A new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect on 25th May 2018. This new regulation changed how businesses, charities and other organisations process personal data. It will mean that Privacy notices will be more transparent, consumer rights will be increased, and data breaches will have to be reported within 72 hours of becoming aware of them.
Consumers will have more control over how their personal data is stored and used with the ability to view their personal data held by an organisation, change that data and, in certain cases, have that data deleted. This privacy policy explains what personal data the Merseyside Amateur Radio Society (the Society) collects, why we hold that data, how we use that data and how you can view, change and delete that data.
Personal data is anything that allows a living person to be directly or indirectly identified. The Society holds a minimal amount of personal data about Members, Trainees, Guests, Suppliers and other organisations. This data has been given freely through membership forms, training application forms, invoices, receipts, visitor's book, phone calls, emails, texts or by some other means.
The personal data that the Society has received from members, suppliers and guests is a person’s name and contact data. The contact data would be one or more of the following:
For amateur radio courses, the Society needs additional information from trainees through an RSGB Candidate Application Form (RSGB Ref: EX200 CAF-All levels – July 2017). Trainee personal data given using this form will be administered by the trainers and kept separately from other personal data.
All members’ personal data is to be confirmed on renewal of membership after the AGM.
In the event of a member not renewing membership their details will be maintained, for up to a year, as a lapsed member of the society.
After one year only the ex-member's full name, together with their joining and leaving dates, will be kept as a record for future reference.
Only current committee members have access to the personal data of members, suppliers and guests.
Only trainers have access to trainee personal data.
Any requests for Personal information must have a legitimate reason which must be confirmed by reference to the individual member, supplier, volunteer, guest or trainee to provide the reason for the request and to seek permission to use their data.
The Society uses the personal data for communication purposes to keep members of the Society informed of events, administration of supply contracts, and to advise members of the Society’s affairs.
The Society will endeavour to keep all information as up-to-date as possible and will send reminders to this effect at least once a year.
The Society receive occasional requests from the RSGB to confirm that a person is a member. Typically, this is for RSGB competition administration. The information released is the member’s name, callsign and membership status.
Trainee personal data will be used solely to administer training courses and for submission to the RSGB (and subsequently to Ofcom) for examination and licence administration.
The Society holds personal contact data in a spreadsheet maintained by the Society’s Treasurer. All members on our database will be contacted by email (or letter in those cases where we hold no email address) with a copy of this policy and a request to reply to the Treasurer giving consent to the Society holding their personal data. The Society will not make any personal information available to third parties without the consent of the person concerned.
A member may, at any time, request to see what information the Society keep about them by contacting the Society’s Treasurer or Secretary.
Members may, at any time, request the removal of their personal information from the database by contacting the Society’s Treasurer or Secretary. It should be noted that in order to remain a member of the Society, the member’s name and some form of contact information will need to be held in the database.
The Society will report any data breaches of personal data to the relevant authorities within 72 hours of becoming aware of a data breach. An investigation into the breach will be carried out by the Committee, and its findings will be reported to the membership.
Details of the breach will be reported to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office), which is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold personal information rights.
Data Protection Links
May 2023 - Document initially drafted for committee approval.
March 2024 - Revised document approved by the committee.