Privacy Policy

ICF is committed to respecting the personal data you supply to us. The information we collect will be relevant to the purposes for which it is to be used and we will do our utmost to ensure that such data is accurate, complete and kept up to date.

The term “personal data” in our Privacy Policy, means information that relates to you and allows us to identify you, either directly or in combination with other information that we may hold. Your personal data may include, for example, your name, your contact details, job details, subscription payment history, information relating to your attendance at our events, or information on how you use our website or interact with us.

We collect only the necessary personal data when you book an event, submit a membership application, use our website, use our services or contact us for the purposes of facilitating these services as a membership organisation. In the course of providing services to you, ICF may collect “sensitive data” from which religious beliefs or information about your health may be inferred (for example, information about particular dietary or access requirements). By providing any sensitive personal data, you explicitly agree that ICF may collect and use it in order to provide our services to the best of our abilities in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

If you choose not allow us process any sensitive personal data, this may mean ICF is unable to provide all or parts of the services you have requested from us. The ‘sensitive data’ we collect will only be used to facilitate the services you are requesting by joining the ICF as a member or by booking for one of our events.

We may collect and process the following categories of information about you:

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To manage your membership and provide our membership services to you

When you are a member, ICF will use your information to perform our services in relation to your membership (e.g. to issue your members’ magazine, e-newsletter, and to provide access to the online Members’ Area). In addition, we use your information when you use our services (e.g. event booking and the addition of new subscriptions). From time to time, we’ll email you with member-only communications that invite you to make the most of your membership. We’ll also contact you with important operational information regarding your membership (e.g. notices about your subscription fees and information about membership progression etc.). In these instances, we process your personal data because it is necessary for the maintenance of contact with you.

To manage your event bookings and provide our services to you

When you attend an ICF event, we will use your information to perform our services in relation to the event you are attending, for example to send booking confirmations and receipts, event-specific information, and to issue delegate badges, delegate, lists, and other event materials. We will amend your information upon request with reasonable notice.

To communicate with you and manage our relationship with you

Occasionally ICF may need to contact you by email and/or telephone for administrative or operational reasons, (e.g. to send you essential information relating to your membership, confirmation of your bookings and payments, or to advise you of disruption and changes to our services). As these communications are not made for marketing purposes, you will continue to receive them even if you opt-out of receiving marketing communications.

We will also use your personal data when contacting you if you send us a request, completed a web form, or contacted us on social media. Your opinion is very important to us, so we may send you an email to seek your feedback. We will use the communications you exchange with us along with any feedback you provide to manage our relationship with you and to improve our services and products. We may also collect information about you if you consent to the use of cookies when using our website. This can include the following: geographical location of where you accessed our website, information about how you use/interact with our website, information from cookies (if you have consented to their use) and information about your computer or other electronic device (tablet and browser type). For more information on our use of cookies, click here.

ICF only collects non-member details for those who have opted into our e-news, booked an event or attended an event as a delegate to fulfil the service.

ICF will use details submitted by you on our website to enable us to send you our e-newsletter. You have the opportunity to opt out of these communications at any time.

Mailchimp: this automation platform stores the details submitted by you to enable us to send a monthly e-newsletter to you. Find out more.

You may choose not to receive the Institute of Chartered Foresters’ communications by contacting our Member Services team.

ICF does not store credit card details or share financial details with any third parties. However, it may (in appropriate circumstances) use certain companies to provide services (e.g. a Direct Debit bureau to allow members to pay subscription fees by Direct Debit). These companies do not retain, share, store or use personal information for any purposes other than to provide a specific service to ICF.

The Institute of Chartered Foresters respects your data and has taken appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure we have mitigated against such risks as loss or unauthorised access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure of data.

ICF will retain your personal data for as long as we need it in order to fulfil our purposes set out in this Privacy Policy or in order to comply with the law.

The Institute of Chartered Foresters has a formal process to manage requests for access to the data we hold about you. However, in the first instance we encourage you to contact the Institute’s Member Services Director to discuss and resolve any concerns you may have relating to the use/acquisition of your data.

Individuals can assess the data held about them at any time. Responses to request for information will be made promptly and, in any event, within 30 days. ICF retains the right to refuse or charge for requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive. If the Institute refuses a request, ICF will inform the individual why. Individuals have the right to complain to the supervisory authority and to a judicial remedy. The Institute will respond without undue delay and at the latest, within one month. In some circumstances ICF may be unable to provide you with your personal data (e.g. we are unable to provide candidates with copies of their marked examination scripts without compromising the confidentiality of a third party. ICF offers a comprehensive examination feedback service. Contact our Member Services team for full details).

Subject to certain limitations, you have the right to:

• Request a copy of the information we hold about you and be told about its use.
• Request that ICF rectifies or deletes your information, or restricts processing if you have concerns over its accuracy, deletion or fair and lawful use.
• Object to the processing of your personal data, based on your particular situation, where this processing is based on the legitimate interests of ICF, where it involves direct marketing.
• Withdraw or alter consent to the use of your information. All of our non-operational communications (i.e. marketing emails) contain an unsubscribe link. You may choose not to receive the Institute of Chartered Foresters’ communications by contacting our Member Services team.
• Receive your personal data in a portable, commonly used, machine-readable format to transfer to another data controller. However, in some circumstances we may be unable to provide you with some or all of your personal data, for example, if it compromises the confidentiality of a third party.

ICF only shares the information necessary to fulfil the tasks listed below. The Institute will collect, process, store and share your data safely and securely, and will only work with other businesses which are just as careful with your data as we are. (Details below).

ICF shares data in the following cases:

• Mailing houses for members’ magazine Trees (All shared data is destroyed after completion of the purpose it was collected for, i.e. to create a distribution list to deliver the magazine to members.)
• Society for the Environment – membership subscriptions for Chartered Environmentalists
• Oxford University Press – Forestry journal subscriptions
• Ad hock subscription mailings, i.e. to send operational and non-operational emails
• Mailchimp software platform, for the purposes of communicating relevant membership updates and newsletters.

ICF’s data sharing agreements ensure that it shares personal data in a way that complies with the law, is fair, transparent, and in line with the rights and expectations of the data subjects (the individuals the data concerns). They also address security surrounding the transmission of or access to the data and establish rules for its security. ICF data sharing agreements include:

• Identification of all parties involved in the data sharing
• The purpose for which the data is shared and the instruction for the data only to be used for this purpose
• Instructions for secure storage
• Access and transport restrictions
• A retention period and deletion arrangements (the data will be deleted after the purpose it was collected for)

Only the data necessary to complete the task is shared with third parties.

ICF retains personal data as long as it is legally or contractually obliged to do so, or according to how long professional industry codes of practice deem fit.

Member Records: Member records are retained by ICF for an indefinite period.

Non-member Records: Active non-members records are retained by ICF until an individual opts-out and so becomes inactive. Inactive non-members are deleted from the database three-years after becoming inactive.

Ex-member Records: Ex-member files are retained for a 15-year period on site, before being destroyed. Minimum information like name and date of birth and membership history are retained indefinitely to identify the individual should they wish to re-join at a later date.

The Institute, by law as a Royal Chartered body, must publish the names and membership status of all its members. This information will be publicly available both in print and on the Institute’s website.

Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins, embedded content 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.

If a Member of any grade is subject to a disciplinary hearing in which the complaint is upheld, the complaints and its outcome will be reported in ICF’s Chartered Forester magazine. The member’s name may also be published. If a member is expelled from the Institute, for whatever reason, their name may also be made publicly available.

Regional groups provide a key service to members. As part of this service your name and membership status is available to Regional Group Secretaries. Regional Group administration is also bound by this Privacy Policy.

ICF will update this Privacy Policy from time to time and will publish updated versions on its website.