Privacy Policy
We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal information. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us in the event you have a complaint. “Privacy Policy” or “Policy” refers to this privacy policy.
This Privacy Policy applies when you visit or use our websites, apps and other services, including events, that refer or link to this Privacy Policy (each, a “Service”). This Privacy Policy may be supplemented by additional privacy statements, terms or notices provided on certain areas of the Service or during our interactions with you.
By using the Services, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with the terms of this privacy policy. You may withdraw such consent at any time, however this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing based on your consent prior to the withdrawal.
This Privacy Policy was last updated 07 March 2022
Key terms
It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:
| We, us, our | Dubai Development Authority and any of its affiliates and/or subsidiaries (i.e. Dubai Film and TV Commission) |
| You, you and yours | References to the person accessing the website. |
| Personal information | Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual |
Personal information we collect about you
We may collect and use the following personal information about you:
- your name and contact information, including email address and telephone number and company details
- information to enable us to check and verify your identity, for example your date of birth
- your gender information
- location data
- your billing information, transaction and payment card information
- your personal or professional interests
- your professional online presence, for example, LinkedIn profile, and in the case of freelancers, CVs and professional information
- your contact history, purchase history and saved items
- information from accounts you link to us, for example, Facebook
- information to enable us to undertake credit or other financial checks on you
- information about how you use our website, IT, communication and other systems
- your responses to surveys, competitions and promotions
This personal information is required for us to provide the Services to you. If you do not provide personal information we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing the Services.
How your personal information is collected
We collect most of the personal information directly from you—in person, by telephone, text or email and/or through the Services, including if you upload your personal information onto the database. However, we may also collect information:
- from publicly accessible sources, for example any competent authority;
- directly from a third party;
- credit reference agencies;
- customer due diligence providers;
- from a third party with your consent, e.g. your bank
- from cookies on our website—for more information on our use of cookies, please see our cookie policy below
- through our IT systems:
- door entry systems and reception logs;
- automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email and instant messaging systems.
Cookies
A cookie is a small text file which is placed onto your device (e.g. computer, smartphone or another electronic device) when you use our Services. We use cookies on our Services. These help us, recognize you and your device and store some information about your preferences or past actions.
For example, we may monitor how many times you visit the website, which pages you go to, traffic data, location data and the originating domain name of your internet service provider. This information helps us to build a profile of our users. Some of this data will be aggregated or statistical, which means that we will not be able to identify you individually.
For further information on our use of cookies, including a detailed list of your information which we and others may collect through cookies, please see below.
Consent to use cookies and changing settings
We will ask for your permission to place cookies or other similar technologies on your device, except where they are essential for us to provide you with a service that you have requested e.g. your IP address, operating system, browser, domain, other user information (e.g. your username).
You can withdraw any consent to the use of cookies or manage any other cookie preferences by turning them off in your browser and/or deleting them from your hard drive. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use a Services but you will need them to log on to a Services and to access personalized or secure content on it and some web pages may not function properly if the cookies are turned off. It may be necessary to refresh the page for the updated settings to take effect.
How and why we use your personal information
We can only use your personal information if we have your consent or we have instruction from a law enforcement entity.
The table below explains what we use (process) your personal information for and why that is important to us:
| What we use your personal information for | Our reasons |
| To provide the Services to you | For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract |
| To prevent and detect fraud against you OR us | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to minimize fraud that could be damaging for us and for you |
| Conducting checks to identify our customers and verify their identity Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, e.g. under health and safety regulation or rules issued by our professional regulator |
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Ensuring business policies are adhered to, e.g. policies covering security and internet use | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you |
| Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price |
| Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to protect trade secrets and other commercially valuable information |
| To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations | |
| Statistical analysis to help us manage our business, e.g. in relation toour financial performance, customer base, product range or other efficiency measures | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price |
| Preventing unauthorized access and modifications to systems |
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for you To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Updating and enhancing customer records |
For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. making sure that we can keep in touch with our customers about existing orders and new products |
| Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments |
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you |
Marketing our services and those of selected third parties to:
|
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to promote our business to existing and former customers |
| Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to ensure our customers are likely to be able to pay for our products and services |
| External audits and quality checks, e.g. for ISO or Investors in People accreditation and the audit of our accounts |
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to maintain our accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| If you are a freelancer or registered company who displays your personal information on the database, to allow possible customers to contact you about services you offer | To facilitate the provision of services through our website |
Promotional communications
You provide your consent to us to process your personal information for promotional purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal information’). If you wish to opt out of any promotional communication, please see the ‘How to contact us’ section below.
Who we share your personal information with
We routinely share personal information with:
- law enforcement agencies
- third parties we use to help deliver our Services to you, for example payment service providers, and delivery companies;
- other third parties we use to help us run our business, for example marketing agencies or website hosts;
- third parties approved by you, for example social media sites you choose to link your account to or third-party payment providers;
- credit reference agencies;
- our insurers and brokers;
- our bank(s);
We only allow our service providers to handle your personal information if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal information. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to ensure they can only use your personal information to provide services to us and to you. We may also share personal information with external auditors, in relation to accreditation and the audit of our accounts.
We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
We may also need to share some personal information with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymized, but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.
Where your personal information is held
Information may be held at our offices and those of our affiliates and subsidiaries, third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see above: ‘Who we share your personal information with’).
How long your personal information will be kept
We will keep your personal information while you have an account with us, or we are providing the Services to you. Thereafter, we will keep your personal information for as long as is necessary:
- to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
- to show that we treated you fairly;
- to keep records required by law.
We will not retain your personal information for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of personal information.
When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal information, we will delete or anonymise it.
Keeping your personal information secure
We implement technical and organizational measures to seek to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk to the personal information we process. These measures are aimed at ensuring the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of personal information.
Changes to this privacy policy
We may change this privacy notice from time to time—when we do, we will inform you via website or other means of contact such as email. Please continue to check for updates, and do not continue to engage with the Services if you do not consent to the terms of this privacy policy.
How to contact us
Please contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information, we hold about you.
Our contact details are shown below:
Info@dda.gov.ae