Privacy policy.

1. Introduction

SME Matters and SME Central 50X (collectively referred to as "we," "us," or "our") are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website www.smematters.ie (the "Website"), or engage with our services.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Personal Identification Information: Name, email address, phone number, postal address, and other contact details.

  • Professional Information: Job title, company name, industry sector.

  • Financial Information: Payment details necessary for processing transactions.

  • Technical Data: IP address, browser type, operating system, and information about your visit, including pages viewed and links clicked.

  • Usage Data: Information about how you use our Website and services.

3. How We Collect Your Data

We collect data in the following ways:

  • Direct Interactions: When you fill out forms on our Website, correspond with us by phone, email, or otherwise, or participate in our programs and services.

  • Automated Technologies: As you interact with our Website, we may automatically collect Technical Data.

  • Third Parties: We may receive personal data about you from analytics providers, advertising networks, and search information providers.

4. How We Use Your Data

We use your data for the following purposes:

  • Service Delivery: To provide and manage our programs, products, and services.

  • Communication: To contact you regarding your participation in our programs, respond to inquiries, and provide customer support.

  • Marketing: To send you promotional materials and updates, where you have consented to receive such information.

  • Improvement: To analyse and improve our services, website, and user experience.

  • Legal Compliance: To comply with legal obligations and protect our legal rights.

5. Legal Basis for Processing

Our processing of your personal data is based on:

  • Consent: Where you have provided consent for specific purposes.

  • Contractual Necessity: Where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you.

  • Legal Obligation: Where we are legally required to process your data.

  • Legitimate Interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided your rights and interests do not override these.

6. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We may share your data with:

  • Service Providers: Third-party vendors who provide services on our behalf, such as payment processing and IT support.

  • Affiliates: Our affiliated entities, including SME Matters and SME Central 50X.

  • Legal Authorities: When required by law or to protect our rights.

7. International Data Transfers

Your data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA). We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in such cases, in compliance with GDPR requirements.

8. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

9. Data Retention

When we collect your personal information, the length of time we retain it is determined by a number of factors including the purpose for which we use that information and our obligations under other laws.

We do not store personal information in an identifiable format for longer than is necessary.

We may need your information to establish, bring or defend legal claims. In these cases, we will retain your personal information for 6 years after the date it is no longer needed by us for any other purposes listed under “How We Use Your Data” The only exceptions to this are where the law requires us to hold your personal information for a longer period, or delete it sooner or you exercise your right to have the information erased and we do not need to hold it in connection with any of the reasons permitted or required under law.

10. Your Data Protection Rights

Under GDPR, you have the following rights:

  • Access: To request copies of your personal data.

  • Rectification: To request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.

  • Erasure: To request deletion of your personal data under certain conditions.

  • Restriction: To request restriction of processing under certain conditions.

  • Objection: To object to processing under certain conditions.

  • Data Portability: To request transfer of your data to another organisation or to you.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the details provided below.

11. Third-Party Links

Our Website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.

We use trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential as part of their contract with us. We may also release your personal information where compliance with legal requirements is a necessity. We also reserve the right to enforce our site policies in order to protect our rights and the rights of other individuals in a manner that is safe and compliant with the law. We store information within the European Union or transfers outside the EU are covered by appropriate transfer mechanisms.

Non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. For example, we may disclose the total number of visits to our website.

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information, other than as noted above with our contracted third parties.

12. Protecting your Information

We employ multiple security measures to maintain & safeguard your personal information.

Payment information is securely transmitted to our payment gateway, Stripe. Stripe will store and process your information in accordance with its Privacy Policy. We don’t store payment information, only the information needed to identify which information you have stored in Stripe (such as your credit card type, and last four digits).

We will continue to take, all reasonable steps (which includes relevant technical and organisational measures) to guarantee the safety of the information you provide to us and we will only use the information for the intended purpose.

While we take reasonable steps to ensure information safety, please note that the internet inherently carries some level of risk, and we cannot guarantee 100% security for information transmitted online.

Our mailing list is only accessible to administrators via our Email Marketing software and is not shared with other organisations.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at:

Last updated January 2025