Privacy Policy

1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE

2. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

3. HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED?

4. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

5. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

7. DATA SECURITY

8. DATA RETENTION

9. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

10. GLOSSARY

1. Important information and who we are

Purpose of this privacy policy

This privacy policy aims to give you information on how the Open Rhodes Group collects and processes your personal data through your use of our websites, including via GRETA (see below) any data you may provide through this website when you communicate with us, sign up to any newsletter or email list, or enquire about our services. This Policy also covers our use of your data if you work for one of our clients, or if you work within our supply chain. This policy also set out when we may communicate with you in relation to our services and business.

The Open Rhodes Group currently operates the following websites:

www.open-greenenergy.com (for which Open Green Energy is the data controller)

www.open-procurement.com (for which Open Procurement is the data controller)

SaaS Platform – Global Reduction of Energy Through Analytics (GRETA) (for which Open Green Energy is the data controller)

Our websites are not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing policy we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.

Controller

The Open Rhodes Group is made up of different legal entities, being Open Rhodes Ltd, Open Procurement Ltd and Open Green Energy Ltd.. This privacy policy is issued on behalf of the Open Rhodes Group so when we mention “COMPANIES”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy, we are referring to the relevant company in the Open Rhodes Group responsible for processing your data.

We have appointed a data privacy manager (DPM) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPM using the details set out below.

Contact details

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact our DPM in the following ways:

Email address: hello@open-greenenergy.com; hello@open-procurement.com (as applicable)

Postal address: 3 Hardman Square, 2^nd floor, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3EB.

Telephone number: 0800 888 6025 (Open Green Energy) or 0800 888 6015 (Open Procurement).

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated on 9th March 2021.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-party links

Our websites may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our websites, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

2.The data we collect about you

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.

• Contact Data includes address, email address and telephone numbers.

• Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.

• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you.

• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access the websites.

• Profile Data includes GRETA account details and log in, other profile information, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.

• Usage Data includes information about how you use our websites, products and services.

• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature or to understand how our Clients engage with us. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.

Sensitive Data (known as Special Categories of Personal Data and includes details about race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data).

We do not usually collect Special Category Personal Data about you and would obtain your consent before doing so.

If you fail to provide personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you, or provide you with our services if you are employed by a client. In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

3. How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Client Services. For our Clients, we may receive your personal data from our clients as part of providing our services and we rely on our clients having established a legal basis to share such information with us. We will ensure an appropriate contract is in place to cover this sharing of data or otherwise have a legal basis for sharing.

• Direct interactions. You may give us your Profile, Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you

• Communicate with us, and use our websites;

• Open or use an account and access GRETA software as part of our analytics services (please note we do not store usernames or passwords as part of the log in process- see our Cookie Policy);

• Enquire about or discuss our products and services;

• Subscribe to our newsletter or mailing list;

• Request marketing to be sent to you;

• Respond to a survey or provide feedback;

• Receive our products and services;

• Supply goods and services to us.

Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.

Newsletter/email tracking: We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter.

• Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below.

• Technical Data from analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU (subject to any consent obtained under our Cookies Policy and settings); from Webtoffee our cookies consent manager;

• Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services.

• From our clients (see above).

• From our suppliers (see above)

• From social media platforms, subject to their terms and privacy requirements, as well as your consent where required.

Profiling and Automated Decision Making. Please note, we do not currently use software to automatically assess your usage or personal data in order to determine more information about you or your characteristics (known as Profiling). Neither do we take automated decisions about you based on the personal data we hold, which may have a significant impact on your rights and freedoms (known as Automated Decision Making). We will update this Policy and other privacy information in the event this changes.

4. How we use your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.

• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests, for example, understanding our website use and service engagement, or providing our services to your employer.

• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation, such as tax reporting or police investigations.

• Where we have your consent, for example, if you have signed up to our newsletter.

• In the event we obtain your consent, you have the right to withdraw consent at any time by contacting us.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data.

Marketing

We do not market to individuals in their personal or consumer capacity. We may market to sole traders and partnerships, but only with consent. We do contact and market to other organisations which we believe may be interested in our services and, as such, may contact you using your business contact information in order to discuss this with you or your employer. We rely on our legitimate business interests to do this.

You may receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us directly and provided consent, or purchased services from us and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

Nonetheless, we strive to provide you with choices regarding any marketing communication and you will be able to opt out of any communications. We operate a suppression list to ensure we can manage this process, which means we keep the minimal personal data necessary to ensure we do not contact you again.

Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of service purchase, performance or other transactions.

Third-party marketing

We do not share your data for third party marketing.

Cookies

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see the Cookie Policy.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

5. Disclosures of your personal data

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table above.

• Internal third parties such as our employees or officers and legal entities within the Open Rhodes group of companies.

• External third parties including clients, suppliers, payment providers, specialist IT support, online training providers and sub-contractors.

• Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, marketing agencies, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.

• IT infrastructure, support and cloud hosting providers, as part of our business operations.

• Credit reference agencies, law enforcement and fraud prevention agencies.

• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities who require reporting or processing activities in certain circumstances.

• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.

• We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

6. International transfers

We do not usually or regularly transfer data outside of the UK or the EEA (for as long as it has an adequacy decision from the UK Government) in the course of our business.

However, our external third-party communications supplier (Mailchimp) is based outside the UK and EEA so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK and EEA. At certain times, other suppliers may be located outside of the UK.

In the event we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we will ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the UK Government (including the EEA as at the date of this version of the Policy).

• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved for use in the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK, as well as conducting an appropriate risk assessment.

7. Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

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

8. Data retention

How long will you use my personal data for?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

If you are a client or supplier, we usually keep information for 6 years after the last purchase or invoice, however, though this is usually organisational information and any personal data is just retained on an ancillary basis (e.g. your name is on an invoice)

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see your legal rights below for further information.

In some circumstances we will receive your data on an anonymous basis from our clients or we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

9. Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please click on the links below to find out more about these rights:

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

• If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.

• Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.

• Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

• You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

10. Glossary

LAWFUL BASIS

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.

Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.