Privacy policy

General Information

This website and/or our services are administered by The Learning Curve. The Learning Curve is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your Personal Data. The Learning Curve takes the security of your Personal Data very seriously, and endeavours to be transparent, by providing information on the categories of Personal Data collected, and the purpose for collecting such Personal Data.

This Privacy Policy covers how The Learning Curve collects and treats any information that you may give us, as well as how we store, use, transfer and disclose the information we have collected. Please read through our privacy practices and let us know if you have any queries. This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Data collected through the use of this website and/or our services (be they online or offline).

For this purpose, this privacy policy provides you with information on the following:

Who is the data controller?
What is Personal Data and what are special categories of Personal Data?
What categories of Personal Data do we collect and how?
What do we use your Personal Data for and for what lawful reason?
Who do we share your Personal Data with?
Links to third party websites;
Security, storage, and transfer of your Personal Data;
For how long will we retain your data?
Do we use cookies?
What are your rights as a data subject?
Data Protection Officer;
Complaints;
Changes to this Policy.

Who is the data controller?

In this Privacy Policy (this “Policy”), “The Learning Curve”, “we”, “us” or “our” means The Learning Curve, (a commercial partnership incorporated in Malta, with registered address at 150 Main Street, Mosta, MST1011, Malta).

All Personal Data obtained by us is held and used in compliance with this Policy, with Act No. XX of 2018 (which repealed and replaced the Data Protection Act, Cap.440 of the Laws of Malta), and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (hereafter referred to as the “GDPR”). The Learning Curve is deemed a “data controller” for the purposes of the GDPR.

The Controller is also the owner and registrant of this Website. The Controller is reachable at: thelearningcurvemalta@gmail.com or +356 79094515

What is Personal Data and what are special categories of Personal Data?

In this Policy “you” or “your” means you, the person who provides us with Personal Data; and, “Personal Data” shall have the meaning assigned to it by Article 4 of the GDPR. Under the GDPR, Personal Data consists of any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person ('data subject').

The GDPR provides that special categories of data relates to the “processing of Personal Data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person's sex life or sexual orientation”.

No special categories of Personal Data are collected through the use of our website and/or our services.

All information you provide to us when using this website and/or our services is collected and managed by us. We will process your Personal Data in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy and applicable laws.

What categories of Personal Data do we collect and how?

Personal data is collected directly from you or through our website and/or services such as social media communication and other telecommunication technology.

Categories of personal data that are collected include:

Your name and surname;
The name of your company and VAT number (if applicable);
Your date of birth
Your contact number;
Your email address;
Your home address; and
Your shipping address.

What do we use your Personal Data for and for what lawful reason?

We collect, store and process your Personal Data to provide you with the best service, and in particular for the following reasons:

To deliver our products and services

We will collect your Personal Data for the purpose of creating and maintaining your user account, which will enable us to process your orders and deliver products ordered. Your shopping history also helps us to improve our website content, products and services. Moreover, we may also process your Personal Data when you pre-order or register your interest in our products and services for the purpose of notifying you about the availability of stock for new products.

For the abovementioned purposes, we will process your Personal Data for the lawful basis of performing our obligations arising from orders you submit and as this is in our legitimate business interest.

Marketing

We may use your Personal Data to provide you with information on our products and services, promotional material, newsletters and also to send and keep you informed of any events and promotions that we may organise from time to time. We will send you such marketing communication following your specific consent.

Sharing Personal Information

We share your Personal Information with service providers to help us provide our services and fulfill our contracts with you, as described above. For example:

We use Shopify to power our online store. You can read more about how Shopify uses your Personal Information here: https://www.shopify.com/legal/privacy.
We may share your Personal Information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other lawful request for information we receive, or to otherwise protect our rights.

Behavioural Advertising

As described above, we use your Personal Information to provide you with targeted advertisements or marketing communications we believe may be of interest to you. For example:

We use Google Analytics to help us understand how our customers use the Site. You can read more about how Google uses your Personal Information here: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.You can also opt-out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
We share information about your use of the Site, your purchases, and your interaction with our ads on other websites with our advertising partners. We collect and share some of this information directly with our advertising partners, and in some cases through the use of cookies or other similar technologies (which you may consent to, depending on your location).

For more information about how targeted advertising works, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s (“NAI”) educational page at http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work.

You can opt out of targeted advertising by:

FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads
GOOGLE - https://www.google.com/settings/ads/anonymous
BING - https://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/policies/personalized-ads]

Additionally, you can opt out of some of these services by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out portal at: http://optout.aboutads.info/.

Your marketing preferences can be changed at any time by sending an email to thelearningcurvemalta@gmail.com or by sending your request via post using the following postal address: Marketing Department, The Learning Curve, 150 Main Street, Mosta, MST1011, Malta.

General account administration

We may also process your Personal Data, including your purchase history, for administrative purposes, which may include for example, managing the collection and redemption of loyalty points (for loyalty card holders), accounting and billing, systems testing, maintenance and development, auditing and to comply with any requests received from Regulatory Authorities. Your Personal Data is processed as this in our legitimate interest and also to comply with our legal obligations.

Enhance customer service

We may process your Personal Data to deal with general enquiries you may raise from time to time on our products or services, through our “Contact us” page or through the Chat Facility provided in our website. We may also process your Personal Data to contact you for feedback on our products and services, through customer satisfaction surveys, conducted from time to time, so as to assist us in improving our products and services. The lawful basis for processing your Personal Data for these purposes is our legitimate business interest.

Data analytics, statistics and visitor data

We may use your Personal Data for statistical and marketing analysis, to help us improve our products and services. Website visitor data is used to improve the content and functionality of our website, to better understand the categories of visitors and improve our products and services. Personal Data is processed in this manner, as this is in our legitimate interest.

For warranty purposes

We may also process your Personal Data for the purposes of processing warranty data and requests through our suppliers if and when required.

To defend and protect our legal rights and interests

We may also process your Personal Data for our legitimate interest to defend or protect our legal rights and interests, as and if required.

Who do we share your Personal Data with?

We may also share some of your Personal Data with the following categories of third parties:

We may share relevant information with third parties who provide services such as leasing, extending credit, fulfilling customer orders, delivering products to you, managing and enhancing customer data, providing customer service, assessing your interest in our products and services, and conducting customer research or satisfaction surveys. These companies will be obliged to protect this information.
Third party IT companies - which administer, maintain and support our website and which transmit any Personal Data submitted in the website to us.
Payment Service Providers – when ordering products and services directly from our website we make use of payment service providers to collect and process payment information. We ensure that payment service providers used have suitable organisational and technical measures in place to secure your payment details. We do not store any payment details, you provide to our payment service providers.
We may share your Personal Data with our service providers including but not limited to our accountants and auditors.
We may share your personal data with our Principal (supplier) and distributors appointed by our supplier as may be required for their own record and/or warranty purposes. Moreover, personal data may also be shared with our Principal (supplier) when they subsidise marketing campaigns or promotional offers issued by us from time to time.
You should be aware that we may also disclose information about you if we determine that disclosure is reasonably necessary to enforce our terms and conditions or protect our operations or users. Additionally, in the event of a reorganization, merger, or sale we may transfer any and all Personal Data we collect to the relevant third party.
Legal and other professional advisers and law courts in order to enforce our legal rights in relation to our contract with you.
Save as provided in this Privacy Policy for the purposes set out herein, disclosure will only be made to third parties, if this is imposed on us by law, legal process, litigation, and/or requests from public and governmental authorities empowered by Maltese law.
Save as provided for in this Privacy Policy, we do not sell, trade or otherwise transfer any Personal Data to third parties (whether for any direct or indirect marketing, statistics, analytics or otherwise). Where your Personal Data is processed by any third party, we will confirm with such third party that your Personal Data will be retained in conformity with the law.

Links to third party websites

Our website, products, applications and services may contain links to third-party websites, products and services. Our products and services may also use or offer products or services from third parties. The Learning Curve is not responsible for such third parties and bears no responsibility for any personal data such third parties may collect on you. Information collected by third parties, which may include such things as location data or contact details, is governed by the third party’s privacy practices and not those of The Learning Curve. We encourage you to learn about the privacy practices of those third parties and to be aware that such third parties may retain or transfer any personal data they have collected on you outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).

Security, storage, and transfer of your Personal Data

We are committed to ensuring that your Personal Data is secure at all times. We have in place suitable technical and organisational measures to safeguard and secure the Personal Data we collect, in particular, to protect data against any accidental or unlawful destruction, accidental loss, corruption, unauthorised circulation or access, as well as against any other form of unlawful processing or disclosure to unauthorised persons.

Your Personal Data is never transferred by us outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) or to international organizations and The Learning Curve will seek to procure same from any third parties with whom we share Personal Data in terms of this Privacy Policy.

All of our employees and third parties (with whom we may share your Personal Data as provided in this Policy), and who have access to your Personal Data and/or who are associated with the processing of that data are contractually obliged to respect the confidentiality of your Personal Data. We also ensure that sufficient security measures are in place when transmitting your Personal Data to third parties for the abovementioned purposes.

For how long will we retain your data?

We will retain your personal information for as long as required for the purposes for which your data was collected and processed or required by laws and regulations. This means that we will keep your data in line with our retention policies which take into account our business, administrative, legal and other regulatory retention requirements.

Do we use cookies?

A cookie is a small amount of information that’s downloaded to your computer or device when you visit our Site. We use a number of different cookies, including functional, performance, advertising, and social media or content cookies. Cookies make your browsing experience better by allowing the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login and region selection). This means you don’t have to re-enter this information each time you return to the site or browse from one page to another. Cookies also provide information on how people use the website, for instance whether it’s their first time visiting or if they are a frequent visitor.

We use the following cookies to optimize your experience on our Site and to provide our services.

Cookies Necessary for the Functioning of the Store

Name	Function
_ab	Used in connection with access to admin.
_secure_session_id	Used in connection with navigation through a storefront.
cart	Used in connection with shopping cart.
cart_sig	Used in connection with checkout.
cart_ts	Used in connection with checkout.
checkout_token	Used in connection with checkout.
secret	Used in connection with checkout.
secure_customer_sig	Used in connection with customer login.
storefront_digest	Used in connection with customer login.
_shopify_u	Used to facilitate updating customer account information.

Reporting and Analytics

Name	Function
_tracking_consent	Tracking preferences.
_landing_page	Track landing pages
_orig_referrer	Track landing pages
_s	Shopify analytics.
_shopify_fs	Shopify analytics.
_shopify_s	Shopify analytics.
_shopify_sa_p	Shopify analytics relating to marketing & referrals.
_shopify_sa_t	Shopify analytics relating to marketing & referrals.
_shopify_y	Shopify analytics.
_y	Shopify analytics.

The length of time that a cookie remains on your computer or mobile device depends on whether it is a “persistent” or “session” cookie. Session cookies last until you stop browsing and persistent cookies last until they expire or are deleted. Most of the cookies we use are persistent and will expire between 30 minutes and two years from the date they are downloaded to your device.

You can control and manage cookies in various ways. Please keep in mind that removing or blocking cookies can negatively impact your user experience and parts of our website may no longer be fully accessible.

Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can choose whether or not to accept cookies through your browser controls, often found in your browser’s “Tools” or “Preferences” menu. For more information on how to modify your browser settings or how to block, manage or filter cookies can be found in your browser’s help file or through such sites as www.allaboutcookies.org.

Additionally, please note that blocking cookies may not completely prevent how we share information with third parties such as our advertising partners. To exercise your rights or opt-out of certain uses of your information by these parties, please follow the instructions in the “Behavioural Advertising” section above.

What are your rights as a data subject?

At any point while we are in possession of, or processing your Personal Data, you have the following rights:

Right of access- You have the right to request confirmation from us as to whether or not your Personal Data is being processed and a copy of the information that we hold about you.
Right of rectification- In case your Personal Data is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, you have the right to rectify it.
Right to be forgotten- In certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records.
Right to restriction of processing- Where certain conditions apply you have the right to restrict the processing of your Personal Data.
Right of portability- You have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.
Right to object- You have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing.

Data Protection Officer

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer (hereafter referred to as “DPO”), for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this Policy. If you wish to exercise any one of your rights or have any questions or concerns about this Policy, you are invited to contact our Data Protection Officer, via email: thelearningcurvemalta@gmail.com or by post using the following mailing address: Data Protection Officer, The Learning Curve, 150 Main Street, Mosta, MST1011, Malta.

We endeavour to process your requests within thirty (30) days from receipt and requests will be processed free of charge, unless requests are deemed excessive or unfounded, in which case we may charge a reasonable fee. Should we have reasonable doubts concerning your identity when making the request above, we may require additional information, necessary to confirm your identity.

Complaints

In addition to your rights previously listed, and without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the local Supervisory Authority i.e. the Information and Data Protection Commission (IDPC). In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how your Personal Data is being processed by The Learning Curve, or how your complaint has been handled, you have the right to lodge a complaint directly with The Learning Curve. Alternatively, you may raise a complaint directly with the Supervisory Authority.

The contact details of the local Supervisory Authority are as follows:

Contact Name:

The Commissioner,

Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC)

Level 2, Airways House, High Street, Sliema

Email: idpc.info@idpc.org.mt

Website link: https://idpc.org.mt/en/Pages/contact/complaints.aspx

Telephone: +356 2328 7100

Changes to this Policy

This Policy is effective as of the “Effective Date” listed below. We reserve the right, at our sole and absolute discretion, to change or modify this Policy at any time. We recommend that you check the website from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Privacy Policy or any of the other policies.

By agreeing to our Privacy Policy, you hereby confirm you have read and accept our Privacy Policy.

This policy was last modified on 01 November 2020.