Privacy Policy

Privacy and Cookie Policy

The Scotch Whisky Research Institute (SWRI) is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services or website. In this policy, we explain how and why we collect your information, what we do with it and what controls you have over our use of it.

From time to time, we add or change functions, features or products to our website or add or change services. This, and our commitment to protecting the privacy of your personal information, may result in periodic changes to this Privacy Policy. We will make every effort to inform you of any changes.

Your privacy is of the greatest importance to us and we will never release your personal information to any outside company for mailing or marketing purposes.

You should only submit personal information through this website if you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. Before you proceed with navigating around our website, if you have any queries relating to this Privacy Policy, or do not understand it, please contact:

Susan McKinlay, Company Secretary of The Scotch Whisky Research Institute by email (susan.mckinlay@swri.co.uk) or call 0131 449 8900 between 9am–5.00pm (GMT) Monday – Friday.

 

What personal data do we collect and how do we use it?

(a) Data you provide to us:

The Scotch Whisky Research Institute collects and processes information about you in order to:

· provide the services or information that you have requested

· provide supplementary information related to the services or information you have requested – If you do not wish to receive such information, please email us at general.swri@swri.co.uk.

We collect the information when you ask us to contact you, or request services or information. Collected information could include your name, e-mail address, postal address and telephone number.

We will use the information you have provided to fulfil our contractual obligations or where no contract exists, to fulfil our legitimate business interests in providing you with services or information you have requested.

We may also send you our newsletter or occasionally create specific mailing communications based on services or information you have requested. If you do not wish to receive such information, please use the unsubscribe option provided with each newsletter or mailing communication.

We will not share your personal information with third parties without your consent. We may need to process information about you to comply with a legal or statutory obligation or to exercise or defend legal claims.

You are under no obligation to provide any information, but if you do not then we may not be able to provide you with certain services or information.

(b) Cookies

Cookies are small text files containing information sent by a web server to a web browser, and stored on your computer, tablet or mobile phone when you visit certain web pages. The information is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This enables the web server to identify and track the web browser.

We may use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about use of our website such as number of new visitors to our website, how long visitors spend browsing our website and which pages they viewed by means of cookies which are stored on users’ computers. You can find out more about Google Analytics here:

• Google’s Privacy & Terms
• Safeguarding your data

If you prefer to restrict, block or delete cookies from our website, or any other website, you can use your browser to do this. Each browser is different, so check the ‘Help’ menu of your particular browser (or your mobile phone’s manual) to learn how to change your cookie preferences. Most browsers allow you to reject cookies. Blocking cookies can a negative impact upon the usability of many websites, including our website.   If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features on our website.  You can prevent Google Analytics being used in your browser, by installing the Google Analytics browser add-on.

If you click through to another website from our website that third party website may also use cookies. We recommend you check the third-party websites for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.

Where our website contains links to other websites this privacy policy will not apply to those third-party websites. When you link through to another website you should read the privacy policy which applies to that website.

To learn more about the cookies please see http://www.aboutcookies.org.uk.

Here is a list of the main cookies used by The Scotch Whisky Research Institute and what they are used for:

Name and purpose of cookie

Mandatory Cookies:

• cookieControlPrefs: To detect if the visitor has accepted the marketing category in the cookie banner. This cookie is necessary for GDPR-compliance of the website.
• cookieControl: To store the user’s cookie consent state for the current domain.

Google Analytics Cookies (when used):

• _ga: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.
• _gat: Used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate
• _gid: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.
• collect: Used to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor’s device and behaviour. Tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channels.

 

Security

We place a great importance on the security of all information associated with all the businesses and individuals with whom we interact. We have appropriate security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of data under our control. For example, only authorised personnel have access to user information that is protected by strong passwords together with up-to-date firewalls and anti-virus software. While we cannot ensure or guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of data will not occur, we use our best efforts to prevent this.

 

Where is the information stored?

Information that we collect is stored within the SWRI on-premise computer network and Microsoft Data Centres based in the UK. This is necessary to process the information and send you any information you have requested. Information submitted by you may be transferred by us to reputable third-party suppliers, which may be situated outside the European Union, in which case we will implement appropriate security measures. Not all countries outside the EU have data protection or privacy laws.

 

How long do we keep your data?

Personal data will be kept for as long as the information is relevant. At a minimum, data relating to individuals (e.g. personal contact details) rather than organisations (business contact details), will be reviewed annually for relevance and deleted when no longer required.

 

Comments / Subject Access Requests

Your rights in relation to any of your personal data we process are: (a) The right to request a copy of the information we hold about you (b) A right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete (c) In certain circumstances, a right to request that we erase the data from our records (d) In certain circumstances, the right to restrict our processing of the data (e) In certain circumstances a right to have the data we hold transferred to another organisation (f) A right to object to certain types of processing (g) A right to object to purely automated decision making, including profiling (h) A right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office or any other supervisory authority in an EU member state where any alleged breach of your rights has occurred.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments about our Privacy Policy or wish to exercise one of your rights set out above please contact us at either E-Mail: susan.mckinlay@swri.co.uk or Address: The Scotch Whisky Research Institute, The Robertson Trust Building, Research Avenue North, Riccarton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AP

 

Complaints

We are committed to ensuring that your personal data is processed lawfully, fairly and securely. If you have any questions or concerns about the way in which we process your data please contact us at the address above and we will attempt to resolve any issues you have. If you remain unsatisfied you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.