Privacy Policy
- Information relating to the race, nationality or ethnic origin, religion, age or marital status of the individual;
- Information relating to the education or the medical, criminal or employment history of the individual or information relating to the financial transactions in which the individual has been involved or which refers to the individual;
- Any identifying number, symbol or other particular designed to identify the individual;
- The address and telephone contact number of the individual;
- The name of the individual where it appears with other personal information about the individual;
- Correspondence sent to an establishment by the individual that is explicitly or implicitly of a private or confidential nature, and any replies to such correspondence which would reveal the contents of the original correspondence.
- The views and opinions of any other person about the individual; or
- The fingerprints, deoxyribonucleic acid, blood type or the biometric characteristics of the individual;
Introduction
Your privacy is important. This Privacy Policy explains how we, the ACS Secretariat hereinafter referred to as “ACS”, handle your personal information in connection with the website, application (including a mobile application), or service that links to this Privacy Policy and the administration of the employment relationship with our employees (we call these our “Services”). It applies generally to the following groups:
- General End users (including official stakeholders, prospective partners and users);
- Employees;
- Third party Government, Non-Governmental and business partners; and
- Other individuals who interact with us or whose personal information we maintain.
The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you of the type of personal data we collect and process, as well as the legal basis and purposes of such processing. The Privacy Policy also provides information about your rights as data subject.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to any website, application, or service that links to its own privacy policy or that is offered by third parties, in which clicking on third party links or enabling those connections may allow the third party to collect, use, or share data about you. We encourage you to read their respective privacy statements.
By using our services, you consent to our privacy policy.
Who is the ACS?
The Association of Caribbean States is a product of the desire of the 35 Contracting States, Countries and Territories of the Greater Caribbean to enhance cooperation within the region, an initiative aimed at building upon obvious geographic proximity and well-documented historical linkages. As stated in the Convention Establishing the ACS, its primary purpose is to be an organization for “consultation, cooperation and concerted action” for its member countries. Its framework provides a forum for political dialogue that allows Members the opportunity to identify areas of common interest and concern that may be addressed at the regional level, and the solutions for which can be found through cooperation.
Our administrative contact details are:
ACS Secretariat
5-7 Sweet Briar Road, St. Clair, P.O. Box 660, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies
Tel: (868) 622 9575
What personal information do you collect and process?
The ACS collects, stores and processes the following categories of personal data:
- Identification and contact data (such as name, email address, telephone numbers, job title, organisation, professional postal address)
- Information required for the organisation of meetings for which the data subject has registered (such as ID information, date of birth and nationality for security purposes, travel information for logistics purposes)
- CV information for recruitment of staff or election of office bearers
- Other information you voluntarily submit
In particular the ACS collects personal data in various ways including through:
- Email, postal and telephone contacts
- Subscription to our content
- Registration to our events
- Surveys
- Contact forms or comments on our website
- Business cards
- Information available in the public domain such as institutional directories (e.g. state government portals, etc.)
Generating and capturing information – The ACS Website, applications and subdomains or portals.
By accessing any ACS Service, ACS Internet Application, ACS web portal or related public content, certain information about the User, such as Internet protocol (IP) addresses along with other similar information, will be generated and collected by us. These data sets will not specifically identify a User, will normally be used for statistical purposes and will not be published for general access.
The use of ACS Services is possible without providing any personal data. However, some data is collected through the following functions:
- Registration forms:
We use the personal data submitted through the registration forms for the sole purpose of event management and to facilitate any related protocol or logistics requirements.
- Cookies
We automatically collect personal information about you when you interact with us by using cookies and other similar technologies. 4.3.
- Embedded content and links to other websites
Our Services, content, e-newsletters and mailings may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.) or links to other sites. If you click on a third-party link you will be redirected to that site. Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other websites. These external sites are not managed by the ACS. Therefore, we strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of those websites. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites. 4.4.
- Analytics
Some ACS Content or Services may employ the use of Google Analytics to collect any analytics data from users. This page describes the types of cookies and other technologies used by Google. https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies?hl=en
- Registration forms:
How and why do you use personal information?
We may use and process personal information from data subjects for various purposes and different legal reasons (also called legal bases) in the process of serving and addressing the interests, needs and demands of our member states and associate members, partners and external stakeholders. This table provides the purposes and legal reasons for processing that personal information:
Purpose Legal Basis To fulfil our contractual obligations, including to register your account and provide our Services and to fulfill our obligations as an employer Our performance of a contract or delivery of a service. Communicate with you about our Services and process related transactions As outlined in your consents or instructions. For any purpose with your consent or to follow your instructions To pursue legitimate interests. To operate, improve, and/or personalize our Services, corporate networks and devices, offices, events, and related infrastructure Our performance of a contract or delivery of a service. Develop new products, services, content, and other offerings As outlined in your consents or instructions. Monitor the usage of our Services, corporate networks and devices, offices, events, and related infrastructure To pursue legitimate interests. Audit usage of our Services, corporate networks and devices, offices, events, and related infrastructure, including consumer interactions Ensure the security of our Services, corporate networks and devices, offices, events, and related infrastructure Manage our internal operations (such as conference and protocol, event management, administration,) Provide our Services to third parties where our Services and content includes your personal information. To enable you to partake in a competition, or complete a survey Exercise our rights and/or protect our or others’ rights or property To pursue legitimate interests Advance our other academic and economic interests as permitted by law To comply with our legal obligations For other purposes as required by or permitted by law To protect your vital interests or those of another person or entity Who do you share personal information with?
- Member and partner entities.
- Third parties and users where the Services and content includes your personal information, such as when we aggregate information from various public and private sources to create listings, reports, profiles, and directories (, in which this content may be made available to all users of those Services.
- With government agencies and third parties involved partners for specific purposes such as event organization or project report dissemination.
- With law enforcement, government agencies, or other third parties in order to comply with any law, court order, legal request, or other legal process, as well as to enforce our agreements or protect the rights, property, or safety of our operations, employees, member states, stakeholders, or others (including for the purposes of cybersecurity and fraud protection).
- With others when necessary to fulfill your consents or to follow your instructions.
Where do you store personal information?
While Personal information is stored in premises, facilities, equipment, or machinery under the control of the Secretariat. The ACS is a regional diplomatic organization so your personal information may be transferred outside of your home country and may be stored in and accessed from multiple countries. When you interact with us, you authorize us to transfer your personal information outside of your home country and you acknowledge the risk that we may transfer your personal information to countries that may provide less protection than your home country’s privacy laws and we may not be able to prevent government authorities in some countries from accessing your personal information.
What rights do I have over my personal information?
Your local privacy laws may grant you rights with respect to your personal information, and we will not knowingly discriminate against you because you have exercised any of your privacy rights. These rights differ based on the local laws that apply to you, but could include one or more of the following:
- Right to confirm we process your personal information and, if so, to access, correct, complete, object to or restrict the processing of, and delete certain personal information we hold about you, including the rights to receive your personal information in a portable copy. To submit a request, please contact us
- To opt-out of marketing emails from us, in which you may click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email that you receive from us.
Furthermore, during our events pictures may be taken, and videos may be recorded. These materials could be used for communication purposes and may also be uploaded to our Services and third-party supplier platforms or social media channels such as Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Should you wish not to feature in those materials, please contact us
IMPORTANT: These rights are not absolutely guaranteed and there are several exceptions where we may not have an obligation to fulfill your request. We are only required to honor these rights to the extent we act as a controller of that data and the requested rights have been granted and apply to you under applicable data protection laws. Please consult your local data protection laws to determine what rights may be available to you and when access to these rights is limited. You may appeal an adverse decision on your requests by emailing or writing to us; and you have the right to lodge a complaint to your local regulator if you are not satisfied with our responses to your requests or how we manage your personal information. However, we encourage you to first contact us so we can address your concerns directly.
What steps do you take to secure personal information?
We work to implement technical and organizational measures designed to protect the security of personal information. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, IT and internal staff procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect, store and process.
We are not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or cybersecurity measures contained on our Services, and any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. Therefore, you agree to hold the ACS harmless from liability.
How long do you retain personal information?
We retain personal information as required by our enterprise records retention schedule, which varies by Service, business function, country, record classes, and record types. We calculate the retention period based upon the time the personal information is needed to: (a) fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, (b) meet the timelines required or recommended by regulators, professional bodies, or associations, (c) comply with applicable laws, legal holds, and other legal obligations (including contractual obligations), and (d) comply with your requests.
Immunity
Nothing contained in this Privacy Policy shall operate or be regarded as a waiver, renunciation or modification of any right, privilege or immunity of the ACS under the Convention establishing the Association of Caribbean States, international instruments or any other applicable laws.
Contact information
If you have any doubt or question regarding our privacy policy, please email.
