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Privacy and Terms & Conditions

IFA (International Fertilizer Association) respects the privacy of its members and users of its websites. This privacy statement explains the data processing practices by IFA.

Introduction and General Terms

In this policy “We”, “Us” and “Our” means IFA incorporated and registered in United Kingdom with company number 000718812 and whose registered office is at Confederation House, East of England Showground Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE2 6XE, United Kingdom.

We operate a number of websites including fertilizer.org and are active on social media platforms. See below for a full list.

This policy applies to our use of any personal information we collect from you via any of our online services.

It also relates to Our use of any personal information which We obtain from you by phone, email, in letters and other correspondence or in person.

List of IFA’s websites

fertilizer.org
ifastat.org
protectandsustain.org
ifa-sfa.org
IFA conference websites
linkedin.com/company/international-fertilizer-association-ifa/
twitter.com/fertilizernews

Our Commitment to your privacy

IFA takes your privacy very seriously and We are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy and Cookies Policy explains how We collect and use the information you give us. Please read this policy carefully. If you have any questions, please contact ifa@fertilizer.org

You can trust that We will manage and treat your personal data with respect. We will collect, store and manage it in an unbiased and secure way. We will only use your data for purposes that We have informed you about. We will always be transparent about the personal data We collect and how We use it.

We will ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely and in accordance with all applicable Data Protection legislation.

Who are we?

The International Fertilizer Association (IFA) is a trade association representing the global fertilizer industry. IFA member companies represent all activities related to the production, trade, transport and distribution of every type of fertilizer, their raw materials and intermediates. IFA’s membership also includes organizations involved in consulting, engineering, construction, agronomic research and training. IFA has some 500 members in about 81 countries. The global fertilizer industry produces some 170 million tons of fertilizer nutrients annually. These are used in every corner of the globe to support sustainable agricultural production and food security.

What information will we collect from you?

The personal information that We collect from you will vary depending on the context of your interactions with us and the service and/or product that we are providing to you. It may include, but is not limited to, the following information about you:

  • name;
  • image and/or voice captured through photography, filming, videotaping and/or audio recording;
  • demographic data such as your date of birth, gender, educational background; job title; professional memberships; country;
  • contact data such as email address; home and/or work postal address, postcode; phone number;
  • payment data such as payment instruments (e.g. credit card numbers) and the associated security code or other financial details (where you make a payment to Us);
  • information from queries and/or complaints registered with Us;
  • information about the way you use Our Website, so that We can improve the effectiveness of Our business (see our Cookies Policy for more information);

any other information which may be collected in the course of Our interactions with you.

How do we collect information about you?

We collect information about you:

  • when you register for a web account with Us;
  • request product or services;
  • become a member;
  • participate in promotions;
  • attend events;
  • take qualifications;
  • provide Us with your personal information from your usage of Our website and any other information you post on Our website, e-mail or otherwise send to Us;
  • or otherwise provide Us with information in the course of Our interactions with you.

Persons under 16 should not disclose to us any personal information without first getting the permission of a parent or a guardian.

How do we use this information?

We use your personal information:

  • to enable Us to supply you with the goods and services and information which you have requested;
  • to analyze the information We collect so that We can administer, support and improve and develop Our business and services We offer;
  • to predict what you might be interested in;
  • to provide you with access to certain parts of Our website;
  • for all other purposes consistent with the proper performance of Our operations and business
  • to contact you for your views on Our products and services.

We may also email you about information or activities that We think you might be interested in. If you do not want us to send you updates like this, please contact us at IFA 49 avenue d’Iéna, 75116 Paris or by email at ifa@fertilizer.org.

What are the legal bases we use for processing your information?

The GDPR requires Us to rely on one or more lawful bases to use your personal information. We consider the bases listed below to be relevant:

  • Where you have provided your consent for us to use your personal information in a certain way (for example, we will ask for your consent to send you marketing material by email, and we may ask for your explicit consent to collect special categories of your personal information).
  • Where necessary so that we can comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, where we are obliged to share your personal information with regulatory bodies which govern our work and services).
  • Where necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract (for example, to administer your membership or allow you to participate in an event for which you have registered).
  • Where there is a legitimate interest in us doing so if it is reasonably necessary to achieve our or others’ legitimate interests (as long as that processing is fair, balanced and does not unduly impact your rights).

If you have any concerns about Our processing, you have the right to object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests. For more information on your rights, please see Section 12 on “Your Rights” below.

Will we ever share your information?

We may use selected agents to process your information on Our behalf, such as software providers to host Our website.  Such third parties will be authorized to see and use your information but only to fulfil their contractual obligations to Us and will not be permitted to use it for any other purpose.  We retain full responsibility for how your personal information may be used by such agents.

In exceptional circumstances We may share your information when We are legally required to do so.

When requested by you, We may pass on your personal information to third parties who may send you details of goods and services that may be of interest to you.

For example, if you attend an event, your details may be shared with the speakers, trainers and/or sponsors at the event. If this is of interest to you, please tick the box on the relevant registration form, opting in for such contact. If at any time you would prefer not to receive this information, please contact Us at IFA 49 avenue d’Iéna 75116 Paris or by email at ifa@fertilizer.org.

How do we protect your personal information?

We place great importance on the security of your personal information and We always try to take appropriate precautions to protect it. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help Us protect your personal data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. For example, when we transmit highly confidential data (such as a credit card number or password) over the Internet, we protect it through the use of encryption.

Despite all of Our precautions however, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. So, whilst We strive to protect your personal information, We cannot guarantee the security of any information which you send to Us and you must understand that you do so at your own risk.

How long do we keep your personal information for?

The length of time We hold your personal information varies depending upon the type of information and its use. We will hold your personal information on Our systems only for as long as necessary to provide the services and/or products that you have requested.

If you have any questions about Our data retention policy, please email: ifa@fertilizer.org

Where do we store and process your information?

We generally store and process your information within the European Economic Area (EEA).

Where we need to transfer your information outside of the European Economic Area we only do so to countries which have been determined by the European Commission to have an adequate level of data protection//or where We transfer personal information to countries that have not been determined to have an adequate level of protection we do so using a variety of legal mechanisms, including contracts, to help ensure your rights and protections.

What are your rights?

You have specific rights connected to provision of your personal information to Us. These include your rights to request that We:

  • confirm to you what personal information we may hold about you, if any, and for what purposes;
  • change the consent which you have provided to us in relation to your personal information;
  • correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information which we may hold about you;
  • provide you with a complete copy of your personal data for you to move elsewhere;
  • provide you with a complete copy of your personal information for you to move elsewhere where you have provided this information by consent or by a contract with Us;
  • stop the processing of your personal information, whilst an objection from you is being resolved;
  • permanently erase all your personal information promptly, and confirm to you that this has been done (there may be reasons why we may be unable to do this);
  • stop the processing of your personal information for direct marketing.

You also have the right to:

  • withdraw consent that you have provided to us to process your personal information, at any time;
  • object to profiling or to any decisions being taken by Us by automated means.

How can you access your information and contact us?

You have the right to access any personal information that you have submitted to Us. We give you the following options for requesting this information from Our database:

  • Access your account: Sign in at fertilizer.org and use the “My account’ feature to see personal information provided when you registered with us and change privacy settings in your account.
  • Send Us an email: ifa@fertilizer.org. Be sure to include your name and clear instructions on what you would like Us to do.
  • Write to Us at: IFA 49 avenue d’Iéna 75116 Paris. Be sure to include your name and clear instructions on what you require.

If you require Us to supply you with details of the personal information that We hold about you, then we will provide this information free of charge and we will provide this information to you within 30 days of your request unless the request is complex or is numerous requests. If this is the case we will inform you within 30 days of your request about the reason for the extension of time. If your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive we will either charge a reasonable fee or provide an explanation for our refusal to respond.

Changes to your details or this policy

If your personal details change, please help Us to keep your information up to date by notifying Us at the email address at the beginning of this policy.

We may revise or update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in Our activities or for other purposes. If We do so, We will post notice of the change on Our website. Please revisit this policy each time you consider giving personal information.

About cookies and similar technologies

A “cookie” is a small, often encrypted text file, located in your web browser directory. The text in a cookie often consists of a string of numbers and letters that uniquely identifies your computer, but it can contain other information as well.  Cookies are often used by web pages to help users navigate their websites efficiently and perform certain functions within the page or login.

Similar technologies such as pixel tags (also known as beacons and clear GIFs) are also used to measure the success of email communications.

Each website can send its own cookie to your web browser if your browser preferences allow it. Similar technologies are also often used within emails to understand whether the email had been read and if any links have been clicked.

We use this information to track your movements through Our website, to find out how it is being used and to assess its usefulness. Personal information about you is not collected during the tracking process.

Internet browsers normally accept cookies by default.  However, it is possible to set an internet browser to reject cookies.  By using Our website you are consenting to Our use of cookies unless you set your internet browser to reject cookies.

You can disable the cookies that We attach if your browser supports this. For further information on how to do this, please refer to www.allaboutcookies.org. However, you should bear in mind that if you exercise this option, you may be unable to use some of Our on-line services.

The cookies we use

Below We have described the main cookies and similar technologies We use and what We use them for:

Operationally Necessary

We use cookies, web beacons, or other similar technologies that are necessary to the operation of our sites, services, applications, and tools. This includes technologies that allow you access to our sites, services, applications, and tools; that are required to identify irregular site behaviour, prevent fraudulent activity and improve security; or that allow you to make use of our functions such as shopping-carts, saved search, or similar functions.

Performance

We use cookies, web beacons, or other similar technologies to assess the performance of our websites, applications, services, and tools, including as part of our analytic practices to help us understand how our visitors use our websites, determine if you have interacted with our messaging, determine whether you have viewed an item or link, or to improve our website content, applications, services, or tools; For example we use a tracking mechanism so we can monitor and improve the marketing emails we send you. This involves attaching a piece of code to each marketing email which is sent by IFA.

We also use Google Analytics which are used widely by websites to collect information about how website visitors use a site. We use Google Analytics cookies to collect information about how users use Our website and to improve Our website. Google Analytics collect information in an anonymous form and will not allow Us to identify you or collect any personal information about you.  Google Analytics do not track your internet activity after leaving Our website.

Functionality

We use cookies, web beacons, or other similar technologies that allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using our sites, services, applications, or tools. This may include identifying you when you sign into our sites or keeping track of your specified preferences, interests, or past items viewed so that we may enhance the presentation of content on our sites;

Advertising or Targeting.  We use first-party or third-party cookies and web beacons to deliver content, including ads relevant to your interests, on our sites or on third party sites.  This includes using technologies to understand the usefulness to you of the advertisements and content that have been delivered to you, such as whether you have clicked on an advertisement.

Hyperlinks and third party cookies

IFA websites may contain hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties and buttons and content from social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Social media cookies enable you to share content from Our website with your social media networks

These third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) have their own privacy policies, and may also use cookies. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookie. Their policies will govern the use of personal information you submit when visiting these websites, which may also be collected by cookies. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.

Individual cookies with description and expiration

Fertilizer.org

This website uses a number of cookies to enhance the performance and experience of the website for its users.


Cookie

 

 Expires
 Description
   user 1 year This is the cookie notification popup that appears when entering the site for first time. After selecting “OK” this cookie ensures it doesn’t continue to appear unnecessarily.
   SESSID On browser close A unique randomly generated string of letter and numbers which is assigned to every user to identify the path and action taken throughout the site. This is used for debugging and maintenance purposes to show problem paths users have found.
   imis_user 1 Month Stores the users imis information so when the cookie is found, the user does not need to continue to sign up for various parts of the site.
   redirect_page On browser close This stores the currently viewed page so after logging in it will know and redirect you from the page you were previously on.

 

Fertilizer.org/member

Fertilizer.org/member is the user accounts platform that is only accessible when signed in to this website.


Cookie

 

 Expires
 Description
   ASP.NET_SessionId On browser close An anti-request forgery token. Page sent from the server and page responded to by the users browser must have the same token. Helps to prevent request forgery injections. The contents here are encrypted and signed.
   AnonymousCartId 4 days Standard ASP.NET Session ID – helps iMIS web pages link the actions of a user to the right browser session detail for continuing a user’s session. Helps to ensure continuity of info in SessionState and ViewState. It does not control role, security, or permissions. Deleting or modifying this cookie will not cause the user to be logged out but will force state information to be reloaded.
   Asi.Web.Browser.CookiesEnabled On browser close Contains role and security info. This cookie is encrypted and encoded. Helps to ensure security at login. These are deleted on Sign Out.
   Login On browser close Used to merge a user’s cart when after they login if they already had placed items in their cart while browsing anonymously.
   __RequestVerificationToken On browser close Global value to let other iMIS functions know that they can read the cookie values if needed.

Google Analytics

IFA online services, including mobile versions, use Google Analytics. This is a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics sets a cookie in order to evaluate use of those services and compile reports on site activity for us.


Cookie

 

 Expires
 Description
   _utma 2 years from set/update Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.
   __utmt 10 minutes Used to throttle request rate.
   __utmb 30 mins from set/update Used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.
   __utmc End of browser session Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js. Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether the user was in a new session/visit.
   __utmz 6 months from set/update Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.
   __utmv years from
set/update		 Used to store visitor-level custom variable data. This cookie is created when a developer uses the _setCustomVar method with a visitor level custom variable. This cookie was also used for the deprecated _setVar method. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.