Privacy Policy

Introduction

AuditStar is the trading name for Sparkfast Limited (“AuditStar”, “the Company”, “we”, “our” or “us”). 

AuditStar is a marketing solutions and media auditing consultancy with global reach. The Company trading head office is based at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, London N1 0QH, United Kingdom.

AuditStar is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. 

This privacy policy describes how AuditStar protects and makes use of the information you give us when you use this website. If you are asked to provide information when using this website, it will only be used in the ways described in this privacy policy, and in ways that are consistent with our obligations and your rights under the law. 

AuditStar is the controller of personal data obtained via our website, meaning we are the organisation legally responsible for deciding how and for what purposes it is used.

Given the nature of our website, we do not expect to collect personal data of anyone under 18 years old. If you are aware that any personal data of anyone under 18 years old has been shared with our website, please let us know so that we can delete that data.

If you have any questions about this policy, please email: privacy.policy@auditstar.co.uk

Please note that occasionally we may update this privacy policy to allow us to accommodate new technologies, industry practices, regulatory requirements or for other purposes. If we do, we will change the “last updated” date at the top of this policy and the revised policy will be posted to this page so that you are aware of the information we collect and how we use it.

Information about us

AuditStar is the trading name of Sparkfast Limited, a limited liability company registered in England under company number 3831137.

The registered address of Sparkfast Limited is 9 Seagrave Road, London SW6 1RP, United Kingdom.

The Company VAT number is GB 436 656 11.

Sparkfast Limited is the owner of the following domain names:

www.auditstar.co.uk

www.auditstar.de

www.auditstar.es

www. auditstar.fr

www.auditstar.it

Data security

AuditStar is committed to protecting personal data from loss, misuse, disclosure, alteration, unauthorised access, unavailability and destruction and takes all reasonable precautions to safeguard the confidentiality of personal data. 

Any personal data we do hold about you is stored and processed under our data protection policy, in line with the following:

• The EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”);
• The UK GDPR; and
• The UK Data Protection Act 2018. 

Compliance is assured through the use of appropriate certification as well as extensive organisational and technical measures which take into account people, processes and technology. For example:

• Certification includes BS EN ISO/IEC 27001:2017 which mandates a risk-based approach to addressing threats in our organisation’s Information Security Management Systems. This is in accordance with Article 42 of the UK and EU GDPR where it details demonstrating compliance through “data protection certification processes”. The Company is also Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certified;
• Organisational measures include physical access controls to our premises, internal policies, staff training, and ensuring confidentiality obligations are imposed on our employees and third parties;
• Technical measures include requiring passwords, two-factor authentication, and VPN for accessing our systems, the use of encryption and anti-virus software and logically separating data. 

What personal data we gather

We gather and use certain information about individuals in order to provide relevant services and to better understand how visitors use this website and to enhance the overall experience.

We may collect the following data:

• Name;
• Job title;
• Company name;
• Email address;
• Telephone number;
• Website usage data;
• Other information relevant to client enquiries and job opportunities.

How your personal data is collected

We collect personal data from you: 

• Directly, when you enter or send us information, for example, when you complete the contact form on our website; and 
• Indirectly, such as your browsing activity while on our website. We will usually collect information indirectly using the technologies explained in the section below: ‘Cookies and how we use them’.

How and why we use your personal data

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a valid reason, for example:

• To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• For the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract; 
• For our legitimate interests or those of a third party.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests. Collecting your personal data helps us understand what you are looking for from AuditStar, enabling us to deliver improved services.

Specifically, we may use personal data:

• For our own internal records;
• To improve the services we provide;
• To contact you in response to a specific enquiry;
• To customise the website for you;
• To send you promotional emails about services and other things we think might be relevant to you.

Marketing

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email or telephone) about our services.

We have a legitimate interest in using your personal data for marketing purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal data’). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you marketing information. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this separately and clearly.

You have the right to opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by:

• Contacting us at privacy.policy@auditstar.co.uk
• Using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails.

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.

We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Retention of personal data

We keep your personal data for no longer than necessary for the purposes for which the personal data is processed. The length of time we retain personal data for depends on the purposes for which we collect and use it and/or as required to comply with applicable laws and to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights. Our retention policy is based on the following criteria:

• If you were an active contact but have not interacted with us or any of our platforms or materials over a set period of time, we will delete our contact record of you;
• If you are a new, prospective contact but have not interacted with us or any of our platforms or materials within a set period of time (thus indicating you have no intention of starting a business relationship with us), we will delete our contact record of you.

Cookies and how we use them

Like many other websites, the AuditStar website uses cookies. 

‘Cookies’ are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. 

This helps us to improve our website and deliver a more personalised service.

We may use cookies to:

• Analyse our web traffic using an analytics package. Aggregated usage data helps us improve the website structure, design, content and functions;
• Store information about your preferences. The website can then present you with information you may find more relevant and interesting;
• Recognise when you return to our website. We may show you relevant content or provide functionality you used previously.

Cookies do not provide us with access to your computer or any information about you, other than that which you choose to share with us.

You can use your web browser’s cookie settings to determine how our website uses cookies. If you do not want our website to store cookies on your computer or device, you should set your web browser to refuse cookies. However, please note that doing this may affect how our website functions. Some pages and services may become unavailable to you.

Unless you have changed your browser to refuse cookies, our website will issue cookies when you visit it.

Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA

The European Economic Area (“EEA”), UK and other countries outside the EEA and the UK have differing data protection laws, some of which may provide lower levels of protection of privacy. 

It is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data to countries outside the UK and/or EEA. In those cases, we will comply with applicable UK and/or EEA laws designed to ensure the privacy of your personal data.

For example, we may transfer your personal data between or to:

• Our branches in the UK, Germany, Spain, France and/or Italy and/or their staff members; 
• Our service providers located outside the UK (including, for example, our cloud computing service providers).

Links from our site

From time to time our website may contain links to other websites.

Please note that we have no control of websites outside of our own website. If you provide information to a website to which we link, we are not responsible for its protection and privacy.

Always be wary when submitting data to websites. Read the site’s data protection and privacy policies in full.

Adobe Typekit web fonts

In order to ensure the uniform depiction of certain fonts, our website uses fonts called Adobe Typekit provided by Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, CA 95110-2704, United States of America.

When you access pages of our website, your browser will automatically load the required fonts directly from the Adobe site in order to be able to display them correctly on your device. As a result, your browser will establish a connection with Adobe’s servers in the United States and Adobe will be informed that your IP address was used to access our website. However, according to the information provided by Adobe, no cookies will be stored in conjunction with the provision of the fonts.

Adobe is in possession of certification in accordance with the EU-US Privacy Shield. For more information, please follow this link: 

https://www.adobe.com/privacy/eudatatransfers.html

The use of Adobe Typekit web fonts is necessary to ensure the uniform presentation of fonts on our website. This constitutes a legitimate interest as defined in Art. 6 Sect. 1 lit. f GDPR.

For more information about Adobe Typekit web fonts, please read the policies under: https://www.adobe.com/privacy/policies/typekit.html

Adobe’s Privacy Policy may be reviewed under: 

https://www.adobe.com/privacy/policy.html

Your rights

You generally have the following rights, which you can usually exercise free of charge:

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they do and do not apply, please contact us at privacy.policy@auditstar.co.uk.

You may also find it helpful to refer to the guidance from the UK’s Information Commissioner on your rights under the relevant legislation. 

Please visit: https://ico.org.uk

This includes guidance aimed at UK businesses such as AuditStar who may receive data from or have offices in the EU and the EEA.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at privacy.policy@auditstar.co.uk. 

When contacting us please:

• Provide enough information to identify yourself and any additional identity information we may reasonably request from you; and
• Let us know which right(s) you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.

How to complain

Please contact us at privacy.policy@auditstar.co.uk if you have any queries or concerns about our use of your data. 

We hope we will be able to resolve any issues you may have.

You may also have the right to lodge a complaint with:

• The Information Commissioner in the UK; and
• A relevant data protection supervisory authority in the EEA state of your habitual residence, place of work or of an alleged infringement of data protection laws in the EEA.

The UK’s Information Commissioner may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by telephone: +44 303 123 1113.