Privacy Policy

Last Updated: [Date - to be added when approved]

Bienvenue ! Club Anglophone, Montpellier ("BCA," "we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information as a member or visitor to our website.

1. Who We Are

Bienvenue ! Club Anglophone, Montpellier is a social and cultural association based in Montpellier, France, registered as an association under the French law of 1901 [registration number RNA: W343017777].

Contact Information:

  • General inquiries and policy questions: bca.secretary@gmail.com

  • Payment and financial questions: bcamontpellierblog@gmail.com

  • Website and technical questions: bca.websitemanager24@gmail.com

2. What Information We Collect

Membership Information:

  • Name

  • Email address

  • Password (encrypted)

  • Phone number

  • Country background (optional - collected for internal statistical purposes only)

Payment Transaction Information:

  • Transaction records (date, amount, payment status)

  • Payment method type (e.g., credit card, PayPal)

Note: Credit card numbers and sensitive payment data are processed and stored securely by our PCI-compliant payment processor (Squarespace Payments/Stripe) and are never stored on BCA systems.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

Membership Management:

  • Creating and managing your member account

  • Processing membership dues

  • Communicating about events, activities, and association news through newsletters and announcements

  • Providing access to members-only website content

Community Building:

  • Documenting events through photography

  • Sharing memories and experiences in members-only spaces

  • Facilitating member connections

  • Understanding membership demographics through optional country background information (for internal use only)

Legal Obligations:

  • Complying with French legal and regulatory requirements for associations

  • Maintaining financial and membership records as required under the Association Loi 1901

Legal Basis: We process your data based on:

  • Contract performance (managing your membership)

  • Legitimate interest (community building, event documentation, understanding membership composition)

  • Legal obligation (record-keeping requirements for non-profit associations)

  • Consent (where specifically requested, such as optional country background information)

4. Photography and Images

As part of our association activities, we may take photographs at events, meetings, and gatherings. These photographs may include identifiable images of members.

How We Use Photos:

  • Posted in the members-only section of our website

  • Shared in private member WhatsApp groups (by members)

  • Used to document activities and build community

  • Never made publicly available without separate consent

  • Never used for commercial purposes

Your Rights Regarding Photos:

  • You may step aside when photos are being taken

  • You may request removal from the website of any photo containing your image at any time

  • Contact bca.websitemanager24@gmail.com or use our website contact form

  • We will remove or obscure your image within 147 days of your request

Legal Basis: We process photos based on our legitimate interest in documenting association activities and fostering member community, balanced against members' privacy rights through the opt-out and removal mechanisms described above.

5. How We Share Your Information

With Service Providers:

  • Squarespace (website hosting and payment processing infrastructure)

  • PCI-compliant payment processors (such as Stripe and/or PayPal - these process payments securely on our behalf and never share full card details with us)

  • Email service providers (for newsletters and announcements)

Note: Our payment processors are PCI-DSS compliant and maintain their own strict security standards for handling sensitive payment information.

6. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, loss, or alteration. These include:

  • Encrypted passwords

  • Secure website hosting (HTTPS)

  • Secure payment processing through trusted providers

  • Limited access to personal data (only authorized Board members and website manager)

  • Regular security reviews

However, no internet transmission is completely secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as:

  • You maintain an active membership

  • Required by French law for associations (typically 3-5 years after membership ends for financial and administrative records)

  • Necessary for legitimate purposes (e.g., archived photos of historical significance to the association)

When data is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymize it.

8. Your Privacy Rights

Under French law and the GDPR, you have the following rights:

Right to Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you

Right to Rectification: Correct inaccurate or incomplete information

Right to Erasure: Request deletion of your data (with some limitations based on legal retention requirements)

Right to Restrict Processing: Limit how we use your data in certain circumstances

Right to Data Portability: Receive your data in a structured, commonly used format

Right to Object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests (including photos)

Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent (such as optional country background), you may withdraw it at any time

To exercise these rights, contact us at: bca.secretary@gmail.com

We will respond to your request within one month.

9. Complaints

If you believe we have not handled your personal data properly, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the French data protection authority:

CNIL (Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés)

  • Website: www.cnil.fr

  • Address: 3 Place de Fontenoy, TSA 80715, 75334 Paris Cedex 07, France

  • Phone: +33 1 53 73 22 22

10. Third-Party Services

Our website is hosted on Squarespace. Squarespace's privacy practices are governed by their own privacy policy, available at: https://www.squarespace.com/privacy

We use secure payment processing services to handle membership dues. These services maintain their own privacy policies and security measures in compliance with applicable payment card industry standards.

11. WhatsApp Groups

BCA facilitates optional private WhatsApp groups for member communication (such as BCA Buddies and BCA News). These groups are member-to-member forums where members share information, and photos, and conversation. WhatsApp's privacy practices are governed by their own privacy policy. The BCA Board moderates these groups to maintain community guidelines but does not control individual member posts.

12. International Data Transfers

As an association based in France and part of the European Union, your data is primarily stored and processed within the EU. Some of our service providers (such as Squarespace) may process data outside the EU, but they maintain appropriate safeguards to protect your data in compliance with GDPR requirements.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. When we make significant changes, we will notify members via email and update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page.

Your continued membership after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact:

General and policy questions: bca.secretary@gmail.com
Payment and financial questions: bcamontpellierblog@gmail.com
Website and technical questions: bca.websitemanager24@gmail.com

This privacy policy is effective as of [date to be added] and applies to all members of Bienvenue ! Club Anglophone, Montpellier.