Policies

What information we collect and how we use it

If you subscribe to our newsletter, we add your name and email address to Mecoco's newsletter mailing list, which is managed via Mailchimp. Note that Mailchimp may transfer personal data outside the EU. Please contact Mailchimp with questions or concerns about this.

​You will receive no more than one general Mecoco newsletter monthly; if you have selected to receive one or more of our special interest newsletters, you’ll receive no more than one extra monthly bulletin for each.

​If you contact us via email, your email address and message will be accessible to our small team of support staff and may be forwarded to the person or people in the organisation best equipped to respond. We adhere to strict internal privacy policies which comply with the GDPR.

​If you sign up to our events, your name, email address, organisation, event preferences (different for each event, but including e.g. dietary requirements, consent to be photographed and name put on public guest list, newsletter preferences, attendance preferences, accessibility needs etc) are collected by Shopify and stored on our Shopify account. Mecoco pays for Shopify. Therefore, according to Shopify Privacy policy, the data collected through Shopify is not owned by Shopify and they thus will not share it with third parties or use it for advertising. This data will be used only by Mecoco staff for event communications and logistics. We may need to share certain information with event locations organisations to enable us to provide you with the preferences you have indicated, but will not be shared with any other third parties. 

​If you enter one of our competitions we will only retain your data until the closing date of the competition and such tie that a winner has been identified and contacted. If you also choose to be added to our mailing list at the same time as entering a competition your data will be looked after in the same way described above.

​Your personal information is never shared externally, or used for purposes other than the above.

Legal basis for processing

In subscribing to the newsletter or contacting us, you are consenting to the processes as described on this page. The legal basis is GDPR  6(1)(a) – Consent of the data subject.

Retention periods

In all cases listed above, we retain your personal data until such a time as you unsubscribe or ask us to remove your details.

If you contact Mecoco via our contact form, we reserve the right to keep your message indefinitely. This is to aid continuity and so that we can view any historic context which may have bearing on subsequent support mail, even if members of the support staff change. Support staff adhere to strict internal privacy and security policies.

We are obliged to keep records relating to financial transactions for at least six years following the end of the accounting period in which the transaction took place. We destroy our records after this point; if you require information on payment processors’ policies, please contact them directly.

How to unsubscribe from the newsletter

Every newsletter contains a quick and easy unsubscribe link in its footer.

​When you unsubscribe from a newsletter managed via Mailchimp, your details remain on the list of past recipients. This is a measure to prevent circumstances such as a member of staff accidentally manually re-adding you. Mailchimp states: “As a compliance measure, subscribers who unsubscribe themselves can’t be deleted from your list.”

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However, provided you are still a subscriber at the point when you contact us, on request your details can be permanently removed from the list – please get in touch if you would like this to happen.

Your right to complain

If you believe that we have mishandled your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can report a concern here (but do contact us first, so that we can try and help).

Your right to access and erasure

You may contact us at any time to ask to see what personal data we hold about you. Please contact us to request this.

You may request that we destroy the personal data that we hold about you, provided that there is no legitimate reason for us continuing to hold it, that is to say if it does not relate to financial transactions or is unlikely to be of any legal or practical purpose in the future. Please contact us to request this.

Data, cookies, and external services

Like many other websites, we sometimes use cookies, Facebook buttons and Google Analytics to help us make our websites better.

These tools are very common and widely used by other sites, but they do have privacy implications.

When you visit sites that use these tools, you’re potentially telling companies such as Facebook and Google that you visited, as well as some information about how your web browser is configured. Nothing more that that – we don’t give out personal information like your email address, home address or private mail.

If you don’t want to share your browsing activities on Mecoco's sites with other companies, you can install opt-out browser plugins. Here are links to more explanations:

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• The Guardian – How to Keep Your Privacy Online

• AboutCookies.org – How to Control Cookies

To make our service easier or more useful, we sometimes place small data files on your computer or mobile phone, known as cookies.

Many websites do this. This information can be useful for you, and useful for us. For example, if you leave a comment on a blog, cookies ensure that the next time you comment, you won’t have to re-enter your credentials.You find out more about Cookies here.

Cookies can also help us measure how people use the website, so we can improve it and make sure it works properly.

Measuring website usage (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use this site. We do this to make sure it’s meeting its users’ needs and to understand how we could do it better.

​Google Analytics stores information such as what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got here, what you click on, and information about your web browser. IP addresses are masked (only a portion is stored) and personal information is only reported in aggregate.

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Google’s official statement about Analytics data:

“This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.”

 If you’re unhappy with the idea of sharing the fact you visited our sites (and any other sites) with Google, you can install the official browser plugin for blocking Google Analytics.