, the privacy rights we offer cease. The site you have linked with then becomes responsible for your data protection. We are not responsible for other sites. Always check the privacy statement of any site you visit.
If you believe that any of the information Automate UK is holding about you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email, marketing@automate-uk.com with the corrections. We undertake to correct any information promptly.
We operate a non intrusive CCTV system at our offices in Wallington to help ensure the safety and security of our staff and property.
The CCTV system is used solely for:
Cameras are installed in public-facing areas only. They are positioned to avoid capturing private spaces and are not used for monitoring staff or individuals unnecessarily.
Access to CCTV footage is strictly limited to authorized personnel of Automate UK. The footage Is kept securely and retained for a maximum of 30 days, after which it is securely deleted unless required for an ongoing investigation or legal matter.
We take all reasonable steps to ensure that both we and our third party service providers protect your personal data. This includes ensuring that any staff involved are aware of their information security obligations, providing training, and limiting access to your personal data to staff who have a genuine business need to know.
We also take reasonable steps to protect your personal data from loss or destruction, and we have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and the ICO.
We take reasonable steps to protect your personal data from loss or destruction. We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so
You have certain choices available to you when it comes to your information. Below is a summary of those choices, how to exercise them and any limitations. You can ask us what data we hold about you. If you would like to do this, please write to Automate UK, New Progress House, 34 Stafford Road, Wallington SM6 9AA or marketing@automate-uk.com.
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data or to exercise any of the other rights. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances. If you wish to receive CCTV footage then we may charge for redaction or arrange for you to view at our offices.
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
Please note that we may refuse to: provide all or some of the requested information and, depending on the circumstances comply at all if the request is manifestly unfounded or manifestly excessive. Manifestly unfounded includes making the request to further or escalate any dispute you may have with us. The right of access exists to allow you to verify our compliance with GDPR.
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could 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.
If you have any queries about this Policy, the way in which Automate UK processes personal data, or about exercising any of your rights, please send an email to marketing@automate-uk.com or write to Data Protection, Automate UK, New Progress House, 34 Stafford Road, Wallington Surrey, SM6 9AA, United Kingdom.
If you believe that your data protection rights may have been breached, and we have been unable to resolve your concern, you may lodge a complaint to the ICO or to seek a remedy through the courts. Please visit https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ for more information on how to report a concern to the ICO.