Contact Privacy Statement

RQM+ is committed to processing your data securely and transparently. This privacy notice sets out the types of data that we collect and hold on you as a contact and/or lead. It also sets out how we use that information, how long we keep it for and other relevant information about your data.

RQM+ is aware of its obligations to residents and citizens of the EU under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), of the UK under the Data Protection Act (UKDPA), of the USA under a variety of legislation and acts that include data protection requirements - specifically including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), of Switzerland under the Data Protection Act (DPA) and the Data Protection Ordinance (DPO), and the data protection requirements of residents and citizens of other countries, This privacy notice complies with the requirements of GDPR, UKDPA, CCPA, DPA and DPO and is applicable globally but may be supplemented by additional information on our privacy practices that may be provided as required by applicable laws and regulations via notices provided at the time of data collection. Together, these are referred to as “Data Protection Legislation”.

This notice applies to individuals who are:

• Leads - individuals who have enquired regarding RQM+ services/solutions or individuals who have expressed an interest in RQM+ produced content.
• Contacts - individuals who have provided their consent and details to remain in contact with the company e.g. joined our mailing list.

An individual may be either or both of the above.

DATA CONTROLLER DETAILS

The Company is a data controller, meaning that it determines the processes to be used when using your personal data. The company has appointed Data Protection Officers who are responsible for ensuring your data is stored and processed in accordance with this privacy notice. Data Protection Officers can be contacted at dpo@rqmplus.com 

DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

In relation to your personal data, we will:

• process it fairly, lawfully and in a clear, transparent way
• collect your data only for reasons that we find proper for the course of your enquiry or contact with RQM+ in ways that have been explained to you
• only use it in the way that we have told you about
• ensure it is correct and up to date
• keep your data for only as long as we need it
• process it in a way that ensures it will not be used for anything that you are not aware of or have consented to (as appropriate), lost or destroyed.
  
  

TYPES OF DATA WE PROCESS

We may hold many types of data about you, including:

• your personal details including your name, address, e-mail address, phone numbers
• job title
• job responsibilities
• employer
• country that you reside in
• information accessed and downloaded from company websites
• events attended and met with RQM+ representatives
• RQM+ marketing services you have subscribed to
• records of your contact with RQM+
• marketing material and campaigns that you have shown an interest in.

We do not request, hold or process special categories of data (such health, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, political opinion, religion, trade union membership and genetic and biometric data) or criminal conviction data for leads or contacts.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR DATA

We collect data about you in a variety of ways and we would normally collect the data from you directly. This will usually start when you contact us or talk to us about a business need you or your company has, but can also be when you have provided your details to access and download information from our website, when you have provided your detail to subscribe to receiving e-mails and marketing correspondence from us or shown an interest in specific topics of a marketing campaign. Further information may be collected directly from you as our relationship and correspondence increases.

In addition, data about you may be obtained from other sources including from your colleagues as the person to speak to regarding a business opportunity or need, from publicly available sources or third parties such as LinkedIn, Zoominfo etc. Where this is the case, data that we hold will be limited in nature.

WHY WE PROCESS YOUR DATA

The laws on data protection allows us to process your data. Data Protection Legislation allows us to process your data for certain reasons which are detailed below. The same reasons are applicable globally:

• where we have your consent to do so
• in order to perform the contracts that we are party to
• in order for us to carry out our legitimate interests
• in order to carry out legally required duties
• to protect your interests and
• where something is done in the public interest.

All of the processing carried out by us falls into one or more of the permitted reasons. Generally, we will rely on consent and legitimate interests to process your data.

With your consent, we need to collect your personal data to be able to include you on regular company e-mails and marketing correspondence.

We also collect data so that we can carry out activities which are in the legitimate interests of the Company. We have set these out below:

• discuss and secure future business opportunities
• making decisions regarding marketing activities
• analyse the effectiveness of marketing activities
• market intelligence including analysing the needs and potential need within the life science industry
• maintaining effective correspondence and relationships
• ensuring effective business administration
  
  

IF YOU DO NOT PROVIDE YOUR DATA TO US

There are no consequences if you do not provide your data to us, other than not being able to contact you if you wish us to do so.

SHARING YOUR DATA

Your data will be shared with colleagues within RQM+ where it is necessary for them to undertake their duties. This includes, for example, Business Development who may contact and build relationships with you, Marketing to correspond with you on latest news and thought leadership, RQM+ management and administration to oversee company operations.

We share your data with third parties in order to obtain legal and business support.

We may also share your data with third parties as part of a Company sale or restructure, or for other reasons to comply with a legal obligation upon us.

RQM+ does not and will not sell your data or any personal data to any third party for any reason.

As a globally operating organisation RQM+ may be required to transfer personal data to countries between the USA, EEA, UK and also outside of those countries/jurisdictions. We have put the following measures in place to ensure that your data is transferred securely and that the bodies who receive the data that we have transferred process it in a way required by Data Protection Legislation:

• Using IT systems with data security assurance to access data from overseas
• Utilizing portals and other methods for transferring data securely
• Using encryption if sending high risk data by email
• Data Protection training for overseas data processors
• Procedures for storing and processing data to Data Protection Legislation standards
  
  

PROTECTING YOUR DATA

We are aware of the requirement to ensure your data is protected against accidental loss or disclosure, destruction and abuse. We have implemented processes to guard against such. E.g., backing up our servers, firewalls, access control for personal information, using password protected documents and encryption when transferring sensitive data, hard drive encryption on all laptops, ensuring our IT systems that process personal information are secure to Data Protection Legislation requirements.

Where we share your data with third party suppliers, we ensure that the contracts between RQM+ and the third-party provider provide that your data will be held securely and in line with Data Protection Legislation requirements. Third parties must implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of your data. Where needed, a separate Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is also signed.

HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR DATA FOR

For all Contacts, we obtain your consent to hold your data and will retain your data indefinitely until you inform us that you no longer wish us to do so (by opting out or unsubscribing), or we become aware that the data has changed and is inaccurate.

For leads, we will retain your data as a legitimate business interest in order to contact you to discuss your needs, if any. If we discuss your needs and there is an opportunity for us to talk further, you will be converted to a potential client depending upon the outcome of the contact with you. If there is no opportunity you will remain as a lead. We will keep your data for 6 months before it is deleted.

We also hold data for individuals who do not wish to hear from us and individuals we may not wish to do business with. We have a legitimate business interest in holding this data to ensure that our employees do not contact those individuals inadvertently.

AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING

No decision will be made about you solely on the basis of automated decision making (where a decision is taken about you using an electronic system without human involvement) which has a significant impact on you.

YOUR RIGHTS IN RELATION TO YOUR DATA

Data Protection Legislation gives citizens and residents in certain jurisdictions rights in relation to the data we hold. Although these rights may not be rights to citizens and residents in some countries and jurisdictions where Data Protection Legislation is limited, RQM+ extend these privileges to all. These are:

• the right to be informed. This means that we must inform you what data we hold, how we use your data, data that may be disclosed and this is the purpose of this privacy notice
• the right of access. You have the right to access the data that we hold on you. To do so, you should make a subject access request or if in California, a consumer request
• the right for any inaccuracies to be corrected. If any data that we hold about you is incomplete or inaccurate, you are able to require us to correct it
• the right to have information deleted. If you would like us to stop processing your data, you have the right to ask us to delete it from our systems where you believe there is no reason for us to continue processing it. Under certain circumstances we may not be able to delete your data and where this is the case, we will confirm the reasons to you
• the right to restrict the processing of the data. For example, if you believe the data we hold is incorrect, we will stop processing the data (whilst still holding it) until we have ensured that the data is correct
• the right to portability. You may transfer the data that we hold on you for your own purposes
• the right to object to the inclusion of any information. You have the right to object to the way we use your data where we are using it for our legitimate interests
• the right to regulate any automated decision-making and profiling of personal data. You have a right not to be subject to automated decision making in way that adversely affects your legal rights.
• You will not be discriminated against if you exercise any of your rights as detailed above including:
• Denying services to you
• Charging you a different price for services, including granting discounts or other benefits or imposing penalties
• Providing you with a different level of service
• Suggesting that you may receive a different rate or level of service

Where you have provided consent to our use of your data, you also have the unrestricted right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent means that we will stop processing the data that you had previously given us consent to use. There will be no consequences for withdrawing your consent. However, in some cases, we may continue to use the data where so permitted by having a legitimate reason for doing so.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights explained above, please contact the Data Protection Officers listed above.

MAKING A COMPLAINT

If you think your data protection rights have been breached in any way by us, you should contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@rqmplus.com. If you think your data protection rights under GDPR or UKDPA have been breached in any way by us, you are able to make a complaint to a supervisory authority. In the UK, the supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner (ICO) – ico@org.uk 

ABOUT RQM+

RQM+ as referred to in this document includes the following companies:

• RQM+ Corporation
• Regulatory and Quality Solutions, doing business as RQM+ R&Q
• Regulatory and Quality Solutions West, doing business as RQM+ West
• Maetrics LLC, doing business as RQM+ Maetrics
• Maetrics Limited, trading as RQM+
• Maetrics GmbH, trading as RQM+

Updated October 2021