Privacy Notice

At the British Astronomical Association, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This notice explains the personal data we capture and store, the purposes for which we will use it, the lawful bases for processing data, where we transfer data to, how long we will keep your data, and your rights in the matter.

This privacy notice is written in the context of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) implemented in the UK on 2018 May 25.

We do not store credit card details. We only share financial details with 3rd parties for the sole purpose of processing authorised payments.

We may change this notice from time to time and will notify you if this is the case.

Who are we?

We are the British Astronomical Association, one of the world’s leading organisations supporting amateur observational astronomy. The BAA is a registered charity (no. 210769) and company limited by guarantee (no. 117572). The registered address is 25 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4AB, UK. Our postal address is PO Box 702, Tonbridge, TN9 9TX, UK.

You can contact us through our website www.britastro.org, by email to office@britastro.org or by writing to our registered address.

The BAA Business Secretary is the lead for data protection within the Association.

The purposes of the processing

We capture basic information to administer your membership or purchases from us. The personal data we capture may include your name, address, telephone number, email address, IP address, date of birth, and other non-identifying information. We do not capture any sensitive personal data.

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

  • To administer your membership of the BAA;
  • To provide you with services and publications as part of your membership;
  • To administer any purchases you make from the BAA;
  • To provide secure services on our website (IP address).

When you join the BAA we will subscribe you to our monthly Newsletter to inform you when the BAA Journal is published and update you with BAA news and events. You may unsubscribe from this Newsletter at any time. We have Alerts and Section email lists which you may optionally subscribe to and unsubscribe from at any time.

The lawful bases for the processing

There are three lawful bases for the processing of your information:

  • Contract: you have a contract (your membership or purchases) with the BAA for us to provide services, publications or merchandise;
  • Legal obligation: as a Company Limited by Guarantee we are obliged to maintain a register of members (Companies Act 2006);
  • Consent: you can optionally consent to join our electronic communication email lists. Note that even if such consent has not been given, we may still send you emails necessary to provide you with services and publications which relate to your contract.

Transfers of personal data

We do not sell or provide personal data to third parties for purposes which are outside the purposes above. We provide limited subsets of data (only the data required) to GDPR compliant third parties to provide services to members:

  • Authentic Digital Limited (SheepCRM): a UK company who provide our membership database;
  • The Magazine Printing Company: a UK company who print and distribute the printed Journal to members;
  • MailChimp: who provide mailing list services – this is an international organisation which provides internationally recognised protections through the EU/US Privacy Shield Framework;
  • Simplelists: a UK company who provide mailing list services – this is a UK GDPR compliant organisation;
  • Civica: a UK company who provide services to manage our electronic ballot;
  • Automated Payment Transfer Ltd: a UK company who process our Direct Debit instructions.

Retention period

Your personal data will be held while you are a member of the BAA. If you leave the BAA then we shall retain your data for archiving and statistical purposes. Please contact us if you want your personal data to be removed from our systems, though please note we are required to retain basic data in the register of members for 10 years.

Your rights

You have the right to access your personal data record for checking and the right to have the record corrected if in error. Data will be provided electronically unless otherwise requested. You can withdraw consent to receive messages from our electronic communications email distribution lists at any time.

To exercise these rights please contact the BAA Office – details above.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Board of Trustees of the BAA, or the Information Commissioner.