Privacy

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

Everyone has rights with regard to the way in which their personal information is handled. During the course of our activities we will collect, store and process personal information about our customers, suppliers and other third parties, and we recognise that the correct and lawful treatment of this data will maintain confidence in the organisation and will provide for successful business operations.

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

For the purpose of data protection laws, the data controller is Meri Meri Inc, a company registered in the state of California, of 111 Anza Boulevard, Suite 100, Burlingame, CA 94010 (collectively referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice).

Data protection principles

When processing your information, we must comply with the six enforceable principles of good practice. These provide that your personal information must be:

processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner,

processed for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes,

adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary,

accurate and kept up-to-date,

kept for no longer than is necessary, and

processed in a manner than ensures appropriate security.

Information you give to us

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information about you, including:

Identity Data, such as your first name, surname and your birthday

Contact Data, such as your billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers,

Financial Data, such as bank account and payment card details,

Transaction Data, including details about payments to and from you, and other details of products and services you purchase from us,

Technical Data, including IP addresses, your log-in 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 our website,

Profile Data, such as your username, password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses,

Usage Data, including information about how you use our website, products and services, and

Marketing Data, such as your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties, and your communication preferences.

‘Special category’ data

Information relating to your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, criminal convictions, sex life or sexual orientation, or certain types of genetic or biometric data is known as ‘special category’ data.

During the course of dealing with you, we do not expect to collect any ‘special category’ data about you.

How we collect your personal information

We may obtain personal information by directly interacting with you, such as:

placing orders for products on our website,

creating an account on our website,

participating in discussion boards or other social media functions on our website,

speaking to us at trade shows or speaking to any of our sales agents or distributors,

entering a competition, promotion or survey organised by us, or otherwise providing us with feedback,

subscribing to our services or publications, or otherwise requesting marketing material to be sent to you, or

corresponding with us by phone, email, letters or otherwise.

We may obtain personal information via automated technology when you interact with our website by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies.

We may also collect personal information about you from third parties or publicly-available sources, where appropriate.

How we use your personal information

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

you have given us consent,

we need to perform a contract we are about to enter into, or have entered into, with you,

where it is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests, and your interests and rights do not override those interests, or

where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Purposes for which we will use your personal information

We may use your personal information for a number of different purposes. For each purpose, we are required to confirm the ‘legal basis’ that allows us to use your information, as follows:

To administer our website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes, to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so, to measure or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you and to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our website about goods or services that may interest you or them

It will be necessary for our legitimate business interests to ensure you receive the best experience possible when accessing and using our website. We will comply with our cookie policy when processing this information

To enable you to participate in a prize draw, competition or complete a survey

It will be necessary for our legitimate business interests, namely to study how customers use our products, to develop them and help grow our business

To provide you with information about special offers and other products we sell that are similar to those that you have already received from us

Where you have previously received marketing communications from us, then it will be necessary for our legitimate business interests, namely to ensure you continue to receive communications that you have previously agreed to receive

In all other cases, we will only do this if you give us your consent

We will only use your personal information for the purpose(s) 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 we need to use your personal information 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 information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

What if you cannot or will not provide us with your personal information

We may share your personal information with the parties set out below:

other companies within our group, including Lulabell,

providers of IT and system administration services to our business, including Dropbox, One Drive, Google Drive, SAP and other online cloud providers,

providers of email marketing platforms to our business, including MailChimp,

providers of payroll administration services to our business, including Payroll Bureau,

providers of catalogue delivery services to our business, including BakerGoodChild,

our professional advisers (including solicitors, bankers, auditors and insurers),

HM Revenue & Customs, the Information Commissioner’s Office, regulators and other authorities who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances, and

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 information in the same way as set out in this policy.

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

How long we will store your personal information

The length of time that we will store your data will depend on the ‘legal basis’ for why we are using that data, as follows:

We will use/store your data until you ask us to stop. However, if we can demonstrate the reason why we are using/storing your data overrides your interests, rights and freedoms, then we will continue to use and store your data for as long as it is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us (or, if earlier, we no longer have a legitimate interest in using/storing your data)

Where we use/store your data because you have given us your specific, informed and unambiguous consent

We will use/store your data until you ask us to stop

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

Your rights

You have various legal rights in relation to the information you give us, or which we collect about you, as follows:

You have a right to access the information we hold about you free-of-charge, together with various information about why and how we are using your information, to whom we may have disclosed that information, from where we originally obtained the information and for how long we will use your information.

You have the right to ask us to rectify any information we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.

You have the right to ask us to erase the information we hold about you (the ‘right to be forgotten’). Please note that this right can only be exercised in certain circumstances and, if you ask us to erase your information and we are unable to do so, we will explain why not.

You have the right to ask us to stop using your information where: (i) the information we hold about you is inaccurate; (ii) we are unlawfully using your information; (iii) we no longer need to use the information; or (iv) we do not have a legitimate reason to use the information. Please note that we may continue to store your information, or use your information for the purpose of legal proceedings or for protecting the rights of any other person.

You have the right to ask us to transmit the information we hold about you to another person or company in a structured, commonly-used and machine-readable format. Please note that this right can only be exercised in certain circumstances and, if you ask us to transmit your information and we are unable to do so, we will explain why not.

Where we use/store your information because it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, you have the right to object to us using/storing your information. We will stop using/storing your information unless we can demonstrate why we believe we have a legitimate business interest which overrides your interests, rights and freedoms.

Where we use/store your data because you have given us your specific, informed and unambiguous consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

You have the right to object to us using/storing your information for direct marketing purposes.

Opting out of receiving marketing communications

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing communications at any time by writing to the address at the top of this policy, or by emailing us at customerservice@merimeri.com

Automated decision-making

We do not use automated decision-making processes.

Third party links

Our website 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 website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

Changes to our policy

Any changes we make to our policy in the future will be posted on our website and, where appropriate, notified to you by email or via social media. Please check our website frequently to see any updates or changes to our policy.

Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this policy are welcomed and should be addressed to our customer services team by writing to the address at the top of this policy, or by emailing us at customerservice@merimeri.com