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2024
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Privacy Policy

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Privacy Notice

Welcome to Pet Drugs Online, part of IVC Evidensia. This notice explains how we collect, use, and protect information about you, who we may share it with, and the rights that you have. This notice covers most of the ways in which you will interact with us, through the website, in our practices, on social media or via our Apps. 

If we need to use your personal data in different ways, or for reasons not covered by this notice, we will let you know. We will also update this notice from time to time.

1. Who We Are

Independent Vetcare Ltd (‘IVC UK’) is registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK with reference number Z3212973. As part of the IVC Evidensia Group, our company also includes My Family Vets, Pet Drugs Online, Pet Health Club and VetsNow as well as other companies and brands.

Personal data processed by any company within the group will also be made available to other Group companies where we need to - for example, to provide or support our services to you, where we are under a legal obligation, or if you have given us your consent.

IVC Evidensia has appointed a Data Protection Officer. If you have any questions about this notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact them:

By post - FAO: Data Protection Officer, The Chocolate Factory, Keynsham, Bristol, BS31 2AU

By email - privacy@ivcevidensia.com

Other Controllers

Where you use our websites and click on external links, or visit our social media pages, your personal data may also be processed by the providers of those services – for example Google, Meta (Facebook) or Twitter. Those sites will collect further information about you for their own purposes, separately from IVC Group.

Where also use the data they collect, IVC Group might also be jointly responsible with the other company for determining how and why your personal data is used, and making sure that it is protected. 

2. What Do We Collect, How And Why?

Most of the personal data we collect is directly from you, as you use or request services from us, or get in touch. Technical information will be generated where you use our website, apps, or other online services.

Data that we collect may include:

  • Contact details such as your name and address, including email and social media account information if you contact us that way, and location information where we are referring you to local services;
  • Pet details and prescription information
  • Information about services you have used or requested, customer service information such as compliments or complaints, opinions and survey responses, contact preferences, and information which our employees might record as they provide services to you or your animals. This may also include recording calls you make to some of our services;
  • Financial information, including payments made, account and credit status;
  • Information about how you use our websites and online services including social media pages, including technical identifiers such as cookies (more information here)

We will collect these data so that:

  • We can provide the services you are using or have requested, and manage payment for them as part of our contract with you;
  • We can improve our services to you and other customers, including gathering feedback from you via surveys, as part of our legitimate business interests;
  • We can manage our online and other services effectively and securely, as part of our legitimate business interests and legal obligations to you;
  • We can meet regulatory obligations, to prevent or detect crime, or in the public interest, including protection of animal welfare;
  • With your consent, so that we can provide you information about products and services that may be of interest.

If you do not want us to use some of your personal data, we may not be able to provide services to you – for example payment data or contact details.

We do not normally collect or use ‘special category’ data, such as religion, sexuality, or health data.

3. Who We Share Your Personal Data With

As well as using service providers to support our business, we might share information with other separate organisations who are also Controllers. This may include:

  • Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons 
  • Other veterinary specialists, laboratories and animal health providers and agencies, where the personal data cannot be anonymised or is otherwise necessary
  • Insurance and other professional and legal advisors
  • Debt recovery agencies
  • Law enforcement, fraud prevention agencies and other public authorities
  • Companies approved by you (such as social media sites)

Where any part of our business is outsourced, sold, or merged, and where permitted by law, we will share your data with the new provider so that services can continue to be provided to you. They may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this policy.

We will, of course, inform you of any such change and give you an opportunity to opt out of your data being shared with a new provider.

4. International Transfers

IVC Evidensia is a multinational company, and some of our business processes may take place outside of your own country. We ensure that your data continues to be protected to the same standards by:

  • Ensuring that the country has been agreed by data protection regulators to provide an adequate level of protection;
  • Making sure that regulator-approved contracts are in place to protect your data and rights.
  • IVC Evidensia in Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) currently uses service providers in the following countries/regions:
  • The United Kingdom (UK)
  • The European Union (EU) /European Economic Area (EEA)
  • The United States of America (USA)
  • India

5. Keeping Your Personal Data Secure

We have security and other measures in place to help protect your data and limit how it can be access or used, and to identify and handle suspected breaches of personal data and other security threats

We limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors, and service providers who have a need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality and other contractual terms to protect your data.

6. Data Retention

We will retain your data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax or reporting requirements. 

7. Being In Control Of Your Own Information

Under the UK and EU data protection law you have some important rights available to you. In summary, these include:

  • Request information about how we are using your data 
  • Request a copy of your personal data 
  • Request that we correct any personal data that is inaccurate 
  • Request that we do not make any automated decisions based on your data (do not worry, we do not) 
  • Request that we delete your data 
  • Where you have been asked for and given us your consent, withdraw that consent 
  • Request that we stop processing all or part of your data  
  • Request that we transfer elements of your personal data to another service provider

Some of these rights may be limited in some circumstances or subject to exemptions. If you want to exercise your rights or make a complaint, please complete a Rights request form or contact us at privacy@ivcevidensia.com  

If we cannot resolve a complaint as you would wish, you may also make a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) via their website or via your local EU regulator.

8. Recruitment Privacy Policy

For our full our Recruitment Privacy Policy please see the dedicated page.

Pet Drugs Online ("We") are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

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

For the purpose of the General Data Protection Regulation, the data controller is Pet Drugs Online of Unit 7B, Burnett Business Park, Gypsy Lane, Keynsham, Bristol, BS31 2ED.

We may collect the following information from customers:

Your name, address, email address, telephone number, financial and credit/debit card information, and personal descriptions.

You may give us information about you by filling in forms on our website (www.petdrugsonline.co.uk) or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you register to use our website, subscribe to our service, place an order on our website, participate in discussion boards or other social media functions on our website, enter a competition, promotion, or survey and when you report a problem with our website.

This information is processed so that we can facilitate purchasing and delivery of products by you from us and to keep you informed of those purchases. We have identified the lawful basis for this purpose of processing as:

‘processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract.’

If you do not provide us with the information we require to complete a transaction, then you will be unable to purchase our products.

The information may also be processed so that you can be notified of technical ‘how to use’ guidance and of potential safety information relating to our products. We have identified the lawful basis for this purpose of processing as:

‘processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.’

The legitimate interest in processing this information comes from our obligations under the Veterinary Medicines Directorate to inform you of such guidance and safety information. Further information can be found at the Veterinary Medicines Directorate website at the following address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/veterinary-medicines-directorate

The information may also be processed so that we can provide you with information about goods or services we feel may interest you based on products that you have already purchased or enquired about. We have identified the lawful basis for this purpose of processing as:

‘the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes.’

We will only conduct this marketing activity where you have specifically ‘opted-in’ to receive such marketing material. Even if you consent to this marketing activity, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. You can do this by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ button in the email you received, by writing to us at the address provided at the top of this privacy notice, or by completing a contact form on the ‘contact us’ page of our website.

In addition to the above, we may automatically collect the following information when you visit our website:

  • Technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
  • Information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our website (including date and time); products you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number.

This information is processed for the purposes of:

  • Administering our website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting;
  • Improving our website to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
  • Allowing you to participate in interactive features of our service;
  • Keeping our website safe and secure.

We have identified the lawful basis for this purpose of processing as:

‘processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.’
The legitimate interest in processing this information comes from our requirement to having a functioning and secure website.

Disclosure of your information

We may share your information with the following third parties:

  • Advertisers and advertising networks that require the data to select and serve relevant adverts to you and others. We do not disclose information about identifiable individuals to our advertisers, but we may provide them with aggregate information about our users (for example, we may inform them that 500 men aged under 30 have clicked on their advertisement on any given day). We may also use such aggregate information to help advertisers reach the kind of audience they want to target (for example, women in SW1). We may make use of the personal data we have collected from you to enable us to comply with our advertisers' wishes by displaying their advertisement to that target audience].
  • Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our website. 
  • Credit reference agencies for the purpose of assessing your credit score where this is a condition of us entering into a contract with you.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

  • In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
  • If Pet Drugs Online or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
  • If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Pet Drugs Online, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Transfer to countries outside of the European Union

We confirm that no personal data will be transferred to countries outside of the European Union.

How long we will keep your personal data

We have a regulatory requirement under the Veterinary Medicines Directorate to keep a record of the purchase of prescribed and non-prescribed animal drugs and treatments for 5 years. For ease of administration we use this retention period for all customer personal data.

Your rights as data subjects

The General Data Protection Regulation provides data subjects certain rights relating to the processing of their personal data.
You may request access from us to the personal data we process concerning you through making a subject access request (or SAR).
You may request rectification of the personal data we process concerning you where it is incomplete or inaccurate.
You may request, subject to certain criteria, the erasure of the personal data we process concerning you.
You may request that we restrict the processing of personal data concerning you. Restriction means that we will only store the personal data and not further process it.
You have the right to object to your personal data being processed. If we receive such an objection, we will, where required under the General Data Protection Regulation stop processing your personal data.
You have the right to data portability whereby we will provide you your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
You can make a request expressing your rights by writing to us at the address above, or by using the contact form on our website.

Lodging a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office

If you feel that your personal data has been, or is being, processed in an inappropriate manner; or you feel that your rights, as described above have been infringed, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK’s supervisory authority regarding data protection matters and has a responsibility to act on complaints made to it. You may lodge a complaint by visiting the website below or calling the ICO’s helpline on 0303 123 1113.
https://ico.org.uk/concerns/