INTRODUCTION
Merit Group Plc delivers business-critical market intelligence and data solutions for stakeholder management, alongside a portfolio of targeted events and media for strategic engagement. In addition, our proven data engineering services, innovative technology, in-demand talent and sector-specific expertise, power the world’s leading B2B information brands.
We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This policy sets out the basis on which any personal data may be
(i) collected from you;
(ii) provided to us via our websites, see here (“Websites”) or other media; or
(iii) received from third parties,
and how we use that personal information.
If you have any questions on this privacy policy or how we collect or use your personal information, please contact us.
1. INFORMATION ABOUT US
We are Merit Group Plc (“Merit”, “we”, “us” or “our”). Merit comprises a number of legal entities, including Dods Group Limited; those of which control or process personal data are detailed at 3.2 below. Our registered office is located at 9th Floor, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9SG and our Company Number is 04267888. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office with registration number ZA049639. We collect or receive your data under this Privacy Policy as a data controller.
2. WHAT INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT FROM YOU OR THIRD PARTIES AND HOW AND WHY WE PROCESS IT
2.1 We collect and process the following types of information about you:
| Method of Collection | Type of Information | Lawful Basis for Processing |
| Website registration | Personal information, for example, your:- name,- username,- job title,- work address,- employer,- phone number,- payment details, and- email address | Legitimate interest or consent |
| Website interfacing (i.e. posting comments on articles/group discussions) | Details such as your name and username | Legitimate interest or consent |
| Website usage including for monitoring and improving our websites | Information transmitted by your computer, including your- IP address,- browser data,- traffic and location data, and- information we receive from cookies or from our use of website analytics services. | Legitimate interest |
| Contacting us through the website (emailing us or commenting through website) | Record of your email/comment, name, and email address | Legitimate interest |
| Surveys | Information included in survey answers and your name, email address, employer and job title and any other information that you provide. | Consent |
| Whitepapers, research, and webinars | Your name, job title, phone number, employer, and any other information that you provide. | Consent or fulfilment of a contract |
| Newsletters and bulletins or updates on our products and services | Your name, job title, phone number, employer, and any other information that you provide. | Consent or legitimate interest |
| Phone | Recording and details of your call, name, email address, phone number, gender, address, employer, job title and any other information you provide. | Consent or fulfilment of a contract or legitimate interest |
| Email or social media correspondence | Records of all information you provide in email or social media contact, including your:- name,- email address,- phone number,- gender,- address,- employer,- job title, and- any other information you provide/requested in the events registration form. | Consent or fulfilment of a contract or legitimate interest |
| Information provided by you at events | Name, email address, phone number, employer and job title, or any additional information you provide. | Consent or legitimate interest |
| Provision of events or information services (including monitoring) | Name, address, email address, phone number, employer and job title. | Fulfilment of a contract |
2.2 We may receive information about you from third party sources including customers, business partners, sub-contractors in technical services, advertising networks, marketing list brokers and information available online in the public domain. We use reasonable endeavours to ensure that the third party has a lawful basis for the processing of such information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.
2.3 We collect publicly available information including names, job title, employer, telephone, social media and business email address contact details to allow us or third parties to send you information about our goods and services. We may also use our legitimate interest to provide this information to third parties. You can request to stop receiving such communications at any moment pursuant to relevant Data Protection Legislation by using the unsubscribe links in the footer of the email or by contacting us directly.
2.4 Merit Data & Technology Limited and Letrim Intelligence Services Private Limited may process personal data on behalf of its clients for data collection, data validation and automated marketing services. In each case Merit Data & Technology Limited and Letrim Intelligence Services Private Limited will carry out such services as a data processor.
2.5 We may process personal data on behalf of certain events partners or clients. In such cases this should be made apparent to you in the event’s Privacy Notice.
3. HOW WE MAY USE YOUR INFORMATION
3.1 Unless you object to such processing, or request us not to, the below table describes (i) the information shared with our group companies; and (ii) the type of commercial communications you may receive from our group companies.
| Dods Group company | Commercial Communication | Group Companies information shared with |
| Merit Group Plc | Email sales and marketing,Telephone sales and marketing,PPC advertising,Print advertising,Display advertising,Direct marketing (e.g. printed invitations), andSocial media. | Dods Group Limited, Holyrood Communications Limited, Merit Data & Technology Limited, Letrim Intelligence Services Private Limited |
| Dods Group Limited | Email sales and marketing,Telephone sales and marketing,PPC advertising,Print advertising,Display advertising,Direct marketing (e.g. printed invitations), andSocial media. | Holyrood Communications Limited, Merit Group Plc, Merit Data & Technology Limited, Letrim Intelligence Services Private Limited |
| Holyrood Communications Limited | Email sales and marketing,Telephone sales and marketing,Print advertising,Display advertising,Direct marketing (e.g. printed invitations), andSocial media. | Dods Group Limited, Merit Group Plc, Merit Data & Technology Limited, Letrim Intelligence Services Private Limited |
| Letrim Intelligence Services Private Limited | Email sales and marketing,Telephone sales and marketing,PPC advertising,Print advertising,Display advertising,Direct marketing (e.g. printed invitations), andSocial media. | Dods Group Limited, Merit Group Plc, Merit Data & Technology Limited, Holyrood Communications Limited |
| Merit Data & Technology Limited | Email sales and marketing,Telephone sales and marketing,PPC advertising,Print advertising,Display advertising,Direct marketing (e.g. printed invitations), andSocial media. | Dods Group Limited, Merit Group Plc, Letrim Intelligence Services Private Limited, Holyrood Communications Limited |
3.2 We may use, process and share your personal data:
3.2.1 where we have your consent;
3.2.2 where necessary for:
3.2.2.1 performance of any contract to which the data subject is party (and taking steps at the data subject’s request with a view to entering a contract);
3.2.2.2 compliance with any legal obligation;
3.2.2.4 administration of justice or performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of our official authority; and/or
3.2.2.5 our legitimate interests, including but not limited commercial, marketing, intragroup transfers or IT security. We will only use this legal basis to process your data in ways that you would reasonably expect and have a minimal privacy impact.
3.2.3 in respect of special categories of personal data:
3.2.3.1 where we have your consent;
3.2.3.2 where necessary for protection of vital interest (where consent cannot be given or where it is not reasonable to expect consent to be obtained or where consent is unreasonable withheld);
3.2.3.3 where necessary for, or in connection with, legal proceedings, obtaining legal advice or establishing, exercising or defending legal rights; and/or
3.2.3.4 where the data has been manifestly made public as result of steps deliberately taken by the applicable individual.
4. WHO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH
4.1 We may disclose your personal information to third parties in the following circumstances:
4.1.1 in accordance with sections 2.3 and 3.2 above;
4.1.2 to service providers who manage aspects of our operations (e.g. technical services for our Websites, or those that assist us in providing services to you);
4.1.3 in order to investigate or respond to problems or inquiries or defend our interests, to our auditors, brokers, legal advisors, professional indemnity insurers, and other professional advisors;
4.1.4 in the event of a sale, merger, acquisition, partnership or joint venture;
4.1.5 in order to comply with any legal obligation, or where it is required by order of a court or other judicial, regulatory or law enforcement body or in order to enforce or apply the Websites’ terms of use and/or other agreements between you and us; or
4.1.6 to protect our or a third party’s rights, property or safety.
4.2 We may also pass aggregated information on the use of the Websites to our group companies or third parties but this will not include information which could be used to identify you.
4.3 If you (i) register to attend an event we organise; and/or (ii) sign up for a webinar, whitepaper or bulletin, we may provide the contact information you provide to sponsors, event partners, exhibitors and/or a venue for an event who may contact you from time to time for their marketing purposes. A list of event sponsors will be available on each event website. Further details of how we hold and use personal data for our events are provided in a Privacy Notice, which is available on each events registration page.
5. DIRECT MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
5.1 We may use our legitimate interests to contact relevant business addresses (e.g. firstname.surname@business.co.uk) for marketing purposes without prior agreement, provided we believe the messages will be of interest and relevance to you.
5.2 You have the right at any time to ask us not to use your personal data for marketing purposes (including the disclosure of personal data to third parties for marketing purposes). If you do not wish to receive such communications or wish to object to such transfer to third parties for marketing purposes or to our direct marketing, please contact us at Customer.Service@meritgroup.com
6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF DATA
Merit is a global business which means personal information may be accessed by our group companies or certain service providers from locations outside the European Economic Area (EEA). To ensure your information is given substantially similar protection as are provided in the EEA we use safeguards approved by the European Commission and have in place international data transfer agreements between our companies and our service providers where data is transferred outside the EEA.
7. IP ADDRESSES AND COOKIES
Cookies record the pages visited and the actions performed on our Websites, but do not contain any personal information. From time to time, we may use cookies to administer the Website; track activity on the Website; gather broad demographic information for aggregate use to improve the Website, and to improve the user experience of the Website. For detailed information on the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them see our Cookie Policy.
8. STORAGE AND SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION
8.1 Once we have received your information, we will use, and keep up to date, strict and appropriate measures, procedures and security features (technical or otherwise) to ensure the security of personal information and to try to prevent access by unauthorised persons and any unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage, including the implementation of an appropriate system security policy.
8.2 We retain the information you provide us for marketing purposes for three years from last contact. For all other personal information provided, we retain it for the length necessary for the purposes for which the information was provided and as permitted by applicable laws. Where the information relates to a contract or our legal obligations it is retained for 6 years. We may retain the information once the purpose expired where we have a legitimate business ground to do so. The length of retention will depend on the purposes for which it is retained, though we will endeavour to delete or securely destroy your personal information where we no longer require it.
8.3 Although we take reasonable measures to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to the Websites because this transmission is not under our control.
9. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
The Websites may contain links to other websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites will have their own privacy and cookie policies that will govern the use of information you submit whilst visiting them. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies or the privacy practices of such third party websites. Please check the policies before submitting any personal information to these websites. Your use of third-party websites is at your own risk.
10. ACCESS TO INFORMATION
10.1 We aim to keep any personal information we hold up to date, accurate and error free. Please help us to keep your information accurate and up to date by notifying us of any relevant changes in the personal data we hold about you. You can also ask us to correct any personal data we hold about you.
10.2 You have certain rights to request information we hold about you (known as subject access requests). Any excessive request for such information may be subject to a fee specified by law. Any such request must be made in writing sent to 9th Floor, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9SG or dataprotection@dodsgroup.com.
11. CHILDREN
11.1 We do not and will not knowingly collect information from any unsupervised person under the age of 16. If you are under the age of 16, you must not use the Websites or submit any personal data to us unless you have the consent of, and are supervised by, a parent or guardian.
12. JOB APPLICANTS
We will collect and hold data for any job applications made to any company within our group, including any information you provide to us in your application via email or through our online platform, or provided to us by recruitment agencies, as well as information you provide in interviews, on any professional social media profiles (e.g. LinkedIn) or which any referees you specify might provide. Our basis for doing so is legitimate interests in evaluating candidates, recording our recruitment activities and as necessary to exercise and perform our employment law obligations and rights.
13. CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY
13.1 This Privacy Policy was last updated in July 2023. We keep this Privacy Policy under review and may occasionally make changes to it (including if necessary, as a result of development of the Websites, changes to technologies, legal or regulatory changes etc).
13.2 If we change this Privacy Policy, we will post the changes on this page so that you will be aware of them. Your continued use of the Websites after any such changes will constitute your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy. You should regularly check this page to determine if the Privacy Policy has been updated and to review those changes before deciding whether or not to access (or continue to access) the Websites.
14. YOUR RIGHTS
14.1 You are entitled to ask:
14.1.1 for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and details about how we are processing your personal information;
14.1.2 to have any inaccuracies in your personal information corrected;
14.1.3 if we are processing your personal information by automated means and on the basis of your consent (see “How do we use it?”, above), for us to provide your personal information to you in a structured, commonly-used and machine-readable format. You can also ask us to provide your personal information directly to a third party in this format, and, if technically feasible, we will do so; and
14.1.4 to have your personal information erased, or for our use of it to be restricted (for example, if your preferences change, or if you don’t want us to send you the information you have requested).
14.2 Please note that you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data if we process your data using Legitimate Interests and/or you have the right to withdraw consent at any time if the processing of your personal data is based on consent.
14.3 If you wish to exercise your right to object to all processing for the purposes of direct marketing, please contact us at the address below.
14.4 Please contact us using the details set out below if you would like to exercise any of these rights. You also have the right to make a complaint to the supervisory if you’re not happy with how we’ve handled your personal information. In the UK, the supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner’s Office (http://www.ico.org.uk).
15. CONTACT
Questions, comments and requests regarding this Privacy Policy or Merit Group Plc, Dods Group Limited and Holyrood Communications Limited practices relating to use of your personal information are very welcome and should be addressed to dataprotection@dodsgroup.com or by contacting us at the following address:
Merit Group Plc
9th Floor
The Shard
32 London Bridge Street
London
SE1 9SG
For further information about Merit Data & Technology Limited’s and Letrim Intelligence Services Private Limited’s practices, please contact their Data Protection Officer at dpo.merit@meritgroup.co.uk or at the following address:
Merit Data & Technology
SP 52 3rd Street
Ambattur Industrial Estate
Chennai 600058
India
This privacy policy was last updated in July 2023.