Privacy Policy
Effective date: October 17, 2022
professionaldesignations.com (the "Site") is owned and operated by Professional Designations Corp. Professional Designations Corp is the data controller and can be contacted at:
info@professionaldesignations.com
1600 Golf Road, Suite 1200, Rolling Meadows, IL, 60008, USA
Purpose
The purpose of this privacy policy (this "Privacy Policy") is to inform users of our Site of:
- The personal data we will collect
- Use of the collected data
- Who has access to the data collected
- The rights of Site users
- The Site's cookie policy
This Privacy Policy applies along with the terms and conditions on our Site.
GDPR
For users in the European Union, we adhere to the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR"). For users in the United Kingdom, we adhere to the GDPR as enshrined in the Data Protection Act 2018.
We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer because we do not fall within the categories of controllers and processors required to appoint a Data Protection Officer under Article 37 of the GDPR.
Consent
By using our Site users agree that they consent to:
- The conditions set out in this Privacy Policy
A Legal Basis for Processing
We collect and process personal data about users in the EU only when we have a legal basis for doing so under Article 6 of the GDPR.
We rely on the following legal basis to collect and process the personal data of users in the EU:
- Processing of user personal data is necessary for us or a third party to pursue a legitimate interest. Our legitimate interest is not overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of users. Our legitimate interest(s) are: Managing users' examination services, including scheduling the user's exam, delivering and proctoring the exam to the user, storing the exam result, and issuing and maintaining digital exam verification records, such as certificates and digital badges.
Personal Data We Collect
We only collect data that helps us achieve the purpose set out in this Privacy Policy. We will not collect any additional data beyond the data listed below without first notifying you.
Data Collected Automatically
When you visit and use our Site, we may automatically collect and store the following information:
- IP address
- Location
- Hardware and software details
- Clicked links
- Content viewed
Data Collected in a Non-Automatic Way
We may also collect the following data when you perform certain functions on our Site.
- First and last name
- Email address
- Business-specific transactional data such as exam reservations and exam results
This data may be collected using the following methods:
- Creating an account based on information provided by the user to an authorized training organization that, in turn, requests an exam on behalf of the user
How We Use Personal Data
Data collected on our Site will only be used for the purposes specified in this Privacy Policy or indicated on the relevant pages of our Site. We will not use your data beyond what we disclose in this Privacy Policy.
The data we collect automatically is used for the following purposes.
- Statistics for non-authenticated users
- Session data for authenticated users
The data we collect when the user performs certain functions may be used for the following purposes:
- Exam reservations
- Exam results storage and retrieval
- Publishing digital credentials on behalf of users who request them
- Communication
Who We Share Personal Data with
Employees
We may disclose user data to any member of our organization who reasonably needs access to user data to achieve the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.
Third Parties
We may share user data with the following third parties:
- An exam proctoring service
- An exam hosting service
- A digital credentialing service
We may share the following user data with third parties:
- First and last name, email address, and exam details
We may share user data with third parties for the following purposes:
- Scheduling exam reservations
- Retrieving exam results
- Requesting and publishing digital credentials
Third parties will not be able to access user data beyond what is reasonably necessary to achieve the given purpose.
Other Disclosures
We will not sell or share your data with other third parties, except in the following cases:
- If the law requires it
- If it is required for any legal proceeding
- To prove or protect our legal rights
- To buyers or potential buyers of this company in the event that we seek to sell the company
If you follow hyperlinks from our Site to another Site, please note that we are not responsible for and have no control over their privacy policies and practices.
How Long We Store Personal Data
User data will be stored; anonymous user data is only retained during the session for statistical analysis; logged-in user data is retained indefinitely.
You will be notified if your data is kept for longer than this period.
How We Protect Your Personal Data
To protect your security, we use the strongest available browser encryption and store all our data on servers in secure facilities. All data is only accessible by our employees. Our employees are bound by strict confidentiality agreements and a breach of this agreement would result in the employee's termination.
While we take all reasonable precautions to ensure that user data is secure and that users are protected, there always remains a risk of harm. The Internet as a whole can be insecure at times and therefore, we are unable to guarantee the security of user data beyond what is reasonably practical.
International Data Transfers
We transfer user personal data to the following countries:
- United States of America
When we transfer user personal data, we will protect that data as described in this Privacy Policy and comply with applicable legal requirements for transferring personal data internationally.
If you are located in the United Kingdom or the European Union, we will only transfer your personal data if:
- The country your personal data is being transferred to has been deemed to have adequate data protection by the European Commission or, if you are in the United Kingdom, by the United Kingdom adequacy regulations.
- We have implemented appropriate safeguards in respect of the transfer. For example, the recipient is a party to binding corporate rules, or we have entered into standard EU or United Kingdom data protection contractual clauses with the recipient.
Your Rights as a User
Under the GDPR, you have the following rights:
- The right to be informed
- The right of access
- The right to rectification
- The right to erasure
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to data portability
- The right to object
Children
We do not knowingly collect or use personal data from children under 16 years of age. If we learn that we have collected personal data from a child under 16 years of age, the personal data will be deleted as soon as possible. If a child under 16 years of age has provided us with personal data, their parent or guardian may contact our privacy officer.
How to Access, Modify, Delete, or Challenge the Data Collected
If you would like to know if we have collected your personal data, how we have used your personal data, if we have disclosed your personal data and to who we disclosed your personal data, if you would like your data to be deleted or modified in any way, or if you would like to exercise any of your other rights under the GDPR, please contact our privacy officer here:
Felipe Villegas
info@professionaldesignations.com
1600 Golf Road, Suite 1200, Rolling Meadows, IL, 60008, USA
Do Not Track Notice
Do Not Track ("DNT") is a privacy preference that you can set in certain web browsers. We do not track the users of our Site over time and across third-party websites and, therefore, do not respond to browser-initiated DNT signals. We are not responsible for and cannot guarantee how any third parties who interact with our Site and your data will respond to DNT signals.
How to Opt-Out of Data Collection, Use, or Disclosure
In addition to the method(s) described in the How to Access, Modify, Delete, or Challenge the Data Collected section, we provide the following specific opt-out methods for the forms of collection, use, or disclosure of your personal data specified below:
- You can opt-out of the use of your personal data for marketing emails. You can opt-out by clicking ‘unsubscribe’ at the bottom of any marketing email.
Cookie Policy
A cookie is a small file stored on a user's hard drive by a website. Its purpose is to collect data relating to the user's browsing habits. You can choose to be notified each time a cookie is transmitted. You can also choose to disable cookies entirely in your internet browser, but this may decrease the quality of your user experience.
We use the following types of cookies on our Site:
-
Functional cookies
Functional cookies are used to remember the selections you make on our Site so that your selections are saved for your next visits -
Analytical cookies
Analytical cookies allow us to improve the design and functionality of our Site by collecting data on how you access our Site; for example, data on the content you access, how long you stay on our Site, etc. -
Third-Party Cookies
Third-party cookies are created by a website other than ours. We may use third-party cookies to achieve the following purposes:- Web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic
Modifications
This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time to maintain compliance with the law and to reflect any changes to our data collection process. When we amend this Privacy Policy, we will update the Effective Date at the top of this Privacy Policy. We recommend that our users periodically review our Privacy Policy to ensure that they are aware of any updates. If necessary, we may notify users by email of changes to this Privacy Policy.
Complaints
If you have any complaints about how we process your personal data, please contact us through the contact methods listed in the Contact Information section so that we can, where possible, resolve the issue. If you feel we have not addressed your concern in a satisfactory manner, you may contact a supervisory authority. You also have the right to directly make a complaint to a supervisory authority. You can lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority by contacting the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK, the Dutch Data Protection Authority in The Netherlands, or any other regional data protection authority in Europe.
Contact Information
If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints, you can contact our privacy officer, Felipe Villegas, at:
info@professionaldesignations.com
1600 Golf Road, Suite 1200, Rolling Meadows, IL, 60008, USA