The following statement explains our policy regarding the personal information we collect about you.

1. Statement of intent
2. Information on visitors
3. What is a cookie?
4. Submitting personal information
5. Access to your personal information
6. Users 16 and under

1. Statement of intent
From time to time, you will be asked to submit personal information about yourself (e.G. Name and email address etc) in order to receive or use services on our website. Such services include newsletters, competitions, User Forums and membership.

By entering your details in the fields requested, you enable TradeGuider to provide you with the services you select. Whenever you provide such personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy. Our services are designed to give you the information that you want to receive. TradeGuider will endeavor act in accordance with current legislation and aim to meet current Internet best practice.

2. Information on visitors
During the course of any visit to TradeGuider the pages you see, along with something called a cookie, are downloaded to your computer (see point 3 for more on this). Most, if not all, websites do this, because cookies allow the website publisher to do useful things like find out whether the computer (and probably its user) has visited the site before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking to see, and finding, the cookie left there on the last visit.

Any information that is supplied by cookies can help us to provide you with a better service and assists us to analyse the profile of our visitors. For example: If on a previous visit you went to, say, the FAQ pages, then we might find this out from your cookie and highlight New FAQ information on a second visit.

3. What is a cookie?
When you enter a site your computer will automatically be issued with a cookie. Cookies are text files that identify your computer to our server. Cookies in themselves do not identify the individual user, just the computer used. Many sites do this whenever a user visits their site in order to track traffic flows.

Cookies themselves only record those areas of the site that have been visited by the computer in question, and for how long. Users have the opportunity to set their computers to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these, of course, means that certain personalised services cannot then be provided to that user.

NB: Even if you haven't set your computer to reject cookies you can still browse our site anonymously until such time as you register for TradeGuider services.

4. Use and storage of your personal information
When you supply any personal information to TradeGuider we have legal obligations towards you in the way we deal with that data. We must collect the information fairly, that is, we must explain how we will use it and tell you if we want to pass the information on to anyone else. Any information you provide to TradeGuider will only be used within the organization. It will never be supplied to anyone outside TradeGuider without first obtaining your consent, unless we are obliged or permitted by law to disclose it. Also, if you post or send offensive or inappropriate content anywhere on or to the TradeGuider website or otherwise engage in any disruptive behavior on the site, and TradeGuider considers such behavior to be serious and/or repeated, TradeGuider can use whatever information that is available to it about you to stop such behavior. This may include informing relevant third parties such as your employer, or e-mail provider about the content and your behavior.

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as you use the service you have requested, and remove it in the event that the purpose has been met. For safety reasons, however, TradeGuider may store messaging transcript data (including message content, member names, times and dates) arising from the use of TradeGuider Community services such as the User Forum for a period of six months.

If you are notified on the TradeGuider site that your information may be used to allow the organization to contact you for "service administration purposes", this means that TradeGuider may contact you for a number of purposes related to the service you have signed up for. For example, we may wish to provide you with password reminders or notify you that the particular service has been suspended for maintenance. We will not contact you for promotional purposes, unless you specifically agree to be contacted for such purposes at the time you submit your information on the site, or at a later time if you sign up specifically to receive such promotional information.

5. Access to your personal information
You have the right to request a copy of the personal information TradeGuider holds about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. (We charge $15 for information requests.) Please address requests to the Data Protection Officer, TradeGuider Systems Ltd, Burnhill Business Centre, Provident House, Burrell Row, High Street, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 1AT, UK.

6. Users 16 and under
If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent/guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information to the TradeGuider website. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.