The privacy of our users is important to us and we take care to safeguard it. We have updated this policy in line with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that come into effect on 25th May.

This page describes our privacy policy, including the information that we might collect and how this is processed and stored.

What information do we collect?

We collect:

The names, job roles and email addresses of company nominated individual’s for receipt of email and other correspondence from BFM
The names of individuals, emails and their company (if appropriate) who contact BFM to place a trade enquiry
The name, job role and company details of individuals that register for a short seminar or other event
The name, e-mail address, job role and company name of individuals that register for our events
The names and email addresses of individuals that contact us – companies or members of the public –directly with an enquiry

Why do we collect this information?

We collect information for the following activities:

To act as a trade association  
For membership services
For BFM events
To publish trade enquiries
To allow individual’s from member companies access to the BFM members’ area of the web site
For our technology platforms
To answer questions from the public

More specifically:

About BFM:  BFM Ltd is a (not for profit) trade association for British furniture manufacturers and other companies within the supply chain, and as such is principally a membership organisation. Therefore, the focus of BFM’s main public activity in regard to the processing of personal data is business-to-business and the lawful basis for processing personal data will often be because it is in the legitimate interest of the parties and necessary for the performance of the contract with BFM and the member.

Besides staff, the BFM operates with a few trusted individuals that provide consultancy services in specific areas and these are governed by a contract (employment or service) and a privacy policy in line with data protection laws.  With a few exceptions, when engaged with members, including member recruitment or retention activities, no personal data will be shared outside of the BFM staff or any consultant(s) or trusted third parties that BFM engages to help in this exercise and in the general operation of the business.  (For further detail – see below - Do we disclose any information to outside parties).  

Membership services:  As a membership organisation, BFM requests and stores the contact details of nominated individual representatives from companies that join the BFM as members through completion of an application form.  This enables BFM to keep members up to date with our services through email and other correspondence, and contact will also extend to surveys and lobbying activity, billing and the administration of accounts. 

Additionally, we may collect information from members relating to their use of the service for the purposes of monitoring and improving our provision and tailoring the provided service.

BFM events:  BFM runs events such as short training courses and contact details are obtained from those that attend which may include individuals from member and non-member companies as well the public.  Contact details will be added too, or deleted as advised by member companies. The information regarding other individuals will be kept for a limited period in the event that those individuals may be interested in another event being run by BFM or for further contact if that person has expressed an interest in BFM membership.

The BFM trade shows: BFM runs the London Fabric Show and Furniture Component Show each year and as such has established a database of email contacts from those that have attended the show(s) or expressed an interested in doing so.  Those individuals are appraised of the event, date, time and location together with the names of the exhibitors and these emails will only be sent to those that specifically opt-in to receiving them.  In addition there is an unsubscribe option for those that wish to withdraw consent to emails. (See e-mail platform below for further details).

Trade enquiries:  BFM’s web site invites trade business enquiries and very occasionally members of the public may ask for bespoke work. In either event, the enquirer’s personal contact details are not divulged unless specific approval has been given for this and in such an event BFM will then pass on contact details to the enquirer, but again, of only those who have sanctioned this act.

Visits to our website:  Visitors to the open BFM web site do so on an anonymous basis. However, your personal information will be processed if you voluntarily complete any forms on our site or if you contact us with comments or specific requests.  Nominated individuals from BFM member companies may visit the BFM members’ area and the administrators of the site are able to see the last visit made to the members’ area by that individual and the member profile but no other information can be viewed, including the password.   

Technology platforms:  E-mail platform:  BFM’s uses a respected email platform via a CRM (Really Simple Systems) for member bulletins and events/shows and this allows the BFM administrator to view who accessed the email and who unsubscribed.  E-mail addresses are used to create distribution lists on this site.  Administrator access to site is password protected. Event platform: Visitors to our shows are directed to a registration company platform and this allows the BFM administrators to view a spreadsheet of the details entered on the registration form.  Administrator access to the site is password protected.  Pre-registration may be captured on Monday.com forms, which is password protected.  We use Eventbrite for some webinar events, which uses personal data safeguards see - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/support/articles/en_US/Troubleshooting/eventbrite-privacy-policy?lg=en_GB.

Forms platform:  BFM uses google forms for member surveys or when seeking an opt-in to further electronic communications.  Individuals complete these only if they so wish and in such an event their details are recorded in a google spreadsheet accessible by the BFM administrators.   Administrator access to the site is password protected.  For google safeguards for personal data see: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-gb

As the platforms operate globally and some are based in the USA, personal data can be transferred outside of the EEA. The platforms comply with the EU-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield Frameworks as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use and retention of personal information from European Union member countries and Switzerland, respectively. For details – see (https://www.privacyshield.gov/Program-Overview)

How does BFM store and protect your information?

The information we collect is stored on and off line and we implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of personal information.  On-line data is stored in the local server and backed-up regularly. Some data is held in portable hard drives and these are stored in secure locked cabinets.  Paper documentation is stored in organised files in locked cabinets.  Archived paper data is held concerning past BFM activities and this data held in a secure and locked storage area.

We will retain all given information on the following basis

All information required to administer our accounts system, including bank account details, are stored on Sage software. All paper accounting information is routinely destroyed after seven years.  Similarly, where applicable, the criteria used to determine the period of storage of personal data is the respective statutory retention period. After expiration of that period, the corresponding data is routinely deleted, as long as it is no longer necessary for the fulfilment of the contract or the initiation of a contract.

All other contact details and information is retained until otherwise advised by a member company that it should change, or for a reasonable period after a member company leaves membership as is the case for any other contact details, such as for recruitment, unless that individual has unsubscribed from further contact or a specific opt-in requirement is appropriate and that individual had not provided it.

Do we use cookies?  

Yes (Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the sites or service providers systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information.

We use cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits and compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. These service providers are not permitted to use the information collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve our business.

Do we disclose any information to outside parties?

Identifiable personal information collected by BFM and its staff / individual consultants, whether business or public, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company or third party for any reason whatsoever, without your explicit consent.  This does not include:

Trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, e-mail distribution, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential.

Attendance lists at BFM events which are shared between those that attend but this is restricted to name, company and job role.  Email addresses are not disclosed.

Attendance lists at our shows are shared with sponsors and exhibitors – this is restricted to name of individual, company and job role and does not include email addresses.

Information when we believe a release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety.  Non-personal information such as company name may be disclosed to the public and third parties in certain circumstances, such as the names of those companies that attended our shows or member companies that exhibited at the January Furniture Show.

Third party links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third party products or services on our website. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites. We do not provide personal information to these third parties.

Internal policies

All employees, workers and contractors (consultants) are issued with a privacy policy, a data subjects’ access policy and a data subject rights policy and in that respect all are advised of their right:

to be informed
of access
for any inaccuracies to be corrected
to have information deleted
to restrict the processing of the data
to portability
to object to the inclusion of any information
to regulate any automated decision-making and profiling of personal data
Equally, all are advised to make the controller (BFM) immediately aware if they believe there has been a personal data breach and the BFM will, if founded, report the breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office without undue delay and within 72 hours of discovering the breach.   Please note a reportable breach is one which is likely to result in a risk to people’s rights and freedoms. If this is not a likely consequence, the breach does not need to be reported. The data held on individuals in BFM member companies is provided by the member and can be corrected, deleted or amended at any time by advising BFM of the appropriate changes.

Terms and Conditions

Please also visit our Terms and Conditions section establishing the use, disclaimers, and limitations of liability governing the use of our website at www.bfm.org.uk/index.php/terms

Your Consent

By using our site, you consent to our websites privacy policy.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page, and/or update the Privacy Policy modification date below.

This policy was last modified on 13/09/2023.

BFM is not obliged to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office because of the nature of our organisation and its activities.  If you have concerns over our information rights practices, you may contact the ICO - https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Contacting BFM – the data controller

If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us using the information below.

BFM Ltd, Bloxham Mill Business Centre, Barford Road, Bloxham, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX15 4FF - 01295 724202

Controller contact: info@bfm.org.uk