1. Privacy Policy

In this Privacy Policy, you will find information about the types of personal data we collect regarding you (“you”, “your”), how and why we process such personal data, with whom we may share such information, as well as how we protect your information.

In this Privacy Policy, we also describe the processes by which you may contact us in order to exercise your rights, in accordance with applicable law, to: (1) access, correct, restrict, or delete your personal data;
(2) object to the processing of certain aspects of your personal data; and
(3) ask any questions you may have about our privacy practices. Please take note as well that certain of the practices described in this Privacy Policy are necessary and/or integral, to our operations and our provision of products and services that you request from us. Where specifically noted below, exercising your rights as described herein may affect our ability to continue providing products and services as requested.

This Privacy Policy may be updated and/or otherwise revised periodically to reflect changes in our data processing practices and/or policies. We will post notices of all such changes on our applicable websites and/or materials and the “Effective Date” noted above will indicate when this Privacy Policy was most recently revised. Except as may be otherwise required under applicable law, revisions to this Privacy Policy will be effective on the Effective Date noted without any other notice or approval by you. In certain jurisdictions, applicable law may require additional processes and procedures, in which case, revisions to this Privacy Policy will not be effective until we have met our obligations accordingly.

Corrosion India is committed to maintaining the privacy of all users of our internet services. This Privacy Policy outlines our policies and practices regarding the collection and use of your personal information (also known as personally identifiable information or personal data) when you visit the Corrosion India website or use Corrosion India internet services. Our internet services include, but are not limited to, discussion forums, newsletters and electronic subscription publications, and other internet-based features.

This Privacy Policy applies to users who are Corrosion India members as well as non-members.

2. Personal Data and Special Categories of Data

For the purpose of performing Corrosion India’s information and related services with respect to surface preparation, coating selection, coating application, environmental regulations, and health and safety issues that affect the protective coatings industry (as further detailed below, the “Services”), we collect the types of personal information described below (“Personal Data”).

Personal Information – The personal information we collect about you depends on how you choose to use our website and our services. As a result, we may collect personal details about you, including without limitation legal name, place of residence, telephone and fax numbers, email addresses, birthdate, age, employment-related information (including without limitation employer, position, time of service etc.), education-related information (including without limitation high school and college transcripts, majors, etc.), banking information (including without limitation credit card and checking information), other certification-related information and may include your IP address.

Special Categories of Data (Consent) – We may ask our members and customers if they are members of any trade unions and such information shall be processed solely as described in Section 4(c) below. Additionally, we may collect the first name of the spouse of each of our Board Members as further detailed below. To the extent such spousal information reveals information about your sexual orientation, such Personal Data may constitute a special category of data under the GDPR.

Cookies – Website usage information is collected using cookies.

3. How Corrosion India collects and uses Personal Information

As described in more detail below, we collect general information about the use of our website as well as any Personal Information that you provide on the site. The Personal Information we collect depends on how you choose to use our website and our services. We will not distribute this Personal Information in a manner inconsistent with this Privacy Policy unless required to do so by law, or in good faith belief that such action is permitted by law and is necessary to comply with a legal requirement or process such as civil and criminal subpoenas and court orders, to protect and defend the rights or property of Corrosion India, or to protect the personal safety of Corrosion India personnel or the general public.

We collect Personal Data in a variety of ways including, without limitation: via phone call, our website (including without limitation when you sign up for courses, apply for certification or a scholarship, purchase a product or service, register for a conference or event, register for training or other educational course, submit your name for a committee or board position or for other employment with us, etc.), information submitted via email, physical mail, online or physical questionnaires or forms, business cards collected by Corrosion India and/or our affiliates or service providers while at events, conferences, or otherwise, orally, or otherwise collected by us during our provision of services in the ordinary course of business. We may also collect Personal Data from third-party sources, with the understanding that we take steps to obtain assurances from such sources that you gave your consent to the sharing of such information when you provided such information to such third party.

Personal Data Processing, Use and Data Retention – Subject always to your rights as set forth in Section 9 below:

We are headquartered in the United States of America. Personal Data may be accessed by us or transferred to us in the United States. The European Commission has not determined that the United States ensures an adequate level of protection for Personal Data. By providing us with Personal Data, you consent to this transfer. We will protect the privacy and security of Personal Data according to this Privacy Policy, regardless of where it is processed or stored. By providing us with Personal Data, you consent to the storage or processing of Personal Data in the United States and acknowledge that the Personal Data will be subject to the laws of the United States, including the ability of governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of the United States to obtain disclosure of your Personal Data.

We process Personal Data in various ways depending upon your use of our websites. We process Personal Data on the following bases: (1) with your consent; (2) as necessary to perform a contract when you request services; and (3) as necessary for our legitimate interests in providing you with our products and services, enhancing our web services, conducting analytics and delivering relevant advertising.

• Corrosion India Services– “Corrosion India Services” hereunder include: Corrosion India membership services for individuals and entities who have registered and paid for Corrosion India membership, audits and certifications of contractors against specified standards, setting up, and operating, conferences and events for people in our industry under the Corrosion India banner, or for others, industry certifications for individuals and entities (including publishing a searchable, public directories of certified individuals and entities), and selling and offering industry-related online courses . We use Personal Data that we collect hereunder as necessary to provide the Corrosion India Services as requested by you, including without limitation processing applications and registrations to participate in Corrosion India Services (membership, certification, classes, conferences, etc.) communicating with you about the Corrosion India Services, and providing you with the benefits of Corrosion India Services.

• Directories– Certain aspects of Corrosion India Services will involve the publication of Personal Data in a directory format. In many cases, we view such publication as a necessary and integral part of providing you with the benefits of the Corrosion India Service you have requested. For example, one of the benefits of successfully completing a Corrosion India certification program, is that we will declare your certification publicly by adding your Personal Data (name, contact information, gender, company affiliation, position, educational experience and other certifications) to a public, searchable online directory so that individuals and companies seeking to engage the services of certified individuals and contractors can contact you. Similarly, when you become an Corrosion India member, we will include all of your relevant Personal Data for contacts in a restricted access membership directory (e.g., name, title, company affiliation, mailing address, email address and phone number) which can only be accessed through our website by other members. Also, when you register to participate as an exhibitor at one of our conferences or events, we will include you in a directory of exhibitors that may be published/made available through our website, other promotional materials promoting the conference or event and/or distributed or made available to attendees. In other instances, we may identify you by name, title, company affiliation, and/or mailing address when you join our Board, our Advisory Council or one of our SME Committees. In addition, Advisory Council directory publications may also include the email address and country information for Council members. In some cases we are required by applicable law to identify you (e.g., certain tax filings require listing of Board members) and in other cases we will do so when there is a legitimate interest that is addressed by such identification that is not overridden by your data protection rights as required by applicable law (e.g., publication of basic identifying information for participation in SME Committees to satisfy legitimate interests to establish credibility, accountability, transparency, etc.). In other cases, when required, we will ask for your express consent to our inclusion of your Personal Data in directories (for example, when required we will ask for you consent to include specified Personal Data in an attendee directory provided to interested exhibitors when you register to attend one of our conferences or other events).

• Union Membership (Consent) – We may collect information about you regarding your union membership status or affiliation. We process this information solely for purposes of determining union status so that we may offer you special union-member discounts, to verify your eligibility to participate in union-specific programming that we may offer, and to send you invitations and other marketing materials and communications in connection with the foregoing. We will only process such information for such purposes with your express consent.

• Accounting and Billing– We may use Personal Data for our own administrative, accounting, and business needs including billing, invoicing, internal accounting and record-keeping requirements as well as other related administrative and business purposes. Certain processing is undertaken as necessary to complete a contract for services (collecting payments, making payments for authorized transactions such as membership fees, registration fees, payment for services rendered, etc.). In other instances, our processing of Personal Data as described in this paragraph is required for us to fulfill legal obligations to which we are subject (e.g., record keeping mandated by applicable law).

• Scholarships – We may offer, from time to time, scholarships to pre-college, college and/or post-college students (“Scholarships”). We use Personal Data that we collect hereunder as necessary for purposes of our Scholarships as requested by you including without limitation, processing your application, contacting you regarding the Scholarship and otherwise as necessary in connection with the Scholarships. You acknowledge and agree that only Corrosion India members (or their children or grandchildren) are eligible for our Scholarships. Therefore, if you are applying for a Scholarship, you agree that you will either have satisfied the membership requirement before you apply for a Scholarship or, if not, then for your convenience and with your express consent, when we process your application for a Scholarship, we will use Personal Data that you provide as part of your application to enroll you in a free student membership with Corrosion India. We will ask for your express consent before using your Personal Data to enroll you in a free student membership as described above, and you are free to grant, or withhold, such consent. In the event that you withhold, refuse or withdraw your consent with respect to the foregoing, your scholarship application will still be processed and reviewed, but you must still meet all of the eligibility criteria to be considered.

• Corrosion India Service Roles – As part of the Services, we hire and/or locate instructors, teachers and speakers, seek and obtain candidates for our board, seek and obtain members for certain “subject matter expert” committees and advisory councils related to our industry, and grant certain people the right to our courses on our website for their own purposes (collectively, the “Corrosion India Service Roles”). We use Personal Data that we collect hereunder as necessary in connection with the Corrosion India Service Roles as may be requested by you from time to time, including without limitation communicating with you about the Corrosion India Service Roles, sharing your name and other Personal Data to identify you as a candidate for Board Membership on ballots, completing and processing applications for board, committee and/or council positions, paying you (if applicable) in connection with the Corrosion India Service Roles, and otherwise as necessary in connection with the Corrosion India Service Roles.

• Legitimate Interests – We may also use Personal Data collected hereunder in circumstances other than as expressly described above in connection with the services we provide and/or our own operations; provided, however that any such additional processing may only occur when there is a legitimate interest to do so that is not overridden by your data protection rights as required by applicable law. The types of processing/uses contemplated hereunder may include, without limitation, for our own administrative and business needs, audits and self-assessments for compliance with applicable laws, regulations, court order, and applicable firm or Employer policies, for information technology purposes including without limitation trouble shooting, business continuity, disaster recover, data backup and recovery.

• Personal Data Retention – We generally retain Personal Data in accordance with and for the time periods required by our document retention/filing polices and applicable retention requirements imposed on us by applicable law, rule, regulation or court order, unless there is reasonable basis for retaining such data for a longer period (including, without limitation, in connection with the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims).

a. General Website Usage Information
To monitor site usage and improve the quality of our website, we gather general information about the use of our website. We use web server logs and industry-standard website statistics software to count the number of visitors to our website, the number of views of particular pages, and to track other general statistics. We do not track individual users on our website.

b. Information Collected to Process Payment Transactions
When users of our website or our internet services apply for or renew membership, order products, and register for courses, conferences or other events, they will be required to create a user profile where we will acquire Personal Information necessary to process the transaction. This may include your name, address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, and credit card number or other payment information. Payment information is only collected to process a transaction, using a secure transmission method, and it is stored in an encrypted format. Reasonable measures are taken while processing transactions to ensure that payment information is not vulnerable to theft or interception. Corrosion India will not store or distribute your payment information in any manner that is not necessary to process a transaction.

c. Email Addresses
When contacting Corrosion India at any of the email addresses used for member and non-member customer assistance, we may ask for certain Personal Information, such as your member ID number, name, email address, telephone number, or fax number. When collected for this purpose, the information is used to verify identity and to provide the assistance you are requesting. Users can update their Personal Information, change their passwords, and customize email delivery preferences by logging into their profile or emailing support@corrosionindia.org.

d. User Information
Corrosion India offers member users certain features and services through restricted access to members-only content on our website. All users can access and update their User Profile, which consists of Personal Information we have collected from each user as part of their membership application, membership renewal, registration for an event, or subscription to an internet service. Users can update their Personal Information, change their passwords, and customize email delivery preferences. User Profiles are maintained for every user in our database. Users can elect to keep their profile information private from other users; and non-member users cannot view or access any User Profiles.

e. Marketing
If a user has consented, we may use Personal Information to distribute marketing materials to users by mail, fax, or email. Users are always free to withdraw consent by contacting us at support@corrosionindia.org. If you have received a marketing email, you may withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link you will find in every email.
However, electing not to receive any of these communications may mean that you will not receive important notices about your membership, events, or services that may be useful to you.

f. Directory
Corrosion India provides its members with a Membership Directory. Members may request that their Personal Information not be included in the Corrosion India Membership Directory.
If you are a member and wish to elect to not be included in the Membership Directory, please contact us at support@corrosionindia.org.

g. Information Collected to Secure Access to Members Only Content
Corrosion India requires a login and password for each member who wishes to access the members-only content online. We use the login and password to verify members’ identities and prevent unauthorized access to members’ Personal Information. Only a small number of Corrosion India employees have access to this information. This information is accessed only when necessary, to provide members with online account-related information, provide technical support to members, or diagnose or repair problems with members-only content, and is not otherwise disclosed to anyone, other than the member or his or her designee, unless compelled by law.
We also allow users to elect to have the website remember their login information between visits so they do not have to log in each time. This is done by checking a box labeled “Remember me” on the login page. This feature requires the placement of a small text file called a persistent cookie (see next section) on the member’s hard drive. The cookie tells the site that the member has logged in before. It does not actually contain the member’s password or other login information.

h. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Several portions of the Corrosion India website use cookies or other tracking technologies. Cookies are small data files that are sent by a website and stored on your computer. Cookies are used by most websites. Cookies can contain information about your use of our site, but they are not used to identify or track you personally. Cookies that you receive from the Corrosion India website do not contain any Personal Information. We do not use cookies for advertising or other usage tracking purposes. The Corrosion India site uses cookies only when they offer significant convenience or added benefit to you, or when the software used to provide the features of our website require them in order to function properly. These features include the members’-only content and our shopping cart for course and conference registration, ordering of products or services, and dues payment.

Most Web browsers have a setting to turn off the automatic acceptance of cookies. If you do not want to accept cookies from our website, use the internet Options or Preferences menu items in your browser to turn cookies off or receive warnings when cookies are sent to your computer. However, you should be aware that significant portions of our website will not function properly if you do not accept cookies.

Optional Data Processing

In addition to processing Personal Data in the ways set forth above, you may also choose to allow us to use certain Personal Data at your direction and/or with your express consent, as detailed below. The types of data processing described in this Section 5 are not necessary or integral to the performance of Corrosion India Services and we will not use Personal Data for such optional purposes except as expressly set forth in this Section herein;

• Information Requested– If you request information about us or our products and/or services, you may elect to provide Personal Data. We will use such Personal Data to respond to your request.

• Marketing (Consent)– From time to time we may offer you the option of signing up, or having us sign you up, for various mailing lists, emailing list or other directory-related list used to send communications from us for purposes of keeping our members and prospective members updated with respect to developments in our Services, our industry, conferences that we or our service providers operate, or otherwise (“Marketing Updates”). In order to register you on such lists, we will ask for your Personal Data. We will specifically ask for your consent to use such Personal Data on an opt-in basis and contact you with such Marketing Updates from time to time.

• Information Provided by Non-Members– From time-to-time customers of our services or products and visitors to our websites, conferences and other programs (in each case who are not members of ours), may provide us with Personal Data, and we may keep such Personal Data and use it to market and communicate with such persons about our products and services; provided that we will ask for your express consent to use such Personal Data for such purposes.

4. Sharing of personal information

Corrosion India may share your Personal Information with third parties that we employ from time to time to assist us in processing memberships, processing certifications, processing payments, marketing, and managing events and classes. Those third parties will have access to certain Personal Information to the extent necessary to perform those services for us. We limit the use of all such Personal Information by these third parties to the performance of such services. We take reasonable steps to obligate these third parties to handle Personal Information appropriately and confidentially.
As explained above, if you are a Corrosion India member and have consented, Corrosion India may share your name and contact information with other Corrosion India members in our Membership Directory.

Onward Transfers – Data We Share with Others. We will not sell, share, transfer, disclose, rent, use, or distribute Personal Data hereunder for purposes other than as set forth in this Privacy Policy unless required by law or as expressly authorized by a Data Controller as described above.

• Performance of Services – In order for us to perform Services we disclose Personal Data hereunder to third parties as we may be directed in the course of providing Services.

• Advisory Committees (Consent)– We may provide Personal Data to our international Advisory Committees for the purpose of allowing such committees to communicate with our members and customers about committee activities, participation and potential participation on Advisory Committees. We process Personal Data in this manner only with your express consent.

• International Licensees and Resellers (Consent)– We may provide Personal Data to our international resellers and licensees so that such resellers and licenses may market their respective products and services with respect to Corrosion India course content to you. We process Personal Data in this manner only with your express consent.

• Service Providers (Consent) –We may provide Corrosion India Services, or otherwise process Personal Data as detailed above, using third-party service providers we have retained to support us. Such service providers include, without limitation, those who assist us in providing information technology services, training, audits, magazine circulation, backing up of Personal Data, billing services, membership certifications and other similar services. These entities may be located inside, or outside, the European Economic Area. We take steps to require that such service providers protect Personal Data transferred to them in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy. The information shared with each is limited only to that information required for that entity to fulfil its role in assisting us with the performance of the actions described above. Where we have knowledge that a service provider processes your Personal Data in a manner contrary to this Privacy Policy, we will take reasonable steps to prevent or stop such processing. Where applicable law requires us to obtain your consent to use such third party service providers, you acknowledge that refusal to provide your consent, or withdrawal of your consent, may affect or prevent our ability to provide Services, and that our engagement may need to be terminated for lack of such consent.

• Exigent Circumstances– In addition to the disclosures set forth above, we will disclose Personal Data about you: (1) if we are required to do so by law or legal process, (2) to law enforcement authorities or other government officials, (3) when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity; or (4) if necessary, to protect the vital interests of any person.

Transfers to Other Third-Country Transferees – Personal Data may be shared with third-country transferees for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. When required by GDPR, we may transfer Personal Data to third-country transferees on the basis of: (1) standard contractual clauses for data protection which have been approved for as the basis for transfers of Personal Data to third-countries by the European Commission; (2) binding corporate rules or codes of conduct approved under the terms of the GDPR; (3) when we transfer Personal Data to other organizations in the U.S., we may rely on those other organization’s participation in the EU-US Privacy Shield; or (4) the fact that the European Commission has issued a finding of adequacy with respect to privacy laws in such third country transferee’s jurisdiction. For further information, including to obtain a copy of the applicable documents used to protect your information as set forth above, please contact us as described above.

5. Access to information and correction

Users can access and change their profiles by signing into their accounts. Users may also delete their account by selecting this setting in their profile.

At a user’s request, we will inform a user what Personal Information we have stored about the user and explain why that information is stored. If we have incorrect information about you, we will correct it promptly upon recognition or at your request. In these cases, please contact us at support@corrosionindia.org.

At a user’s request, we will inform a user what Personal Information we have stored about the user and explain why that information is stored. If we have incorrect information about you, we will correct it promptly upon recognition or at your request. In these cases, please contact us at support@corrosionindia.org. If deletion of your data is not possible for technical or legal reasons, we will block the respective data instead.

6. Retention of personal information

Corrosion India will retain the Personal Information for 12 years or indefinitely for certification holders.