Internet Policies

(2011) The International Peatland Society (IPS) is committed to protecting your online privacy while providing you with a useful and enjoyable web experience.

(2018) We are following EU GDPR law and recommendations since 25 May 2018. Please edit your email settings (mail of 23 May) or inform the IPS Secretariat if you live in an EU country and want to continue receiving information from us.

(2019) From 20 March on, the Executive Board has decided to apply an “opt-out” approach, which means that you can cancel your IPS publication subscription any time (see link at the bottom of our newsletters) but would normally receive our publications once you become an IPS member (for many of you via your National Committee).

You can also check the information we have saved about you, delete or edit your data any time by contacting the IPS Secretariat, ips@peatlands.org.

How we collect and use personal information

When you visit the IPS website, we are technically able to collect certain data on your usage, such as IP addresses and visit frequency. These will be used only for anonymous statistical reasons.

For subscriptions and orders of IPS products, IPS will store your name, company name, address, telephone numbers and your e-mail address. Credit card payments are made via the digital payment service of PayPal. The data obtained will be used only to carry out the desired transaction.

IPS stores the name, company name, address, telephone, mobile numbers and the e-mail addresses of its members to be able to provide them with regular information, such as the member magazine Peatlands International and our e-mail newsletter Peatland Snippets. The contact details are collected or updated when a members applies for IPS membership either by joining IPS directly or via the National Committee in the home country of the applicant.

According to its Statutes, IPS has the right to publish a List of Members every second year, which includes the contact details of all members, but is available to IPS members only. To help building contacts among its members, IPS has the right to provide members with addresses of single other members on request. No contact data or extended address lists will be given to third parties. IPS is active in reducing the information overload by transferring significant information only whenever possible.

How we protect your personal information

All personal data you enter via www.peatlands.org is saved in servers protected by firewalls and anti-virus software (F-Secure Antivirus).

How we use “cookies”

“Cookies” are small pieces of information that some internet sites store on your computer’s hard drive when you visit them. IPS uses cookies to identify you and your selections when surving www.peatsociety.org, if you agree so. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies but allow you to modify security settings so you can approve or reject cookies on a case-by-case basis. Even if you do not use cookies, you can still access all of the features on our site.

Obtaining your consent

By using www.peatlands.org. you give IPS permission to collect information about the pages visited as an anonymous user for the purpose of calculating site statistics. If you are under the age of 18, you must not provide your name, e-mail address, or any other identifying information without the consent of your parent or guardian, or as otherwise provided for by applicable law.

Any changes to our privacy policy will be posted on this page. If you wish to get more information on the data we might have stored about you, or want to prevent us from contacting you, please do not hesitate to contact the IPS Secretariat.

Transfers of data outside the EU or the EEA

As a general rule data will not be transferred outside the EU or the EEA. We disclose some information to third parties if it is necessary, for example if required to do so by law or an official order. If this processing takes place outside the European Union or the European Economic Area, this will be done in accordance with the law and in accordance with the standard contractual clauses adopted by the EU.

Webpage Security

Our website is built to be secure. We use a secure SSL connection and firewalls. The site is regularly updated, which strengthens the security of the site. Only those who are entitled to it for their work can access the register. The information system is adequately protected by technical means.

If you have any questions or would like to know more, please contact the IPS Secretariat at ips@peatlands.org.