Privacy policy

Policy version: 12 March 2024

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy is provided by Green Globe Awards Limited (Company Number 13084870) trading as Greener Globe Funeral Standard Formerly Greener Globe Funeral Awards (‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’) for use of our services (Services) including our auditing, assessment and certification services and the provision of our website at ggfa.co.uk (Website).

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on how and why we collect, store, use and share any information relating to you (your personal data).

It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or the relevant regulator in the event you have a complaint. Our collection, storage, use and sharing of your personal data is regulated by law, including under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

We are the controller of personal data obtained via the Services, meaning we are the organisation legally responsible for deciding how and for what purposes it is used.

2. What this policy applies to

This privacy policy relates to your use of the Website and our Services only.

The Website may link to or rely on other apps, websites, APIs or services owned and operated by us or by certain third parties to enable us to provide you with Services. These other apps, websites, APIs or services may also gather information about you in accordance with their own separate privacy policies. For privacy information relating to these other apps, websites or services, please consult their privacy policies as appropriate. For more information see the section ‘Who we share your personal data with’ below.

3. Personal data we collect about you

The personal data we collect about you depends on the particular activities carried out through the Services. We will collect and use the following personal data about you:

Category of data In more detail 
Identify and account data you input into the Services

Registration is mandatory in order to use some of the Services, including to receive any certification
  • Your name and email address
  • Your account details, such as username and password
  • Your address
  • Your mobile phone number
  • Your date of birth and age
  • Your location
  • Your qualifications
  • Your licences
  • Your height and weight
  • Your gender and sex
  • Your IP address, login data, browser type and version, operating system and platform, and device data
  • Your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences
Data collected when you give us feedback by phone, email, post or via social media
  • Your feedback on the Services
  • Your opinions about the Services
Data collected when you use specific functions in the Services

Data you store online with us using the Services including your usage history or preferences (while such data may not always be personal data as defined at law in all cases we will assume it is and treat it in accordance with this policy as if it were)

Information about the Services we provide to you and the products/services you are interested in purchasing, or have purchased
Data collected when you permit the collection of location data Details of your location with a high degree of precision, see the section ‘Location services/data’ below data concerning location
Other data the Services collects automatically when you use it
  • Your activities on, and use of, the Services which reveal your preferences, interests or manner of use of the Services and the times of use
  • Your device type, IMEA numbers, MAC address of networks, other unique device identification, device operating system, mobile network information, app version number, storage usage, data usage, time zone settings

If you do not provide personal data we ask for where it is required, including any geo-localisation services, it may prevent us from providing services and/or the Services to you.

We collect and use this personal data for the purposes described in the section ‘How and why we use your personal data’ below.

4. SENSITIVE DATA

Sensitive personal data (also known as special category data) means information related to personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious or philosophical beliefs; trade union membership; genetic data; biometric data (where used for identification purposes); data concerning health; data concerning a person’s sex life; and data concerning a person’s sexual orientation.

Certain personal data we collect is treated as a ‘special category’ to which additional protections apply under data protection law. This is also known as ‘Sensitive Data’. Where we process such Sensitive Data, we will also ensure we are permitted to do so under data protection laws, and any such data will be collected on the basis of your consent.

5. How your personal data is collected

We collect personal data from you directly when you sign up for an Account, submit a questionnaire, receive the Services, contact us directly or reach out to us via social media, make submissions via the Services, or indirectly, such as your activity while using the Website or the Services. 

At this point in time, we do not collect any personal information about you using cookies or similar technologies. In the event that this were to change and if we were to decide to collect personal data about you using cookies, you would be notified of this change by means of in-app notification, with detailed information regarding our use of cookies and similar technologies to be made available in the relevant Cookies Policy.

6. How and why we use your personal data

Under data protection laws, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason, e.g.:

  1. where you have given consent
  2. to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
  3. for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, or
  4. for our legitimate interests or those of a third party.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests. We will carry out an assessment when relying on legitimate interests, to balance our interests against your own. You can obtain details of this assessment by contacting us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

The table below explains what we use your personal data for and why.

What we use your personal data for Our reasons  
Create and manage your account with us  To perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
Providing services and/or the functionalities of the Services to you, including certification

To perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract (in this case, the contract means our  Subscription Terms and Conditions on the Website, which apply to our Services)

To enforce legal rights or defend or undertake legal proceedings

Depending on the circumstances:

  • to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
  • in other cases, for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to protect our business, interests and rights or those of others
Communications with you not related to marketing, including about changes to our terms or policies or changes to the Services or service or other important notices

Depending on the circumstances:

  • to provide audit, assessment and certification services to you
  • to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
  • in other cases, for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e., to provide the best services to you
Protect the security of systems and data   To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations we may also use your personal data to ensure the security of systems and data to a standard that goes beyond our legal obligations, and in those cases our reasons are for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e., to protect systems and data and to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for you and/or us
Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training, and quality control or to provide support to you For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e., to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you

Statistical analysis to help us manage our business, e.g., in relation to our performance, customer base, app and functionalities and offerings or other efficiency measures

For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you and improve and develop our website, service offering and Services
The audit of our accounts and business For our legitimate interests, i.e. to maintain any accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards
Updating and enhancing user records

Depending on the circumstances:

  • to perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract (in this case, the contract means the Website Terms and Conditions which apply to the Services)
  • to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
  • where neither of the above apply, for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g making sure that we can keep in touch with our customers about their accounts and new products or functionalities related to the Services and our services

To share your personal data with members of our group and third parties in connection with a significant corporate transaction or restructuring, including a merger, acquisition, asset sale, initial public offering or in the event of our insolvency.

In such cases information will be anonymised where possible and only shared where necessary

Depending on the circumstances:

  • to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
  • in other cases, for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e., to protect, realise or grow the value in our business and assets

See ‘Who we share your personal data with’ for further information on the steps we will take to protect your personal data where we need to share it with others.

7. Marketing

We intend to engage in email marketing to inform you of our services, such as promotions. 

We will always ask you for your consent before doing sending you marketing communications, except where you have explicitly opted in to receive email marketing from us in the past or where you were given the option to opt-out of email marketing when you initially signed up for your account with us and you did not do so.

You will have the right to opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by:

  • contacting us at [email protected]
  • using the ‘unsubscribe’ link included in all marketing emails you may receive from us

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.

For more information on your right to object at any time to your personal data being used for marketing purposes, see ‘Your rights’ below.

8. Who we share your personal data with

We routinely share personal data with service providers we use to help us run our business or provide the services or functionalities in the Services, including developers and cloud storage providers, and payment providers such as Stripe. Stripe’s terms of use are located here: https://stripe.com/gb/ssa

We only allow service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.

We or the third parties mentioned above may occasionally also need to share your personal data with:

  • external auditors, e.g. in relation to the audit of our accounts and our company —the recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations
  • professional advisors (such as lawyers and other advisors)—the recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations
  • law enforcement agencies, courts or tribunals and regulatory bodies to comply with legal and regulatory obligations
  • other parties in connection with a significant corporate transaction or restructuring, including a merger, acquisition, asset sale, initial public offering or in the event of our insolvency—usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible, however, the recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations

If you would like more information about who we share our data with and why, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

We will not share your personal data with any other third party.

9. How long your personal data will be kept

We will keep your personal data for as long as you have an active account with us and for a period of up to 6 years thereafter to comply with any accounting or legal obligations we have, including in the event of the pursuit or defence of legal claims. Once you have closed your account with us, we will move your personal data to a separate database so that only key stakeholders in our business on a ‘need to know basis’ have access to such data.

Following the end of the aforementioned retention period, we will delete or anonymise your personal data.

10. Transferring your personal data out of the UK

We may transfer your personal data outside of the UK, for example to third party cloud service providers and web developers who have servers outside the UK. Where we transfer your personal data outside the UK, we will comply with applicable UK laws designed to ensure the continued protection and privacy of your personal data. Any updated destinations to which we send your personal data, would be indicated in the present section and notified to you in accordance with the section on ‘Change to this privacy policy’ below.

Furthermore, under UK data protection laws, we can only transfer your personal data to a country outside the UK where:

  • the UK government has decided the particular country ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data (known as an ‘adequacy regulation’) further to Article 45 of the UK GDPR;
  • there are appropriate safeguards in place, together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for you; or
  • a specific exception applies under relevant data protection law. Accordingly, if we were to start transferring your personal data from the UK to:  
    • The EEA: we would rely on the adequacy finding granted by the UK to the EU under the Withdrawal Agreement to do; for any transfers from the EU to the UK, we would rely on the adequacy regulation granted to the UK under the Adequacy Decision. 
    • Any country located outside the UK/EEA: we would rely an appropriate safeguards under the UK GDPR, such as by including the relevant Standard Contractual Clauses in our data processing agreements.

In the event we could not or choose not to continue to rely on either of those mechanisms at any time we would not transfer your personal data outside the UK unless we could do so on the basis of an alternative mechanism or exception provided by UK data protection law. 

11. Your rights

You generally have the following rights, which you can usually exercise free of charge. For more information regarding these rights, please visit the ICO website here.

Access to a copy of your personal data The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data.
Correction (also known as rectification)

The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data.

Erasure (also known as the right to be forgotten)

The right to require us to delete your personal data - in certain situations.

Restriction of use The right to require us to restrict use of your personal data in certain circumstances, e.g. if you contest the accuracy of the data.
Data portability    The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party - in certain situations.
To object to use 

The right to object:

  • at any time to your personal data being used for direct marketing (including profiling)
  • in certain other situations to our continued use of your personal data, e.g. where we use your personal data for our legitimate interests.

Not to be subject to decisions without human involvement 

The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or significantly affects you.

We do not make any such decisions based on data collected by the Services.

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they do and do not apply, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below). You may also find it helpful to refer to the guidance from the UK’s Information Commissioner on your rights under the UK GDPR. 

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please complete a request form—available on our website at ggfa.co.uk or call or write to us—see below: ‘How to contact us’. When contacting us please:

  • provide enough information to identify yourself (e.g., your full name and username) and any additional identity information we may reasonably request from you, and
  • let us know which right(s) you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates

12. Keeping your personal data secure

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. 

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.

If you want detailed information from ‘Get Safe Online’ on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

13. How to complain

Please contact us if you have any queries or concerns about our use of your information (see below ‘How to contact us’). We hope we will be able to resolve any issues you may have.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner. 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

14. Changes to this privacy policy

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will take steps to inform you, for example via the Services or by other means, such as email.

15. How to contact us

You can contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you, to exercise a right under data protection law or to make a complaint.

Our contact details are shown below:

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