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Privacy Statement for individuals within the People's Republic of China

This IET Privacy Statement for residents of People's Republic of China (“PRC”) (“Privacy Statement”) explains what Institution of Engineering and Technology (“we”, “us” or “IET”) will do with any Personal Information that you give to us, or any Personal Information that we may collect from or about you. It also contains useful information about who to contact in the event you have a question or query.

“Personal Information” means various information, recorded in electronic or any other form, that is related to an identified or identifiable natural person, excluding any information that has been anonymized (“Personal Information”).

For avoidance of doubt, this Privacy Statement handles your Personal Information in relation to the Personal Information processing activities within the People Republic of China (“PRC”) and the Personal Information processing activities for purpose of providing products or services to individuals within the PRC. Visit the IET Privacy Statement to learn about specific information protection rules that apply to you and the data controller in relation to IET your activities outside of the PRC.

We also have a separate Privacy Notice and Consent Form for IET Beijing Employees which describes how the IET processes your Personal Information in relation to applying for a role at IET in the PRC.

The IET

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a not-for-profit membership body registered as a charity in England & Wales (no 211014) and Scotland (no SC038698). We have over 156,000 members in 148 countries. For over 150 years the IET has existed for the sole purpose of Working to Engineer a Better World. It is our mission to inspire, inform and influence the global engineering community, supporting technology innovation to meet the needs of society. We do this by providing a range of services and products to our members and customers, with the help of our volunteers. The IET is licensed by the Engineering Council UK, to deliver professional registration to help our members achieve their career goals, while our fund-raising activities help aspiring young engineers through our support of STEM Education programmes. We are a Registered End Point Assessment Organisation responsible for carrying out apprenticeship Professional Engineering Competence Assessments. We have a programme of Awards, Scholarships, Bursaries and events. We connect members with a thriving global network of like-minded professionals.

The IET is supported by a wholly owned trading subsidiary, IET Services Limited. Also in the IET group of companies are entities registered in India, China, Hong Kong and USA, which support our mission in those regions. IET brands include Inspec, E+T, Electrical Standards, Wiring Regulations, Faraday, Venues and EngX.

Our head office address:

The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Futures Place
Kings Way
Stevenage
Hertfordshire
SG1 2UA
UK
T: +44 (0)1438 313311

The IET UK is Registered with the Information Commissioners Office. Reference Number: Z7792223

Content

 

What Personal Information will we collect and how will we use it?

We want to deliver the best possible member and customer experience so you will be asked to share Personal Information with us in order to help us process your requirements and deliver the services you have requested.  

We may also use this Personal Information to analyse and improve the services we provide and your experience of using them.

We capture the services, publications and other products that you have selected and store these on your customer account.

Please note that, we collect the below mentioned Personal Information in a variety of ways, for example, from you, IET partner, your company/institution, public sources, our affiliates or Service Providers (as defined below).

  • Typically, the following personal information is required in order to supply any products or services that you have requested, to provide easily accessible means of communication and support and for verification or for event registration purposes: name, address, telephone number, email address and membership number if applicable, and may include your place of work or institution contact details. If you are (or are applying to become) a member of IET, the above-mentioned Personal Information will be used to provide the member services that you require.
  • Shows and conferences
    We may collect personal Information of those who attend our stand at events or conferences in a corporate or personal capacity. With your express consent we may contact you about the product you have shown an interest in, by phone or email using the contact details you have provided.
  • IET membership
    Application for IET membership. Membership IET (MIET), Technician Membership (TMIET) Associate Membership, Student Membership.

    If either you, your employer or an institution you are associated with has chosen to arrange IET membership on your behalf, the IET will collect the following information (as applicable) in order to assess the category of IET Membership that applies to you:
    • Name, address, Country and contact details, date of birth and gender.
    • Name of employer, or institution, address of work or institution and your work contact details.
    • Details of the highest engineering or technology qualifications you hold or are in the process of completing (award/ course, title, course dates, name of university or awarding body).
    • You may be asked for evidence of your qualifications, experience, CV, and any other relevant documents to help boost your application.
    • You may be asked for a supporter or sponsor to submit a reference. The information a supporter provides the IET is treated as confidential and is not shared with the applicant. On the occasion where IET receives Personal Information indirectly about a supporter or sponsor, IET will contact that individual within one month to notify them of their rights under this Privacy Statement.

The IET membership team will contact you to coordinate your application and payment.

We may send you a reminder by SMS before the date of your membership renewal.

In order to offer you the IET's services, activities, events, and products it may be necessary to share limited Personal Information with IET China, IET India, IET Hong Kong, and USA office, if the event or activity is in those locations, or you have expressed an interest in being informed about events or activities in those locations.

This will include sharing of minimal Personal Information with Local Networks, set up and run by IET volunteers for the benefit of members, who may support the provision of our services, activities and events, depending on the location of the event or activity you have expressed an interest in attending.

The IET will continue to hold the minimal record of your membership, whether current or lapsed indefinitely.

Files containing general information pertaining to your IET membership will be retained for a period of 6 years after lapse or membership retirement at such time these files will be securely disposed of. If you are an IET member and wish to exercise your right to erasure you must first resign as a member in writing by contacting memberretention@theiet.org

You will be asked to declare your agreement to the IET Royal Charter and Byelaws and Rules of Conduct.

Fellow Membership (FIET)

Personal Information collected includes name, contact details, place of work, evidence of specific personal contributions, professional achievements and the associated impact. Details of membership of Professional Bodies. This is peer reviewed by a panel of IET Member volunteers. And may include an interview.

Name address and contact details of qualified supporter and information about you and your professional achievements supplied by your supporter. On the occasion where the IET receives Personal Information indirectly from a supporter, the IET will contact that individual within one month to notify them of their rights and provide a privacy notice.

Publication in the list of elected fellows in IET Member News (print and online) Title, name, town, Country, Professional title.

Honorary Fellowship (HonFIET)       

Personal Information collected includes biographical information and a short statement of the grounds on which the nomination is made. Honorary Fellows are distinguished by their work in engineering and are those individuals who have either rendered services to the IET or whose association is of mutual benefit. The names and post-nominals of all Honorary Members are published on the Honorary Fellows List page of the IET UK website.

Professional Registration

Internationally recognised Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer, Engineering Technician or ICT Technician

Personal Information collected includes applicant name, age, date of birth, gender, address, email address, phone number. Workplace, membership information, education and qualification details, career history and experience.

Supporter relationship. Supporter name place of work and role, relationship to applicant, or Supporting statement. On the occasion where IET receives Personal Information indirectly about a supporter or sponsor, IET will contact that individual within one month to notify them of their rights under this Privacy Statement.

The IET will offer you guided Professional Registration support, webinars and workshops.

The IET offers support using Professional Registration Advisors who are IET Member volunteers. IET Volunteers are subject to IET volunteer policies and code of conduct. Your application is reviewed by IET Professional Registration team employees. An assessment of your application will be undertaken by trained and experienced registered IET Members. Where required, additional evidence of competence and/or knowledge may be requested.

A Professional Registration Interview via video conference will be arranged with two trained, experienced Registered IET members. You will be asked to show your photo ID such as Passport or driving licence for verification. We will carry out a final review to ensure a fair outcome. If you are unsuccessful you have the option to appeal.

Recording of CPD undertaken is mandatory for registered engineers and technicians. Professionally active registrants who persistently do not respond to or engage with requests for CPD records from the IET risk removal from the Engineering Council Register (see CPD section below).   

The IET reserves in its Regulations the right to publish details of established breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct, (this is published in Member News (print and online)) which will in the case of a Registrant include informing the Engineering Council and includes name, breach of code of conduct, suspension or expulsion, date.

Information shared with the Engineering Council

Personal Information is shared with the Engineering Council UK in order to register your professional status (Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer, Engineering Technician or ICT Technician).

If your application is successful Personal Information will be supplied to the Engineering Council via the Engineering Council UK secure online portal RegPlus, including: name, date of birth, gender, degree details, interview date, individual route or standard route.  

The IET will retain the record of successful professional registration applicants, associated general information will be deleted six years from lapse.

The Engineering Council will continue to hold the record of your registration whether current or lapsed indefinitely. However, files containing your Personal Information, supplied by the IET in relation to the processing of your professional registration will be retained for a period of 6 years. After such time these files will be securely disposed of. Please visit the Engineering Council Privacy Notice on their website for more information.

The IET must inform the Engineering Council of any membership expulsion, whether or not the individual is registered by the IET.

Continual Professional Development

Under the IET Rules of Conduct members are required to maintain continual professional development. CPD record includes: name and type of activity, target date if applicable (if planned), start and end date, a short description and reflection (lessons learnt) and number of CPD hours.

If you are selected for mandatory CPD audit you will be required to submit a CPD record for review. IET mandatory CPD Audit includes the following assessment of your CPD. Whether or not you have:

  • included a CPD plan and if your CPD relates to it.
  • achieved the recommended 30 hours (active members) of CPD for the year in question.
  • included CPD across a range of the TWAVES categories.
  • included a mix of soft and technical skills.
  • linked your CPD to UK-SPEC competences.
  • included a brief reflection statement detailing how you’ve benefited from your CPD activities.

Recording evidence of CPD undertaken is a requirement of professional registration. Professionally active registrants who persistently do not respond to or engage with requests for CPD records from the IET, risk removal from the Engineering Council Register. The names of individuals removed from the Register due to non-compliance with a CPD sample will be made available to the other Licensees.

The IET provides a secure online portal Career Manager for your use in recording your CPD.

IET member disciplinary

IET members agree to abide by the Rules of Conduct. The IET may receive complaints or allegations relating to IET members. These are made via the IET UK website here

Member complaints are handled in accordance with the IET Disciplinary Regulations

Please see the dedicated Member Disciplinary Privacy Notice in the link above.

IET volunteers

If you contribute to the work of IET, as a volunteer for example by serving on a committee, this will also be recorded; your Personal Information, including your title, name and post nominals, organisation/company/affiliation and contact email address, may then be used to provide you with access to any special services that IET provides to assist our volunteers. Please see our separate Volunteer Privacy Notice.

IET online account (MY IET)

When you order products or services through IET websites, you will be invited to register a website log-in account. You may also create a log-in account to gain access to services such as IET’s online community, to take part in discussions or, as a member of IET, access pages where you can update your membership information. For website registration, you will be asked for your name and email address, plus the country in which you live. This allows IET to know which of its events and local member activities take place in your country or region. You can use this account to select your subject preferences and marketing preferences so that we only email you about the subjects you are interested in.

Marketing

We will only send marketing communications with your express consent. You can withdraw your consent by clicking in on the unsubscribe link in the email or you can change your marketing preferences in your My IET online account. In some instances if you have expressly consented, we may share your name and email address with a third- party organisation, in which case if you wish to withdraw your consent or object, to their marketing you can use the unsubscribe option in the email or contact compliance@theiet.org

To improve our marketing communications, IET uses a similar technology to cookies to confirm whether you have opened a marketing email or clicked on a link in the email. We sometimes use profiling techniques to do this. You can change your preferences at any time; please see the section below for information on how to do this.

Competitions, Awards and Prizes

If you choose to participate in IET competitions or prize draws, we ask you to provide the required information, as set out in our events information pages. Your name, contact details, home address and Country and IET membership number if applicable, and your application or submission. Under such circumstance, we will inform you of the details of the Personal Information processing activities pursuant to the applicable laws in such events information pages and request for a separate consent from you before we process your Personal Information. Without limiting the particularity of the purposes in each competition or prize to be informed separately (if any), your Personal Information will be processed through an online application platform for the purpose of scoring and judging your application for the competitions. If you win a competition that includes the shipment of a prize, we will contact you to ask for a delivery address to deliver the prize. We process this information so that you are able to participate in our competitions and so that we can notify/announce you as winner, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the competition agreed between us. We will also request for separate consent from you for photography or recording and subsequent publication. We may also use your aforementioned Personal Information to detect and prevent fraud and misuse of our services.

For more information please see IET Awards Privacy Notice China that can be found on this page Privacy (theiet.org)

Financial transaction

When you order our products or services we will collect your name, your membership number, email address and home or work address if applicable, payment information to enable you to make purchases or to pay online for other services via the sites of IET’s secure payment services providers, which include PayPal, WorldPay, PaySafe, Barclays, Bank of China and Alipay. Our payment services providers process the credit card information.  

IET makes it clear that you are being transferred to one of these providers.

When you purchase products and services from us, we may also use your Personal Information to carry out a sanctions check where it is legally required.

Research, surveys and feedback

From time to time, IET may invite visitors’ customers or members to answer research questionnaires and provide feedback to improve the IET website, or our products and services. We also ask our members to complete an Equal Opportunities & Diversity Monitoring Form. Answering any questions will always be optional and we will collect your voluntary consent and provide a way for you to withdraw your consent.

Ethical publishing standards checks

The IET use software to run automated plagiarism and integrity checks on received conference papers and journals. We do not run solely automated checks we always include human manual checks. Where there is cause to believe the IET ethical publishing standards have not been met such publication may be rejected by the IET or if already published will be retracted from publication. Authors names, affiliations and email address along with the information that is available on the paper will be used to conduct this check.

Childrens Personal Information

Where IET products and services are offered to children aged 18 and under, we obtain consent from a parent or guardian to process the child’s Personal Information.

Please see our separate Childrens Privacy Notice in the link above. We ensure privacy notices are accessible to children and age appropriate; understanding that children under the age of 18 cannot give consent for their Personal Information to be collected and processed, and so their parent, carer, or guardian must consent on their behalf; not using children’s Personal Information for automated marketing and advertisement processes; using data protection impact assessments to identify and mitigate the risk of collecting and processing children’s Personal Information other than in accordance with statute and guidance.

How will we use your Sensitive Personal Information?

Sensitive Personal Information refers to the Personal Information that can easily lead to the infringement of the personal dignity of natural persons or the harm of personal or property safety once leaked or illegally used, including such information as biometrics, religious belief, specific identities, medical health, financial accounts, and whereabouts, and the personal information of minors under the age of 14 (“Sensitive Personal Information”). We will use your Sensitive Personal Information for the following purposes:

We need to use your payment information, payment instruments used, date and time, payment amount, payment instrument expiration date to enable you to make purchases or to pay online for other services.

Except for the above, generally, we do not collect any Sensitive Personal Information from you, and we ask that you do not provide such Sensitive Personal Information. If we specifically need to use your Sensitive Personal Information in connection with one or more of the purposes described above, we will request your separate consent to process the Sensitive Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Statement and/or in the ways described at the point where you are asked to provide the Sensitive Personal Information. If you voluntarily share with us or post/upload any Sensitive Personal Information to us for any other purposes, you consent that we may use such data in accordance with applicable law and this Privacy Statement.

How will we share and disclose your Personal Information?

The IET affiliate in China – IET China supports the IET locally in China and has access to Personal Information of IET customer, member and volunteer who are resident in the Peoples Republic China in order to carry out task on the IET UK behalf.

The IET use third party suppliers (“Service Providers”) to help us deliver services and meet legal obligations, for the purposes listed below. When we do so our Legal and IT Security team conduct due diligence assessments to ensure the supplier has appropriate data protection and security standards and our contracts include stipulations governing the processing of Personal Information in accordance with applicable data protection laws, regulations and regulatory guidance.

  • CRM system providers (MS Dynamics 365)
  • IT and business services providers
  • Payment service providers (see payment section above)
  • Event management organisations
  • External Auditors
  • External Legal advisors
  • Survey/ research management providers
  • Plagiarism and integrity checks
  • Software applications, platform and website EngX (Personify) Awards ( OpenWater) IET Digital Library (Atypon)
  • Analytics, social media and marketing management, website live chat (GA4, Uplands, SiteImprove, Sprinklr, Olark)
  • Publishing services providers - Redactive (E+T website and publishing) Wiley (IET Journals)

Your Personal Information may be processed if necessary and lawful, for the prevention and detection of crime, to conduct sanctions checks.

  • We may share Personal Information with other third-party organisations in the following circumstances:
  • If we are discussing a merger or acquisition; reorganised or sold, Personal Information may be transferred to respective third parties under suitable terms as to confidentiality;
  • If we are required to by law, or under any statutory code, or if we are requested by a government or regulatory authority,
  • If we are investigating or defending any legal claims.

We only permit the above mentioned Service Providers to process your Personal Information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

  • Subject to the purposes as set forth in this Privacy Statement, we may share, to the extent of necessity, part of your Personal Information to the third parties as follows:
  • If applicable we will share your Name/ DoB/ Gender/ Degree details plus interview date /individual route or standard route with Engineering Council who is the Regulatory body for UK engineering profession whose address is Engineering Council 10 Lower Thames Street London EC3R 6EN, in order to register your professional status (Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer, Engineering Technician or ICT Technician).
  • In the past we may have shared your Personal Information with Foothold (the IET benevolent fund and a separate charity) if you made a donation to Foothold. The IET no longer collects donations on behalf of Foothold. You can donate directly via their website.
  • Some events or publications, listed on IET websites, are organised in co-operation with other organisations. If you register for this type of event or publication, we will share your registration data to such organisations.
  • IET websites may give preferential access to some third-party services; often this is restricted to members only (member benefits). If you request for such third-party services, we will share your Personal Information to such third party.
  • Member Personal Information may be shared with the IET external auditors if lawful to do so.

When your Personal Information will be shared to the third parties (excluding Service Providers), it will be clearly explained that IET will need to share your Personal Information to such third parties before you can receive the services or products or participate in certain activities. It will be made clear whom your Personal Information is being shared with, the contact information of such third parties, the purposes of processing, the method of processing and the categories of Personal Information we may share with. We will further ask for your separate consent accordingly.

Except for the above, we will not share your Personal Information to the third parties. If we specifically need to share your Personal Information to any third parties (excluding the companies, organisations or individuals working for or on behalf of us), it will be made clear whom your Personal Information is being shared with, the contact information of such third parties, the purposes of processing, the method of processing and the categories of Personal Information we may share with. We will further ask for your separate consent accordingly.

If you choose to receive information from the abovementioned third parties and later decide that you no longer want to receive further information, you should contact the relevant third parties directly. You should be aware that, if you give any Personal Information to another company, organisation or individual, the uses to which that Personal Information may be put will be determined by the privacy policy of that company, organisation or individual. This Privacy Statement will no longer apply.

It is possible that we may need to disclose your Personal Information in response to a law enforcement or national security request or legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena, or court order or in connection with an investigation or prosecution of suspected or actual illegal activity. Disclosures may also be made to comply with the law and/or the requirements of governmental authorities, perform other statutory responsibilities and obligations, protect our legal rights, or yours, or those of others’ including also property, or safety, to take precautions against liability, or during emergencies if physical safety is believed to be at risk, or if we, in good faith, believe that disclosure is otherwise necessary or advisable.

How will we provide or transfer your Personal Information?

We shall not provide or transfer your Personal Information to any company, organisation or individual, except that:

  • We may provide your Personal Information to any company, organisation or individual after obtaining your separate consent; and
  • In the event of a corporate merger, acquisition or other corporate transaction related to us and related to transferring Personal Information, we may request the new company, organisation and individual holding your Personal Information to be subject to this Privacy Statement. Otherwise, we may request such company, organisation and individual to regain your consent.

Exceptions of obtaining prior consent in processing your Personal Information

Please note that we may and are entitled to process your Personal Information (including the Sensitive Personal Information) without your prior consent, where this is required or permitted by the applicable laws and regulations.

In some circumstances we will anonymize your Personal Information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we are entitled to use such data without obtaining further consent from you.

International transmission

Considering that we are an entity outside the People Republic of China (“PRC”) and some services and products are handled by us outside the PRC, and for the purposes set forth in this Privacy Statement, your Personal Information will be transmitted securely to United Kingdom and be processed by us (Futures Place, Kings Way, Stevenage, SG1 2UA, UK). We ensure that where transmission of your Personal Information to United Kingdom, such transmissions are also appropriately protected and in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations. For avoidance of doubt, we are also subject to GDPR and 2018 Data Protection Act to receive and process your Personal Information.

If you do not consent to such international transmission, then you may refer to “Exceptions of obtaining prior consent in processing your Personal Information” in this Privacy Statement for details.

How will we store your Personal Information?

The Personal Information you provide to us may be stored securely pursuant to the applicable laws and regulations and will only be retained for as long as is required for the purposes for which it was collected, to process your requirements, deliver the services or products, resolve disputes, comply with applicable laws. Your Personal Information will be destroyed in a secure manner after the above retention period, except that we will retain only the minimum Personal Information for historical records.

Your rights

You will have all legal rights regarding your Personal Information as provided by the applicable laws and regulations. Specifically, you have the right to:

  • request a copy of the Personal Information we hold about you
  • request that we rectify, correct or supplement inaccurate or incomplete Personal Information that we hold about you
  • restrict processing of your Personal Information
  • withdraw your consent to IET using your Personal Information
  • opt - out or object to receiving direct marketing communications
  • request that the Personal Information we hold about you is deleted

You will not have to pay a fee to access your Personal Information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we are allowed under the law to charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive.

In each case your rights are exercisable against us, and you should direct your requests to compliance@theiet.org.

Where we are processing your Personal Information based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and we will stop processing your Personal Information, unless we have other legitimate bases for doing so under the laws and regulations of PRC. Contact us at the contact above to do this. For the avoidance of doubt, withdrawal of your consent would not affect the validity of the processing of your Personal Information that has been completed based on your consent.

If you have concerns relating to the processing of your Personal Information by us, you are encouraged to contact us at compliance@theiet.org.

If you remain dissatisfied after we have dealt with your enquiry, you have the right to make a complaint to the competent authorities, such as the Cyberspace Administration of China.

If you are a registered website user, then you can log on to www.theiet.org to review and update your contact details and mailing preferences in the “My IET” area of the site. Otherwise, if you would like to change your email address, your mailing preferences, or you need to advise IET of any other changes, please contact us via the online enquiry form or you can telephone us.

Tracking your behaviour on IET websites

Cookies are small pieces of data that are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or application that enables certain information about your visit to be stored by the site. You can find out which cookies we use, why we use them, by looking at our separate Cookie Notice. The IET will enable only strictly necessary cookies (such as for security and online web purchases) Cookies will only load with your consent for other purposes, via our cookie banner displayed when you visit our website.

Links to other websites

This Privacy Statement only covers the web services offered by IET. Other external websites are governed by their own privacy statements. We are not responsible for policies or procedures for sites not operated for or on behalf of IET.

Updates to this Privacy Statement

The privacy of members and visitors is important to IET. This Private Statement will be kept under continual review, and changes may be made from time to time. If we do so, we will post the revised Privacy Statement and update the “Last Updated” date as below. In case of material changes such as changes to purpose of use or ways of Personal Information processing, we will also provide you with notice of the modification by sending a message, email on file or other legally permissible ways when required by the applicable laws. If you disagree with the revised Privacy Statement, you may stop using our products or services. With your consent or your continued access to or use our products or services, the revised Privacy Statement will apply to you.

 

Version: 2024.01.04