Privacy Policy

Last Updated: August 14, 2024

The American Chemical Society, its subsidiaries and affiliated divisions are committed to protecting and processing your personal information responsibly. This Privacy Policy statement discloses how and why we collect, use, share, and otherwise process personal information that you or other individuals provide to us. For our privacy practices regarding job applications and future career opportunities, please refer to the ACS Candidate Privacy Statement. In addition, please review our Terms of Use, which govern your use of our websites.

Who We Are

We are the American Chemical Society, an American federally-chartered, non-profit organization (Federal ID No. 53-0196572). References in this policy to “ACS” or “the Society,” “we,” “us” or “our” are to the American Chemical Society.

Our registered address is 1155 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States of America.

CAS

CAS is a division of the American Chemical Society. CAS is located at 2540 Olentangy River Road, Columbus, Ohio, 43202-1505, United States of America.

If CAS handles your personal information, they shall do so in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

For CAS customers, please address questions, comments and requests related to this Privacy Policy to privacy@cas.org.

You can tell CAS that you do not want your personal information to be processed at any time by contacting CAS at privacy@cas.org.

You can tell CAS that you do not want your personal information to be processed at any time by following the unsubscribe link shown in every marketing communication you receive from CAS.

ACS Publications

ACS Publications is a division of the American Chemical Society located at 1155 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036, United States of America.

If ACS Publications handles your personal information, they shall do so in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

C&EN

Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) is an independent news organization, and a division of the American Chemical Society located at 1155 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036, United States of America.

If C&EN handles your personal information, they shall do so in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

How We Collect Information About You

When you become a member

When you become a member of the American Chemical Society, we will use your personal information to process your membership application and provide you with your membership information and benefits. The details we collect from you when you become a member include your name, address, email address, phone number, payment details, academic/industry affiliation and sector preferences.

To complete your membership application, we share your personal information with our subcontractors, e.g., payment processors, who are involved in the membership application process.

We need to process your personal information in this way to register you as a member and provide the ongoing membership services and benefits to you, as part of your membership contract with us.

As a member or community associate, we may share your name, address, email address, phone number, academic/industry affiliation and sector preferences for governance purposes, such as for receiving electioneering communications from presidential candidates and to participate in local sections, chapters, committees, divisions, or other related opportunities or events.

When you submit an article for publication to a journal

When you submit an article for publication, we collect information from you, such as: your name, address, email address, phone number, job title, employer/academic institution, and biographical information. During the screening and due diligence process, you may be requested to provide additional personal information such as date of birth or other personally identifiable information solely for verification purposes. We use this information to ensure appropriate attribution and to identify you as the author of the article. We may also provide your information to other publishers and distribution services to ensure a wide distribution and access to your article by interested parties.

When you subscribe or use our products and/or services (e.g., SciFinder, journal subscription)

When you use our products and services, we collect such information from you as: your name, address, email address, phone number, job title, employer/academic institution, individual demographic data, and payment details (if applicable).

We use this information to verify whether you have an active account or subscription with us, and to make sure you can access the services you have signed up to receive. We also use the information collected from you to improve our products and services and to provide customized content to you, including, for example, improved searching and search results. We may provide your information to other third parties to optimize or enhance your access to our services.

We need to collect and use your personal information in this way to carry out the contract in place between us.

We also act as a data processor for the companies, institutions and universities who subscribe to our services. If you are a user of our products and services, we hold limited information about you. This is limited to the information we need to validate you are authorized to access our services under your employer or university's contract with us. Please contact your employer or university in the first instance if you have any queries in connection with how your information is used by the Society.

We need to collect and use your personal information in this way to carry out the contract in place between us and your employer or university.

When you attend one of our national meetings, conferences, or industry events

When you attend one of our events (such as the national meeting), we will collect the following information from you: name, address, email address, phone number, employer/academic institution, individual demographic data and payment details. If you are already a member and register to attend an event, we will use the equivalent membership details we already may have on file for you to confirm your booking, and you can update the information during the registration transaction. The details we collect from you will include your name, address, payment and other contact details. We need to use your personal information in this way to complete the booking contract between us.

We provide a delegate list to the organizations, sponsors, exhibitors, and other individuals who attend our events. We do this because our events provide a useful networking opportunity, and we have a legitimate interest in wanting to help build and develop the scientific community. You can object to us using your information in this way by contacting us using the information provided at the time of registration.

Our events may be photographed and/or video/audio recorded for the purpose of reflecting the events in our publications or websites. We focus our efforts solely on the keynote speakers and other voluntary participants, as well as the audience as a whole.

When you attend one of our educational sessions, events, product demonstrations, or sign-up for our webinars

When you attend one of our educational sessions, short courses, workshops, (such as Short Courses Learning Management and Classroom sessions), events, product demonstrations, or webinars we will collect such information from you as your name, address, email address, phone number, employer/academic institution, position title, and payment details, as applicable. If you are already a member and register to attend a session or webinar, we may use some of the membership details we already may have on file for you to confirm your booking, and you can update the information during the registration transaction. When you sign up to one of our webinars, whitepapers, or take one of our quizzes your registration details may be disclosed to the webinar sponsor. We rely on our legitimate interest to promote and develop the scientific community when we transfer your information to the sponsors.

We need to use your personal information in this way to complete and confirm your registration.

When you phone us, email us, or use our websites chat service

When you phone us or contact us by chat or email with general queries, or when we provide customer support for your use of our products and services, we may also handle your personal information (your name, contact details and the other details you provide to us) in order to provide the customer services you have requested. Customer services may include when you contact us to provide customer support for questions you may have with regard to membership, subscriptions, payments and other service type inquiries, or when you ask for our assistance troubleshooting issues with our products or services, explaining how our products or services work, or if you request information about new products and/or services. All phone calls may be recorded for quality assurance and training purposes, and an announcement to that effect is included in our greeting, as applicable. We record phone calls because we have a legitimate interest in monitoring the quality of our calls and training our staff using live examples.

Unless we are contracted to provide this support, we rely on your consent to handle your personal information in this way. If you do not provide us with the personal information we request from you for customer services purposes, we may not be able to fully answer your queries.

When you have expressed or discussed an interest in, or renew your contract with the Society

This section applies if you have opted in to receive marketing communications from us or have previously expressed an interest in the Society and not opted out.

We will handle your personal information (such as your name, email address, postal address, phone number, position title, employer/academic institution, and/or sector preferences) to provide you with marketing communications in line with any preferences you have told us about.

When we send you marketing emails because you have opted-in to receive them, we rely on your consent to contact you for marketing purposes.

If you have not opted-in and we send you marketing communications, we do this because of our legitimate interest to promote the success of the Society.

Every email we send to you for marketing purposes will also contain instructions on how to unsubscribe from receiving them.

You are not under any obligation to provide us with your personal information for marketing purposes.

You can tell us that you do not want your personal information to be processed in this way at any time by contacting us at privacy@acs.org or by following the unsubscribe link shown in every marketing communication you receive from us.

If you have expressed an interest in the Society, we have discussed an interest in the Society, or you are renewing your contract with us, we typically collect the name, email address and other contact details of the individuals contacting us, and those authorized to subscribe to our services or solutions. Our lawful basis to do this is our legitimate interest to promote the continued success of our business.

When you create an ACS ID, a set of digital access credentials

When you create an ACS ID, the set of credentials that allow us to authenticate your use of ACS websites and applications, we will collect the following information from you: name, email address, institution, username and password. We may also collect your ACS member number to provide you with access to ACS member-only content.

We need to process your information for this reason to provide the contracted services you have requested.

Information We Collect From Other Sources

We work closely with third parties (for example, technical service providers, advertising networks, analytics providers, and search information providers) and may receive information about you from them. Depending on the relationship and activity, they will provide us with certain information that will help us understand how you interact with our websites, products, and services so that we can tailor our marketing and provide better, more personalized services to you. In some cases, third parties also provide us with information that helps us keep track of transactions, address technical or logistical issues, prevent fraud, or keep our community safe from security threats.

To make our websites, products and services better and to increase our membership base

We will also use your personal information to provide you with a more effective user experience such as by displaying articles and links in which we think you will be interested.

Our use of your personal information in this way means that your experience of our websites will be more tailored to you, and that the articles and links you see on our websites may differ from someone accessing the same websites with a different history or browsing habits.

We will also use your personal information for the purposes of making our websites, products and services more secure, and to administer our websites and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and for sending surveys about our products, services, or websites to help us improve our offerings to you.

We also share your aggregated, anonymous data with third party analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimization of our websites.

We process your information for this reason because we have a legitimate interest to provide you with the best experience to continue increasing our membership base and to ensure that our websites, products and services are kept secure.

If our business or our assets are sold

We will transfer your personal information to a third party:

if we sell or buy any business or assets, we will provide your personal information to the seller or buyer (but only to the extent we need to, and always in accordance with data protection legislation); or
if the Society or the majority of its assets are acquired by somebody else, in which case the personal information held by the Society will be transferred to the buyer.

We process your personal information for this purpose because we have a legitimate interest to ensure our business can be continued by the buyer. We will notify you by email and/or a prominent notice on our websites of any such transfer and any choices you may have regarding your information. If you object to our use of your personal information in this way, buyer of our business may not be able to provide services to you.

In some circumstances we may also need to share your personal information if we are under a duty to disclose or share it to comply with a legal obligation.

Mobile Notifications

When you have provided your mobile phone number to us and opted into receiving SMS/MMS messages from us, we may use it to contact you with updates, action alerts, fundraising requests, and other material of interest. There is no fee from the Society to receive text messages from us; however, carrier message and data/message rates may apply, and we encourage you to check with your mobile service provider.

Alerts sent via SMS/MMS may not be delivered if the mobile phone is not in range of a transmission site, if sufficient network capacity is not available at a particular time, or if other factors like weather, terrain, proximity to buildings interfere with reception by your device. Neither the Society or any wireless operations can guarantee message delivery, and the Society is not held liable of delayed or undelivered messages.

By opting into and subscribing to receiving alerts, you consent to receive text messages from the Society. You may opt out from receiving SMS/MMS messages at any time by texting STOP to any message received.

All references to sharing information with third parties in this Privacy Policy exclude mobile number opt-in data and consent; and we will not share this information with any third parties for their own uses (we will only use such information for the purposes for which you opted in).

Social Sharing

You may be able to use social sharing features and other integrated tools on our websites. These features and tools may permit you to share actions you take on our websites with other media, and vice versa. Your use of such features enables the sharing of information with your friends or the public, depending on the settings you establish with the service that provides the social sharing feature. Please remember, though, that use of the information you share on social media sites will be governed by the privacy policies of the social media provider, and we are not responsible for how they treat the information.

Payment Information

When you purchase products or services from us, we request you to state your payment card details (name on card, billing address [street address/city/state/country], card type [e.g., Visa], card number, expiration date, security code). We are using a secure third party to manage transactions and ecommerce payment processing.

Your payment information will be stored if the third party is entitled or obliged to store it pursuant to legislation and will be subject to their terms and conditions.

Children’s Privacy Guidelines

The American Chemical Society is committed to provide further privacy protections for children. Some of the webpages, products, or services of the Society are in relation to minors 13 to 18 years of age, while other webpages, products, or services of the Society are intended for adults. Websites are not directed toward children under 13 years of age nor does the Society knowingly collect information from children under 13 years of age.

The Society will obtain parental consent prior to the collection of a minor’s personal information. If you are a parent, you can refuse to permit us to collect personal information for your child and can request that we delete from our records the personal information (if any) we have collected. Please keep in mind that a request to delete records may lead to a termination of an account or other products and services.

If you have any questions or concerns, want to access the information of your child, or request the deletion of your child’s information, please submit a request to privacy@acs.org.

Educational Services

Some of our products or services are available for teachers, schools, and school districts (collectively referred to as “School” or “Schools”) to use as part of an educational curriculum under the oversight of the Schools. These services are designed to minimize the collection of personal information from minors and to comply with student data privacy laws. When used by Schools, usernames, identifiers that may identify you or your device, and other information may be provided to us by a minor’s School and associated with a class or grade level. Schools will be able to see information regarding the minor’s use of the services in connection with a class and make changes to the minor’s username and other information. In some circumstances, teachers and other authorized personnel may create accounts for their students.

Schools are solely responsible for providing notices and obtaining consents required by applicable student data privacy laws, including providing all required notices to parents, obtaining all necessary parent or guardian consents, or complying with applicable requirements of an exemption or exception from parental consent requirements. Schools are also responsible for activities such as removing a minor from class roster, deleting a class, or submitting a deletion request when a minor’s personal information is no longer needed for the School’s purposes.

If the products or services are downloaded on a personal device, a parent or guardian may be able to view their child’s personal information (such as username and activities completed) by logging into the minor’s class account. The parent or guardian can delete the application providing the products or services from the child’s device, but the child’s personal information may continue to be associated with the School’s class account until the School deletes that personal information. If you are a parent and have questions about reviewing, modifying, or deleting your child’s personal information, please contact your child’s School directly.

What Information About Minors is Shared?

We do not disclose to third parties any information related to a minor's use of the websites that we collect other than as follows, consistent with applicable law: (a) with a parent's permission, (b) as required by any applicable law, (c) to third-party service providers who help us operate or manage the websites, (d) to comply with legal process, (f) to respond to governmental requests, (g) to enforce our Terms of Use (h) to protect our operations, (i) for assistance in fraud detection and prevention; (j) to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of the American Chemical Society and its subsidiaries and affiliates, your child or others, or (k) to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain. We do not sell personal information collected by or from any products or services or portion of a product or service that is directed to children or where we know that the user is a minor or a teen under 18.

Use of Technical Information And Analytics

Information we collect about you

When you visit our websites site we will automatically collect such information as:

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, screen resolution, operating system and platform; and
information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators, clickstream to, through and from our websites (including date and time), 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.

Information we receive from other sources: We are also working closely with third party advertising networks, analytics providers, hosting providers and search information providers from whom we may also receive general aggregated anonymous information about you. We employ third-party web and mobile app analytics and optimization services to improve our webpages, products, and services to enhance the visitor experience by, for example, recording mouse clicks, mouse movements, scrolling activity as well as text you type in the webpages, products, or services. We may implement the Google Analytics demographics and interest reporting features on our websites. These tools allow us to review anonymous data regarding the gender, age and interests of websites visitors and adapt our websites content to better reflect their needs. Although this information is collected through your Google Ad settings, it is not provided to us in a personally identifiable format. This means we cannot identify information about you, and we will not try to figure it out. If we do utilize this feature, you can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display Network ads using the Google Ad settings or through the Google Analytics opt-in browser add-on.

A portion of traffic on certain websites may be routed through Publift which optimizes ads based on a user experience and ad revenues for particular demographics. Review the Publift Privacy Policy for details.

We also employ common analytics tools, such as Google and Adobe analytics data which use Cookies and other similar technologies to collect information about the use of webpages, products, and services anonymously and report website trends and to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to our websites. You can learn about Google’s practices by visiting www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, and you may opt out by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. Google has additional information available here about their Remarketing Privacy Guidelines, Policies and Restrictions. You can learn about Adobe’s practices by visiting https://www.adobe.com/privacy/analytics.html and you may opt out by visiting https://www.adobe.com/privacy/opt-out.html.

Unless otherwise stated, we will combine the information you provide to us with information we collect about you.

Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our websites use cookies and similar technologies, such as tracking pixels and conversions API, to improve user experience, system optimization, analytics, to personalize your experience while visiting the websites, and to improve our content, products, and services, and also to associate your session to other information you have already provided to use in other products or services. For example, partners may combine your email information with other personal information they have access to such as mailing address so that we may serve relevant content to you via direct mail. We may also use pixel tags and other similar technologies to, among other things, track the actions of users of the products and services, measure the success of our marketing campaigns, and compile statistics about the use of the products and services and response rates.

We also use cookies and similar technologies for purposes of marketing and advertising, including interest-based advertising. For more information on interest-based advertising see the Interest-Based Advertising section provided below. By continuing to browse the websites, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

A “cookie” is a small text file that a web server stores in browser software. A browser sends cookies to a server when the browser makes a connection to the server. The purpose of cookies is to remember the browser over time and distinguish one browser instance or user from all others. Some cookies and other technologies may serve to track personal information previously entered by a user on our websites. Most browsers allow you to control cookies, including whether or not to accept them, and how remove them. Cookies can remember login information, preferences, and similar information.

Cookies, as well as other tracking technologies, such as HTML5 local storage, and Local Shared Objects such as “Flash” cookies, and similar mechanisms, may record information such as a unique identifier, information you enter in a form, IP address, and other categories of use for information as listed in the following table.

Category of Use	Purpose Of The Use
Preferences	To help us remember your settings and preferences so that we can provide you with a more personalized experience.
Authentication and Security	To log you into our products and services which enable us to show you your account information and help us keep your account safe and secure.
Service Features and Performance	To provide you with functionality and optimize the performance of our products and services. For example, to keep track of your previous search requests and improve our websites’ load speed and performance
Analytics and Research	To help us understand how you are using our products and services so that we can make them better, faster, and safer.
Advertising	To enable our partners to serve ads for our products and services; deliver relevant ads to people who may be interested in them on other services; measure the performance of ads; and opt you out of receiving interest-based ads if that is your choice.
Background Information	Background information obtained from Sterling Volunteers, with your consent for a background check, if you wish to volunteer at certain ACS events with minors.

We may collect information through your use of our products or services or in electronic communications to you. We use cookies to collect information about how visitors use of our websites to optimize and improve navigation, to gather information from users on social media and other platforms to measure the effectiveness of advertising and to target content on user’s interests, to enable us to learn more about the products and services other provide that interest you that are related to the products and services that we provide after you leave our websites to improve our value proposition to you should you return, to determine storage medium, to provide you with access to third-party content, to establish statistics about products or services usage, and to keep track of your websites browsing session while you are using our products or services.

We only use (and store) non-essential cookies on your computer's browser or hard drive if you provide your consent. However, essential cookies are needed to access all parts and features of our websites.

We also use web beacons or pixels, and in certain circumstances, may collect IP addresses, screen resolution and browser software, operating system types, clickstream patterns, dates and times that our websites are accessed, and other categories of use for information.

Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, which we do not have any control over.

If you want to block the use and saving of cookies from our websites, you should take the necessary steps within your browser’s settings to block all or some cookies from our websites and its external serving vendors. Please be aware that this may disable all cookies delivered to your browser; not just the ones that may be delivered by our websites. Please note that if you choose to erase or block your cookies, including essential cookies, you may not be able to access all or parts of our websites. For information on how to disable cookies, refer to your browser’s documentation.

Except for essential cookies, all cookies will expire after 2 years.

Interest-Based Advertising

Interest-based advertising is advertising that is targeted to you based on your web browsing and app usage over time and across websites or apps. You have the option to restrict the use of information for interest-based advertising and to opt-out of receiving interest-based ads. Depending on from where you access our websites, you may also be asked to consent to our use of cookies, including advertising cookies.

The opt-outs for interest-based advertising require that the strictly necessary cookies are not blocked by the settings in your web browser. To learn more about interest-based advertising, click here. To opt out of future interest-based advertising, click here. Opting out does not mean that you will no longer receive advertising from us, or when you use the Internet. It just means that the data collected from our websites will not be used for interest-based advertising and that the advertising you see displayed on websites will not be customized to your interests.

In addition, some of the third parties that collect information from or about you on our websites may participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (“DAA”) self-regulatory program. To make choices about the use of information from or about you for online behavioral or interest-based advertising on websites (desktop and mobile browsers), please visit the DAA.

Do Not Track

Some web browsers may transmit “do not track” signals to the websites with which the user communicates. You can prevent us from using your personal information in this way by using the 'do not track' functionality in your internet browser if your browser offers this option. If you enable ‘do not track’ functionality, our websites may be less tailored to your needs and preferences.

Targeted Advertising

We use your personal information to tailor our marketing and advertising efforts. To do this, we provide your information to third party advertising networks (such as Google or DoubleClick) and social media companies (such as Facebook). When we provide data to agencies, ad networks, and other parties for targeted advertising, we do not provide them with your name, financial information, or any sensitive information (such as government ID or date of birth, if we have collected that). We use online identifiers such as email, cookie IDs, and device identifiers to help us provide targeted advertising to you and others like you. We may also use aggregate information to help advertisers reach the kind of audience they want to target. We may make use of the personal information we have collected from you to enable us to display advertisements to target audiences.

To opt out of targeted advertising, you may use the following links provided by third parties that manage opt outs for some ad networks:

- Trust Arc: Your Advertising Choices
- Network Advertising Initiative
- YourAdChoices
- Google Advertising Services

Opting out of the sale of your personal information

Sometimes we may share or sell your personal information with sponsors, vendors, and third-party advertising networks. In this context, “selling” personal information means disclosing it to third parties for monetary purposes, and not when directed by you. We may sell the following types of personal information in order to provide you with targeted advertising, informational content, and marketing that may interest you. To our actual knowledge, we do not sell the personal information of minors under the age of 18 or use the personal information of minors under the age of 18 for targeted advertising.

If you have not already, you may opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. Please see the Targeting Advertising section above. You will be asked to verify and confirm the nature of your request with us prior to processing. Please note that your decision to opt out of the sale of your personal information may impact the availability and quality of some of the products and services provided to you.

Storage and Transfer of Information

We maintain information in the United States of America and in accordance with the laws of the United States, which may not provide the same level of protection as the laws in your jurisdiction. By using the websites and providing us with information, you understand and agree that your information may be transferred to and stored on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction and, to the extent you are a resident of a country other than the United States, that you consent to the transfer of such information to the United States for processing by us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Whenever we transfer your personal information outside of the EEA, we ensure it is protected by making sure at least one of the following safeguards is in place:

by transferring your personal information to a country that has been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection by the European Commission; or
by using specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give your personal information the same protection it has if it was in the EEA.

When we, or our permitted third parties transfer your information outside of the UK/EEA, we are they will impose obligations on the recipients of that information to protect the information to the standard required in the UK/EEA or otherwise require the recipient to subscribe to international frameworks intended to provide secure data sharing. In the case of transfers to us, we will put in place appropriate safeguards to ensure that your information remains protected under the standards required by the sender’s jurisdiction.

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers or those of our third-party data storage providers. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. You must not share your password with anyone.

How Long We Retain Your Personal Information

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or contractual requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information we hold, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the reasons why we handle your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Where we have used your personal information to contact you for marketing communications, if you have opted-in:

We will contact you periodically as we determine is reasonable and appropriate to ensure you would like to continue receiving electronic communications; or
If you tell us that you no longer wish to receive marketing communications from us, we promise to stop sending them to you.

Where we have processed your personal information for any other reason (such as where you have contacted us with a question in connection with our products or services) we will retain your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including to satisfy any legal, accounting or other similar requirements, and in compliance with our data retention policies.

In some circumstances we may anonymize your personal information (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research, product or service development, product or service improvement, or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Your Rights Under Data Protection Laws

You have the right to object to us handling your personal information when:

we are handling your personal information based on our legitimate interests (as described in the “How We Collect Information About You” section above). If you ask us to stop handling your personal information in this way, we will stop unless we can show you that we have compelling grounds as to why our use of your personal information should continue; or
If you ask us to stop handling your personal information for marketing purposes, we will stop. We will then only hold very limited information about you to make sure we do not contact you again.

You may have various rights under the data protection laws, which you can exercise by contacting the ACS Legal Department, by mail at 1155 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 or by email at privacy@acs.org.

We will use reasonable efforts to respond to your request promptly. Please note, if you exercise your right under data protection laws, your request may be subject to a fee, if we are permitted to charge a fee. We will let you know at the time you make your request whether there is a fee to pay. Before processing your request, we may need to verify your identity, in which case we may request additional information from you for confirmation purposes. Should we need to refuse your request, we will explain to you the reasons for this.

Right of access

You may be entitled to receive confirmation as to whether your personal information is being processed by us, as well as various other information relating to our use of your personal information.

You may also have the right to access your personal information which we are handling.

Right to rectification

You may have the right to require us to rectify any inaccurate personal information we hold about you. You also have the right to have incomplete personal information we hold about you completed, by providing a supplementary statement to us.

Right to restriction

You may be able to restrict our processing of your personal information where:

you think we hold inaccurate personal information about you;
our handling of your personal information breaks the law, but you do not want us to delete it;
we no longer need to process your personal information, but you want us to keep it for legal reasons; or
where we are handling your personal information because we have a legitimate interest (as described in the “How Do You Use My Personal Information?” section above), and are in the process of objecting to this use of your personal information.

If you exercise your right to restrict us from using your personal information, we will then only process your personal information when you agree, except for storage purposes and to handle legal claims.

Right to data portability

You may have the right to receive your personal information in a structured, standard machine-readable format and to send this to another organization controlling your personal information.

This right only applies to your personal information we are handling because you consented to us using it or because there is a contract in place between us.

Right to erasure

You may have the right to require us to erase your personal information which we are handling in the following circumstances:

where we no longer need to use your personal information for the reasons for which we told you we collected it;
where we needed your consent to use your personal information, you have withdrawn your consent and there is no other lawful way we can continue to use your personal information;
when you object to our use of your personal information, and we have no compelling reason to carry on handling it;
if our handling of your personal information has broken the law; and
when we must erase your personal information to comply with a law we are subject to.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes and/or to complete any transactions that you began prior to requesting a change or deletion. There may also be residual information that will remain within our databases and other records, which will not be removed.

Right to complain

You may have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority for data protection issues in your country or territory. As we conduct business globally, we have not set out the specific supervisory authorities for each country in this policy, but please contact us if you would like us to identify who the relevant supervisory authority is in your country or territory.

Please be aware that we may also need to use your personal information if it is relevant to a legal claim that is being pursued.

Third-Party Website Links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party links, products, or services on our websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites or use their respective services, please note that you have left our websites, and these websites have their own privacy policies.

We do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies or websites. Please check their policies before you submit any personal information to these websites.

Security

We use a variety of administrative, physical, and technology solutions, including engaging with qualified cybersecurity companies, to protect your information from unauthorized access, loss, or misuse. Because there is always some risk in transmitting information over the internet and otherwise processing information, we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant the security of any information that you transmit on or through the websites, products, or services or that we otherwise maintain. Please note that information collected by third parties may not have the same security protections as information you submit to us, and we are not responsible for protecting the security of such information.

Updates to the Privacy Policy

ACS reserves the right to amend this Privacy Policy statement at any time and without notice, and it is your responsibility to review this Privacy Policy for any changes. When ACS updates this Privacy Policy, ACS will update the “Effective Date” date at the top of this page. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the websites or in the interactions after we implement such changes will also constitute your affirmative consent to the revised Privacy Policy.

Questions/Contact Information

If you have any questions, comments and requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us by mail at ACS Legal Department, 1155 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 or by email at privacy@acs.org.

For questions, comments, and requests regarding the privacy practices of CAS, please contact CAS at privacy@cas.org.

Additional Information for Individuals in the EEA

If you are located in the EEA:

The representative we have appointed in the EU is ACS International Ltd. You can contact ACS International by email at acsiprivacy@acs-i.org or by writing to ACS International Ltd, Binsey House, Wallbrook Court, North Hinksey Lane, Oxford, OX2 0QS, UK and Attention: ACSI Legal Department.

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