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The Armourers’ Association And The General Data Protection Regulations

Date of last review: 25 February 2023

The Armourers’ Association exists to promote and preserve the historic trade of ‘Armourer’, it provides a forum for past and present Armourers, Gunfitters and Artificer Weapons to meet and catch up with old friends as well as make new ones.

Membership is open to Armourers, Gunfitters and Artificer Weapons who serve(d) with Royal Army Ordinance Corps, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Royal Marines and the Ghurkha Brigade.  Membership is free and for life.

As an Association we are exempt from paying a registration fee for holding personal information under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).  This has been verified by completing the ‘Registration self-assessment’ form on the ‘Information Commissioner’s Office’ (ICO) web site.

However, this does not mean that we will ignore the principles of GDPR and this document is designed to provide all members of the Association with information on how we will be guided by those principles.

The GDPR sets out seven key principles:

  1. Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
  2. Purpose limitation
  3. Data minimisation
  4. Accuracy
  5. Storage limitation
  6. Integrity and confidentiality (security)
  7. Accountability

Lawfulness, Fairness and Transparency

Data is collected through our web site, www.ukarmourers.org.ukby an online form which is filled in by an individual. This form has mandatory fields to allow the Association to identify an individual person in order to verify that they are eligible to become members of the Association.  For individuals who become members, the data is held in an electronic database.  Where an individual fails to gain membership, the data is permanently deleted from all records.

The reason for collecting the data on individuals is to compile a database of membership.  The details collected are as follows:

  • Rank (if applicable)
  • Title
  • Name
  • Address
  • Intake place
  • Intake year
  • Corps or Regiment
  • Email address
  • Telephone number, work, home or mobile (not mandatory)

The data collected also allows members of the committee, normally the Secretary, to contact individuals. This in practice allows members to be put in contact with each other and for newsletters and other documents to be emailed or sent by post.

For historical purposes, the Association also holds and publishes photographs on our web site, some of members who are identified by name, others are images only, as no data exists to identify the individuals.  Other images are purely memorabilia, which again are for historical purposes.

Information such as Address, Email Address and telephone number will be removed before posting documents/data on the Association web site.

Individuals have the right to access their personal data and any such requests made to the Association shall be dealt with in a timely manner.

Cookies

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If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies.  This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices.  Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year.  If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks.  If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited.  It expires after 1 day.

Purpose Limitation

Data is used in three ways:

  1. To allow communication both ways: Committee to individual or group and vice versa.
  2. To process receipts for any items purchased from the Association.
  3. To provide historical and statistical data of The Armourers’ Association membership.

Data Minimisation

The data held allows the committee to determine that a person is eligible to become, and continue to be, a member of the Association.

The membership database lists Active and Inactive members:

  • Active members are those whose details are current and have been successfully contacted at some time during the year. This is normally by email or post.

Active members may request to be removed from the database and the information held will be deleted. At that point they will cease to be members of the Association.  Optionally, they may request to be moved to the Inactive list and the data held anonymised.

  • Inactive members fall into two categories:
  1. Members whose contact details are incorrect and have not been successfully contacted at some point in time.
  2. Members who are known to be deceased and the details verified.

Inactive members will remain on the database for historical and statistical purposes or until such time that the committee deems it appropriate to remove the information from the database.

Accuracy

All data collected is based on the information provided by an individual, the onus to provide up to date and accurate information therefore lies mainly with the individual. However, when any correspondence is received from an individual, the information held on the database is verified against that correspondence.

Any changes to the information held are logged in the database.  This records the original date and time the record was created and the date and time that the data was updated.

Any challenges to the information held are logged in the ‘Notes’ section of the individual together with the date.  These challenges are reviewed by the committee and the individual kept informed of the proceedings and outcome.

Storage Limitation

Data is held to maintain a database of Association members and as such remains relevant throughout the life of a member, providing that any changes are notified by the individual.

The historical nature of the Armourers’ Association means that we require to keep as much information as possible in order to maintain the unique heritage of the trade ‘Armourer’ for future generations.  The data held will be reviewed by the committee on an annual basis to ensure relevance.

Integrity and Confidentiality (Security)

All data is controlled by one individual (the Secretary), on a home computer which is backed up every 24 hours to a stand-alone hard drive.  The data is not accessible by anyone else, unless they are given specific access to the computer.  A sealed envelope detailing the method of access to the Armourers Association information held on the computer will be made available to the committee should the need arise.

Data on the home computer is accessible through a custom-built FileMakerâdatabase which is updated to the latest version as released.

Electronic communication to individuals is via the computers native email programme, with email addresses held in the computers native contacts application.  All other communication is by post.

The computer is virus protected by Sophos Home, which is updated regularly and automatically by the application.

Accountability

The committee take full responsibility for ensuring that the Association are guided by the principles of GDPR.  This document will be reviewed annually at the committee meeting and any findings presented to the membership at the AGM for discussion.

Members are free to comment at any time on the content of this document and are encouraged to do so.