Privacy Policy

Please read this policy (the Privacy Policy) carefully. Because The North East Regional Portal 2001 Limited ("the Company") of Suite 1, Earls House, Earls Way, Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NE11 0RY of email: enquiries@n-e-life.co.uk, Tel: 0191 487 2002 wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy and as it has an open house policy on information usage, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and to notify you of:

1. what personal information of yours is collected from you through n-e-life.com ("the Portal");

2. how the information is used;

3. with whom the information may be shared;

4. the kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the information; and

5. how you can correct any inaccuracies in or update your information.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact the Company by email, fax or post using the details set out above.

The Company regards the privacy and security of the Portal users’ information as a critical aspect of the service that it offers.

By using the Portal you consent to the use and processing of your personal information provided by you or collected through the Portal in the manner and for the purposes set out in this policy.

What information the Portal gathers/tracks about you

You have the option to register as a user of the Portal and in some parts of the Portal you may be asked to register before using a particular service or accessing a particular website or page. This will involve you supplying personal information such as your name, e-mail address, interests and business occupation. You should ensure that any information you supply is accurate. At any time you may request that your personal information is removed from the Portal or any individual sites which are controlled by the Company and may update your contact information. Please refer to the section below entitled “the Company's policy on correcting and updating personal information.”

The Portal also contains an artificial intelligence system, which gathers information about you and your activities within the Portal to enable the Portal to develop a personal profile of you to allow the Portal to develop and to be tailored to your needs and preferences and to allot the Company to monitor web trends. Access to this information is limited and controlled by the Company. Personal information forming part of this information will be kept no longer than is necessary. After that only aggregate statistics will be retained.

Like most web sites, there is certain information that is automatically tracked, including the website you just came from, which URL you go to next, the browser you are using and your IP address.

Cookies are used within the Portal, and are operated by both The North East Regional Portal 2001 Ltd and third party advertisers within the Portal. Cookies are pieces of information that a web site transfers to your computer’s hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies can make the Portal more useful and more relevant to you by storing information on your preferences. The use of cookies is very common, and many major web sites use them to provide useful features for their customers. Cookies are used and will continue to be used in the Portal to store information about your personal preferences and your activities with the Portal. Cookies themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a user’s computer. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you prefer you can set yours to refuse cookies. If you require help to do this then contact us using the above details, or see www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies. However, you may not be able to take full advantage of all parts of the Portal if you do so. If you do not set your browser to refuse cookies it is implied that you consent to their use unless you notify the Company by email, fax or post using the details set out above.

What the Portal and the Company do with the information the Portal gathers/tracks

Information that you submit as a user may make more services and information available to you. Contact information allows the Company to ensure that your personal profile is correct and that you receive the services and information through the Portal that are relevant to you.

When you enter a contest or other promotional feature, you may be asked for information such as your name, mailing address, daytime phone number and e-mail address so that the contest can be administered. To help the Company better understand who the Portal users are, you may also be asked some broader demographic questions such as your surfing preferences, age or gender. If you are a contest winner, you will be contacted via e-mail or telephone to notify you that you’ve won as stipulated in the contest rules and to get your permission to post your name on the Portal.

The Company will also use the information gathered from the Portal to:

1. form aggregate statistics about the Portal users, their traffic patterns, demographic makeup, preferences and activities;

2. inform Portal users of new or other products or services offered by the Company through the Portal.

If you do not wish your information to be used for direct marketing purposes you can request that we do not use your personal information for this purpose by contacting the Company on the email address, fax number or at the address set out above. We will confirm your request by email.

To comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, as of 11th December 2003, the Portal will not contact new users for direct marketing purposes via electronic mail without consent being given within the application for use of the Portal. Direct E-mail marketing to all users will continue to contain an opt-out, or unsubscribe, link which may be used without any charge to cease communications for this purpose. (Please also see; The Company's policy on correcting and updating personal information – below.)

With whom the Company shares the information gathered

The information you submit or which is collected may be passed to the Regional Development Agency, government agencies, government offices or local authorities who will use the information for purposes compatible with those for which the Company uses information. It may also be accessed by third parties who provide services to the Company such as hosting and maintenance of the Portal.

Aggregate statistics about the Portal users, their traffic patterns, demographic make-up, preferences and activities may be shared with third parties, including government bodies, suppliers and partners, but these statistics do not include any personal information.

The Company reserves the right to pass any or all of your personal information to the police or any other relevant body for the purposes of crime detection or prevention or for any purpose associated with your misuse, or suspected misuse, of the Portal or in relation to any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings.

The Company also reserves the right to pass any or all of your personal information to a purchaser or prospective purchaser of the Portal or of the Company or of the assets of the Company.

You acknowledge and agree that, due to the nature of the internet, all personal information provided by you may be transmitted over the internet, and that transfers of personal information may be made to any country in the world, regardless of the extent of any data protection laws and regulations in any of those countries.

Security Procedures

The Company has used all reasonable endeavours to put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the information you provide is secure.

The Company has put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures in respect of the security of the Portal. In particular the hosting service providing the Portal is protected by firewalls and is attached to the host network which is password protected. The firewalls provided by the host are regularly maintained and reconfigured and have the added advantage of penetration testing carried out at regular intervals. The Portal also benefits from a range of securities offered by the host which include intruder detection, regular backup and a secondary data site facility provider.

The Portal is supported by a 24 hour 7 days a week support service with engineers on call during that time. Engineers have remote access and are continually contactable during this period. There is also commitment to respond to requests for support and maintenance within an agreed time frame.

The Company's policy on correcting and updating personal information

You have the option to register as a user of the Portal. When you do so, you can choose to leave your personal information. The amount of information that you leave is entirely optional and you can update your personal details at any time by entering the user name and password allocated to you and modifying the details you require to be altered and submitting those details via the Portal. Any information you leave should be accurate and up to date.

The Company may contact you by email or direct mail where appropriate periodically to check the information held about you is up to date. This is necessary to ensure the Company's compliance with its obligations under the Data Protection legislation.

If you would like to remove all your user details from the Portal, simply send a written request by email to the Company and put “cancel membership” in the subject line. The Company will reply by email to confirm that your details have been removed. The Company aims to ensure that all cancelled memberships are dealt with within 48 hours of receipt of such request, however the Company shall not be liable to you should this 48 hour target fail to be achieved.

Links to other sites

The Portal contains links to other websites which may be owned and operated by third parties. If you choose to use the services provided by those websites, you may be asked by those sites to provide certain personal information. The Company is not responsible for the privacy practices of those websites although its name or logo may appear on those websites. Please read the privacy statements of each and every website that you visit.

Registration

The Company is registered with the Data Protection Commission. Its registration number is PZ6988013.