Privacy statement

This privacy statement was last updated: 3 October 2006

This page sets out the National Consumer Agency's policy with regard to the privacy of the users of the www.consumerconnect.ie and www.NCA.ie websites. By visiting these websites you are agreeing to the terms of this privacy statement. If you are not happy with the terms of this privacy statement and do not wish your information to be recorded, you may wish to leave this site.

The NCA respects the rights of its users and, except for the following list, does not collect personal information on its websites:

Statistical information gathered automatically when you visit the websites
Information provided voluntarily during subscription to NCA email alerts from any of the above two websites

Information gathered automatically when you visit the NCA websites

For general web browsing, certain information is recorded in the website log files, which may include:

The top-level domain name from which you access the internet
The IP address of the computer from which you access the websites
The date and time each computer accesses the websites
The pages accessed and the documents downloaded by each computer
The type and version of the browsers being used to access the websites
The addresses of any third-party webpages which refer visitors to our websites
Keywords used in search engines and directories to find our websites
Keywords and phrases used to search our websites

This information is used for statistical purposes only, including:

To find out how many people are visiting our sites
To identify what pages are accessed most frequently
To help us improve the information we are supplying to our users
To make our site more user friendly

This information is made available to an agent of the NCA who provides an analysis and reporting service to the NCA. This agent is registered with the Data Protection Commission and has provided written confirmation to the NCA that they will comply with the relevant data protection obligations by keeping information secure and not using it for any purpose other than which it was provided.

An archive of these website log files and associated analysis and reports are retained indefinitely in the NCA as a way of measuring patterns of website traffic over the years and in order to facilitate future planning.

Cookies

A cookie is a block of data that a web server places on a user's PC. Typically it is used to ease navigation through the site. However, it is also a useful means of the website tracking the user's path through the site, and identifying repeat visits to the site by the same user (or same user's machine). This can then help the website owner to, for instance, identify common navigation paths taken through the website or to draw a user's attention to previously unvisited content.

The NCA websites do set cookies to track visitor sessions. If you do not want to accept cookies you can adjust your browser settings as most browsers can be set to prevent them being downloaded.

Information provided voluntarily during subscription to NCA email alerts

Some pages of these websites allow you to subscribe to the NCA email alert system.

If you use the subscription form to subscribe to alerts your email address is automatically added to the subscriber database. Alternatively, if you send an email request to subscribe to these alerts, your email address is received by a member of the Communications Department in the NCA who adds your name to the subscriber database.

We will only use your email address for sending you communications for which you have specifically subscribed or requested. All email newsletters include details of how you can unsubscribe.

An email address is the only information required in order to complete your subscription. Where you voluntarily provide additional information during the subscription process (such as name, address or job description) this information will either be deleted or used purely for statistical purposes.

Subscriber lists are kept on a server belonging to and administered by an agent of the NCA who provides the email alert software to the NCA. This agent is registered with the Data Protection Commission and has provided written confirmation to the NCA that they will comply with the relevant data protection obligations by keeping information secure and not using it for any purpose other than which it was provided.

For backup purposes, copies of email alert subscriber lists are stored on secure servers to which a limited number of NCA personnel or their agents have access via the internal network.

Disclosure of personal information

The NCA will not disclose a user's personal information to any other party, unless:

It is required to do so by law, or
It is necessary in order to complete the user's request or answer the user's query

Security of your personal information

Due to the nature of the internet we cannot guarantee the security of any information while it is being transmitted to us via the internet.

However, we take our security responsibilities very seriously and take all reasonable steps (both technical and organisational) to protect your personal details once they have been received by the NCA.

Staff who have access to personal information gathered from the websites are made aware of data protection responsibilities. Names of the NCA staff members who have access to this information are available on request.
Information that is no longer in use is retained on backup tape for no longer than one year.

Your right of access to personal information

You may inform us of any changes in your personal data and, in accordance with our obligations under the Data Protection Acts 1998 and 2003, we will update or delete your personal data accordingly.

To find out what personal data we hold on you or to have your personal data updated, amended or removed from our files please contact us using the details below.