A Guide to Our Privacy Policy Template

by Kate Mccormick - Solicitor

Our guide to our privacy policy template provides you with step by step instructions on how to fill it out and provide you with any additional information you may need to complete it.

A Guide to Our Privacy Policy Template

This Privacy Policy Template is for use on a non-ecommerce website to set out what personal information and other data is retained by the website from visitors and how the website will process and disclose that personal information and data to third parties, if at all.

Clauses in this Privacy Policy Template

In the first paragraph you will need to enter your web site address and company name. If you process personal data and so are registered under the Data Protection Act of 1998, you should also enter the details of your data controller and nominated representative.

Information We Collect – this clause helps to ensure that visitors are informed about the types of data that may be collected from them e.g. email addresses, number of visits etc. This should include any data that is collected automatically or indirectly, for example from other websites.

Use of Cookies – a cookie is information that is sent to a user’s computer from your web site. Once stored on a computer, every time the user accesses that website or a third party associated website, the website can recognise the cookie and obtain a record of which websites the user has visited. This clause contains information required by law on how and when cookies may be used by your website and stored and accessed on your visitors’ computers. If you use ‘flash cookies’, you should add a sentence to draw this to the attention of your visitors as these are particularly hard to remove from a computer. The cause explains that visitors can choose not to accept cookies but that this may result in them not being able to properly use and access the website.

Use of Your Information – this clause explains why and how your business will use the information that it will collect and store from its users. Clause 3.7 tells the customer that they have the right to opt out of their data being used when they submit information to the website. Alternatively, you can state that if they do not consent to the terms of the Privacy Policy, they should refrain from using the website.

Storing Your Personal Data – under the Data Protection Act, personal data may only be transferred outside of the EEA to a country that has adequate equivalent protections in place or where the subject of the data has consented. This clause informs users that they will be taken to have impliedly consented to the transfer of their data outside of the EEA. The clause assures the user that you will take all necessary to steps to keep the data safe but that you cannot make any guarantee that personal information will not be lost in transmission and so do not accept any liability for this.

Disclosing Your Information – clause 5 explains that personal data may be disclosed to third parties in the circumstances stated.

Third Party Links – this clause draws to the user’s attention the fact that the Privacy Policy only applies to your website and so if they click on any links to third party websites, their data may be collected by them without the visitor knowing it.

Access To Information – there is an obligation in the Data Protection Act to provide people with copies of personal data held about them should they request it, within forty days’ of them making the request. This clause sets out that right and ensures that you can obtain a reasonable fee for processing the request.

Contacting Us – you should enter the address of your company’s registered office or business’s trading address and also your email address here.