Personal data shall be obtained, maintained, stored, used and passed on only in strict accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (UK).

1. As a Member of the Circle of Wine Writers, your name, contact details, information about your professional career and any other particulars that you provide to the Circle are entered into our administrative records and into the official Membership List. All records, including the Membership List, are maintained, stored, used and passed on as electronic records, though we may produce paper records of all or any part of the data.

2. The Membership List and the data it contains is made available to other Members (including overseas Members) for personal use only and to selected, reputable third parties (UK only).

3. For existing Members, implicit consent to both (1) and (2) above is assumed to have been provided. Applicants and new Members are asked to provide their consent by signature on the application form. Please note, however, that you are in control of any and all information we collect about you and that you may ask for any information to be withheld, or withdraw your consent, at any time and for any reason.

4. The Circle of Wine Writers is the registered Data Controller. The Membership Secretary, the Treasurer and the Administrator are the sole Data Processors for the Circle of Wine Writers who process the primary data for the following purposes: (a) to maintain the accuracy of the Membership List; (b) to consider applications from potential new Members; (c) to provide Members with Benefits of Membership, including the Circle Press Card; (d) to advise Members of Circle news; (e) to administer the payment of subscriptions and Circle functions; (f) to provide the Membership List to selected third parties, and (g) for other general administrative purposes. No other Member is authorized to process the primary data, although the Webmaster and the Editor of Circle Update are permitted access to and use of the primary data solely for the purposes of administering the Circle website and for editing and circulating Circle Update respectively. Other Committee Members may be granted access to the primary data on a discretionary basis for administrative purposes only.

5. Third parties are granted access to and use of the data on condition that (a) the third party provides sufficient guarantees in respect of security measures applied to safeguard against unauthorized or unlawful processing of the personal data, and (b) the data is used only as necessary to perform their job function.

6. As with any standard email, emails containing your personal data sent between you and the Data Processors, between the Data Processors themselves and to third parties will travel in a non-encrypted format.

7. The Data Processors have a legal obligation to ensure that all personal data is accurate and up to date. Members are therefore required to (a) complete an annual Register of Work, and (b) take all reasonable steps to provide accurate and up to date information concerning the personal data held.

8. Any financial information which you supply (for example, credit card or bank account details) is held and processed only by the Circle Treasurer and the Administrator. No other Member or third party has access to this information.

9. Any personal data held about you (either in paper form or electronically) is kept secure. Out of date information is destroyed.

Subject Access
You have the right:
a) to receive on request (a "subject access request") details of the processing relating to you
b) to have any inaccurate data corrected or removed
c) in certain circumstances to stop processing likely to cause "substantial damage or substantial distress"
d) to prevent your data being used for advertising or marketing

Subject Access Requests should be made in writing to Christine Austin, 12 St Peters Grove, York, YO30 6AQ. You will receive a reply within 40 days from receipt of the request. A charge (of up to £10) may be levied at the discretion of the Data Controller.