PRIVACY POLICY

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information about how and why the Edinburgh Architectural Association collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

The EAA is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. When we collect and use personal information about you, we do so under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as "controller" of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

The EAA may change this Policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This Policy is effective from 1 st April 2020.

WHO WE ARE?

The Edinburgh Architectural Association is a charitable organisation and has been in existence since 1858. Membership now stands at over 1300 chartered and retired Architects, and students, working or studying in the chapter area which compromises of City of Edinburgh, West Lothian, Mid Lothian, Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Peebles-shire and Southern Fife (that part to the border of Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire, and to the west of a line drawn from West Wemyss to Auchmuirbridge)

How do we collect information from you?

Information is collected when you join the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), if you live or work in the geographic area of the EAA you automatically become a member. The EAA is one of the six local chapter groups of the RIAS. The RIAS shares your contact details with us, so that we can contact you, about our activities such as talks, events, meetings and our architectural awards.

WHAT WE COLLECT

We may collect the following information:

  • name and title

  • category of RIAS membership

  • contact information including email address

  • either your home or work address, depending on what you provided when you joined the RIAS.

HOW IS YOUR INFORMATION USED?

We use your information:

  • to retain a membership database.

  • to communicate with you about information which we think you may find of interest using the email address which you have provided.

  • to process and respond to inquiries.

  • We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests.

GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATIONS

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), most commonly, we will use your personal information where it is necessary

  • to perform the contract we have entered into with you

  • to comply with a legal obligation

  • for our legitimate interests

  • Although this will be rare, in may be necessary for the EAA to obtain your consent from time to time for processing certain personal information. If so, we will seek your consent for that in accordance with the GDPR rules.

Keeping your personal information secure

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

  • You can change your preferences for receiving emails from the EAA, or ask for your personal information to be removed from our database by contacting mail@eaa.org.uk and stating your preferences.

  • We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.

Under the GDPR you have a number of important rights to access your personal information free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:

  • access your personal information which this Privacy Notice has described above

  • require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold

  • require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations

  • receive the personal information concerning you in certain situations

  • receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structure, commonly used and machine- readable format and have the right to transmit this data to a third party in certain situations

  • object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing

  • object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affecting you

  • object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information

  • otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • write to Secretary, Edinburgh Architectural Association, 15 Rutland Square, Edinburgh EH1 2BE or email mail@eaa.org.uk

  • Let us have enough information to identify you

  • Let us have proof of your identity and address

  • Let us know the information to which your request relates

How to Complain

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

The GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or 0303 123 1113.