The Major Energy Users’ Council is a trading name of MEUC Limited. We understand that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your personal data is used and shared. We respect and value the privacy of everyone who engages with us, including through our website, our events, our event registration processes, our communications, and any related digital event services we use from time to time. We will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described in this Privacy Policy and in a way that is consistent with our obligations and your rights under UK data protection law.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully and ensure that you understand it.

1. Definitions and interpretation

In this Privacy Policy:

“Cookie” means a small text file placed on your computer or device when you visit certain parts of our website and/or when you use certain features of it. Details of the cookies used by our website are set out in the Cookies section below.

“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable living person.

“We”, “us” or “our” means the Major Energy Users’ Council, a trading name of MEUC Limited.

2. Information about us

We own and operate this website and are responsible for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy.

The Major Energy Users’ Council is a trading name of MEUC Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 04424331, with its registered office at MEUC Ltd, 66 Paul Street London EC2A 4NA

Our Data Protection Officer is Claire Slade who can be contacted by email at claire.slade@meuc.co.uk.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your personal data, you can contact us using the details above or through the contact details published on our website.

3. What this Privacy Policy covers

This Privacy Policy applies to:

  • your use of our website;
  • your communications with us;
  • your registration for, attendance at, or involvement in MEUC events and services; and
  • our use of related digital systems for event administration, attendee management, badges, QR codes, check-in, networking features, exhibitor interactions, and associated communications.

Our website may contain links to other websites. Please note that we have no control over how your data is collected, stored, or used by other websites, and we advise you to check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any personal data to them.

4. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have rights including:

  • the right to be informed about how your personal data is collected and used;
  • the right of access to the personal data we hold about you;
  • the right to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
  • the right to ask us to erase personal data in some circumstances;
  • the right to ask us to restrict how we use your personal data in some circumstances;
  • the right to object to our use of your personal data in some circumstances;
  • the right to data portability in some circumstances; and
  • rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling, where applicable.

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, please contact us first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The ICO identifies the right to be informed as a core transparency requirement and expects privacy information to explain purposes, recipients, retention, and individuals’ rights.

5. What data we may collect

Depending on how you use our website, engage with our services, register for or attend our events, or interact with any related digital event services, we may collect some or all of the following:

  • your name;
  • your employer or organisation;
  • your job title or role;
  • postal address, billing address, or shipping address where relevant;
  • contact details such as email address and telephone number;
  • account or registration details;
  • attendee type, booking status, or event role;
  • badge or check-in related information;
  • networking or profile information you choose to provide;
  • records of event-related actions, such as check-in, badge issue, session attendance, scans, or exhibitor interactions where those features are in use;
  • correspondence you send to us;
  • preferences and interests relevant to our services or events;
  • technical information such as IP address, browser type, browser version, and operating system; and
  • cookie and usage data relating to use of our website.

Where someone registers another person on their behalf, it is their responsibility to ensure they are authorised to provide that personal data to us.

If you make a payment through our website or event systems, payment details may be processed by a third-party payment provider. We do not ordinarily store full card payment details ourselves.

6. How we use your data

We may use your personal data for the following purposes:

  • providing and managing access to our website;
  • administering memberships, services, subscriptions, registrations, and bookings;
  • communicating with you about enquiries, memberships, services, publications, and events;
  • providing event administration and event-day operations;
  • creating and managing attendee records;
  • producing badges and related event materials;
  • supporting digital badges, QR codes, check-in, access control, and attendance records;
  • enabling networking, profile visibility, exhibitor interaction, or lead capture features where these are made available for a particular event;
  • replying to emails and other communications from you;
  • sending service or event-related messages;
  • sending marketing communications where you have asked to receive them or where we are otherwise permitted to do so by law;
  • analysing website and service usage so that we can improve our website, services, and user experience; and
  • protecting the security, integrity, and proper operation of our website, services, and events.

7. Use of event app, badges and event check-in

For some events, we may use an event app or related digital event services to support attendee management, badges, QR codes, check-in, access control, event-day administration, networking features, exhibitor interactions, and related communications.

This may involve the processing of personal data whether or not an attendee directly logs into or uses the event app. For example, attendee data may still be used to create badges, attendee records, staff or exhibitor records, check-in records, or other event management records as part of the organisation and delivery of an event.

The personal data used for these purposes may include your name, organisation, job title, email address, telephone number, attendee type, event role, booking status, badge details, check-in status, profile details you choose to provide, and records of event-related actions or interactions.

We may obtain this information directly from you, from your event registration, from your employer or booking contact where they register you on your behalf, from event staff or contractors administering the event, or from other authorised contacts involved in the organisation of attendance. The ICO says privacy information should explain where personal data came from if it was not obtained directly from the individual.

Where networking, attendee discovery, profile visibility, lead capture, or similar features are enabled for a particular event, limited attendee information may be visible to other authorised users, event staff, or exhibitors as part of that feature. Where this applies, we will aim to make it clear in the event materials or within the relevant digital service.

8. Our lawful bases for using personal data

Our use of personal data will always have a lawful basis under UK data protection law. Depending on the context, this may include:

  • contract, where processing is necessary to provide a service, booking, membership, registration, or event participation requested by you;
  • legitimate interests, where processing is necessary for the effective administration, delivery, security, improvement, or support of our website, services, and events, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests; and
  • consent, where you have specifically agreed to a particular use, such as certain marketing communications or genuinely optional features.

The ICO says the contract basis only applies where processing is actually necessary to perform the contract with that individual; if it is instead for broader business or operational purposes, another lawful basis such as legitimate interests may be more appropriate.

9. How long we keep your data

We will not keep your personal data for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.

Different categories of personal data may be kept for different periods depending on the nature of the data and the reason we hold it. In deciding how long to keep personal data, we consider:

  • the purpose for which it was collected and whether that purpose is still relevant;
  • our contractual, operational, legal, regulatory, tax, and accounting obligations;
  • the nature and sensitivity of the data;
  • the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure; and
  • whether the data may be required for audit, complaints handling, dispute resolution, or the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely, anonymise it, or otherwise minimise it where appropriate. The ICO says organisations must think about, and be able to justify, how long they need to keep personal information.

10. How we store your data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data and to guard against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction, or damage.

These measures may include access controls, role-based permissions, secure hosting, secure communication methods, authentication controls, and procedures designed to limit access to personal data to those who need it.

11. Do we share your data?

We may share your personal data where necessary and lawful with:

  • service providers who help us operate our website, events, communications, payments, registration processes, badge production, check-in systems, event apps, technical support, or analytics;
  • event venues, speakers, contractors, exhibitors, or event partners where this is necessary for the administration and delivery of an event;
  • professional advisers such as auditors, insurers, lawyers, or accountants;
  • regulators, public authorities, courts, tribunals, law enforcement bodies, or other third parties where we are legally required to do so; and
  • another organisation that acquires or succeeds to all or part of our activities, where lawful and necessary.

Where we share data with service providers acting on our behalf, we require them to handle it appropriately and securely.

The ICO says privacy information should explain who personal data is shared with, and that organisations may identify recipients either by name or by category, depending on which is more meaningful.

12. International transfers

Where we use suppliers or systems involving processing outside the UK, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that personal data continues to be protected in accordance with UK data protection law.

13. Business changes

If our organisation, activities, or services change over time, personal data may be transferred to a successor organisation or as part of a business or organisational reorganisation, but only where lawful and only for compatible purposes.

14. Your choices and control over your data

You may choose not to provide certain personal data, but this may affect your ability to use some services, register for events, receive event materials, or access certain features.

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. For example, you can unsubscribe from marketing emails using the unsubscribe link included in those emails, or by contacting us directly.

15. How to access your data

You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, subject to applicable legal limits and exemptions.If you wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact us using the contact details published on this page.

16. Cookies

Our website may place and access certain cookies on your device. We use cookies to help our website function properly, improve your experience, understand how the website is used, and support services such as analytics where enabled.

Where required, we will ask for your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device. You can control cookies through your browser settings and through any cookie controls made available on the website.

Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of some parts of the website.

17. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our services, our events, or the digital systems we use. Where appropriate, we will post the updated version on this page and revise the effective date.

18. Contact and complaints

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about how we handle your personal data, please contact MEUC using the contact details published on this page.

If you are unhappy with how we have used your personal data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.