The privacy and security of your personal information is very important to the ABPI. This policy explains how and why the ABPI uses your personal data and explains your privacy rights under data protection laws. For the purposes of data protection law, the ABPI is the “data controller”. 

This privacy policy is effective as of September 2021. We review our privacy practices on an ongoing basis, and as such we may change this privacy policy from time to time. If we make any significant, material changes, we will provide clear notice of the update on the homepage of our website. Please check this policy frequently to ensure that you are familiar with it. It is also important that the personal data that we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if any of your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

You can know more about the cookies we use on our website and the reasons why we use them by accessing our Cookie Policy.   

Links to Other Websites, Plug-Ins and Applications

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

Other Policies that May Apply to You

This privacy policy does not apply to employees or other representatives of the ABPI, nor to those who are applying for engagements with the ABPI. 

This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them. 

Who Are We? 

In this policy when you see the words, “we”, “us, “our” or “ABPI”, it refers to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (“ABPI”).  

The ABPI represents innovative research based biopharmaceutical companies, large, medium and small in the UK.  

The ABPI is a company limited by guarantee with registration number 09826787 and its registered office at 7th Floor Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QT. 

If you are taking the ABPI Exam and have any questions in relation to this privacy policy or how we use your personal data please use the Get In Touch function at www.abpi.org.uk 

What is Personal Data & Purpose of this Notice 

In this policy the words, “personal data” means any information that identifies you, for example, your name, address, telephone number and email address. 

This privacy policy gives you information about how we collect and process your personal data, including through this website as well as any information that you provide when you register for taking the ABPI Exam. 

What Personal Data Does the ABPI Collect? 

The ABPI will collect, use, store and transfer the following different kinds of personal data about you: 

• Your full name, including your title; 
• Your employment status and start date in industry; 
  
• Your contact information, including telephone number, email address and postal address; 
  
• CCTV images; 
  
• Date of birth; 
  
• Opinions and feedback if requested; 
  
• Communication preferences; 
  
• Technical information, including the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, your login information, browser type and version, as well as browser plug-in type and versions, operating system and platform and if you access our website via your mobile; 
  
• Information about your visit, including but not limited to the clicks used to navigate to, through and from our website (including date and time), items that you viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visit to certain pages, page interaction information (such as but not limited to scrolling, clicks and mouse-overs), methods used to browse away from the page, any phone number used to contact us; 
  
• The terms that you use to search our website. 

How is Your Personal Data Collected? 

Your personal data is collected in a number of different ways including when: 

• You give us your personal data by: 
  • Completing the Registration form for the ABPI Exam on our website: 
  • Receiving communications about our services; 
  • Corresponding with us (in any form). 
• You interact with our website as we may collect technical information about your equipment and browsing. We collect this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details. 

How We Use Your Personal Data 

Your personal data will be saved in the ABPI’s Candidate Management Platforms and may be processed by ABPI employees and contractors. 

We will only use your personal data on relevant lawful grounds as set out in the Data Protection Act 2018, such as for performance of a contract with you, to comply with our legal obligations, where you have given us your consent and in pursuit of our legitimate interests. We explain how we rely on these lawful grounds below. 

Personal data provided to the ABPI will only be used for the purpose or purposes outlined in this privacy policy or in any privacy notice sent to you and in accordance with any preferences that you expressed. If asked by any police, regulatory or government authority we may need to provide your personal data to these agencies. 

The ABPI does not sell your personal data and we only share it with the organisations that we work with when necessary. 

The main uses of your personal data are set out below, as well as the legal basis that we rely on for this processing. 

To Register You for the ABPI Exam 

If you decide to take the ABPI Exam you will need to fill out the registration form on our website and agree to our Terms & Conditions and Exams Data Privacy Policy.  

We will use your identity, career and contact information in order to contact you in relation to your ABPI Exam. We consider that using your personal data for this purpose is necessary for our legitimate interests in order that we can sign you up for your ABPI exam and follow up your process.  

Marketing Communications 

We would like to use your details to keep in touch about things that matter to you. If you choose to hear from us, we may send you information about activities that may be of interest to you. This might be about our work, new courses and upcoming events. We will only send these to you if you agree to receive them. If you choose to receive this information, you can change your mind at any time. In all communications you will be provided with a link to unsubscribe from all communications. If you choose not to receive these communications, you may not hear about events or other work that we do that may be of interest to you. When we send you email communications we use technology that enables us to track who opens particular emails. This helps us to understand which issues are of most interest and helps us to ensure that you continue to receive useful information. 

To Respond to a Question Raised  

When you contact the ABPI using the Contact Us form on https://mylearning.abpi.org.uk,  Get In Touch form on www.abpi.org.uk, or on https://mylearning.abpi.org.uk your contact information will be retained by the ABPI. We consider that this is necessary for our legitimate interests in order that we can communicate with you in relation to the matter raised by you and track our response to you. 

Disclosures of Your Personal Data 

If asked by any police, regulatory or government authority we may need to provide your personal data to these agencies in order to comply with our legal obligations and to pursue our legitimate interests in engaging with and responding to governmental, regulatory and public bodies. 

Other than set out in this Privacy Notice and any other notice that may be delivered to you, the ABPI does not sell or transfer personal data to third parties. 

Data Security 

The ABPI has 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 and contractors and representatives who have a business need to know it. 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 the relevant regulatory authority of a breach where we are legally required to do so. 

For How Long Will Your Personal Data be Retained? 

The ABPI will only retain your personal data for so long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. 

• Your basic contact information will be retained indefinitely to allow you to complete your qualification process. 
•  Record of certificate issued to candidate (name, date of birth, employer at time of awarding) to be retained electronically indefinitely. 
  
• Any sensitive information will only be retained during the qualification period. Once qualified, this information will be destroyed. 
  
• Emails are retained for 2 years. 
  
• Recordings of on-line exams (proctoring) are retained for 60 days unless there is a query regarding a specific examination. In which case the recording will be retained for as long is necessary to complete the investigation. 
  
• ABPI Exam attempts are retained for up to 3 years. 
  
• Basic eLearning access information is kept only for the purpose of allowing us to improve our offering. 
• Any contact us/support queries will be retained until qualified and then be destroyed annually. 

Your Legal Rights 

Under certain circumstances, you have the rights set out below under data protection laws in relation to your personal data: 

• Access to Personal Information – You have a right to obtain access to the personal information that we hold about you. 
• Change Inaccurate Information – You have a right to ask us to correct inaccurate personal information and to update incomplete personal information. 
• Request to Delete Your Information – You have a right to request that we delete your personal information if you believe that we no longer need your information for the purposes for which it was provided; or we are not using your information in a lawful manner; or we have requested your permission to process your personal information and you wish to withdraw your consent. Please note that if you request us to delete your information, we may have to stop engaging with you and close your qualification process. 
• Request to Restrict the Processing of Your Information – You have a right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data if you believe that any of the information that we hold about you is inaccurate; we no longer need your information for the purposes for which it was provided but you require the information to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or we are not using your information in a lawful manner. Please note that if you request us to stop or restrict the processing of your information, we may have to stop engaging with you. 
• Request Your Personal Data in a Portable Format – You may have the right to ask us to provide your personal information in a portable format. 
• Object to the Processing of your Personal Information – You have a right to object to the processing of your personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling and legitimate grounds for the processing. Please note that if you object to the processing of your information, we may have to stop engaging with you. 
• Object to Direct Marketing – You have a right to object to use of your personal information for direct marketing purposes. 
• Withdraw Consent – Where we rely on your permission to process your personal information, you have a right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note that if you withdraw your consent, we may have to stop engaging with you. 
  
• To Complain - You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulatory authority responsible for data protection issues. If you are based outside the UK, you can contact your national regulator. We would appreciate the opportunity to resolve any concerns before you approach the Information Commissioner (or your local regulator if outside the UK) and therefore, wherever possible, we request that you contact the ABPI in the first instance. 
  

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above or have any questions in relation to this Privacy Policy, please use the Get In Touch form on www.abpi.org.uk. 

We may need 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). We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request. 

We will try to respond to your request within one month. Occasionally, it may 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 provide you with updates. 

Last Updated: September 2021.