Privacy and Cookie Policies
PRIVACY POLICY
How we use and manage your data
Key Information
Touchlight respects your right to privacy. We put in place security measures for your personal data and manage your personal data in accordance with applicable data privacy regulations.
Touchlight is made up of different legal entities, principally Touchlight Genetics Limited and Touchlight DNA Services Limited. This privacy notice is issued on behalf of the Touchlight Group so when we mention Touchlight, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice, we are referring to the relevant company in the Touchlight Group responsible for processing your data.
Touchlight is the Data Controller of your personal data in the context of which it is collected and processed. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to provide you with information as to how Touchlight collects, uses, shares and safeguards the personal data it gathers from its customers, suppliers and website users. The principles set out in this Privacy Notice apply to all instances in which Touchlight receives your personal data as a Data Controller for the purposes of processing data as mentioned below.
This Privacy Policy should be read together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This Privacy Policy supplements such other notices and is not intended to override them.
If you have any concerns about how we deal with your personal data or any queries with regard to these practices please contact Touchlight using the contact details given below.
1. Collection of Personal Data
Personal data, or personal information means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed ( anonymous data). We only collect personal data that you want to provide to us or that is needed to provide (and improve) our service to you and/or facilitate our business relationship with you.
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:
Identity Data such as first name and last name, internet profile, social security number or other similar identifiers.
Contact Information such as telephone number, postal and email addresses.
Professional or employment related information.
Technical Data such as connection and network activity information, browsing history, time zone setting and location.
Usage Data such as information about how you use our website.
Communication Data such as your preferences in receiving news alerts.
Commercial Information such as services purchased, obtained or considered or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
Responses to Surveys whether on the website or via an email, on the telephone or through third party survey services.
2. Processing and Use of Your Personal Data
The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is your consent and/or any other applicable legal basis, such as where necessary for the performance of a contract, our legitimate interest in engaging in commerce and offering products and services of value to you or to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, policies and procedures and for internal administrative purposes. We may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data. Any consent you provide may be withdrawn at any time by following the contact methods listed below.
3. How Touchlight discloses your personal data and why
We may have to share your personal data amongst affiliated companies within the Touchlight Group for the purposes set out in paragraph 2 above. All Touchlight Group companies are subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy in relation to the personal data they process.
We may also need to share your personal data with third-parties (i.e. parties other than entities within the Touchlight Group) (“Third Parties”) for legitimate business interests. This may include sharing your personal data:
(i) with Third Party service providers, consultants or agents to facilitate the delivery of products and services;
(ii) when required by law or public policy;
(iii) in connection with actual or proposed litigation or to protect our property, security, people and other rights or interests;
with Third Party data processors (service providers such as digital agencies, hosting providers, data storage providers and other technical partners) who help us administer this website, or process the data submitted to it, may have access to your data. If any part of the Touchlight Group is sold, or some of its assets transferred to a Third Party, your personal data, as a valuable assets of the Touchlight Group, may also be transferred to the acquirer, even if they are not in the same line of business as us. Potential purchaser’s and their advisors may have access to personal data as part of the sale process. However, use of your personal information will remain subject to this Privacy Policy.
To the extent that your personal data is shared with Third Parties appropriate security measures will be taken as noted below.
4. Touchlight Security Measures
Touchlight takes security measures in line with applicable data protection regulations. Touchlight has reasonable technical and organisational measures in place designed to
prevent data loss, to preserve data integrity, and to regulate access to the data. All Touchlight staff who have access to your personal data are required to adhere to Touchlight’s Data Protection Policy and all Third Party service providers are subject to appropriate obligations of confidentiality. In addition, contracts are in place with Third Party service providers acting as data processors for Touchlight to ensure appropriate levels of data security are maintained and that your personal data is processed only as instructed by Touchlight and in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy.
5. Your rights
You have the right to ask Touchlight to take reasonable steps to provide you with details of the personal data it stores on you. You have the right to ask Touchlight to rectify, block, complete and delete your personal data, to restrict its use, and to port your data to another organisation. You have the right to request additional information about the handling of your personal data. You also have the right to object to the processing of your data by Touchlight in some circumstances and, where we have asked for consent to process your data, to withdraw this consent. Additionally, you may contact our Data Protection Manager at dpm@touchlight.com if you would like assistance with any of the aforementioned rights.
There are however exceptions to these rights. For example, access to personal data may be denied in some circumstances if making the information available would reveal personal information about another person, if Touchlight is legally prevented from disclosing such information or where the burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate to the risks to the individual’s privacy. In addition, Touchlight may be able to retain data even if you withdraw your consent, where Touchlight can demonstrate that it has a legal requirement to process your data.
6. International Transfers
In the performance of our services and business operations, personal information we collect or receive may be stored or transferred internationally throughout our worldwide organisation and to our service providers or agents, including for hosting our databases or provision of data processing services.
We will transfer personal data out of the UK only subject to approved contractual terms that impose data protection obligations equivalent to UK Data Protection laws directly on the recipient unless we are permitted under UK Data Protection law to make such transfers without such formalities.
The server that makes this website available may be located outside the country from which you have accessed this website. The provider of this website is bound by a contract that ensures your data is managed in accordance with UK Data Protection laws and that it acts only on Touchlight instructions and implements all technical measures necessary on an ongoing basis to keep your personal data secure.
7. Cookies
We use cookies on our website. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our website may become inaccessible or not function properly. Please see our Cookie Policy below for more information.
8. Modifications to this privacy policy
Touchlight reserves the right to amend this Privacy Policy at any time, without advance notice, to ensure that an appropriate level of protection for personal information is maintained. All amendments will be posted on this website and will be effective upon posting. Please check back periodically for updates to this policy.
9. Retention of your personal data
Touchlight will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. Touchlight will retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your information to comply with applicable tax/revenue laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We also retain log files for internal analysis purposes. These log files are generally retained for a short period of time, except where they are used for website security, to improve website functionality, or we are legally obligated to retain them for longer time periods.
10. Contact Details
Questions, comments, concerns or complaints regarding this Policy or Touchlight’s processing of personal information should be submitted to:
Data Protection Manager Touchlight Genetics Limited Morelands & Riverdale Buildings Lower Sunbury Road Hampton TW12 2ER Email: dpm@touchlight.com
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
Last Update: May 2025
TOUCHLIGHT – COOKIE POLICY
Touchlight may from time to time collect information from you by using “cookies”. At Touchlight, we are strongly committed to protecting your privacy and as such we want to ensure that you are always aware of how we are using cookies on our websites and how this may affect you.
You can navigate around our websites without giving us any personal information. However, the cookie policy in this section sets out a brief description explaining our practices for the occasions where cookies are used.
WHAT ARE COOKIES?
A cookie is a text file that is placed on your computer, mobile phone or tablet by the website which you are browsing. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.
HOW WE USE COOKIES
Touchlight uses cookies to improve services to website users by:
1. Measuring how many people are using the different areas of the websites so that popular sections can be improved.
2. Analysing anonymous data to help us understand how users interact with the websites so we can improve the services offered.
3. Enabling a service to recognise the user’s computer so they don’t have to give the same information several times during one visit.
Cookies may be used on our websites, and although we are not actively storing any information pertaining to the user in a form of a cookie, some of the application servers which Touchlight uses may write temporary files to enable them to perform as part of their normal usage. This data is not recorded by Touchlight.
Cookies do not usually contain personally identifiable information, and if at times Touchlight requires you to register your information, the cookie which is associated with your registration information is used in a limited manner to allow Touchlight to offer increased functionality. We do not share any personally identifiable information captured through our websites with any third parties. The personal or system information is not stored in the cookie.
To allow you to control your own use of cookies, you will need to reset your web browser to either allow you to accept cookies, reject cookies or notify you on each occasion that a cookie is sent to you. To find out more about cookies, and how to actively manage how they are used on your computer, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Please check this website periodically to inform yourself of any updates.
Touchlight also uses industry standard Google Analytics web analytics to track visits. The information generated by the cookie about your use of our websites (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of our websites, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may opt out of web analytics by installing these tools on your computer: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptou