legal

privacy policy


Privacy Policy


Latest revision: 4th May 2023


Your privacy is important to us. Please read the following information carefully. This privacy notice contains information about what data we collect and store about you and why. It also tells you who we share this information with the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us if you have a compliant.

By providing personal information such as your name and e-mail address via the forms on this website, you agree to us contacting you with regard to the information you request.

Information you provide to us

Some forms on our website also include a check box asking you for permission for us to add you to our mailing list. This is an opt-in mailing list and your personal information will be used solely by us.

Under no circumstances will your personal information be sold or used by any other organisation.

From time to time, we may include links in our e-mails to other web sites which we think may be of interest to you. Each email communication you receive from us will have the option to remove your e-mail address from our list.

Under no circumstances will your personal information be sold or used by any other organisation.

Information we collect about you

The information we collect may include your personal information, such as your name, contact information, IP addresses, telephone conversations, product and service selections and orders or other things that identify you individually. Generally, we may collect information about you in the following manner:

  • you may provide your personal information to us via email or other written correspondence, telephone calls, web -based forms, or other means
  • we use automated technical means to collect information about all website visitors for example by use of cookies.
Information we monitor about website visitors

During the course of any visit to our site, the pages you see, along with a short text file called a ‘cookie’, are downloaded to your computer. Many websites do this, because cookies facilitate useful features such as the ability to identify whether a user has successfully logged into the site or to find out whether the computer (and probably its user) has visited the website before.

IP addresses

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregate information for internal purposes only. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

Cookies

We may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on your browser or the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. They help us to improve the Website and to deliver a better and more personalised service. Some of the cookies we use are essential for the site to operate.

To find out more about how we use cookies on our Website and how to manage your cookie preferences please see our Cookie Policy.

Social Media Features

Our Websites include Social Media Features, such as the Facebook Like button and Widgets, such as the Share This button or interactive mini-programs that run on our sites. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our sites, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social Media Features and Widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Websites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to these features. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy and other policies of the companies providing them.

External Websites

Our Websites provide links to other websites. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the content or practices of these other websites. Our provision of such links does not constitute our endorsement of these other websites, their content, their owners, or their practices. This Privacy Policy does not apply to these other websites, which are subject to any privacy and other policies they may have.

Where we store your personal data

All information you provide to us is stored on our highly secure servers that are managed 24/7.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet can never be completely secure. Although we will use reasonable endeavours to protect your personal data. We cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Access to information

The Data Protection Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act.

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.

Table of Contents

1. About this privacy policy
2. What information do we hold?
– Individual Members
– Individual prospects, subscribers and other non-member contacts
– Individual service providers
– Corporate Members, partners and third party contacts and prospects
3. How do we collect personal information?
4. Our lawful basis for using personal information
5. How we use particularly sensitive personal information
6. Information about children
7. Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Client information
8. Who do we share your personal information with?
9. Transferring information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)
10. How do we keep your personal information safe?
11. How long do we keep your personal information?
12. Newsletter Data Protection
13. Your rights in connection with personal information

1. About this privacy policy
  • We are a ‘data controller’. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you, and explaining it clearly to you.
  • Royist Ltd is the data controller of all information processed by us.
  • This privacy policy applies to prospective, existing and former Members of Royist Ltd (including employees and representatives of our corporate Members); individual and business contacts and prospects; referrers; individuals who request information from us; any person who provides services to us, either as an individual or as the employee or representative of a corporate service provider; third parties acting for our Members;
  • It is important that you read this privacy policy, together with any other privacy information or notices we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about you, so that you are aware of how and why we are using such information.
  • We reserve the right to update this privacy policy at any time. We will provide appropriate notice of such changes and recommend that you regularly check our website for updates to this privacy policy. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us using our online form.

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during the course of our engagement with you.

2. What information do we hold?

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified.

There are special categories of more sensitive personal data which require a higher level of protection (see further at section 5 below).

We collect different information depending on your relationship with us (click on the appropriate link, below, to see more about the categories of personal information from you and purposes for which we use it).

In each case we have identified our lawful basis for processing. These are described in more detail at section 4. Our lawful basis for using personal information.

Individual Members

We process:

  • your name, address and contact details. Such processing is necessary for performance of the contract between us
  • Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Client information (see section 7 below). We do this to comply with our internal policies and as necessary for the legitimate interest of understanding who we are contracting with
  • your marketing preferences and details of any services you have subscribed to and/or events you have attended. Such processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of promoting and growing our business
  • background information about you and your relationship with us, to inform and improve the service we provide to you. This may include lifestyle information and information about your family. Such processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of informing and improving the service we provide to you
  • feedback you provide to us on our services. Such processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of managing our business and improving our services

To the extent permitted by law, we may monitor electronic communications for the purposes of ensuring compliance with our internal policies. This processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of managing our business and compliance obligations.

We may, from time to time, approach you for your consent to allow us to process your personal information for other purposes. If we do so, we will provide you with details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent.

Individual prospects, subscribers and other non-member contacts

We process:

  • your name, address and contact details
  • your marketing preferences and details of any services you have subscribed to and /or events you have attended
  • feedback you provide on events or marketing campaigns
  • background information about you and your relationship with us, to inform and improve the service we provide to you

Such processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of promoting and growing our business and improving our services.

We use the information and in accordance with our Cookies Policy for the legitimate interest of informing and improving the service we provide to you, and future product and service development.

We process any feedback you provide to us in relation to our services including your decision whether or not to become a member. Such processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of managing our business and improving our services.

To the extent permitted by law, we may monitor electronic communications for the purposes of ensuring compliance with our internal policies. This processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of managing our business.

We may, from time to time, approach you for your consent to allow us to process your personal information for other purposes. If we do so, we will provide you with details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent.

Individual service providers

We process:

  • your name, title and business contact information including addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses
  • details relating to the performance of the contract between us, including financial information and bank details for payment

Such processing is necessary for performance of the contract between us.

We may perform due diligence in the form of credit checks and verification of your identity including checking photographic identification and proof of address. We do this to comply with our internal policies, and as necessary for our legitimate interests of understanding the party or parties with whom we are contracting.

To the extent permitted by law, we may monitor electronic communications for the purposes of ensuring compliance with our internal policies. This processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of managing our business.

We may, from time to time, approach you for your consent to allow us to process your personal information for other purposes. If we do so, we will provide you with details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent.

Corporate Members, partners and third party business contacts and prospects

We process names, titles and business contact information including addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses for your employees and representatives. Such processing is necessary for performance of the contract between us. Where you are an employee of a corporate member or contractor, we process this information for the legitimate interest of performing our contract with your employer.

If you are a new or prospective member, we process personal information as part of our Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your member procedures (see section 7 below). We do this to comply with our internal policies, and as necessary for our legitimate interests (provided that the interests and fundamental rights of the individual do not override our interests).

We may perform due diligence in the form of credit checks on companies, including checking photographic identification and proof of address of directors and, in some cases, your shareholders, and verification of the company registration details. We do this to comply with our internal policies, and as necessary for our legitimate interests (provided that the interests and fundamental rights of the individual do not override our interests).

We process your marketing preferences and details of any services you have subscribed to, and any events your employees and representatives have attended. Such processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of promoting and growing our business (provided that the interests and fundamental rights of any individual employees and representatives do not override our interests).

We process any feedback you (your employees or representatives) provide to us on our services. Such processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of managing our business and improving our services (provided that the interests and fundamental rights of any individual employees and representatives do not override our interests).

We process background information about you, and your employees and representatives, and your relationship with us. Such information may include how you found us and what your interests are. Such processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of informing and improving the service we provide to you (provided that the interests and fundamental rights of any individual employees and representatives do not override our interests).

To the extent permitted by law, we may monitor electronic communications for the purposes of ensuring compliance with our internal policies.

3. How do we collect personal information?

We collect personal information direct from you when you enquire about our services, when we establish you as a member of us, if you register with us for an event or to receive updates and information from us, or where we enter into a contract to receive services from you.

We collect further information from you during the period of our retainer or for the duration of your providing services to us.

We collect information about our Members, and about third parties, from our Members and from parties acting on the other side in a transaction, or from other professional advisors acting on their behalf.

We collect information from other third parties, such as other professionals advising our Members on a matter, from referrers, partner organisations (if we have run a joint event), and from credit reference agencies or other background check agencies.

We may collect information about our Members and about third parties from public sources, such as Companies House or the Land Registry, from an online search or from social media sites.

4. Our lawful basis for using personal information

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

  • where we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you
  • where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Where we rely on legitimate interests for our processing, we will advise you of the relevant interest
  • where we need to comply with a legal obligation
  • otherwise, with your consent

We may also use your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:

  • where we need to protect your vital interests (or someone else’s interests)
  • where it is needed in the public interest

Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of your personal information.

We will only use your personal information 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 we need to use your personal information 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 information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

5. How we use particularly sensitive personal information

Special categories of particularly sensitive personal information require higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using the following types of personal information.

Depending on the nature of our instructions, we may collect, store and use any of the following special categories of information about Members and prospective Members of Royist:

  • physical or mental health, including any medical condition or disability
  • nationality, race or ethnicity
  • political opinions
  • religious or philosophical beliefs
  • trade union membership
  • sexual orientation or sex life
  • genetic information and biometric data
  • information relating to criminal convictions and offences

We may process particularly sensitive personal information if we are under a legal obligation to do so, or if it becomes necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another person, or for reasons of substantial public interest.

We do not process particularly sensitive personal information for non-Members as part of our usual course of business. However, we may process information:

  • relating to a health condition or disability in order to make reasonable adjustments in the provision of our services
  • where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public
  • about your race or national or ethnic origin, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs, or your sexual life or sexual orientation, to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting. We make every effort to anonymise such information
  • We may approach you for your written consent to allow us to process certain particularly sensitive information. If we do so, we will provide you with full details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent.

6. Information about children

The Website is not intended for or targeted at children under 16, and we do not knowingly or intentionally collect information about children under 16. If you believe that we have collected information about a child under 16, please contact us, so that we may delete the information.

7. Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Client Information

We verify the identity of all new prospective clients and Members who wish to use our services. In addition, our internal requirements may require us to conduct background checks on new or existing Members. These may necessitate verification of the identity and good standing of Members. For corporate Members this will include verifying one or more of their directors or other officers, and verifying the identity of shareholders, beneficial owners, management and/or other relevant background information.

We may require evidence of source of funds, at the outset of and possibly from time to time throughout our relationship with Members, which we may request and/or obtain from third party sources. The sources for such verification may comprise documentation which we request from the prospective or current member, or through the use of online sources, or both. We may also be required to make detailed enquiries of any unusual transactions such as the transfer of large amounts of cash.

In some circumstances we may decline to, or may not be permitted to, act until such procedures have been completed. We reserve the right to decline to act or, if appropriate, cease to act should these procedures not be completed to our satisfaction.

Where we instruct other professionals on behalf of Members, they may request us to provide them with copies of evidence of identity of Members or their representatives which we have obtained from you or from other sources. We will be entitled to send such copies to them if we so decide.

8. Who do we share your personal information with?

We will share your personal data with third-party service providers who provide services to us and to other third parties who use your information, as data controller, for their own purposes.

If you are a member, we share your personal information with other data controllers where required by law, for example if we are required to share information in accordance with our Anti-Money Laundering procedures, or to meet our regulatory requirements or as required by our insurers.

We share personal information with:

  • HMRC or other government or law enforcement agencies
  • our insurance providers and our professional indemnity insurance broker

We may share your information if we refer you to a third party adviser for specialist advice.

Where we share information with other data controllers, they are responsible to you for their use of your information and compliance with the law.

The following activities are carried out by third-party service providers on our behalf: archiving and records management; confidential waste disposal; IT support and maintenance; hosting our website (including analytics); marketing campaigns; carrying out surveys and obtaining feedback on our services.

All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

If you are a delegate at an event, we share names and contact details with third party event organisers and on the delegate list which is shared with other attendees, unless you ask us not to.

We may share your personal information with other third parties in the context of the negotiations for a sale or restructuring of the business.

9. Transferring information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

All our personal information is hosted on servers located within the EEA.

If we are required to transfer information outside the EEA, we have put in place the following appropriate measures to ensure that your personal information is treated by those third parties in a way that is consistent with and which respects the EU and UK laws on data protection.

If you are based outside the EEA we may transfer personal information to the correspondence address you provide to us. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that such transfers are secure. By instructing us from outside the EEA you acknowledge and agree that such transfers are necessary for us to provide services to you.

10. How do we keep your personal information safe?

We have put in place robust technical measures to protect the security of your information. Details of these measures are available upon request.

Third parties will only process your personal information on our instructions and where they have agreed to treat the information confidentially and to keep it secure.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know and where they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

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

11. How long do we keep your personal information?

We will only retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collected it, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

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

Where a minimum retention period is required by law (such as retaining records for HMRC purposes, or anti-money laundering law), we comply with that minimum period.

We apply the same rules to electronic files as to paper files. Access to archived files is restricted. Please contact us if you would like to discuss specific retention periods applicable to your matters.

If we are required to retain your information longer than our standard retention periods, we will let you know (unless we are prevented by law from doing so).

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.

12. Newsletter Data Protection

The Company may produce a newsletter or other publication, which may be emailed to Members and/or subscribers at the Company’s discretion. If the Member and/or subscriber does not wish to receive such publications by email, the Member/subscriber should instruct the Company accordingly in writing or by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ button in the email.

To ensure that Members maximise their membership benefits, the Company may send Members information by email detailing forthcoming events and such other benefits, products or services which they may be entitled to or interested in as a Member. If the Member does not wish to receive such information, the Member should instruct the Company accordingly in writing.

The Company may contact Members who have not used their membership recently to offer services or may contact Members to seek their opinion on how the Services offered may be improved. If the Member does not wish to be contacted in this way, the Member should instruct the Company accordingly in writing.

13. Your rights in connection with personal information

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

  • request access to your personal information (commonly known as a ‘subject access request’). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it
  • request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected
  • request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below)
  • object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes
  • request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it
  • request the transfer of your personal information to another party
  • withdraw consent in the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. 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 are required to continue to process your information in accordance with another lawful basis which has been notified to you

To exercise any of the above rights, please contact using our online form.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.




Legal Documents


I. Terms of Use
II. Privacy Policy
III. Cookie Policy
IV. Schedule of Services
V. Code of Conduct
VI. User Generated Content Terms
VII. Affiliate Agreement
VIII. Subscription Terms of Sale

At Royist, we value your privacy and strive to protect your personal information in compliance with all applicable international laws and internal policies. Pursuant thereto, the above-mentioned set of legal documents is designed to explain and elaborate upon our policies, all of which we have adopted as a sign of our commitment to respecting, protecting and safeguarding the privacy and personal information of our clients and end-users.