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Privacy Policy

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The Fair Trade USA™ name and reputation were built on a foundation of trust. Therefore, this online privacy policy tells you about the information Fair Trade USA (“FTUSA”) collects through the services available on our web sites, FairTradeCertified.org and FairTradeCampaigns.org (individually and collectively, the “Site”), how we use that information and how you can opt out of certain uses of information we may collect. By using our services and accessing the Site, you are consenting to the information collection and use practices described in this Privacy Policy, as modified from time to time by us.

This Privacy Policy applies to the Site. This Privacy Policy does not apply to other web sites to which we link.

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, you can email us at info@fairtradeusa.org.

Information Collection

We collect personal information when you use certain features of the Site, such as registering to receive information from us, submitting questions or comments to us, submitting an application to us, completing a voluntary survey, or providing feedback to us. When you choose to use these features, we ask for information such as your name, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number, and other personal information (“Personal Information”). If you are registering for our Partner Portal, we may also request information about your business affiliation and your products and services.

Information Use

We may use Personal Information for the following purposes:

    • to fulfill our legitimate business interests, such as for collecting information from you about your business practices, to perform services related to FTUSA’s charitable mission, and to provide information and services that we offer through our Site,
    • to fulfill your requests for certain information,
    • to create personal or business accounts,
    • to send users press releases, updates, or other general information about FTUSA,
    • to meet any applicable legal and regulatory requirements,
    • to respond to any questions, comments, or feedback you submit,

  • for our own statistical, design and operational purposes such as to estimate our audience size, measure aggregate traffic patterns, and understand the demographics among our users, and
  • for the marketing and/or promotion of our services and charitable activities.

If you do not want to receive promotional materials from us or from third parties with whom we share your Personal Information, email us at info@fairtradeusa.org.

Through the Site, including through the use of cookies, web beacons and other technologies, we may automatically gather certain information about the use of the Site, such as how frequently certain areas of the Site are visited. Some of our cookies are persistent and necessary for the proper operation of the Site.

However, you can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent or you can choose to turn off all non-persistent cookies. You do this through your browser (such as Internet Explorer, Chrome, or Firefox) settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookie settings. If you turn cookies off, you may not have access to many features that make your site experience more efficient and some of our services may not function properly. For more information about cookies, please see All About Cookies.

Do Not Track

Some browsers have a “DO NOT Track” feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. We do not currently respond to browser do-not-track signals.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics and other third party scripts in order to track user interactions, which uses cookies and similar technologies to help us measure traffic and usage trends and to understand more about the demographics and behaviors of our users. This service may also collect information regarding the use of other websites, apps, and online resources. You can learn about Google’s practices by visiting Google’s privacy policy and you opt-out of them by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Protecting Personal Information

When you give FTUSA your Personal Information, we take steps to ensure that your information is treated securely. FTUSA uses industry-standard encryption technologies when transferring and receiving sensitive visitor data via the Site. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your Personal Information, FTUSA cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure its security on our systems, and to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected.

Links to Other Sites

Please be aware that we provide links to third-party web sites as a service to our users, and that we are not responsible for the content or information collection practices of those pages. Please note that those web sites’ privacy policies may differ from those of FTUSA. We encourage you to review and understand those web sites’ privacy practices before providing them with information.

Resume

If you are interested in applying for a job, internship, or volunteer position with FTUSA, we may collect your resumé. Resumés you submit for job, internship, or volunteer position applications will not be used for marketing purposes.

Disclosure

Unless otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell, trade or rent your Personal Information to others. Our website may share information with companies that provide support services to us (such as web hosts) or that help us market our services and charitable activities (such as email vendors and marketing service providers). These companies may need information about you in order to perform their functions. These companies are not authorized to use the information we share with them for any other purpose.

We do not otherwise disclose any Personal Information or any information about your individual visits to our Site except (a) when we believe in good faith (i) that the law, a court order, or a subpoena requires such disclosure or (ii) that such disclosure is necessary to protect the security of the Site; (b) to enforce or apply our online terms, conditions, privacy policy, or other agreements; (c) to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; or (d) to protect the rights, property, or safety of FTUSA or others.

We allow you to opt out of receiving marketing emails from us. If you no longer wish to receive marketing emails from us, you may opt-out at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of our emails or by emailing info@fairtradeusa.org. If you have additional questions, please email us at info@fairtradeusa.org. For more details, see the “Updating Personal Information and Preferences; Opting Out” section below.

We use non-personally identifiable information in the aggregate so that we can improve the Site and for business and administrative purposes. We may use or share with third parties for any purpose aggregated data that contains no personally identifiable information. In addition, we may use any information about your business, products or services that you submit to us, subject only to the Partner Portal Terms of Service if such information is provided through the Partner Portal.

We may decide, for strategic or other reasons, to sell, buy, merge, or otherwise reorganize one or more of our businesses or other assets thereof. A transaction of this type may involve the disclosure of Personal Information to prospective purchasers. In such cases, we will take reasonable measures to protect the Personal Information we disclose, for example, by requiring the prospective purchaser to sign a non-disclosure agreement limiting the use and protecting the confidentiality of the Personal Information.

Your Personal Information may be transferred to a successor organization if, for example, we transfer the ownership or operation of this Site to another organization or if we merge with or sell or otherwise transfer our assets to another organization, whether voluntarily or through insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings. If such a transfer occurs, the successor organization will acquire our rights to use your Personal Information but may choose to update this Privacy Policy. For discussion of how changes to the Privacy Policy affect your rights, please see the “Privacy Policy Changes” section below.

Except as otherwise stated above, we will not publish or provide your e-mail address or other Personal Information to third parties without your consent.

For California Residents

If you are a California resident, you can request a notice disclosing the category of personal information we have shared with third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. To request removal, please contact us at info@fairtradeusa.org. We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law. Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information, as, for example, some of your content may be reposted by another user.

 

Updating Personal Information and Preferences; Opting Out

If you have provided us with Personal Information and would like to change, correct, or request access to your Personal Information or update or cancel your registration, you may do so by emailing us at marketing@fairtradeusa.org. In addition, you may opt out of receiving any or all marketing communications from us by using the “unsubscribe” link that appears in marketing e-mails received from us or by emailing us at info@fairtradeusa.org. Marketing communications include newsletters, news updates, event notices, shopping guides, requests for donations, and other communications that are not in connection with our business transactions or business functions. Please note that we may continue to send you non-marketing e-mails and other communications that are necessary for our business transactions with you, such as those associated with our Partner Portal and other business relationships. Users of the Partner Portal may manage their subscriptions through the Account Settings page.

Children

The Site is not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not solicit or knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under the age of 13. We encourage families to obtain additional information about safe use of the Internet by visiting the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Advice webpage.

European Economic Area and UK

If you are accessing our Site from within the European Economic Area or the UK, then the following privacy notice applies to you:

  • You have the right to obtain from FTUSA access to your personal data, and the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning you.
  • You have the right to obtain from FTUSA the erasure or restriction of processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, including when the data is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed, except when FTUSA is required by law to maintain or otherwise process your personal data, for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims, or for the protection of the rights of another person.

You may exercise these rights by contacting FTUSA at info@fairtradeusa.org.

If you are within the European Union, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the EU Member State of your habitual residence, place of work, or place of an alleged infringement of the applicable data protection law. However, we encourage you to contact us first at info@fairtradeusa.org and we will try to resolve your concerns.

If you would like to submit a data access, correction, restriction, or deletion request, you can do so by contacting us at info@fairtradeusa.org and we will process such request with respect to any Personal Information that we are able to link to you individually based on the information that you can provide to us. These rights and options that you have with respect to Personal Information are subject to limitations and exceptions under applicable law.

Notice to Other International Users

The Site is operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, you should be aware that we will collect, process, and maintain your information in the United States. By using the Site, accessing the Site, or providing any information to the Site, you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States, which may not offer the same level of privacy protection that would be required in your home country, and to the processing and maintaining of that information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Privacy Policy Changes

We reserve the right to change our Privacy Policy for the Site at any time. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post the revised Privacy Policy on the Site and use commercially reasonable efforts to notify you so that you will know what information we gather, how we might use that information and whether we will disclose it to anyone. Please check periodically to keep informed of any changes. If we materially change this Privacy Policy, the new terms will apply only to (i) Personal Information and other information provided under a prior version of the Privacy Policy and (ii) Personal Information and other information provided after this Privacy Policy has been amended. Your continued use of this Site after we have posted the revised Privacy Policy constitutes your agreement to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy or the data that we hold about you, please contact us at:

360 Grand Avenue #311
Oakland, CA 94610-4840

Last updated: August 2023