Privacy Policy

PRIVACY STATEMENT

INTRODUCTION

The British-American Business Council is concerned about the protection of your online privacy, whether you are a member, chapter representative, or general visitor to our web site. As a result, the British-American Business Council has made the commitment not to disclose any of your personal information to third parties without your consent. For your protection, we have also established the following privacy statement that is meant to inform you how we collect information and how we use it. Since this policy may change from time to time, we recommend that you refer to it regularly.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact the BABC by email - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">webmaster@babinc.org. If you do not receive acknowledgment of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact the BABC secretariat in New York.

WHO WE ARE

The British-American Business Council (BABC) is the largest transatlantic business network, with 23 chapters and 2,500 member companies based in major regions throughout North America and the United Kingdom. The website http://www.babc.org is wholly owned and maintained by the British-American Business Council for communicating with members and the world.  All BABC operations are funded by membership dues, donations, and sponsorships.

HOW TO REACH US

Our general mailing address is:
BABC Secretariat
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, 20th Floor
New York, NY 10017

You'll find more information on how to reach BABC on our Contact page. For further information or clarification on this statement contact the British American Business Council Secretariat, 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10017 Telephone 1-212-661-5660 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">webmaster@babinc.org.

WHAT INFORMATION WE KNOW ABOUT YOU AND HOW WE USE IT

Although we may collect certain information from you as discussed below, please be reassured in knowing the following:

  • We do not use any information about where you personally go on our Site, nor do we give such information out to third parties;
  • We do not give out your name, telephone number, or other personal information, unless you (or, if you are a child under the age of 13, your parent) authorize us to do so;
  • Information gathered by our website via some form of electronic submission, except where noted below, is not held for any period of time beyond that which is needed and is never disclosed to third parties outside the district;
  • British-American Business Council limits the use of cookies to those that do not gather personal information about the users of BABC.org or other British-American Business Council hosted sites;
  • Unless you are an adult and you personally divulge personal information, we will not give out information (or, if you are a child under the age of 13, your parent's) prior consent; and
  • We will always give you (or your parent) the opportunity to access and correct your personal contact information at any time if for some reason we are in possession of this information for specific reasons as detailed below.

PERSONAL INFORMATION THAT YOU GIVE US

There are various areas on our Site where we either require or permit you to transfer personal information voluntarily. We use this personal information only for the specific purpose specified at the time you input such information. In addition, we never divulge such information to third parties without your consent. These areas include:

Membership Inquiry. British-American Business Council accepts membership inquiries online. These inquiries require that users provide private and personal information as part of the inquiry process for membership within British-American Business Council. This information is never disclosed outside British-American Business Council and our associated organizations or chapters.

Members Area. Members registered with BABC.org have the ability to receive enhanced services and functionality on our site, specifically in the Members Area of the BABC.org website. In order to become a registrant of the Members Area, we use information derived from our own internal membership records.

Membership Database.  Available to members exclusively is an online database.  This database discloses information about our membership, some of which may be considered private.  Disclosure of this information is not made to third parties without prior consent, and every effort is made to ensure that the information is held securely and in a manner that limits the threat of disclosure to parties beyond our control.

Members are allowed to search and use the information contained within the online membership database in a professional manner as part of their membership as long as it meets the terms expressed during the joining process.  Members are urged to report disclosure or use of this information in an inappropriate manner by members or outside parties immediately to the employees of British-American Business Council. Due to technology limits, British-American Business Council notifies all members through this policy that it is not a certainty that information contained within the online membership database will be kept from disclosure to outside parties and thus British-American Business Council limits itself from liability from disclosure of information from this database that falls outside of reasonable control.

Information contained within the database is updated on as needed and on-demand basis.  If you find an inaccuracy, please report it to an employee of British-American Business Council so that corrections can be made to your satisfaction.  If you wish that certain information contained within the online membership database not be made available to other members please contact a British-American Business Council employee and request the information be removed.

INFORMATION THAT WE INDEPENDENTLY DERIVE FROM YOUR USE OF OUR SITE

Aside from any information you may actively disclose to us, there is other, less obvious, information that we might gain from you. Generally, we use such information for internal purposes such as to improve the content of our Web pages and/or refine the layout of our pages. This is generalized information that does not compromise your privacy; no information of a personal nature is gathered in this process.

Computer Information. We automatically query your computer for information about your computer system -- such as the speed of your modem, error messages you may have received, or operating system type -- to help us fit our services to your individual needs and to help us diagnose problems you may be having with the use of our system. This information is never disclosed to third parties.

Aggregate Information. Our system also automatically gathers information about the areas visitors to our site utilize and view -- commonly referred to as traffic analysis. We use this navigational information in the aggregate to understand how our visitors as a group use the site(s) so that we can make our sites better. We do not share any of this information outside of British-American Business Council if it in anyway contains information of a private or personal nature -- on average the information gathered is anonymous in nature.

Cookies. Cookies are pieces of information that our Web Site transfers to your computer's hard drive in order to make your experience on our Site more efficient. While other sites may use them to gather information that may be considered private, the few cookies in use by the BABC.org website do not gather information of a private nature. Cookies used only serve to automate certain functions like Polls and Message Bards, and are limited to storing information for a set period of time after which they are discarded. Cookies built and uploaded to your computer by BABC.org do not contain code that compromise your privacy, and they are not retrieved and read by British-American Business Council except when needed to verify use of services.

IP Addresses. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you begin service with an Internet Service Provider. British-American Business Council collects IP addresses for the purposes of system administration and to audit the use of our Site. Each time you connect to our Site and each time you request one of our pages, our server logs your IP address. Although we log your session with us, we will not normally link your IP address to anything that can enable us to identify you. However, we can and will use IP addresses to identify a user when we feel it is necessary to enforce compliance with our rules or terms of service or to protect our service, Site, users or others.

WHEN WE MAY BE FORCED TO DISCLOSE

British-American Business Council may disclose user information in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) British-American Business Council's rights or property or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. British-American Business Council may also disclose user information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES

Linking to other sites is an integral part of the functionality of the Internet and therefore of the British-American Business Council website. Any link to a page which displays a URL of a non-British-American Business Council site in the address window of your browser, is a link to a site outside of our service. These links may be found throughout the BABC.org website for informational  purposes. These other sites may send their own cookies to you, collect data or solicit personal information. Although we monitor the sites that we link to and make every attempt to ensure their quality, we cannot guarantee and are not responsible for the content of outside sites.

Please keep in mind that whenever you give out personal information on other Web sites, for example via message boards or chat, that information can be collected and used by people you don't know. While British-American Business Council strives to protect our visitors' personal information and privacy, we cannot guarantee the security and privacy of any information you disclose at other Web sites and you do so at your own risk.

A WORD ON BABC CHAPTER WEBSITES

The British-American Business Council is comprised of 23 individual chapters spread through out North America, the UK, Mexico, and Canada.  These chapters build and maintain their own websites for interaction with general visitors as well as their individual membership.  The British-American Business Council website, http://www.BABC.org, links to all of our chapters without bias and with the intent to inform.

The British-American Business Council is not responsible for the content, accuracy, and usability of the individual chapter websites.  This Privacy Policy does not extend to any chapter website under any circumstances.  Individual chapters of the BABC may disclose their own operating and privacy policies on their independent websites on a case by case basis.

EMAIL LINKS

We use email links located on our various "contact us" pages to allow you to contact us directly with any questions or comments you may have.

We read every message sent in and try to reply promptly. This information is used to respond directly to your questions or comments. We may also file your comments to improve the site and program, or review and discard the information. Your personal information is not shared with third parties, except where noted for legal purposes or when legally required.

SECURITY - GENERAL

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. At no time will you be asked to provide information of a personal nature beyond an email address, except when making inquiry for information or membership. All information submitted to BABC.org and British-American Business Council electronically via our website is discarded once interaction that requires given information is completed. No outside organization or entity will be given access to personal information while it is in the possession of British-American Business Council except where it is legally required.

Members Area. Certain areas of content on BABC.org are considered member only and protected by an encrypted ID and Password system. Members are advised the following:

  • To help protect your account, please keep your password secure. We suggest that you, during the joining process, pick a non-obvious password and one that mixes numbers and letters. In addition, we recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. British-American Business Council will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or email. Ultimately, you are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and any account information.
  • Remember to log out of your British-American Business Council registered user account and close your browser window whenever you leave your computer. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence, because your computer may be accessible to others or used in a shared setting such as found at a library or Internet café.
  • British-American Business Council's policy does not extend to anything that is inherent in the operation of the Internet, and therefore beyond British-American Business Council's control, and is not to be applied in any mannercontrary to applicable law or governmental regulation.

Online Polls and Voting. No personal information will be asked or gathered without permission regarding these activities, when available, on BABC.org.

Online Credit Card Transactions.  In the future the British-American Business Council will setup online functionality to facilitate event registration, purchase of event tables and sponsorships, and online functionality for membership applications and renewals.  This functionality allows site visitors and members to transact electronically using their credit card the necessary funds and monies needed for membership and event activities.  All online financial transactions are done through the use of commonly accepted Credit Cards in a secure fashion while other payment options are handled through arrangement and offline.

The online system that takes and processes credit card information online is secure through the use of a SSL certificate.  All online transactions are handled by an external  and secured web server that is contracted by British-American Business Council for the specific purpose of databasing and transaction processing.  Secured pages will display a closed 'padlock' at the bottom of the browser in the status bar when loaded and information about the authenticity of the SSL certificate is available by double clicking on the padlock icon.

This SSL certificate ensures the privacy and security of your transaction by encrypting transmitted data and verifying the identity of the receiving computer or server.  While it is impossible to ensure all transactions and transmissions of data over an open network such as the internet, the use of SSL does significantly reduce the chance that your private or financial information associated with your transaction are intercepted by a third party.  Never the less, the remote possibility that your encrypted data may be intercepted and utilized does exist and there fore British-American Business Council makes no specific guarantee or warranty on online financial transactions on SSL secured pages.

Questions About Security?

If you have any questions about the security at our website, you can send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">webmaster@babinc.org.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

We may disclose personal information when required by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the edicts of the law or comply with a legal process served on our Web site.

NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES

We will notify you via our website if there is a material change in our privacy practices. We will also post the changes in our privacy statement 30 days prior to a change being made.

YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS

By using this Site, you signify your assent to the British-American Business Council Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use. If you do not agree with these policies, please refrain from using the BABC.org website. Your continued use of the British-American Business Council BABC.org website following a reasonable notice of changes to these terms means you accept those changes and the policy as stated.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this Web site's privacy statement and/or terms of use, you should contact us via phone or email.

NOTE:

This statement encompasses the "Safe Harbour" principles of collecting and disseminating data under the Data Protection Act of 1998 in the United Kingdom (UK).