Privacy Policy

Privacy Notice

Last updated: 17 August 2026

1. Who we are

Tees Maritime is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly.

For the purposes of UK data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, Tees Maritime is the data controller for the personal information we collect and use.

Our office address is:

Tees Maritime
306 Boho 5
Bridge Street East
Middlesbrough
TS2 1NY

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or how we use your personal information, you can contact us using the contact details provided on our website.

2. What personal information do we collect?

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect and use the following information:

• Your name and contact details, including email address, telephone number and organisation.
• Your job title, role and other professional information.
• Information relating to your Tees Maritime membership or your organisation’s membership.
• Information you provide when registering for or attending our events, meetings, workshops or other activities.
• Information you provide when contacting us, making an enquiry or requesting information.
• Information you provide when signing up to receive newsletters or other communications from us.
• Information provided through applications, surveys, consultations, competitions or other activities we operate.
• Information relating to your participation in education, skills, careers or youth engagement activities, where applicable.
• Information contained in correspondence with us, including emails and other communications.
• Information about how you use our website, including your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited and general website usage information.
• Photographs, video or other content where you have provided it to us or where we have a lawful basis to use it.
• Any other personal information you choose to provide to us.

We will only collect information that is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.

If you provide us with personal information about another individual, you should ensure that you have a lawful basis for sharing that information with us and, where appropriate, that the individual has been informed.

3. How do we collect your personal information?

We may collect personal information:

• Directly from you, for example when you contact us, join as a member, register for an event or subscribe to communications.
• From your organisation, where you are a member, representative, speaker, attendee or contact associated with that organisation.
• When you use our website.
• Through third-party platforms we use to manage events, communications, memberships or other activities.
• From publicly available sources, where appropriate and lawful.
• From partner organisations or other organisations involved in activities we deliver together.
• Through surveys, consultations, competitions and other engagement activities.

4. How do we use your personal information?

We use personal information for purposes including:

• Managing Tees Maritime and delivering our activities and services.
• Administering membership and maintaining our membership records.
• Communicating with members, partners, stakeholders and other contacts.
• Organising and administering events, meetings, workshops and other activities.
• Responding to enquiries and requests for information.
• Sending information that is necessary in relation to a service, membership, event or activity you have requested or participated in.
• Sending newsletters, updates and other marketing communications where permitted by law and, where required, with your consent.
• Maintaining and providing access to our member directory, which may include your name, job title, organisation, professional contact details and other information you have chosen to provide. The member directory is accessible only to authorised Tees Maritime members.
• Understanding how people engage with our website and communications so that we can improve them.
• Conducting surveys, consultations and research relating to our activities and the wider maritime sector.
• Delivering education, skills, careers and youth engagement activities.
• Monitoring and evaluating the impact of our activities and reporting to funders or partners where appropriate.
• Maintaining the security of our website, systems and information.
• Preventing fraud, misuse or other unlawful activity.
• Complying with our legal and regulatory obligations.
• Establishing, exercising or defending our legal rights.

5. Our lawful bases for using personal information

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on one or more of the following:

Contract: where processing is necessary to provide membership, services or activities you have requested, or to take steps at your request before entering into an agreement.

Legal obligation: where we need to process information to comply with a legal or regulatory requirement.

Legitimate interests: where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests, or those of a third party, provided that these interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. This may include managing our organisation, communicating with members and stakeholders, maintaining our member directory, improving our services, organising events and maintaining appropriate business relationships.

Consent: where we ask for your consent, for example for certain marketing communications or the use of non-essential cookies. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

6. Marketing communications

We may send you information about Tees Maritime, our activities, events, opportunities and the wider maritime sector where we are permitted to do so.

Where consent is required, we will ask you to opt in before sending marketing communications.

You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by using the unsubscribe option included in the communication or by contacting us.

Please note that opting out of marketing communications does not mean you will stop receiving important non-marketing communications, such as information relating to a membership, event or service you have requested.

7. Member directory

As part of our membership services, we maintain a member directory to help members connect with one another, identify opportunities for collaboration and make the most of their Tees Maritime membership.

Where applicable, information displayed in the member directory may include:

• Name.
• Job title or role.
• Organisation.
• Professional email address.
• Professional telephone number.
• Organisation website.
• Other professional information you have chosen to provide.

The member directory is accessible only to authorised Tees Maritime members and is not publicly available on our website.

We will not include personal information in the member directory that you have not provided for this purpose.

You can ask us to update or remove information from your member directory profile at any time.

8. Who do we share your personal information with?

We do not sell your personal information.

We may share personal information with trusted third parties where this is necessary to operate Tees Maritime and deliver our activities. These may include:

• Website hosting and technical support providers.
• Membership and customer relationship management systems.
• Email and communications platforms.
• Event registration and ticketing providers.
• Payment service providers, where applicable.
• IT and software providers.
• Professional advisers, such as accountants, auditors and legal advisers.
• Funders, partners and organisations involved in delivering or evaluating a project or activity, where appropriate.
• Government bodies, regulators or other organisations where we are legally required to do so.
• Other authorised Tees Maritime members through our member directory, as described in Section 7.

Where we use third-party organisations to process personal information on our behalf, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that they handle that information securely and in accordance with applicable data protection law.

We may also disclose personal information where we are legally required to do so, or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.

9. International transfers

Some of the organisations and technology providers we use may process personal information outside the UK.

Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with applicable data protection law.

These safeguards may include transferring information to countries recognised as providing an adequate level of protection, or using appropriate contractual or other safeguards where required.

10. How long do we keep your personal information?

We will only retain personal information for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including where necessary to meet legal, accounting, reporting or regulatory requirements.

The length of time we keep information will depend on the type of information and why we need it.

For example, we may retain information relating to:

• Membership: for the duration of the membership relationship and for an appropriate period afterwards.
• Member directory information: for as long as you are an active member, unless you ask us to remove or amend your information, subject to any legal or legitimate business requirement to retain it.
• Event registration and attendance: for as long as necessary to administer and evaluate the event and meet any reporting requirements.
• Enquiries: for an appropriate period after the enquiry has been dealt with.
• Marketing preferences: for as long as we need to maintain an accurate record of your preferences.
• Financial and accounting records: for the period required by applicable legal and accounting requirements.

Where appropriate, we will securely delete or anonymise personal information when it is no longer required.

11. How do we protect your personal information?

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against accidental loss, unauthorised access, use, alteration or disclosure.

We work with service providers who are expected to maintain appropriate security measures for the information they process on our behalf.

However, no method of transmitting or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

12. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you may have rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you, including the right to:

• Ask for a copy of your personal information.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Ask us to delete your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances.
• Object to certain types of processing, including processing based on legitimate interests.
• Ask for your information to be provided in a portable format in certain circumstances.
• Withdraw consent where we are relying on consent to process your information.

These rights are subject to certain legal conditions and exemptions, so they may not apply in every circumstance.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details on our website. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.

We will normally respond to valid requests within one month, although this may be extended where permitted by law.

13. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we are using your personal information, please contact us in the first instance so that we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent regulator for data protection.

Further information about making a complaint can be found on the ICO’s website at https://ico.org.uk/.

14. Cookies and similar technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies.

Cookies are small text files stored on your device that can help websites operate, remember preferences and understand how visitors use the site.

We may use:

• Essential cookies, which are necessary for the website to operate and cannot be switched off through our cookie settings.
• Analytics cookies, which help us understand how visitors use our website and improve its performance.
• Other non-essential cookies or similar technologies where applicable.

Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device.

You can change your cookie preferences at any time using the cookie settings available on our website.

We may use services such as Google Analytics to understand website usage. Where these services use non-essential cookies or similar technologies, these will only be used in accordance with applicable consent requirements.

Our cookie information may be updated from time to time as the services and technologies used on our website change.

15. Third-party websites

Our website may contain links to websites operated by third parties.

This Privacy Notice applies only to Tees Maritime and our website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content or security of third-party websites.

We recommend that you read the privacy notice of any external website you visit.

16. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes to our activities, technology, legal requirements or the way we process personal information.

The latest version will always be published on our website, with the date of the most recent update shown at the top of the notice.

17. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, how we use your personal information, or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact Tees Maritime using the contact details provided on our website.

Tees Maritime
306 Boho 5
Bridge Street East
Middlesbrough
TS2 1NY