Who is responsible
Emerald Group, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, is the controller of any personal information described here. Contact for all privacy matters: support@emeraldgroup.ca. We have not appointed an EU or UK representative because we process personal data only occasionally, at low risk, and never special-category data.
What the website collects
This site uses Google Analytics to understand, in aggregate, which pages are read and where visitors come from. If you are visiting from the European Union, the United Kingdom or elsewhere in Europe, analytics runs only if you accept the consent notice, and declining costs you nothing: every page works the same. Elsewhere, analytics runs on the implied-consent basis local law provides, and this page is the disclosure. IP addresses are anonymised, no advertising features are enabled, and nothing is sold or shared for marketing. There are no advertising pixels and no other trackers. The contact form sends us your name, email address, company if you give it, and your message, by email, so we can reply; it is used for nothing else and is deleted within twelve months if the enquiry does not become a project. Our hosting provider records standard server logs (IP address, browser type, pages requested) for security, retained for no longer than 90 days. To change an earlier analytics choice, clear this site's data in your browser and the notice will appear again.
What we hold when we work together
Once an enquiry becomes a project, we hold what the work requires: your name, role and business contact details, correspondence, the project documents you send, and the estimate files we produce. That material lives in project-segregated, access-controlled storage and is not merged with any other client's work.
Why, and on what legal basis
We process personal information to respond to your enquiry and perform the engagement (contract), to meet professional record-keeping and tax obligations (legal obligation), and to maintain a defensible record of the work (legitimate interest). We do not use client data for marketing, sell it, or use one client's data to price another client's project. Canadian law relies on implied consent for these purposes; you may withdraw consent subject to contractual and legal limits.
Who else sees it
Nobody, unless your project needs a collaborator and you have agreed to that in advance; collaborators are bound by the same confidentiality terms. Service providers we rely on (email, cloud storage) process data on our behalf under contract. Data may be stored or accessed in Canada and the United States. For transfers out of the EU or UK we rely on Canada's adequacy decision and, where a US provider is involved, that provider's Standard Contractual Clauses or Data Privacy Framework certification.
How long it is kept
Project records are retained for the period your agreement specifies or, where it is silent, for seven years after completion to meet professional and tax obligations, then deleted. Enquiries that do not become projects are deleted within twelve months. If you would like your material returned or destroyed earlier, ask and it will be, subject to any legal retention requirement.
Your rights, Canada
Under PIPEDA and the BC Personal Information Protection Act you may ask what we hold about you, request a copy, ask for a correction, withdraw consent, and ask how your information has been used or disclosed. We respond within 30 days. Unresolved complaints may go to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Your rights, EU and UK
Under the GDPR and UK GDPR you have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection, and the right not to be subject to solely automated decisions (we make none). We respond within one month. You may lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority in your member state or with the UK Information Commissioner's Office.
Your rights, United States
We do not sell or share personal information for advertising, do not engage in targeted advertising, and do not use sensitive personal information. Where a state privacy law applies (for example California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Virginia or Oregon), you may request access, correction or deletion and will not be treated differently for doing so. Requests go to support@emeraldgroup.ca and are answered within 45 days. As a business-to-business consultancy we generally fall below these laws' thresholds, but we honour these requests regardless.
Children
This site and our services are for businesses and professionals. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16.
Changes
If this policy changes materially, the date above is updated and current clients are told directly.
Privacy requests, corrections, accessibility issues and questions about these terms go to:
Emerald Group, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.