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Privacy Policy

Introduction and Who We Are

This section clarifies which parts of MirExpo may use your personal information.

MirExpo connects experts worldwide through events and scientific publications. We are a company listed in the FTSE 100, and our network, consisting of internationally respected brands, helps people work smarter, make better decisions, and grow in thousands of specialized markets.

Data and information are at the heart of MirExpo’s operations, and we take privacy issues seriously. We respect the relationships we have with consumers, customers, visitors, sponsors, exhibitors, contributors, suppliers, and colleagues, as well as the trust they place in us to protect their personal information.

MirExpo Data Controllers

This Privacy Policy explains how MirExpo (“we”, “us”, “our”) members collect, use, and protect personal information across our brands.

MirExpo is structured as a division. Within this division, there are industry-focused businesses, products, event, and service brands. Typically, when we interact with you, it will be through one of these brands.

International Scope and Variation

MirExpo operates in over 20 countries, each with its own data protection laws. This Privacy Policy applies to all MirExpo operations worldwide, except where a country-specific requirement supplements the policy.

These are listed in the menu on the left.

To Update Your Marketing Preferences

To update your personal information or marketing preferences, please contact our departmental marketing teams listed below.

You can submit data privacy inquiries or complaints to the MirExpo Privacy team using our contact page.

What We Collect

This section explains what personal information we collect.

It outlines the types of personal information we may collect from you when you use our products and services, and the personal information we may obtain from other sources.

In this Privacy Policy, personal information refers to the types of personal data that may be collected and used, including but not limited to:

  • Contact details such as name, email address, mailing address, and phone number
  • Educational, nationality, and professional information
  • Demographic details such as gender and date of birth
  • Usernames and passwords
  • Payment details such as credit card or debit card numbers or bank account information
  • Comments, feedback, reviews, posts, and other content submitted, including survey data
  • Interests and communication preferences, including marketing permissions where applicable
  • Location information provided via mobile apps and Bluetooth beacons
  • Photos and video footage, such as those obtained via CCTV or cameras in mobile apps or required for security purposes at events
  • Audio notes, such as those made through our mobile apps
  • Identification details like passport information for compliance with legal requirements and to provide visa invitation letters when requested
  • IP addresses, website usage, and communication details obtained through cookies or other tracking technologies
  • Hotel name when attending one of our events

This personal information relates to the following categories of individuals:

  • Potential customers, customer contacts, subscribers, and users related to our products and services
  • Visitors, sponsors, participants, and speakers at our events
  • Professionals featured in digital and print products such as executive details made available through information products, research, and publications
  • Authors, editors, and revision managers related to our publications
  • Contact details of our service providers and business partners

We may collect this information directly from you when you register for an event or interact with our services and/or platforms. We may also collect this information from third-party partners and public sources to the extent permitted by applicable data protection laws. In some cases, the data we collect from third parties will not include personally identifiable information, but we may associate this data with you if you enter your email address on one of MirExpo’s sites and upon your input.

Sensitive Personal Information

To facilitate your participation in one of our events, we will typically seek your explicit consent when collecting or storing sensitive personal information such as health, disability status, or religious beliefs. However, there are certain limited situations, such as in the case of an accident, where this may not occur. In such cases, we will ensure that your privacy rights are protected.

Data Collected by Third Parties at Our Events

In some cases, third parties participating in our events may collect information about you, for example, by taking a photo of your business card in one of our event mobile applications or scanning your visitor badge. We are not the data controller for this information, we do not have access to it, and we are not responsible for its use by third parties. For more information, please refer to the relevant third party’s privacy policies or the applicable terms of use for the respective application.

Aggregate or Anonymous Personal Information

We may create anonymous or aggregated data from the personal information we collect about you and other individuals. Anonymous data may include statistical or analytical information, which we may share with third-party clients.

In certain cases, your employer or another organization may provide you with access to our services. In these instances, your employer will only receive aggregate information about your participation in our services, not personal information. For example, we may share that a majority of employees registered with us have completed a particular certification course; however, we will not provide details about which employers have completed a specific course or which employees are open to job opportunities. However, we reserve the right to notify your employer or other organizations of any ban from our services. Such situations will only occur after a violation of our Terms of Service or community standards (such as serious harassment of another member, repeated fraudulent activities, etc).

Children's Personal Information

Our services and products are intended for business professionals and are not designed for children under the age of sixteen. We do not knowingly collect personal information from users in this age group, and if we become aware that such information has been collected, we reserve the right to delete it. If children’s data is collected, it will only be done directly through input from parents, guardians, or teachers, and its use will be protected under applicable legal conditions and explicit licensing terms.

How and Why Personal Information is Used?

This section explains how and why we use personal information.

Product Inquiries, Sales, and Management

If you made an inquiry online or by phone regarding our products or services, your personal information will be used to respond to your request or take further steps based on your inquiry, even before entering into a contract with us.

If you have purchased or registered for one of our products or services, including for trial purposes, we will use your personal information, including bank or card details, to provide the product or service, communicate with you about it, process payments, and collect any outstanding debts.

Call Monitoring for Training and Quality Purposes

In cases where one of our sales representatives speaks with you on the phone, the conversations are recorded for training and monitoring purposes.

Including Professional Information in Our Products and Consultancy Services

If your professional personal information is related to our products and is available through publicly accessible sources such as websites, listed directories, press releases, industry publications, or provided to us where permitted, we may use such personal information in products we provide to clients, such as subscription products, research, industry analysis, and general analytics, in accordance with applicable data protection laws. Additionally, we may verify your information against databases listing professional details to determine and validate your professional status.

If you make an inquiry or engage us for consultancy services or research/analysis, we will collect your name, country, job title, company details, or academic affiliation, postal address, email address, and phone number. We will use your personal information to respond to your inquiry or to perform the consultancy services.

For Event and Exhibition Management

If you participate in one of our events as a speaker, sponsor, exhibitor, or attendee, your personal information will be used in connection with the event’s execution, including processing payments and collecting debts. This includes our legitimate business interests in conducting logistics, administrative, and analytical activities to ensure the smooth operation of our events and provide a better experience for our customers.

We will also use your personal information to maintain databases that allow us to evaluate your qualifications as a speaker or sponsor/exhibitor, promote events, and encourage further participation in our events. In certain cases, we may also use your data to request references.

With your consent, we may share your personal information with exhibition participants at the event you are attending, allowing them to contact you in advance and organize meetings with you during the event.

Additionally, photographs and videos are taken during our events, which may include participants, speakers, sponsors, or exhibitors. As permitted by applicable data protection laws, photos and videos taken at our events that display you as a participant, sponsor, or exhibitor may be used for promotional purposes. Third parties, such as visitors to their stands or exhibition participants, may also take photographs at our events to keep records. We are not responsible for the collection or use of photos taken by third parties.

In cases where badge scanning technology is used at events and exhibitions, your personal information will be used to identify you at certain access points, such as VIP areas, seminars, and other parts of the event. This will provide specific location data. The badge cannot be scanned remotely.

Personal information obtained from badge scanning will be used for access control, security, and visitor traffic analysis to improve the event experience for visitors and others. We may also collect non-identifiable camera images and/or location data via a mobile app and Bluetooth beacons to analyze visitor traffic and/or assess participation in specific seminars or presentations. This data may be shared with relevant exhibition participants.

You may also allow your event badge to be scanned by other event participants. When you do this, your contact information will be shared with the relevant participant and used in accordance with applicable data protection laws, the exhibitor’s privacy policy, and other notifications or consents provided to you during the event.

In cases where we organize and manage a virtual exhibition or event, MirExpo (and any third-party platform providers acting on our behalf) will use the personal information you provided during registration to host and manage this digital event, as well as to analyze visitor interactions and traffic to enhance the event experience and provide you with a personalized experience.

When you enter virtual spaces, areas, or rooms such as exhibition stands, your personal information may be shared with sponsors and exhibitors to enable them to interact with you, in accordance with the participant privacy notice you may have received during the registration and login process.

For Our Publishing Services

If you publish a work with us, your personal information, including that of any representative or rights holder, will be used in connection with the dissemination and promotion of your published work and to fulfill our contractual obligations as a commercial entity, in line with our legitimate business interests. Your name and membership will be published as part of the written work. Personal information will also be used, as necessary, to process payments or for other purposes to fulfill our contract with you.

Additionally, we may sometimes take photographs and videos at events related to your published work. When photographs and videos are taken to promote you as the author at our events, these images may be used for promotional purposes.

For Marketing

We may use your personal information to send you newsletters, offers, or other marketing emails to keep you updated on news, events, and products that may interest you. Depending on the nature of your interaction with us and applicable data protection laws, you may have actively consented (i.e., opted-in) or we may rely on your implied consent or our legitimate business interests to market to you. You will always have the opportunity to opt-out of future marketing, and you have the right to change your marketing preferences at any time (see Your Rights section).

In some cases where we have a legal basis and you have provided us with your mobile phone number, we may send marketing SMS/text messages or call you for marketing purposes, in compliance with applicable local laws. If we have a legal basis for doing so and you have provided us with your postal address, we may send you mail regarding new products and events.

Many of our events and products are co-branded or supported by third-party exhibitors or sponsors. We may share your information with these third-party partners. In such cases, clear notice will be provided giving you the option to opt-out of such sharing or participate in such sharing, as required by applicable data protection laws. The use of your information by third-party partners will be in accordance with the notice provided and their privacy policies, and is not covered under this Privacy Policy.

For Gamification

Gamification refers to the use of game-like mechanics to encourage user engagement in non-game contexts and activities. It leverages a user’s natural tendencies toward competition and success by rewarding them for performing and repeating certain actions (e.g., signing up for an event, viewing a conference agenda, tagging a user in a photo).

When you download and use some of our mobile apps and interact with event-specific features, we may collect information about your behavior for gamification purposes (e.g., viewing an event guide, browsing an event schedule, viewing participant profiles, sending messages, adding an event session to your schedule). For each activity you complete within the mobile app, we will score your engagement, compare it to other users’ event information, and rank it. You can view this scoring information and may allow others to see, share, edit, copy, or download this content based on your chosen settings.

Additionally, some gamification features of the mobile app may display part or all of your profile information to other mobile app users when you share or engage with specific content. For example, when you add a session to your schedule, we will display your profile picture and name next to the session so that other users with access to the session can see who else is attending. You can control this sharing through your settings and opt out of gamification at any time.

For Our Customer-Focused Marketing Services

MirExpo will combine the personal information we collect from you, including most of the information listed in the “What We Collect” section above, with personal data gathered from certain trusted third-party sources, and use this information for the commercial interests of you/your company.

For example, we will merge the information you provide as part of your event registration, data created as a result of your participation in events, information obtained through first-party cookies and tracking technologies on our websites and apps, and certain information we obtain from third parties (such as data providers) to analyze, segment, and determine which marketing segments you belong to.

This information will then be used as part of our marketing service offerings, ensuring that our clients undertake targeted advertising campaigns specifically aimed at those individuals. Our clients may present information about products and services they believe individuals will be interested in through various channels, based on the marketing segments we develop and target. In most cases, these advertising campaigns will be carried out on behalf of the clients, without sharing any personal data with the relevant clients (including marketing emails, social media channels, and advertising partners facilitating ads on third-party sites). In other cases, we may provide clients with information that they cannot use to identify your personal data, enabling them to launch their own marketing campaigns. In all cases, these activities are carried out to the extent permitted by applicable laws. These activities are based on individual marketing consent. Therefore, if you have opted out of email marketing, we will not engage in marketing related to the services we offer through any channel in connection with clients’ marketing services.

The activities undertaken by us and our third-party partners may require the automatic and machine learning-based processing of data to analyze or predict behaviors and preferences (e.g., interests in specific content, services, and/or events). The algorithm identifies companies and individuals with similar characteristics to those we know are interested in specific services, creating a similarity score for these clients. We will then enrich the data we hold about these companies and individuals and send advertisements to potential customers based on this analysis.

On Social Media

We may use your personal information to run advertising campaigns on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook to provide information about upcoming events or new products, and to ensure you receive advertisements related only to our products and services. When you interact with the relevant social media platform, we may share your personal information with the platform to show you advertisements related to our products and services, or those of our partners, that we believe might interest you.

We may also share your personal information with social media platforms to help deliver relevant ads to individuals whom the platform identifies as having similar interests to yours.

We maintain our presence on social media platforms through our company and brand pages. When you interact with us on social media, we collect personal information. Please note that these social media platforms may place cookies and other tracking technologies on your device when you visit their pages or browse their content.

The data generated by these platforms may be provided to us (typically for statistical purposes, to see how users interact with our content on social media). Social media platforms are responsible for how they use your personal information, and information about how these platforms collect and use personal data (including how they use cookies and other technologies, and instructions on how to disable them) is typically found in the relevant privacy and cookie policies on the respective websites. This may be used for customer and prospect management (including analytics and product management).

For Surveys

We may use your personal information to conduct research surveys either on our behalf or on behalf of a third party. This includes your contact information, any fictitious demographic information, and any feedback or responses you provide. Surveys may be conducted digitally or in person.

For Customer and Prospect Management (Including Analytics and Product Management)

The personal information held about you, when combined with other personal information legally obtained and shared with us by third parties or publicly available data, can be used to better understand our customers and their preferences, and to improve the products and services offered. This may include automated profiling and campaign management techniques.

The data may also be used in advertising campaigns on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook to provide information about upcoming events or new products and to ensure you receive ads related only to the products and services as described above.

For Mobile Applications and Website Analytics

We may combine visitor session information or other data collected through tracking technologies, whether or not you are logged in, with personally identifiable information to understand and analyze your online experience. This helps us improve the efficiency and functioning of our websites and services and identify which events, products, and services may interest you.

When you consent to the use of location data, some mobile applications may use your location data to assist in navigating events and presenting the products of participants and sponsors while using the app.

Our marketing emails may include a unique, campaign-specific “web beacon pixel” that informs us if the emails were opened and whether links within the email were clicked. We may use this information to determine which emails are more engaging and to inquire whether users who didn’t open our emails would still like to receive them. The pixel will be deleted once you delete the email.

When you subscribe to an online service, the related emails may similarly contain a pixel. We track interactions with these emails and online services to verify participation for accreditation purposes, help identify what information interests you, and customize the ads displayed on our websites.

If you do not wish to have the pixel downloaded to your device, you should choose not to click on the links we send or disable email marketing or online event participation. This information may be linked to your personal identity.

While we make efforts to offer options when using our website and mobile applications, we do not guarantee that we can honor Do Not Track signals from your web browser.

In Online Membership Communities, Bulletin Boards, and Chat Rooms

You may choose to join online membership communities on our websites that allow you to create and post a profile and other personal information. These communities may provide privacy controls that allow you to choose how much of your profile and information will be visible to the public or shared with others within the community. Some platforms also provide membership to broader communities within your industry.

Privacy controls are typically found on the page where you edit your profile, and it is the responsibility of each individual to understand how these controls work, including default settings, and to choose how information is shared and protected. By joining these online communities, other members of the community may view some of your personal information and use the information you provide to contact you.

When you disclose personal information in public community boards or chat rooms on such websites, your information can be collected and used by anyone viewing those boards or areas. This could result in unwanted messages from other participants or parties, which is outside our control or responsibility.

However, when you contact us in customer chat areas, it is private, and we will use the provided information to suggest products and/or confirm any orders you may wish to place.

For Questions or Complaints

Any personal information provided on the “Contact Us” page will be used solely to provide a response, find a solution to a complaint, or address the request or inquiry made. The information provided will not be added to MirExpo’s marketing or potential customer databases.

For News Alerts

The information collected when you subscribe to news alerts is used solely to provide this service and to understand the history and interests of our subscriber list.

While providing the service, we collect statistics about how many emails are opened, including image downloads, using industry-standard technologies. This helps us monitor and improve the news alert service, and the information is only collected and analyzed at an aggregate level.

With your permission, MirExpo may occasionally use your registration details to contact you about the news alert service. You can unsubscribe from the service at any time using the links provided in our emails.

Including Profile Creation, in Automated Decision-Making

We use fully automated, algorithm-based technologies to personalize dynamic web content based on your explicit and/or implicit interests. General profiling, such as segmentation, is performed to provide a more relevant experience. Additionally, in our publishing business, we may use responses to your application for receiving a sample review copy of a textbook to determine whether the request is accepted or applied in specific cases, ensuring that we provide timely and reliable service to our customers. Automated decision-making is never used in a way that would create legal or similarly significant effects.

When using these techniques, we take measures to prevent discriminatory biases and inaccuracies legally. These automated processes may result in you being shown different content.

To Fulfill Our Legal Obligations, Including Fraud or Crime Prevention Measures and Screening

As required by applicable laws and regulations and any best practices at any given time, it is standard practice for companies to access and use certain personal information to prevent fraud. If incorrect or misleading information is provided and fraud is detected or suspected, the details may be submitted to fraud prevention agencies and may be recorded by us or them.

To ensure compliance with international trade sanction laws and regulations, customers, vendors, and suppliers may be screened against applicable sanction lists where appropriate.

Additionally, we may collect personal information categories required by local laws to obtain an event license or to respond to inquiries or requests from law enforcement agencies.

How Do We Protect Personal Information?

We are aware of the importance of protecting and managing personal information. Your personal data will be processed with the utmost care and security. This section outlines some of the security measures in place.

We take various physical and technical measures to keep personal information secure and to prevent unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Electronic data and databases are stored in secure computer systems that use both physical and electronic tools to control who has access to the information. Our colleagues receive data protection training, and there are detailed security and data protection policies that our team members must adhere to when handling personal information.

Although we take all reasonable steps to ensure personal information is kept secure from unauthorized access, we cannot guarantee its security during transmission to a website or other services, as we do not control that transfer. For secure communication over a computer network, we use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) with a communication protocol encrypted through Transport Layer Security (TLS). The website loads via HTTPS, represented by the padlock icon in your web browser, and ensures that the transmission is secured with a certificate issued by an official security certificate authority for the MirExpo Controller.

International Transfer of Personal Information

This section explains our process regarding the international transfer of personal data.

Due to the international nature of our business and the technologies required, personal data may be accessed by our colleagues and third-party service providers from around the world, in regions where data protection laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the European Union.

To ensure that your personal data is adequately protected and handled in accordance with this policy and applicable data protection laws, we implement appropriate safeguards, including Standard Contractual Clauses where applicable.

As detailed in the country-specific annexes below, specific country requirements apply to this section.

Cookies

More information about our use of cookies can be found in our Cookie Policy.

A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identifier that is automatically placed on a user’s computer or other device when visiting a website. For more information, please visit our Cookie Policy link at the bottom of the website page.

Third-Party Links

This section explains that third-party links on our websites are subject to separate privacy practices.

This website contains links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these websites and accept no responsibility for their content. We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of each third-party site linked from this website to determine whether they use your personal information.

Who Your Personal Information is Shared With

As a multinational global company providing our services and products, we may share your information for specific reasons. This section explains how and why personal data is shared.

Sharing with MirExpo Group Companies

We may share your personal information with other companies within the MirExpo Group for specific purposes. For example, other MirExpo companies may assist in the delivery of our products and services, conduct internal analysis of the usage of products and services belonging to us and them, or, where permitted by applicable data protection laws, offer related products and services that may interest you.

Sharing with Service Providers

We may share your personal information with third parties who assist in providing our products and services and managing our business. These may include IT and marketing technology vendors, web and data hosting providers, mailing houses, ad servers, logistics and general service contractors, debt collection agencies, on-site health and safety partners, event registration partners, sales platform providers, communication tool providers, stand designers/builders/installers, sponsorship/marketing/PR vendors, and other event collaboration partners. Personal information will be shared with third parties only to the extent necessary for them to provide you with our products and services.

We use web chat services such as Intercom, LiveAdmins, Live Chat, and Casengo to help us connect with you and respond quickly and directly to sales and customer service inquiries. We ensure these service providers protect your data, but these chats are only intended to provide quick answers to basic service questions, and sensitive information such as bank or credit card details should not be shared in these chats.

These data processors are subject to compliance through applicable contracts that protect the personal information you share with us.

Sharing with Other Organizations

We may share your personal information, such as contact details and product or service interactions, with trusted partner organizations for marketing purposes, in compliance with local data protection laws, and with your consent where required.

If you use one of our virtual products, such as a virtual exhibition, directory site, or webinar, or if you allow your badge to be scanned at an event, we may pass the information you provide to third parties. Generally, this will occur through a process where, as a user, you visit a third party or visit a booth in an online exhibition, scan your badge, or click on branded content provided by a third party. In some cases, for example, on a product listing site, you may be contacted directly by a supplier or exhibition owner. In other cases, our virtual products are sponsored, and in those cases, the provided data will be shared with the sponsor. Generally, we will inform you during collection if a product is sponsored.

We may share your personal information, in connection with the above-mentioned marketing services, with clients and data providers who are legally obligated to process this data in full compliance with applicable laws.

Reorganizing Our Business or Making Changes

If we are subject to negotiations for the sale of all or part of our business to a third party, if we are sold to a third party, or if we undergo a restructuring, we may need to transfer some or all of your personal information to the relevant third party or their advisors as part of any due diligence process. Any information transferred to the reorganized entity or third party will be used for the purposes outlined in this policy or to analyze the proposed sale or restructuring.

In Connection with Legal or Regulatory Obligations

We may process your personal information to comply with our legal and regulatory requirements or to respond to regulators when applicable. This may include the disclosure of your personal information to third parties, courts, and/or regulatory authorities or law enforcement agencies, in connection with investigations, prosecutions, or inquiries conducted by such parties, whether located anywhere in the world or as required by law.

In some cases, we may be legally required to disclose your personal information if requested by a court, police, another judicial or law enforcement body, or government agency.

How Long Will Your Information Be Retained?

We will retain personal information only for as long as necessary and in accordance with the period permitted by applicable laws.

We will retain personal information for as long as we use it, as described in the section above. Even after we cease using it for certain legitimate business purposes, we may continue to keep such information. For example, if you have opted to receive marketing communications from us, we will retain limited information about you to fulfill your opt-out request. We may also continue to retain personal information to meet our legal requirements or to defend or exercise our legal rights.

The length of time we will retain your personal information will depend on the purposes for which we need to keep it. When we no longer need to retain your personal information, it will be deleted or securely destroyed.

Your Rights

This section explains your legal rights regarding how we process your personal information, depending on your jurisdiction.

MirExpo operates in countries where data protection laws provide individuals with various rights related to access, deletion, correction, and limitation of the processing of personal information. In most cases, the location of the MirExpo Controller will determine the rights you have.

The rights listed below are applicable regardless of where the MirExpo Controller is located. To understand your other rights, please use the links for the country where the MirExpo Controller you are engaged with is located. Specific country-specific requirements listed in the country annexes apply to this section.

To make a request, you can contact MirExpo’s Privacy Team through our online privacy form and submit a request from there.

Updating Your Information and Marketing Preferences

This section explains how you can contact us to update the personal information we hold about you and how you can modify how we send you updates regarding our products, services, and events.

We want to ensure you have control over your personal information. We strive to keep the personal information we hold about you accurate and up to date. We will always offer you the opportunity to opt out or disable future marketing communications.

Every marketing email we send will include information on how to unsubscribe or opt-out. However, if at any point you wish to update and/or correct such personal information, or opt-out of future marketing communications, you can request this through our contact page or by emailing the relevant Section Data Management teams:

Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact our Group Data Protection Officer.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your information, you can contact our Privacy Team through our contact page.

We hope to address any privacy concerns you may have. However, you always have the right to file a complaint with any supervisory authority or other public body responsible for enforcing privacy laws in your country. The contact details for the supervisory authority in each country for each MirExpo Controller are provided in the country annex.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

Please note that we may update our Privacy Policy from time to time.

We may revise this Privacy Policy at any time to keep up with changing laws, best practices, and any changes in how we process personal information. Depending on the nature of the changes, we may update you by email if you have personal information with us; or we may update the Policy without notice by posting a revised version on this website. Please check regularly to stay informed of any changes.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on November 18, 2024.