Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

1.1 We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and customers in accordance with UK data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1.2 This policy applies where we are acting as a data controller with respect to the personal data of our website visitors, customers, and service users, in other words, where we determine the purposes and means of the processing of that personal data.

1.3 We use cookies on our website. Insofar as those cookies are not strictly necessary for the provision of our website and online store, we will ask you to consent to our use of cookies when you first visit our website.

1.4 Our website incorporates privacy controls which affect how we will process your personal data. By using the privacy controls, you can specify whether you would like to receive direct marketing communications and limit the publication of your information on each of the forms.

1.5 In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Omega Alpha Equine, a company registered in the United Kingdom.

2. How we use your personal data

2.1 In this section, we have set out:

1. the general categories of personal data that we may process;
2. the purposes for which we may process personal data; and
3. the legal bases of the processing under UK GDPR.

2.2 We may process data about your use of our website and online store (“usage data“). The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use. The source of the usage data is our analytics tracking system and server logs. This usage data may be processed for the purposes of analysing the use of the website and online store, improving our services, and ensuring website security. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely monitoring and improving our website and protecting our business against fraud and security threats.

2.3 We may process information contained in any enquiry you submit to us (“enquiry data“). The enquiry data may include your name, email address, phone number, company details, and the content of your enquiry. The enquiry data may be processed for the purposes of responding to your enquiry, offering products and services to you, and maintaining records of our communications. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely responding to enquiries and conducting our business operations.

2.4 We may process information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our email notifications and/or newsletters (“notification data“). The notification data may include your name, email address, and preferences. The notification data may be processed for the purposes of sending you the relevant notifications, newsletters, and marketing communications. The legal basis for this processing is consent, which you may withdraw at any time.

2.5 We may process information relating to transactions, including purchases of goods and services, that you enter into with us (“transaction data“). The transaction data may include your contact details, payment card details, billing address, shipping address, and the transaction details. The transaction data may be processed for the purpose of supplying the purchased goods and services, processing payments, keeping proper records of those transactions, and handling returns or warranty claims. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps, at your request, to enter into such a contract, and our legitimate interests, namely our interest in the proper administration of our website and business.

2.6 We may process information that you provide to us for the purpose of registering a user account or customer account (“account data“). The account data may include your name, email address, password, billing address, shipping address, phone number, and any other information you choose to provide in your account profile. The account data may be processed for the purposes of operating and maintaining your user account, identifying you as a user, providing you with access to account-related features and functionality, processing orders, and communicating with you about your account and orders. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps, at your request, to enter into such a contract.

2.7 We may process information contained in stockist registration applications (“stockist data“). The stockist data may include business name, contact person details, business address, VAT number, business registration details, and trade references. This data is processed for the purposes of evaluating stockist applications, managing our wholesale relationships, and maintaining our stockist database. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely managing our business relationships and distribution network.

2.8 We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others.

2.9 In addition to the specific purposes for which we may process your personal data set out in this Section 2, we may also process any of your personal data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

2.10 Please do not supply any other person’s personal data to us, unless we prompt you to do so.

3. Providing your personal data to others

3.1 We may disclose your personal data to our insurers and/or professional advisers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, obtaining professional advice, or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

3.2 We may disclose transaction data to payment processors for the purpose of processing payments. Our current payment processors include PayPal, Stripe, and other WooCommerce-compatible payment gateways.

3.3 We may disclose your personal data to our suppliers or subcontractors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of fulfilling orders, providing services, or operating our website. This may include shipping companies, email service providers, and website hosting providers.

3.4 In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this Section 3, we may disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. We may also disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.

4. International transfers of your personal data

4.1 In this section, we provide information about the circumstances in which your personal data may be transferred to countries outside the United Kingdom.

4.2 The hosting facilities for our website are situated in the United Kingdom. The UK maintains adequate data protection standards.

4.3 Some of our service providers may be located outside the UK. Where we transfer your personal data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, or other appropriate measures as recognised under UK data protection law.

4.4 You acknowledge that personal data that you submit for publication through our website may be available, via the internet, around the world. We cannot prevent the use (or misuse) of such personal data by others.

5. Retaining and deleting personal data

5.1 This section sets out our data retention policies and procedures, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal data.

5.2 Personal data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.

5.3 We will retain your personal data as follows:

1. Enquiry data (name, email, and contact number) will be retained for a minimum period of 60 days following the date of submission through the website, and for a maximum period of 2 years following the date of submission, unless you request earlier deletion.
2. Account data will be retained for as long as your account remains active, and for a period of 3 years following account closure for audit and legal purposes, unless you request deletion of your account. If you request account deletion, your account data will be anonymised or deleted within 30 days, subject to legal retention requirements.
3. Transaction data will be retained for a period of 7 years following the completion of the transaction for accounting, tax, and legal compliance purposes.
4. Stockist data will be retained for the duration of the business relationship and for 3 years following termination of the relationship for reference and legal purposes.
5. Usage data will be retained for a maximum period of 26 months.
6. Marketing and newsletter data will be retained until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent, after which it will be deleted within 30 days.

5.4 Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 5, we may retain your personal data where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

6. Your rights under UK GDPR

6.1 In this section, we have summarised the rights that you have under UK data protection law. Some of the rights are complex, and not all of the details have been included in our summaries. Accordingly, you should read the relevant laws and guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a full explanation of these rights.

6.2 Your principal rights under UK data protection law are:

1. the right to access;
2. the right to rectification;
3. the right to erasure;
4. the right to restrict processing;
5. the right to object to processing;
6. the right to data portability;
7. the right to complain to a supervisory authority; and
8. the right to withdraw consent.

6.3 You have the right to confirmation as to whether or not we process your personal data and, where we do, access to the personal data, together with certain additional information. That additional information includes details of the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned and the recipients of the personal data. Providing the rights and freedoms of others are not affected, we will supply you with a copy of your personal data free of charge. Additional copies may be subject to a reasonable fee.

6.4 You have the right to have any inaccurate personal data about you rectified and, taking into account the purposes of the processing, to have any incomplete personal data about you completed. You can update most of your personal information directly through your account dashboard.

6.5 In some circumstances, you have the right to the erasure of your personal data without undue delay. Those circumstances include: the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed; you withdraw consent to consent-based processing; you object to the processing under certain rules of applicable data protection law; the processing is for direct marketing purposes; and the personal data have been unlawfully processed. However, there are exclusions of the right to erasure. The general exclusions include where processing is necessary: for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information; for compliance with a legal obligation; or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

6.6 In some circumstances, you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Those circumstances are: you contest the accuracy of the personal data; processing is unlawful but you oppose erasure; we no longer need the personal data for the purposes of our processing, but you require personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; and you have objected to processing, pending the verification of that objection. Where processing has been restricted on this basis, we may continue to store your personal data. However, we will only otherwise process it: with your consent; for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person; or for reasons of important public interest.

6.7 You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation, but only to the extent that the legal basis for the processing is that the processing is necessary for: the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of any official authority vested in us; or the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party. If you make such an objection, we will cease to process the personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

6.8 You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (including profiling for direct marketing purposes). If you make such an objection, we will cease to process your personal data for this purpose.

6.9 To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is:

1. consent; or
2. that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, and such processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.

6.10 If you consider that our processing of your personal information infringes UK data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection. You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/ or by calling 0303 123 1113.

6.11 To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal information is consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.

6.12 You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by emailing us using the address found on the website or by contacting us through your account dashboard where applicable.

7. About cookies

7.1 A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

7.2 Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.

7.3 Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

8. Cookies that we use

8.1 We use cookies for the following purposes:

1. Essential cookies: These are necessary for the operation of our website and online store, including maintaining your shopping cart, login sessions, and security features;
2. Functional cookies: These enable us to remember your preferences and provide enhanced features;
3. Analytics cookies: These help us understand how visitors use our website to improve our services.

9. Cookies used by our service providers

9.1 Our service providers use cookies, and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.

9.2 We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our website. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of our website. Google’s privacy policy is available at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/

9.3 Our e-commerce platform may use additional cookies for shopping cart functionality, payment processing, and fraud prevention. These are essential for the operation of our online store.

10. Managing cookies

10.1 Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:

1. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome);
2. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop?redirectslug=enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences&redirectlocale=en-US (Firefox);
3. https://help.opera.com/en/latest/web-preferences/ (Opera);
4. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/delete-and-manage-cookies-168dab11-0753-043d-7c16-ede5947fc64d (Internet Explorer);
5. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac (Safari); and
6. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/microsoft-edge-browsing-data-and-privacy-bb8174ba-9d73-dcf2-9b4a-c582b4e640dd (Edge).

10.2 Blocking all cookies will have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites, particularly our online store functionality.

10.3 If you block essential cookies, you will not be able to use all the features on our website, including making purchases through our online store.

11. Data Security

11.1 We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to secure your personal data and protect it from unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss, destruction or damage. This includes:

1. Using encryption to protect passwords and sensitive data stored in our databases;
2. Implementing secure socket layer (SSL) technology for data transmission;
3. Regular security updates and monitoring of our systems;
4. Restricting access to personal data to authorised personnel only.

11.2 However, you acknowledge that the transmission of data over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet.

11.3 You are responsible for keeping your account password confidential and secure. We recommend using a unique, complex password for your account.

12. Amendments

12.1 We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.

12.2 You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this policy.

12.3 We will notify you of significant changes to this policy by email or through prominent notices on our website.

13. Our details

13.1 This website is owned and operated by Omega Alpha Equine, a company registered in the United Kingdom.

13.2 You can contact us:

1. using our website contact form;
2. by email, using the email address published on our website;
3. by post, using the postal address published on our website.