Privacy policy

Last updated: 28 November 2023

1. Introduction

What is personal data?

Where this Policy refers to ‘personal data’ it is referring to data about you from which you could be identified – such as your name, your date of birth, your contact details and even your IP address.

By law all organisations who process your personal data in the UK are obliged to process your personal data in certain ways and to ensure that you are given an appropriate amount of information about how they use it. You also have various rights to seek information from those organisations about how they are using your data, and to prevent them from processing it unlawfully. For more information about these rights, please see the ‘Your Rights’ section of this Policy.

Who we are

We are Berlin Associates Limited (a company registered in England with registered number 04730506) (“us”, “our”, “we”). We are the controller of the personal data that is collected and processed when you engage with us. The vast majority of the data we process relates to our clients and direct interactions further to through those relationships but we are also the data controller of any personal data that engages with this website (www.berlinassociates.com – the “Website”) for example if you get in touch with us or upload submissions via the Website.

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and the Policy sets out the types of personal data we collect when you engage with us and how we may use that data.

For ease of reading, we have divided this Policy into several sections:

1. Introduction
2. What information do we collect?
3. How is your personal data collected?
4. How and why do we use and share your personal data?
5. For how long do we keep your personal data?
6. Security
7. International Data Transfers
8. Your Rights
9. Contact Details

It is important that you read this Policy together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notices that we may provide you. This Policy supplements other such notices , including our Cookie Policy, and should be read alongside such terms.

Please note that by engaging with us as a client or otherwise using the Website you are agreeing to the terms of this Policy including as we may revise, update or amend such terms at any time.

2. What information do we collect?

The types of data we collect from you

The personal data we collect from you depends on precisely what details you volunteer to us as you engage or interact with us as a client or how you use the Website. We may collect, use, store and transfer the following categories of personal data when you engage with us:

As a user of the Website, we collect personal data that you voluntarily submit to us including any such data in any voluntary interactions or submissions such as:

• Identity Data which includes your name, date of birth, gender, educational or professional history / background (including publications, filmography, credits), job title and function, National Insurance number, and any details included in any identification documents you provide to us or present on social media profiles you share.
• Contact Data which includes your e-mail address, phone number, billing address and delivery address.

In addition when you use the Website we will also collect Technical Data which can include data about the device(s) on which you visit the Website, your IP address, time zone setting and location, and information about how you use and engage with the Website.

As a client, we will collect further personal data from you (in addition to anything that you voluntarily share with us) as a reflection of our relationship and our contractual obligations such data includes:

• Identity Data which includes your name, date of birth, gender, educational or professional history / background (including publications, filmography, credits), job title and function, National Insurance number, and any details included in any identification documents you provide to us or present on social media profiles you share.
• Contact Data which includes your e-mail address, phone number, billing address and delivery address.
• Financial Data which includes your bank account, tax status and/or payment details, to the extent that they are required to enable any relevant transactions and ensure fraud prevention.
• Transaction Data which includes details of any payments that have been made, royalties that are due, fee details, information in connection with any intermediary through which services are supplied and details about what those transactions relate to.

Special category data

Certain types of personal data are categorised as sensitive and need more protection. For example: information about your race or ethnic origins, political opinions, trade union membership, sex life or sexual orientation, religious beliefs, health information, biometric and genetic data. There are also special rules about the use of criminal information (information about criminal convictions or allegations about criminal convictions). Collectively ‘special category personal data’.

We will not usually collect special category personal data and we will only process this type of personal data about you if we have a valid reason for doing so and only if the law allows us to do so. One example where we may collect special category personal data from you is if we perform any diversity monitoring about engagement with our services.

3. How is your personal data collected?

Direct interactions with us

The majority of the personal data we collect is collected further to your direct interactions with us and when you provide us your personal data. For example when either:

• You engage us to act as your agent and you become one of our clients.
• You use the Website to send us any voluntary submissions.

In these situations you will provide us with a certain amount of personal data. The personal data we collect from you may include any of the categories of personal data described above but will be limited to the precise details that you volunteer to us as you interact with us and / or the Website.

Automated technologies or interactions

We may also collect personal data about you and various information about the technology you use when you visit and interact with the Website. We use this data to ensure that the Website works properly and to monitor online traffic across the Website. We undertake both of these activities because we have a legitimate interest in doing so.

Cookies

At times we will partner with third parties who may collect anonymous usage or statistical data through the use of cookie technologies to analyse your use of the Website (including, for example, sub-contractors in technical and delivery of services, advertising networks, analytics providers, search information providers). For more information on this kind of technology and details of the cookies that we use on the Website please see our Cookie Policy.

Updating your information

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

If you want to update any of the information you have previously provided to us, you can contact us at agents@berlinassociates.com.

4. How and why do we use and share your personal data?

Lawful basis for processing your information

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to.

Most commonly we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to do so in order to perform a contract we have entered into with you – for example further to our relationship with you as a client;
• Where you have asked us to do so, or have otherwise consented to us doing so – for example you have uploaded a submission to us or via the Website;
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your fundamental rights do not override those interests – for example to improve the services we offer or to carry out functions of running an agency business; and
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Sharing your personal data

Depending on how and why you provide us with your personal data we may share it in the following ways:

• with any member of our company group, which means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006;
• with selected official bodies to prevent and detect fraud or credit risks such as: central and local government bodies, HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other tax authorities, law enforcement agencies, and fraud protection agencies;
• with selected third parties who we sub-contract to provide various services such as where we use third parties to host and/or store data for us or otherwise use other IT systems supplied by third parties (see ‘Service Providers’ below);
• with selected third parties where it is necessary for the performance of any agency client agreement we have with you such as where we put you forward for new projects or where certain categories of your personal data are required by a third party in respect of a project you have been engaged on; and
• with selected third parties who we contract with to provide professional services such as counsel or our insurers, accountants and auditors.

We will not share your personal data with third parties in order for that third party to provide direct marketing communications to you, unless it relates to a specific activity which we are undertaking with a third party and you have provided your consent for that use. Such activity may have its own terms and conditions relating to the way in which your personal data may be used, which you will be notified of at the relevant time.

We may also disclose your personal data to third parties in the following events:

• if we were to sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we might disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets as part of that sale;
• if we, or substantially all of our assets, are acquired by or are transferred to a third party, in which case personal data held by us may be one of the transferred assets;
• if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation or if we are compelled to provide your details to a lawful authority in order to aid in the investigation of crime or disorder;
• in order to protect the rights, property, or safety of our company, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Service Providers

Our service providers provide us with a variety of administrative, professional, statistical, and technical services. We will only provide service providers with the minimum amount of personal data they need to fulfil the services we request, and we stipulate that they protect this data and do not use it for any other purpose. We take these relationships seriously and oblige all of our data processors to sign contracts with us that clearly set out their commitment to respecting individual rights, and their commitments to assisting us to help you exercise your rights as a data subject. For more information on the service providers we use you can contact us at agents@berlinassociates.com.

Links to third party sites and social media that may appear on the Website

Where we provide links to third party websites, plug-ins and applications that are not affiliated with the Website such sites are out of our control and are not covered by this Policy. If you access third party sites using the links provided, the operators of these sites may collect personal data from you that could be used by them, in accordance with their own privacy policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to those websites.

5. For how long do we keep your personal data?

We will hold your personal data on our systems only for as long as required to provide you with the services you have requested, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements or to perform the purpose for which that data was collected. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data, whether we can achieve those purposes through other means and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete some or all of your data earlier: see ‘Your Rights’ below for further information.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

We may also collect, use and share aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity.

6. Security

We take the protection of your information very seriously. We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed, including use of secure servers, data backup and retrieval procedures, periodic data integrity and access reviews and the use of passwords.

Please note that we may store your personal data on secure servers either on our premises or in secure third-party data centres.

In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

7. International Data Transfers

If you are based in Europe please note that we use service providers that may be based outside of the UK and/or the European Economic Area (the “EEA”). These service providers may work for us or for one of our suppliers and may be engaged in, among other things, the provision of support services.

Further to the provision of our services we may also be required to transfer your personal data outside the EEA to a company or organisation as a requisite to you providing your services to that company or organisation.

Where we transfer your data outside of the UK or EEA we seek to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to make sure that your personal data is held securely and that your rights as a data subject are upheld. Transfers of personal data are either made:

• further to your explicit consent;
• to a country recognised by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection; or
• to a country which does not offer adequate protection but whose transfer has been governed by the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission or by implementing other appropriate cross-border transfer solutions to provide adequate protection.

By submitting your personal data to us, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. If you would like more information about the mechanism via which your personal data is transferred, please contact us at [E-MAIL].

8. Your Rights

If you are resident in the UK or the EEA then the following information about your rights is relevant to you. This part of the Policy is a mandatory statement which summarises certain law applicable in your jurisdiction. It is not a replacement for, nor an extension of, your legal rights so should be read only as a summary of that legislation.

This section is not applicable to you if you do not reside in one of the regions described above.

If you are a resident of one of the regions described above then you have the following rights in relation to your personal data held by us:

Right of Access

You may, at any time, request access to the personal data that we hold which relates to you (you may have heard of this right being described as a "subject access request").

Please note that this right entitles you to receive a copy of the personal data that we hold about you in order to enable you to check that it is correct and to ensure that we are processing that personal data lawfully. It is not a right that allows you to request personal data about other people, or a right to request specific documents from us that do not relate to your personal data.

You can exercise this right at any time by writing to us and telling us that you are making a subject access request. You do not have to fill in a specific form to make this request.

Your Right to Rectification and Erasure

You may, at any time, request that we correct personal data that we hold about you which you believe is incorrect or inaccurate. You may also ask us to erase personal data if you do not believe that we need to continue retaining it (you may have heard of this right described as the “right to be forgotten”).

Please note that we may ask you to verify any new data that you provide to us and may take our own steps to check that the new data you have supplied us with is right. Further, we are not always obliged to erase personal data when asked to do so if, for example, we have an ongoing legal obligation or need to continue processing that personal data.

You can exercise this right at any time by writing to us and telling us that you are making a request to have your personal data rectified or erased and on what basis you are making that request. If you want us to replace inaccurate data with new data, you should tell us what that new data is. You do not have to fill in a specific form to make this kind of request.

Your Right to Restrict Processing

Where we process your personal data on the basis of a legitimate interest (see the section of this Policy which explains how and why we use your information) you are entitled to ask us to stop processing it in that way if you feel that our continuing to do so impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms or if you feel that those legitimate interests are not valid.

You may also ask us to stop processing your personal data (a) if you dispute the accuracy of that personal data and want us verify that data's accuracy; (b) where it has been established that our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where we no longer need to process your personal data (and would otherwise dispose of it) but you wish for us to continue storing it in order to enable you to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

We will comply with your request unless we have an ongoing legal obligation or need to continue processing personal data that you ask us to stop processing; a compelling overriding legitimate interest for such processing; or we need to continue processing your personal data to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

You can exercise this right at any time by writing to us and telling us that you are making a request to have us stop processing the relevant aspect of your personal data and describing which of the above conditions you believe is relevant to that request. You do not have to fill in a specific form to make this kind of request.

Your Right to Portability

Where you wish to transfer personal data that we hold about you, which is processed by automated means, to a third party you may write to us and ask us to provide it to you in a commonly used machine-readable format.

Because of the kind of work that we do and the systems that we use, we do not envisage this right being particularly relevant to the majority of individuals with whom we interact. However, if you wish to transfer your data to a third party we are happy to consider such requests.

Your Right to Stop Receiving Communications

Where we send you e-mail marketing communications (or other regulated electronic messages) you have the right to opt-out at any time. You can do this by using the ‘unsubscribe’ link that appears in the footer of each communication (or the equivalent mechanism in those communications).

Alternatively, if for any reason you cannot use those links, or if you would prefer to contact us directly – you can unsubscribe by writing to us at agents@berlinassociates.com and telling us which communications you would like us to stop sending you. Please note that where you request a change in this way it is likely to take longer for your request to take effect.

Your Right to Object to Automated Decision Making and Profiling

You have the right to be informed about the existence of any automated decision making and profiling of your personal data, and where appropriate, be provided with meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and the envisaged consequences of such processing that affects you.

If you want more information about any automated decision making and profiling or to object to the same you can exercise this right at any time by writing to us and telling us that you are making such a request. You do not have to fill in a specific form to make this kind of request.

Exercising Your Rights

When you write to us making a request to exercise your rights we are entitled to ask you to prove that you are who you say you are. We may ask you to provide copies of relevant ID documents to help us to verify your identity.

It will help us to process your request if you clearly state which right you wish to exercise and, where relevant, why it is that you are exercising it. The clearer and more specific you can be, the faster and more efficiently we can deal with your request. If you do not provide us with sufficient information then we may delay actioning your request until you have provided us with additional information (and where this is the case we will tell you).

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 unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

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.

Statutory Regulator

If you are unhappy with the way that we have processed your data then you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data and privacy regulator. If you wish to do so then you can write to them using their published contact details. We would however appreciate the chance to address your concerns before you approach the supervisory authority so please contact us in the first instance.

If you are located in the UK then your local regulator is the Information Commissioner’s Office. If you are resident in the European Union then details of your local regulator are published by the European Data Protection Board.

Contact Details

If you have any queries regarding this Policy, if you wish to exercise any of your rights set out above or if you think that the Policy has not been followed, please contact us by email at agents@berlinassociates.com.