PRIVACY POLICY

We are committed to protecting your privacy – in this privacy policy, we set out how we collect your personal data, how we use it, and what rights and choices you have in relation to the personal data we hold and process.

This Privacy Policy is separate and in addition to client confidentiality obligations we may owe you – please refer to the terms and conditions applicable to your engagement for further details.

At Economic Substance Solutions, one of our main priorities is the privacy of our visitors. This Privacy Policy document contains types of information that is collected and recorded by Economic Substance Solutions and how we use it.

Who decides why and how we process your personal data?

Economic Substance Solutions (“ESS Global”) determines why and how we process your personal data. ESS Global consists of Economic Substance Solutions Ltd, Economic Substance Solutions LLC, Economic Substance Solutions (BVI) Ltd, Economic Substance Solutions (Bermuda) Ltd (together with their respective affiliates, “ESS Entity”). In each case, your personal data will be controlled by ESS Global and the ESS Entity which you have given instructions to, or with which you are otherwise dealing with or receiving communications from or the ESS Entity which provides services to a third party which you are associated with, for example a company of which you are a director or shareholder or your Corporate Service Provider (“CSP”) .

We collect different types of personal data for different reasons – this may include:

Contact information: Information such as your name, job title, postal address, home address where you provide this to us, business address, telephone number, mobile number, fax number and email address.
Payment data: Data necessary for us to process payments and implement fraud prevention measures, including credit / debit card numbers, security code numbers and other such relevant billing details.
Business details: Business information which we necessarily process as part of our instructions or projects we are involved in or otherwise provided by you voluntarily.
Compliance details: Information we are legally required to collect for compliance purposes, such as ‘know your client’ information, details relevant to international sanctions and restrictive measures and information about relevant and significant litigation, which may impact our ability to act.
Preferences: Information about your preferences, where it is relevant to the services we provide.
Platform information: Your password and other related log-in details for platforms maintained by ESS Global, where you have access to any.
Publicly available information: Information collected from publicly available resources, including but not limited to information collected from databases we use to carry out compliance checks or credit rating agencies.
Statutory Register Information: Information about you on account of an interest or office you may hold in or certain relationships you may have with a corporate entity, partnership, trust or other vehicle to which we provide services (each such entity, a Third Party Entity).
Details for events: In some cases, we may collect information about you, which may include sensitive information in relation to your health, for the purpose of tailoring our events to your needs. The processing of such data is based entirely on your consent – in the event that you do not want us to maintain such data, we may not be able to take the necessary precautions.

When do we collect your personal data?

We may collect personal data about you in various cases, such as for example:

When you or your organisation seek our services – i.e. economic substance related advice or our Economic Substance Solution Plan offerings and services – or use any of our online Services (i.e. Economic Substance Assistance Platform (ESAP));
When you or your organisation make an enquiry through our website, in person, over email or over the telephone;
When you attend an ESS seminar or other events we may organise, or sign up to receive communications from us, including training;
When a Third Party Entity engages us to provide Services and you hold an office or an interest in or have certain relationships with that Third Party Entity; or
When you or your organisation provide ESAPs to us, or otherwise offer to do so.

In some circumstances, we may collect personal data about you from third parties – for example, we may collect personal data from your organisation, other organisations with whom you have dealings including Third Party Entities, government agencies, a credit reporting agency, an information or ESAP provider or from a publicly available record.

How will we use your personal data?

We will use your personal data for the following purposes (Permitted Purposes):

To provide Economic Substance related Services advice or other services or things you may have requested, including online or technology service or solutions, as instructed or requested by you or your organisation;
To manage and administer your or your organisation's business relationship with us, including processing payments, accounting, auditing, billing and collection or support services;
For compliance with our legal obligations (such as record keeping obligations), compliance screening or recording obligations (such as under antitrust laws, export controls, trade sanction and embargo laws, for anti-money laundering, financial and credit check and fraud and crime prevention and detection purposes), which may include automated checks of your contact data or other information you provide about your identity against applicable sanctioned-party lists and contacting you to confirm your identity in case of a potential match or recording interaction with you which may be relevant for compliance purposes;
To provide updates, reminders, requests and directions relevant to the role or capacity in which you are interested in a Third Party Entity.
To analyse and improve our services and communications to you;
To protect the security of and managing access to our premises, IT and communication systems, online platforms, websites and other systems, preventing and to detect security threats, fraud or other criminal or malicious activities;
For insurance purposes;
To monitor and assess compliance with our policies and standards;
To identify persons authorised to trade on behalf of our clients, customers, suppliers and/or service providers;
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations and requests anywhere in the world, including reporting to and/or being audited by national and international regulatory, law enforcement and tax reporting bodies;
On instruction or request from your organisation or a relevant Third Party Entity;
To communicate with you through the channels you have approved to keep you up to date on the latest Economic Substance related developments, announcements, and other information about our services, products and technologies – including, newsletters and other information – as well as events and projects we may organise;
To comply with court orders and exercises and/or defend our legal rights; and
For any purpose related and/or ancillary to any of the above or any other purpose for which your personal data was provided to us.

Where you have expressly given us your consent, we may process your personal data also for the following purposes:

For customer surveys, marketing campaigns, market analysis, sweepstakes, contests or other promotional activities or events; or
To collect information about your preferences to create a user profile to personalise and foster the quality of our communication and interaction with you (for example, by way of newsletter tracking or website analytics).

With regard to newsletters, Economic Substance related updates and other general communications, we will - where legally required - only provide you with such information if you have opted in. You have the opportunity to opt out of receiving such communications at any time. We will not use your personal data for taking any automated decisions affecting you or creating profiles other than described above.

Depending on for which of the above Permitted Purposes we use your personal data, we may process your personal data on one or more of the following legal grounds:

Because processing is necessary for the performance of a client instruction or other contract with you or your organisation or a Third Party Entity;

To comply with our legal obligations (e.g. to keep records for tax purposes); or

Because processing is necessary for purposes of our legitimate interest or those of any third party recipients that receive your personal data, provided that such interests are not overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms.

We may also process your data based on your consent where you have expressly given that to us.

How will we share your personal data?

We may share your personal data in the following circumstances:

We may share your personal data between the ESS Entities on a confidential basis where this is required for the purpose of providing advice or other products and services, as well as for administrative, billing and other business purposes. Please see here for a list of the countries in which ESS Entities are located;

If you are an ESS client, or you are otherwise contracted by, are an agent of, or otherwise represent an ESS client, we may disclose your personal data to:

Other specialists, consultants or experts engaged in your matter; or
Law firms for the purpose of obtaining local legal advice, as may be relevant;
If we have collected your personal data in the course of providing services to any of our clients, we may disclose it to that client, and where permitted by law to others for the purpose of providing those services;
We may disclose your contact details on a confidential basis to third parties for the purposes of collecting your feedback on ESS Global’s service provision, to help us measure our performance and to improve and promote our services;
We may share your personal data with companies providing services for money laundering checks, credit risk reduction and other fraud and crime prevention purposes and companies providing similar services, including financial institutions, credit reference agencies and regulatory bodies with whom such personal data is shared;
We may share your personal data with any third party to whom we assign or novate any of our rights or obligations;
We may share your personal data with courts, law enforcement authorities, regulators or attorneys or other parties where it is reasonably necessary for the establishment, exercise or defense of a legal or equitable claim, or for the purposes of a confidential alternative dispute resolution process;
We may also instruct service providers within or outside ESS Global, domestically or abroad, e.g. shared service centres, to process personal data for the Permitted Purposes on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions only. ESS Global will retain control over and will remain fully responsible for your personal data and will use appropriate safeguards as required by applicable law to ensure the integrity and security of your personal data when engaging such service providers;
We may also use aggregated personal data and statistics for the purpose of monitoring website usage in order to help us develop our website and our services.

We will otherwise only disclose your personal data when you direct us or give us permission to do so, when we are required by applicable law or regulations or judicial or official request to do so, or as required to investigate actual or suspected fraudulent or criminal activities.

Can you refuse to share your personal data with us?

In general, we receive your personal data where you provide this on a voluntary basis, and there will typically be no detrimental effect for you if you wish not to provide this or otherwise withhold your consent for it to be processed. However, there are certain cases where we will unfortunately be unable to act without receiving such data, for example use of the Economic Substance Assessment Platform (ESAP) where we need to collect legally required information and or require such data to process your required filings with your Corporate Service Provider, or otherwise to provide you with our online services or communications.

Where it is not possible for us to provide you with what you request without the relevant personal data, we will let you know accordingly.

How do we keep your personal data safe?

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep your personal data confidential and secure, in accordance with our internal policies and procedures regarding storage of, access to and disclosure of personal data. We may keep your personal data in our electronic systems, in the systems of our contractors, or in paper files.

Personal data we receive from you about other people

Where you provide us with the personal data of other people, such as your employees, directors of your companies, or other persons you may have dealings with, you must ensure that you are entitled to disclose that personal data to us and furthermore that, without being required to take further steps, we can collect, use and disclose that data in the manner described in this policy. More specifically, you must ensure that the individual whose personal data you are sharing with us is aware of the matters discussed in this Privacy Policy, as these are relevant to that individual, including our identity, how to get in touch with us, the purposes for which we collect data, our disclosure practices, and the rights of the individual in relation to our holding of the data.

Transfers of personal data abroad

ESS Global is active across the world – this means that we may transfer your personal data abroad if required to do so for the Permitted Purposes. In certain cases, this may include transferring data to countries which do not offer the same level of protection as the laws of your country (such as for example the data protection legislation of the EU/EEA).

When making such transfers, we will ensure that they are subject to appropriate safeguards in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation 2016/679) or other relevant data protection legislation. This may include entering into the EU Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses. Please get in touch at compliance@economicsubstance.co if you wish to obtain further information on the appropriate safeguards which we are adhering to.

All entities and offices within ESS Global will ensure an adequate level of protection for your personal data at all times.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We delete your personal data once it is no longer reasonably necessary for us to keep it for the Permitted Purposes, or, where we have relied on your consent to keep your personal data, once you withdraw your consent for us to do so, and we are not otherwise legally permitted or required to keep the data. Importantly, ESS Global will keep your personal data as necessary for the purposes of making necessary regulatory filings on your behalf, defending or making legal claims, until the end of the period during which we may retain the data and otherwise until the conclusion of the matter, as relevant.

What rights do you have?

Subject to certain conditions under applicable legislation, you have the right to:

obtain information regarding the processing of your personal data;
request a copy of the personal data which we hold about you;
have any inaccurate data we hold about you corrected;
object or restrict our use of your personal data;
ask that we not subject you to automated decision making that uses your personal data;
object to us using your personal data for direct marketing purposes;
submit a complaint if you have concerns about the way in which we are handling your data.

To do any of the above, please contact us at compliance@economicsubstance.co.

To enable us to process your request, we may require that you provide us with proof of your identity, such as by providing us with a copy of a valid form of identification – this is to ensure that we appropriately protect the personal data we hold from unauthorised access requests and comply with our security obligations.

We may charge you a reasonable administrative fee for any unreasonable or excessive requests we may receive, and for any additional copies of the data you may request.

In relation to complaints, we will promptly respond to your requests and complaints. In the event that you are unhappy with our response, you may submit a complaint to the relevant privacy regulator. We can provide you with the details of the relevant regulator upon request.

You can also find out more information about your rights under applicable Cayman Islands data protection law, or make a formal complaint, by contacting the Cayman Islands Ombudsman, the data regulator in the Cayman Islands, or by searching its website at ombudsman.ky.

Correcting and updating your personal data

Where any personal data you have provided us with has changed, or where you believe the personal; data we hold is inaccurate, in several cases such as through the link to our ESAP or client portal, you can update your information as needed. Where not feasible, please let us know by contacting us at compliance@economicsubstance.co.

In addition, please note that if you hold an office or are interested in or have certain relationships with a Third Party Entity to which we provide services, you and/or the Third Party Entity may have a contractual or legal obligation to notify us of any change within a prescribed time period. We cannot be responsible for any loss that may arise due to us having any inaccurate, incomplete, inauthentic or otherwise deficient personal data which you or a Third Party Entity have provided to us. Please also let us know if you wish to withdraw any request.

Like any other website, Economic Substance Solutions uses 'cookies'. We may store cookies on your devices for the purposes of delivering a better user experience for you on our websites. These cookies are used to store information including visitors' preferences, and the pages on the website that the visitor accessed or visited. The information is used to optimize the users' experience by customizing our web page content based on visitors' browser type and/or other information.

Contacting ESS

We would be happy to hear your views about our website and this Privacy Policy – please let us know any questions, comments or clarifications you may have at compliance@economicsubstance.co.

Third Party Privacy Policies

Economic Substance Solutions's Privacy Policy does not apply to other advertisers or websites. Thus, we are advising you to consult the respective Privacy Policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information. It may include their practices and instructions about how to opt-out of certain options. You may find a complete list of these Privacy Policies and their links here: Privacy Policy Links.

You can choose to disable cookies through your individual browser options. To know more detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers, it can be found at the browsers' respective websites. What Are Cookies?

Children's Information

Another part of our priority is adding protection for children while using the internet. We encourage parents and guardians to observe, participate in, and/or monitor and guide their online activity.

Economic Substance Solutions does not knowingly collect any Personal Identifiable Information from children under the age of 18. If you think that your child provided this kind of information on our website, we strongly encourage you to contact us immediately and we will do our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

We are a Data Controller of your information.

Economic Substance Solutions legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described in this Privacy Policy depends on the Personal Information we collect and the specific context in which we collect the information:

Economic Substance Solutions needs to perform a contract with you
You have given Economic Substance Solutions permission to do so
Processing your personal information is in Economic Substance Solutions legitimate interests
Economic Substance Solutions needs to comply with the law

Economic Substance Solutions will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our policies.

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain data protection rights. If you wish to be informed what Personal Information we hold about you and if you want it to be removed from our systems, please contact us at compliance@economicsubstance.co.

In certain circumstances, you have the following data protection rights:

The right to access, update or to delete the information we have on you.
The right of rectification.
The right to object.
The right of restriction.
The right to data portability
The right to withdraw consent

Log Files

Economic Substance Solutions follows a standard procedure of using log files. These files log visitors when they visit websites. All hosting companies do this and a part of hosting services' analytics. The information collected by log files include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date and time stamp, referring/exit pages, and possibly the number of clicks. These are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable. The purpose of the information is for analyzing trends, administering the site, tracking users' movement on the website, and gathering demographic information.

Consent

By using our website, you hereby consent to our Privacy Policy and agree to its terms.