We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

When we use your personal data we are regulated under GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal data for the purposes of the legislation in force (GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 collectively). Our use of any personal data is subject to your instructions, any contract we enter, the legislation and any agreements we reach under a Terms of Business or Engagement Letters.

Key terms

It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:

We, us, our: Green Bee Group Limited whose registered address 2e Charles Lane, London, England, NW8 7SB and whose company number in England and Wales is 12297268

Our representative: Any person overseas who is acting on behalf of Green Bee Group Limited in an authorised manner

Our data protection officer: Alia Eshaq our Managing Partner

Personal data: Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual which is not about their role in a corporate entity

Special category personal data: Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership; Genetic data; Biometric data (where used for identification purposes); Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation

Personal data we collect about you

The below sets out the personal data we will or may collect in the course of providing consultancy services. This may include special category personal data.

Personal data we will collect

Personal data we may collect depending on why you have instructed us:

• Your name, address and telephone number
• Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, eg your date of birth or passport details
• Electronic contact details, eg your email address and mobile phone number
• Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation
• Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on you
• Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, eg the source of your funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction
• Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems, and other monitoring information, eg if using our secure online client services
• For employees data about their history, right to work in the UK and other jurisdictions and qualifications.This is to enable us to employee staff with the relevant skills and experience and right to work. It helps us comply with our legal obligations as an employer and entity engaging self employed consultants.

Personal data we may collect depending on why you have instructed us:

• Your Identity document National Insurance and tax details
• Your bank and/or building society details
• Details of your professional online presence, eg LinkedIn profile
• Personal identifying information, such as your eye colour or your parents’ names, eg if you instruct us to incorporate a company for you

This personal data is required to enable us to provide consultancy services or help with acquiring or selling businesses across the world. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing those services.

For information on why we use this personal data, see below: ‘How and why we use personal data’ and ‘How and why we use special category personal data’.

How your personal data is collected

We collect most of this information from you, direct. However, we may also collect information:

• from publicly accessible sources, eg Companies House or HM Land Registry;
• directly from a third party, eg:
  • Anti-Money Laundering screening providers of data;
  • sanctions screening providers;
  • credit reference agencies;
  • client due diligence providers.
• from a third party with your consent, eg:
  • your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor;
  • consultants and other professionals you may engage in relation to your matter who you agree should contact us;
• via our website—we use cookies on our website (for more information on cookies, please see our cookie policy)
• via our information technology (IT) systems, eg:
  • document management and time recording systems;
  • automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email and instant messaging systems.

How and why we use personal data

Under data protection law, we can only use personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so, eg:

• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
• for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
• where you have given consent.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use personal data, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.

The below explains how we use personal data and our reasons for doing so:

• To provide services to our clients: For the performance of our contract with our client or to take steps at our client’s request before entering into a contract
• Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity; Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes; Other processing necessary to comply legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, eg under health and safety regulation, employment law etc: To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
• Ensuring business policies are adhered to, eg policies covering security and internet use: For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you
• Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control: For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price
• Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information: For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to protect our intellectual property and other commercially valuable information
• Statistical analysis to help us manage our business, eg in relation to our financial performance, client base, work type or other efficiency measures: For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you
• Updating client records: For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract; For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, eg making sure that we can keep in touch with our clients about existing and new services
• Statutory returns: To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations to HMRC and other UK Government agencies
• Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments: To comply with our legal obligations; For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, eg to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you
• Marketing our services to existing and former clients; third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services; third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings: For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to promote our business to existing and former clients

How and why we use special category personal data

Under data protection law, we can only use special category personal data where:

• we have a proper reason for doing so (see above: How and why we use personal data);
• one of the ‘grounds’ for using special category personal data applies

There are ten potential grounds for using special category personal data under data protection law. Where this does apply, we will seek explicit consent to process special category personal data.

Promotional communications

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about developments that might be of interest to you and/or information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services or products.

We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal data’). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you promotional communications. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell it with other organisations for marketing purposes.

You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:

• contacting us by https://greenbeeinsights.com/contact/
• using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or ‘STOP’ number in texts

We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

Who we share your personal data with

We routinely share personal data with:

• our professional advisers such as our lawyers and accountants;
• professional advisers who you instruct on your behalf eg lawyers (including Solicitors, Barristers and Attorneys), accountants, tax advisors or other experts;
• other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions in conjunction with others;
• credit reference agencies;
• our insurers and brokers;
• our bank;
• external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, eg solicitors, typing services, marketing agencies, document collation or analysis suppliers.

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

We may also need to share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised, but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

Where your personal data is held

Information may be held at our offices and those of our third-party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see ‘Who we share your personal data with’).

Some of these third parties may be based outside the European Economic Area. For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal data when this occurs, see below: ‘Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA’.

We are an international business whose leaders travel globally; you should be aware we may access our systems from anywhere in the world and whilst we will take great care with your data we can not guarantee electronic security as the laws locally to various jurisdictions do vary.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons:

• to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
• to show that we treated you fairly;
• to keep records required by law

We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data. When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it.

Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA

To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal information outside the UK and/or European Economic Area (EEA), eg:

• with our offices or other companies within our group located outside the UK/EEA;
• with your and our service providers located outside the UK/EEA;
• if you are based outside the UK/EEA;
• where there is an international dimension to the services we are providing to you.

These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law. This means we can only transfer your personal information to a country or international organisation outside the UK/EEA where:

• the European Commission has issued an ‘adequacy decision’ in relation to that country or international organisation; or
• there are appropriate safeguards in place, together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for data subjects; or
• a specific exception applies under data protection law

These are explained below.

European Commission adequacy decision

The European Commission has the power to determine whether a country or international organisation provides an adequate level of protection for personal information and, if it does, to issue an ‘adequacy decision’. The effect of such a decision is that personal information can flow from the UK/EEA to that country without any further safeguards being necessary.

It can take several years for the European Commission to issue an adequacy decision and only a small number of countries currently benefit from one.

None of the countries we are likely to transfer personal information to have the benefit of an adequacy decision. This does not necessarily mean they provide inadequate protection for personal information, but we must look at alternative grounds for transferring the personal information, such as implementing safeguards or relying on an exception, as explained below.

Transfers with appropriate safeguards

We may transfer your data to a third country on this ground where we are satisfied the transfer complies with data protection law, appropriate safeguards are in place, and enforceable rights and effective legal remedies are available for data subjects.

The safeguards will usually include using standard data protection contract clauses approved by the European Commission. In relation to transfers to our overseas offices or other companies within our group, the safeguards may instead include legally binding rules and policies that apply to Green Bee Group personnel or entities overseas (known as binding corporate rules), which have been approved by the UK data protection regulator.

Transfers under an exception

In the absence of an adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards, we may transfer personal information to a third country or international organisation where an exception applies under relevant data protection law, eg:

• you have explicitly consented to the proposed transfer after having been informed of the possible risks;
• the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between us or to take pre-contract measures at your request (this typically applies given our core geographical footprint);
• the transfer is necessary for a contract in your interests, between us and another person.

We may also transfer information for the purpose of our compelling legitimate interests, so long as those interests are not overridden by your interests, rights and freedoms. Specific conditions apply to such transfers and we will provide relevant information if and when we seek to transfer your personal information on this ground.

Further information

If you would like further information about data transferred outside the UK or EEA, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

Your rights

You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:

• Access: The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data
• To be forgotten: The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations
• Restriction of processing: The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data—in certain circumstances, eg if you contest the accuracy of the data
• Data portability: The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations
• To object: The right to object at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling); in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, eg processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests.
• Not to be subject to automated individual decision making: The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces outcomes or effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact us or see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

• email, call or write to us https://greenbeeinsights.com/contact/ —see below: ‘How to contact us’; and
• let us have enough information to identify you (eg your full name, address and details of why we would be holding personal data about you);
• let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
• let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.

Keeping your personal data secure

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

How to complain

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information.

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy policy

This privacy policy was published in October 2020.

We may change this privacy policy from time to time when we do we will inform you via a notice on our website.

How to contact us

Please contact us by email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you.

By email:                      info@greenbeeinsights.com

Via the website:              https://greenbeeinsights.com/contact/

By Telephone:               +44 203 475 8110

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