Edition 3 – December 2020

ACORUS RURAL PROPERTY SERVICES LIMITED (“ACORUS”)
PRIVACY POLICY

Statement of commitment

• Acorus is committed to maintaining control of personal and confidential commercial
  information at all times.
• Acorus operates an information management system to manage and monitor information
  security, whether held in electronic, paper or other medium.
  Personal information
• Personal information is managed in compliance with the EU General Data Protection
  Regulation (GDPR) and any other relevant legal requirement.
• Acorus will keep personal information confidential except where disclosure is required by law.
• Personal information will be retained for as long as Acorus considers necessary or the law
  requires, whichever is longer.
• Acorus will not sell, rent or lease email addresses or other personal information to third
  parties.
• Employee’s rights and responsibilities regarding their data are set out in a Privacy Notice
  which is not publicly available.
  Employee confidentiality obligation
• It is an obligation of their contract of employment that Acorus staff will not during or at any
  time after termination disclose to any person, firm, company or organisation any confidential
  information.
• Confidential information includes but is not limited to customer names, fee rates, product
  pricing, results of research, policies, standards and procedures belonging to Acorus, its clients
  or relating to their affairs or dealings, which may come to the employee’s knowledge during
  their employment.
• Confidentiality obligations for employees of Acorus are set out in an internal Staff Handbook
  (not publicly available).
  Client confidential commercial information
• Confidentiality is covered in Acorus’ standard contractual terms and conditions which are
  available on the company’s website – www.acorus.co.uk
• The terms and conditions state that Acorus will treat as confidential all trade secrets and
  confidential information received from the client concerning the client or its business.
• Where correspondence with the client is via the internet, email or other electronic media,
  Acorus will take reasonable steps to safeguard the security of information transmitted but will
  not accept liability for its security and confidentiality beyond these steps.
  Edition 3 – December 2020
  Suppliers and sub-contractors
• The protection of confidential information is covered in standard arrangements for the
  provision of supplies or sub-contracted services.
• This normally includes provision of relevant Privacy Notices to Acorus by the supplier or subcontractor.
  Website
• We only collect identifiable information that is specifically and voluntarily provided by a visitor
  to our website, for example in making an inquiry about Acorus’ services.
• Generally, this includes name, email address, postal address, telephone number and other
  similar contact information.
• Any personal data supplied to Acorus will be used solely for the purpose indicated on the web
  page requesting the information.
• A Privacy Notice will be placed on the website with more detailed information about
  protection of data supplied to Acorus through this medium.
  Data breaches and complaints
• Data breaches and privacy related violations of this policy discovered by Acorus will be
  investigated by the company’s Operations Director.
• Acorus will maintain a Register of Data Breaches and notify the Information Commissioner’s
  Office in the event of a serious violation of the GDPR.
• Corrective actions will be taken to resolve the violation and where appropriate, preventative
  actions taken to minimise the risk of reoccurrence.
• Complaints from clients and third parties will be managed in accordance with Acorus’
  Complaints Handling Procedure, available on the company’s website – www.acorus.co.uk.
  Responsibilities
  Acorus is committed to the implementation of this policy, for which I take full responsibility.
  This policy and the related Privacy Notices will be periodically reviewed so that they continue to be
  lawful, effective and relevant to the company’s business.

James Whilding
Managing Director
Acorus Rural Property Services Limited
December 2020