INTRODUCTION 

RTA LAW LLP is a law firm providing legal advice and assistance to its clients. It is regulated by the Law Society of Scotland.

The personal data that RTA LAW processes to provide these services relates to its clients and other individuals as necessary, including staff and suppliers’ staff. 

This policy sets out RTA LAW's commitment to ensuring that any personal data, including special category personal data, which RTA LAW processes, is carried out in compliance with data protection law. RTA LAW processes the personal data of staff from all over the world, but is committed to ensuring that all the personal data that it processes is done in accordance with data protection law. RTA LAW ensures that good data protection practice is imbedded in the culture of our staff and our organisation. 

RTA LAW's other data protection policies and procedures are:

• record of processing activities. 
• privacy notices (website, clients, employees). 
• personal data breach reporting process and a breach register. 
• data retention policy.
• data subject rights procedure.
• data protection impact assessment process.
• IT security policies. 

‘Data Protection Law’ includes the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679; the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and all relevant EU and UK data protection legislation.

SCOPE

This policy applies to all personal data processed by RTA LAW and is part of RTA LAW’s approach to compliance with data protection law. All RTA LAW staff are expected to comply with this policy and failure to comply may lead to disciplinary action for misconduct, including dismissal. 
Data protection principles 

RTA LAW complies with the data protection principles set out below. When processing personal data, it ensures that:

• it is processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency’) 
• it is collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes (‘purpose limitation’)
• it is all adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed (‘data minimisation’)
• it is all accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date and that reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay (‘accuracy’)
• it is kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed (‘storage limitation’)
• it is processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures (‘integrity and confidentiality’)

RTA LAW will facilitate any request from a data subject who wishes to exercise their rights under data protection law as appropriate, always communicating in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form and without undue delay.

PROCESS/PROCEDURES/GUIDANCE

RTA LAW will:

• ensure that the legal basis for processing personal data is identified in advance and that all processing complies with the law.
• not do anything with your data that you would not expect given the content of this policy and the fair processing or privacy notice. 
• ensure that appropriate privacy notices are in place advising staff and others how and why their data is being processed, and, in particular, advising data subjects of their rights.
• only collect and process the personal data that it needs for purposes it has identified in advance.
• ensure that, as far as possible, the personal data it holds is accurate, or a system is in place for ensuring that it is kept up to date as far as possible. 
• only hold onto your personal data for as long as it is needed, after which time RTA LAW will securely erase or delete the personal data – RTA LAW’s data retention policy sets out the appropriate period of time. 
• ensure that appropriate security measures are in place to ensure that personal data can only be accessed by those who need to access it and that it is held and transferred securely. 

RTA LAW will ensure that all staff who handle personal data on its behalf are aware of their responsibilities under this policy and other relevant data protection and information security policies, and that they are adequately trained and supervised. 

Breaching this policy may result in disciplinary action for misconduct, including dismissal. Obtaining (including accessing) or disclosing personal data in breach of RTA LAW’s data protection policies may also be a criminal offence.

DATA SUBJECT RIGHTS

RTA LAW has processes in place to ensure that it can facilitate any request made by an individual to exercise their rights under data protection law. All staff have received training and are aware of the rights of data subjects. Staff can identify such a request and know who to send it to. 

All requests will be considered without undue delay and within one month of receipt as far as possible.

SUBJECT ACCESS

The right to request information about how personal data is being processed, including whether personal data is being processed and the right to be allowed access to that data and to be provided with a copy of that data along with the right to obtain the following information:

• the purpose of the processing. 
• the categories of personal data. 
• the recipients to whom data has been disclosed or which will be disclosed.
• the retention period.
• the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. 
• the source of the information if not collected direct from the subject, and 
• the existence of any automated decision making.

RECTIFICATION:

The right to allow a data subject to rectify inaccurate personal data concerning them.

ERASURE:

The right to have data erased and to have confirmation of erasure, but only where:

• the data is no longer necessary in relation to the purpose for which it was collected, or
• where consent is withdrawn, or
• where there is no legal basis for the processing, or 
• there is a legal obligation to delete data

RESTRICTION OF PROCESSING:

The right to ask for certain processing to be restricted in the following circumstances:

• if the accuracy of the personal data is being contested, or
• if our processing is unlawful but the data subject does not want it erased, or
• if the data is no longer needed for the purpose of the processing but it is required by the data subject for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or 
• if the data subject has objected to the processing, pending verification of that objection.

DATA PORTABILITY:

The right to receive a copy of personal data which has been provided by the data subject and which is processed by automated means in a format which will allow the individual to transfer the data to another data controller. This would only apply if RTA LAW was processing the data using consent or on the basis of a contract.

OBJECT TO PROCESSING:

the right to object to the processing of personal data relying on the legitimate interests processing condition unless RTA LAW can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests of the data subject or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

SPECIAL CATEGORY PERSONAL DATA

This includes the following personal data revealing:

• racial or ethnic origin 
• political opinions
• religious or philosophical beliefs 
• trade union membership 
• the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person
• an individual’s health
• a natural person's sex life or sexual orientation
• criminal convictions or offences

RTA LAW processes special category data of clients and third parties as is necessary to provide legal services for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. 

RTA LAW processes special category data of employees as is necessary to comply with employment and social security law. This policy sets out the safeguards we believe are appropriate to ensure that we comply with the data protection principles set out above. RTA LAW also has a data retention policy which sets out how long special category data will be held onto.

THIRD PARTY CONTRACTORS AND OTHER CONTROLLERS

We may appoint sub-contractor data processors as required to deliver services such as, without limitation, document processing and translation services, confidential waste disposal, IT systems or software providers, IT Support service providers, document and information storage providers, who will process personal information on our behalf and at our direction.

We conduct an appropriate level of due diligence and put in place contractual documentation in relation to any sub-contractor to ensure that they process personal information appropriately and according to our legal and regulatory obligations.

Further, we may appoint external data controllers where necessary to deliver services, for example, but without limitation, accountants, advocates or other third party experts. When doing so, we will comply with our legal and regulatory obligations in relation to the personal information, including but without limitation, putting appropriate safeguards in place.

OUR LEGAL BASIS

It is necessary for us to perform our obligations in accordance with any contract that we may have with you.

It is in our legitimate interest or a third party's legitimate interest to use personal information in such a way to ensure that we provide services in the best way that we can. 

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

The partners of RTA LAW take ultimate responsibility for data protection. 

If you have any concerns or wish to exercise any of your rights under the GDPR, then you can contact the data protection lead in the following ways: 

Name: Brenda Mitchell

Address: 5 Cherry Court, Cavalry Park, Peebles, EH45 9BU

Email: Brenda.mitchell@RTALaw.scot 

Telephone: 0131 4736616

MONITORING AND REVIEW

This policy was last updated on 12th May 2022 and shall be regularly monitored and reviewed, at least every two years.

COOKIE POLICY

Last Updated: 12th May 2022

We hope that you enjoy using our site. We’ve prepared this Cookie Policy to help you better understand and to feel more confident about how we use cookies on our site located at: www.motorcyclelawscotland.co.uk.  

Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding cookies and how we use them when you visit our site.

You can find out how long we may hold onto your personal information in the Retention Policy.

WHAT IS A COOKIE?

We use various technologies on our site to collect information that helps us improve your online experience. We refer to these technologies which include cookies, collectively as “cookies”. This Cookie Policy explains the different types of cookies used on our site and how you can control them.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your device. Cookies are widely used throughout the Internet in order to make sites or other online services work or to be better or more efficiently. They can do this because sites and other online services can read and write to the cookies stored on your device, enabling them to recognise you and remember important information that will make your use of them more convenient, for example, by remembering your preferences, username, or showing you pages that you seemed to have a particular interest in.

If you consent to us storing cookies on your computer or other electronic device then you
agree that we can store and access cookies as described in this policy.

HOW YOU CONSENT TO US PLACING COOKIES

When you visit our site you should see an overlay at the bottom of your screen directing you to this Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy. By clicking or selecting the “I Agree” button that appears in the overlay, then you are demonstrating to us that you are freely giving us informed and specific consent for us to place cookies on your device for the purposes specified in this Cookie Policy and you are accepting and consenting to the practices described. If you do not click or select the “I Agree” button that appears in the overlay, then we will not place cookies on your device. The duration of each cookie that we may place on your computer can be found in our Retention Policy. If you do not see an overlay at the bottom of your screen, then you may have already accepted our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy. You may also be using a pop-up blocker or similar tools that may prevent this policy from being brought to your attention. Please ensure that any pop-up blockers are disabled when you use our site. If you’re unsure then scroll down to the bottom of this page where we explain how you can manage your cookies.

WHAT DO YOU USE COOKIES FOR?

Our site uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our site and to save and retain certain parameters about you and your usage of our site. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our site and also allows us to improve our site.

There are four different categories of cookies that we may use on our site:

Essential cookies: 
These are cookies that are essential for the operation of our site. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our site or make use of e-billing services. We also use cookies to prevent fraudulent use of your login credentials. These cookies are essential for using our site and, therefore, if disabled can severely affect your use of our site.

.NET Framework Cookie:
Analytical/performance cookies: Performance cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. These cookies also allow us to see overall patterns of usage on our site and help us record any difficulties you may have with our site.

Google Analytics Cookie

Functionality cookies:
In some circumstances we may use functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our site or provide enhanced and more personalised features, for example, to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).

Targeting cookies: 
We and our service providers and partners may use targeting or advertising cookies to record your visit to our site, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. For example, we may use targeting or advertising cookies to limit the number of times you see the same ad and to help measure the effectiveness of any campaigns. We may also use this information to make our site and any advertising (if applicable) displayed on it more relevant to your interests.

If you would like more information about cookies and how you can manage the settings on your computer, you can visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/

COOKIES WE USE

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use on our site and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:

Cookie Name	Purpose & Content
.NET Framework Cookie	Type: Analytics/performance cookie Purpose: Used to distinguish users and sessions when they connect to the website. Content: Alphanumeric string of characters https://cookiepedia.co.uk/cookies/ASP.NET_SessionId Provider: Microsoft Corporation
4 Google Analytics Cookies	Type: Analytics/performance cookie  Purpose: Used to distinguish users and sessions when they connect to the website. Content: Randomly generated number Provider: Google Analytics
Cookie Consent Status Cookie	Cookie to store value of cookie consent button. Text value Provider: Insights

PROVIDERS

Google Analytics:

The cookies used by Google Analytics are used to collect information about how you use our site. We use this information to compile reports and to help us improve our site. The cookie collects information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to our site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages that they visited.

You can read more about Google’s overview of privacy and safeguarding your data at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245.

THIRD PARTIES

Please note that third parties (including, for example, web traffic analysis services such as Google Analytics) may also use cookies, over which we have no control.

HOW DO I CONTROL COOKIES?

You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site. You may also delete any cookies stored on your computer at any time.

You can find out more about changing cookie settings on your computer by visiting http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/

HOW LONG IS COOKIE INFORMATION STORED?

Different cookies may be stored for different periods of time. In many cases, these cookies are updated automatically each time you visit our site or may expire and be deleted by your computer automatically. It is important to understand that when a cookie is placed on your computer, it will reside on your hard drive until it expires and is deleted or it may reside on your hard drive until you manually delete it – this entirely depends on your individual browser settings and we do not have control over this.

The duration of each cookie that we may place on your computer can be found in our Retention Policy.

Please remember that you can delete or change the way in which you store cookies on your computer at any time.

CHANGES TO OUR COOKIE POLICY

We may need to change this Cookie Policy if it’s necessary for legal reasons or to reflect changes to our services or the purpose for which we use cookies. In any case, the provisions of this Cookie Policy may be changed without prejudice to your rights. When we change our Cookie Policy, we will make the updated Cookie Policy available on our site and we will also update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page.

Any changes to our Cookie Policy will come into effect 7 days after we post it on our site. During that period you’re welcome to contact us if you have questions about the changes.