RS Sales & Distribution Ltd Privacy Policy

 

GDPR & Privacy Policy

What is the GDPR?


The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on the 25th May 2018 and made changes to data protection law within the UK. RS SALES & DISTRIBUTION LTD. takes data protection seriously.

How does this affect your relationship with RS Sales & Distribution LTD.?

For the overwhelming majority of our customers, GDPR won’t affect your relationship with RS SALES & DISTRIBUTION LTD. This is because RS SALES & DISTRIBUTION LTD. is a data controller in relation to almost all personal data provided to it in the course of its business, rather than a data processor.  This means you are not responsible for our data protection practices, as we are not processing your data on your behalf, but as a part of us conducting our business/service.

In particular, this means that you do not need to have a contract in place with us which contains the controller-to-processor provisions required under GDPR. However, we appreciate that you may want assurance that we are performing our legal obligations as a data controller under GDPR.

We have issued a new, GDPR-compliant Privacy Policy (below), which will be available on our website, which sets out details of the personal data we may receive and process in the conduct of our business, including any personal data you may provide to us in using our services.

What else is RS SALES & DISTRIBUTION LTD. doing to ensure GDPR compliance?

RS SALES & DISTRIBUTION LTD. already fulfils most of its obligations as data controller under GDPR and became fully compliant on the 25th May 2018. We would be happy to share further information with you if required, but in summary activities which we have already completed, or are currently working on, are:

Implementing internal policies to ensure compliance with GDPR (including in relation to responding to data subject requests based on their rights under GDPR, and the management of data breaches);
auditing and working with all of our data processors to ensure that our contracts with them contain the protections and provisions required under GDPR;
reviewing our technical and operational information security measures Including encryption; access controls; firewalls; active IT threat monitoring; and 24/7 monitoring of physical security;
issuing Privacy Policy to ensure that all data subjects whose information we process are fully informed. An external-facing Privacy Policy will be available on our website and we are deploying internal Policy for our employees and contractors as well;
ensuring that all consent-based processing (such as for marketing purposes where applicable) is GDPR compliant;
conducting and documenting legitimate interest assessments where our lawful basis of processing is our legitimate interests (for example, to ensure our communications practices are GDPR-compliant); 
introducing top-to-bottom data protection governance within RS SALES & DISTRIBUTION LTD., and training programmes, led by our appointed Data Protection officer; and
creating all internal records required under GDPR (including in particular Article 30 records).
Privacy Policy 

Our Privacy policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, the control you have over your personal information and the procedures we have in place to protect your personal information.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on 25th May 2018 and made changes to data protection law within the EU. RS Sales & Distribution Ltd. takes data protection seriously and will continually review our processes to remain compliant with GDPR to ensure that your personal information is protected and never misused.

For the overwhelming majority of our customers, GDPR won’t affect your relationship with us. This is because we are a data controller in relation to almost all personal data provided to us in the course of our business, rather than a data processor.  This means you are not responsible for our data protection practices, as we are not processing your data on your behalf, but as a part of us conducting our business/service.

In particular, this means that you do not need to have a contract in place with us which contains the controller-to-processor provisions required under GDPR.  However, we appreciate that you may want assurance that we are performing our legal obligations as a data controller under GDPR.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about any aspect of this policy or how we handle your information please email sales@rssales.co.uk


What information is being collected:
We will only request or collect personal information we require in order to fulfil our responsibilities in delivering and improving the services our customers expect.

The information you may share with us includes, your name, job title, address, email address, contact number, IP address, web browser and payment details.


Who is collecting your data?
RS Sales & Distribution Limited (Company Number: 4539362) is the data controller for the personal data collected. A data controller determines the purpose and means of the processing of data.

Our registered address is:

3-4 Bower Terrace,

Tonbridge Road,

Maidstone,

Kent, ME16 8RY


How is your data collected?
We collect your data through one or more of the following ways:

When you open an account with us
When you contact us by phone
When you contact us by email
When you visit our website
When you login to our eCommerce site using your secure login
When you submit a product request
When supplied by your organisations head office
When you subscribe to one or more of our email alerts
When you contact us requesting information
When you leave a message with our online chat support tool
When you accept cookies on our website 
When you provide us with contact details at a show/exhibition/business event


Why is your personal data collected?

We collect your data in order for us to be able to carry out the contractual obligations and fulfil the service expectations of our customer. We will only use your data for legitimate business interest which include the development and improvement of our products and services and delivery of goods. We will only send you marketing communications if you have told us it is okay to do so.

How will it be used?
The principle reason for collecting and using your personal information is because it enables us to provide and improve the products and services you expect from us. Ways in which we use the data you share with us include:

To deliver orders to the correct locations
To communicate with you
To respond to queries and support requests 
To provide product and service information
To help us improve our services through customer surveys
To help identify improvements to our eCommerce experience
To recommend products that you might like


Who will your personal data be shared with?

It is of critical importance to us that your information is kept safe. We will never sell or share your personal data and will only ever share your data for the purposes outlined in this Privacy policy.

We share your data with certain trusted 3rd parties who provide services on our behalf. We only ever share the information that is required to perform the services they provide for us (for example your delivery address). From the 25th May 2018 it will be a mandatory requirement for 3rd parties with whom we share personal data to be GDPR compliant.

Third parties who provide services for us fall into the following categories:

Those appointed to deliver products to you
A limited number of suppliers who deliver products directly to you
Third parties that assist with marketing and web development
Debtor recovery service providers
We are also required to share your personal information if requested by law.


How long is your personal data kept?

We only hold your data for as long as necessary in order to fulfil the reasons outlined in this privacy policy, and for as long as we are required to by law.


Links to third party websites

Within our website we may provide links to other websites for example, links to video hosting sites for product demonstration videos, supplier websites for product information, blog/news posts as a reference to support our own content.

Providing a link to a third party does not constitute our endorsement nor do we make any representations about third party websites.

It is important that you understand that we are not responsible and have no control over the content on those sites and how the third party responsible for them collect your data. You should review the privacy policies of any third party website before you use them to ensure you are happy with how your personal data is being collected and shared.


How your personal data is protected:

We are committed to protecting and maintaining the security of your personal information. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures, including government-approved strong encryption to protect your personal information and privacy. We review our digital and data security regularly.

We protect your personal data by using a combination of physical and IT security controls, including access controls that restrict and manage the way in which your personal information is managed and handled.

As part of our commitment to achieving GDPR compliance our staff receive adequate training to ensure they understand the importance of keeping personal information safe.

Our procedures mean that we may request proof of identity before we share your personal information with you.

All personal data is held in data centers within the EU.


How can you change the way we contact you about our products and services?

We will only send you marketing communications when you have told us that you are happy for us to do so.
You can change the way we contact you in the following ways:
Opt-In/Start Contacting Me
If you hadn’t previously asked us to send you marketing communications, you can ask us to start contacting you by:
Contacting customer care team and stating that you would like to receive communications from us
Logging onto your account on our website and changing your preferences and information


Changing your preferences

If you have previously said that you would like us to contact you (“opted-in”) but would like to change or update the way that we do so, you can update your preferences by:

Contacting customer care team and stating that you would like to change or update the way that we contact you
Logging onto your account on our website and changing your preferences and information


Opt-Out/Stop contacting me

If you want to stop receiving marketing communications from us (sometimes called “opting out”), you can do so at any time by:

Contacting customer services stating that you no longer wish to receive such communications
Using the unsubscribe option included in all our marketing correspondence
Logging onto your account on our website and changing your preferences and information


Your Rights

You have the right to request, access, update and amend the personal information we hold about you.

You can also:

Object to our use of your personal information for certain purposes
Ask us to limit or restrict our use of your personal information
Ask us to remove or delete personal information about you

If you would like to exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal information please:

Contact us by telephone – 0800 849 4119
Contact us by email – sales@rssales.co.uk

Write to us:

RS Sales & Distribution Ltd.
Honeycrest Industrial Estate
Lodge Road
Staplehurst
Kent
TN12 0RQ


If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, you also have the right to refer the matter to the information Commissioner in the UK with whom RS Sales & Distribution are registered (ZA371451). https://ico.org.uk/