This policy sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act) and the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR), the data controller is Universal Waterlife Ltd, White Moss Nursery, South Lane, Widnes, WA8 3TZ, registered Company Number 04330752.

We are committed to protecting your privacy. We will only use the information that we collect about you lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 & General Data Protection Regulations 2016 (GDPR). We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Any questions, comments or requests regarding this policy are welcomed and should be addressed to info@universalwaterlife.co.uk.

Information we may collect from you.

We may collect and process the following data about you:

• Information that you provide by filling in forms on our website www.universalwaterlife.co.uk.co.uk. This includes information provided at the time of posting material or requesting information on services. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our site
• If you contact us by any means with queries, complaints etc., we may keep a record of that correspondence
• When you engage with us on social media
• We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research and quality control purposes, although you do not have to respond to them
• Details of your visits to our site including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, whether this is required for our own administration purposes or otherwise and the resources that you access

IP address and Cookies

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type/version, for system administration, security and user experience optimisation purposes. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns and does not identify any individual.

For the same reason, we may obtain information about your preferences by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. They help us to improve our site and to deliver a better and more personalised service. They enable us:

• To estimate our audience size and usage pattern
• To store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our site according to your individual interests
• To recognise you when you return to our site
• To track our website’s reach and engagement on social networking sites

You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our site and/or your user experience when using our website might be affected. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you visit our site.

Please note that we also use third-party cookies (e.g. Google Analytics), over which we have no control.

Grounds of processing.

In technical legal terms we process personal data provided while using our website (or contacting our office with an enquiry) under the ground of “legitimate interests” and “consent”. Universal Waterlife Ltd’s legitimate business interest is the supply of fish, inclusive of all supporting aquatic materials. We also supply reptiles, birds and other small pets and their supporting materials. The purpose of this processing is to enable to respond to your queries with regards to our services (received over the phone and/or through our website), to inform you about additional services that we think might interest you and to ask for your feedback on our services/performance etc.

Uses made of the information

We use information held about you in the following ways:

• To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer
• To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes
• To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us or for due diligence purposes before entering into a contract
• To allow you to participate in surveys or interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so
• To notify you about the status and changes to our service

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes without your consent. We will give you the chance to refuse any marketing e-mail from us or from another trader in all e-communications, but if you wish for to unsubscribe or exercise your right to be forgotten at any time, please email info@universalwaterlife.co.uk.

Collection, transfer and disclosure of your information.

Universal Waterlife Ltd. gathers and processes personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulations 2016. We only distribute your data within Universal Waterlife Ltd. and store data securely at our office as well as on cloud based servers.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties only under the following circumstances:

• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets
• If Universal Waterlife Ltd or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its clients will be one of the transferred assets
• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use or terms and conditions of supply and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Universal Waterlife Ltd., our website, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Rights of Data Subjects.

In addition to imposing various duties upon data controllers the Data Protection Act & GDPR provide individuals (data subjects) with certain rights. The purpose of doing so is to empower and enable users to check what data relating to them is being held and what is being done with it. These rights come with responsibilities, it is not granted to subjects so that they may make enquiries out of idle curiosity but rather so that they can check what data is being processed on them and how accurate that data is.

• The rights of data subjects are as follows:
• The right to establish the existence of personal data
• The right of access
• The right of objection (unsubscribe)
• The right to be forgotten (deleted)
• The right of rectification
• The right to complain

By disclosing your personal information to us using this website or over the telephone, you consent to the collection, storage and processing of your personal information by Universal Waterlife Ltd. in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy. The information we hold will be accurate and up to date. You can check the information that we hold about you by emailing us. If you find any inaccuracies, we will delete or correct it promptly.

Should you have any issues, please email info@universalwaterlife.co.uk.

Data Retention.

Personal data is stored for varying lengths depending on the nature and purpose for which it was collected. We store personal data in line with any applicable statutory minimum periods, and then review it periodically (usually annually) to ensure it is still necessary to be retained for the purpose for which it was collected.

Disclaimer.

The documents and related graphics published on www.universalwaterlife.co.uk may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein. Universal Waterlife Ltd. may make improvements and/or changes to the information and services described herein at any time. In no event shall Universal Waterlife Ltd. be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever arising out of or in connection with the use of information available on www.universalwaterlife.co.uk.

The entire content of this website (www.universalwaterlife.co.uk) is copyright of Universal Waterlife Ltd. that retains all rights in respect of any or all of the material. The contents of this website may be printed for personal informational use as long as the Copyright notices are also reproduced. The content may not be re-distributed, re-sold, reproduced, stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, for photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Universal Waterlife Ltd. Any infringements will be rigorously pursued.

Links to third party sites.

This site www.universalwaterlife.co.uk may include links that will allow you to leave the site. These linked sites are not under the control of Universal Waterlife Ltd and we are not responsible for the content of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such sites. Universal Waterlife Ltd. is providing these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement by Universal Waterlife Ltd. of any site.

Governing Law.

Use of this site means you agree to the terms and conditions of use of this website, which constitutes a contract governed by English Law.

Updating this Privacy Policy.

We strive for continuous improvement in our services, processes and protecting data subject rights. We will therefore update this privacy policy from time to time. Therefore, we advise you to check this policy on a regular basis, or if requested we will send it to you on a regular basis. We are also happy to provide previous versions of this Policy on request.

Last update: 30/05/2024