Go to Main Navigation

European Privacy Policy

Last Updated: May 2018

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Assay Depot, Inc (d.b.a. Scientist.com) and its subsidiaries operate online marketplaces and the Research Concierge service (collectively, the "Platform").
1.2 Scientist.com takes the security and privacy of the users ("you") of our Platform and associated services (being services delivered by us, rather than by a Client or Supplier) very seriously, whether this means "you" as an individual, or "you" in the context of your employment with a company (or other body) we do business with.
2. WHO ARE WE?
2.1 In this Policy, the terms "we", "our", "us" and "Scientist.com" are used to refer to The Assay Depot, Inc (d/b/a Scientist.com), a Delaware corporation with its principle offices located at 433 Glencrest Drive, Solana Beach, CA 92075. We are the data controller for the purposes of the applicable data protection laws.
2.2 If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about this Policy or about how your personal information is handled, please contact us through our website, or at privacy@scientist.com or write to us at:

Legal Department
Scientist.com
329 S Highway 101
Suite 230
Solana Beach
California, 92075
3. WHEN DOES THIS POLICY APPLY?
3.1 For purposes of this Policy, personal data means information that both identifies (or may identify) and relates to you.
3.2 This Policy applies where Scientist.com receives personal data in the United States concerning individuals who reside in the European Union, the EEA or Switzerland from:

3.2.1 users or visitors to our website, www.scientist.com (the "website") whether this is in a personal or business context;
3.2.2 those (being an individual or a representative of a corporate entity) that register to use the Platform and who may enter into contracts to provide services to Clients via the Platform ("Suppliers");
3.2.3 those (being an individual or a representative of a corporate entity) that register to use the Platform and who may enter into contracts to purchase services from Suppliers via the Platform ("Clients"); and
3.2.4 other platforms with which we collaborate on a white label basis ("Collaborators").
3.3 For the purposes of this Policy, in regard to references to the processing of the personal data of a Client or Supplier, "Client" shall mean a natural person who is a client or an account representative of a legal entity that is client, including clients of our Collaborators; and "Supplier" shall mean a natural person who is a supplier or an account representative of a legal entity that is a supplier (and together, "Users" for the purposes of this Policy).
3.4 This Policy supplements the Global Privacy Policy of Scientist.com. In the event of a conflict between the terms of this Policy, where applicable, and the Global Privacy Policy, the terms of this Policy shall have precedence.
3.5 Please note: Except as set forth in this Policy, Scientist.com does not determine the purposes and means of processing any personal data placed on or shared via the Platform by Clients, Suppliers or Collaborators. Clients and Suppliers may decide to share their respective personal data between themselves and with other parties (including Collaborators) via the Platform. Clients, Suppliers and Collaborators are solely responsible for ensuring that any transfers of personal data between them are made in accordance with the applicable data protection laws.
4. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU?
4.1 When a Supplier or Client registers for an account, you may provide certain account-related personal data, ("Account Data"), such as:

4.1.1 your name;
4.1.2 email address;
4.1.3 contact details; and
4.1.4 password.
4.2 We may also collect images of you where you agree to provide us with these and information given by you when you complete surveys or website registrations.
4.3 When you visit our website or Platform, we may also automatically collect information and personal data about your computer for system administration, including, where available, information about pages you access or visit, your IP address, operating system and browser type. The information we collect is used to improve the content of our website and the quality of our Platform, and is not shared with or sold to other organisations for commercial purposes, except to provide services you have requested, when we have your permission, or as otherwise set forth in this Policy. Please see our cookies policy for further information about what information may be automatically collected when you visit our website, which can be found at app.scientist.com/legal-notices
4.4 Please note that we may combine personal data that we receive from other sources with personal data you give to us and personal data we collect about you.
5. WHERE DO WE GET THIS INFORMATION FROM?
5.1 Information that you give to us: We receive and store any personal data you give to us when you register for an account with us to use the Platform, contact us via email or otherwise in connection with your account, a query, or to make a complaint, or give us personal data in any other way. You are not obliged to provide your personal data to us. However, we may be unable to fully manage your account and provide access to the Platform and associated services to you without you providing certain personal data.
5.2 Information that we collect about you: We collect personal data when you visit our website and use our Platform (including IP Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, MAC addresses, traffic data, location data, your login information, time-zone setting browser type and version, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, weblogs, cookies and other communication data, and the resources that you access), and when you contact us by email or otherwise in connection with your account, a query, or to make a complaint. We also collect limited personal data required to order and invoice for goods and services bought and sold by Clients and Suppliers via the Platform ("Service Data") to the extent that such data is exchanged between Supplier and the Client using the Platform. This information is used to provide access to the Platform, provide associated services and facilitate communications between Clients and Suppliers across the Platform.
5.3 Information that we receive from other sources: We receive and store Client account data (names, email addresses and other contact details) from Collaborators (“Collaborator Data”), including personal data, that Clients enter on third party websites operated by Collaborators to log into the Platform. Collaborators are responsible for notifying you that they will provide this Collaborator Data to us and otherwise complying with the applicable data protection laws when they collect, process and transfer personal data to Scientist.com.
5.4 Please note: You must not put any 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 (including without limitation, any patient data or donor information etc.) (“Special Categories of Personal Data”) on the Platform, or include this within any attachments submitted on the Platform and instruct Scientist.com to remove any such Special Categories of Personal Data from the Platform, although Scientist.com does not have any obligations to Users to check for this or to do so.
6. WHY DO WE NEED YOUR INFORMATION?
6.1 The personal data that we collect is used to provide our Platform and services or improve the content and quality of our website, services and Platform. It is not shared with or sold to other organizations for commercial purposes, except to provide services requested by you, or when we have obtained prior consent for the use of personal data for other specified purposes, or as otherwise set forth in this Policy.
6.2 Scientist.com may also use the personal data we collect from Suppliers and Clients for the following general purposes:

6.2.1 provision of the Platform;
6.2.2 facilitation of the transaction between the Supplier and the Client;
6.2.3 billing and payment;
6.2.4 invoice management;
6.2.5 identification and authentication;
6.2.6 services improvement;
6.2.7 communications with our Suppliers and Clients; and
6.2.8 marketing and research relating to the use of our Platform.
6.3 With specific regard to personal data received from a Client, we may use such data to respond to Client requests, customize future shopping activities for that Client and offer services to Clients based on their shopping history.
6.4 If you choose to provide us with feedback about the services you have purchased, we may display your feedback, in whole or in part, on the Platform and it may be viewed by anyone visiting our website.
6.5 In addition, we may produce videos or photographs which include the names or images of you (as an employee or representatives of Clients or Suppliers, or individual Clients or Suppliers) (“Images”) for promotional purposes for the relevant Supplier or Client and/or Scientist.com where you have consented for us to use your Images in this way. Such Images are your personal data and we may also collect contact details in relation to them. Images will be used and stored by us in accordance with this Policy and the waiver letter that you (as the individual employee or representative of the Client or Supplier, individual Client or Supplier (as applicable) and in addition the Client or Supplier legal entity (as applicable)) signs to give us permission to use the respective Images. We will not publish any such Image unless and until a valid and binding waiver letter has been executed by the relevant parties authorising us to do so. Once the Images are published they will be in the public domain, and Scientist.com will only have control over Images that Scientist.com publishes directly, and not over any copies taken by third parties from the Images in the public domain.
6.6 We will only process personal data in ways that are compatible with the purpose for which it was collected or for the purposes later authorized by you or which are compatible with the original purpose. Before we use personal data for a purpose that is materially different than the purpose for which it was collected or later authorized, we will provide the opportunity to opt out. We maintain reasonable procedures to help ensure that personal data we collect and use is reliable for its intended use, accurate, complete and current.
7. BASIS FOR USING YOUR INFORMATION
7.1 Data protection laws require that we meet certain conditions before we are allowed to use your data in the manner described in this Policy. To use your personal data, we will rely on four conditions, depending on the activities that we are carrying out:

7.1.1 Necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation: We may need to process your personal data to comply with our regulatory and statutory obligations, for example when we are required by law to disclose information to law enforcement agencies for the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime and fraud;
7.1.2 Necessary for the entry into / performance of a contract: When you register or sign- up to the Platform and/or to receive associated services, a contract between you and us will have been entered into. In order for us to fulfil our obligations under such contract (e.g. to facilitate communications, with the aim of you placing an order for services or providing services or making offers to provide services as a Supplier or Client), we will need to collect, process and share (as further detailed below) your personal information. Failure to provide the requisite personal information when placing your order and financial information on entering into the transaction or objecting to this type of processing/exercising your deletion rights will unfortunately mean we cannot provide the full functionality of our Platform and associated services to you;
7.1.3 Consent: We may, on occasion, send you marketing messages by email and post about us and our events and offers where you have not unsubscribed. We will only process Images of you with your consent.

In each of the situations above, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and can object to processing of this nature.
7.1.4 Legitimate interests: To use your personal data for any other purpose described in this Policy, we will rely on a condition known as "legitimate interests". It is in our legitimate interests to collect your personal data as it provides us with the information that we need to provide our services to you more effectively or for you to provide your goods and services to users of the Platform effectively. We are required to carry out a balancing test of our interests in using your personal data, against the interests you have as a citizen and the rights you have under data protection laws. As a result of this balancing test (which is detailed below) we have determined that, acting reasonably and considering all circumstances, that we are able to process your personal data in accordance with the relevant data protection laws on the basis that we have a legitimate interest.
Legitimate interest We have a legitimate interest in processing your information as:

  • we both benefit from the effective management of your account, including in relation to billing, invoicing, identification and authentication;
  • we both benefit from the effective provision of the services and we would be unable to provide the services without processing your personal data;
  • we both benefit from the improvement of our services, website and Platform;
  • we both benefit from the use of interactive features on our website and on our Platform, from the most effective presentation of information on the website and Platform, and from the website and Platform working properly;
  • there is a general public interest in preventing and detecting crime and fraud;
  • we both have an interest in enforcing our rights under any agreement between us; and
  • we have a legitimate interest in processing your information in connection with any mergers, acquisitions or reorganisation of our business, in which case some of your information may be shared with a prospective buyer or otherwise but only so far as is strictly necessary for the purposes of such sale or administration.
Necessity We consider that it is reasonable for us to process your personal data for the purposes of our legitimate interests outlined above as we process your personal data only so far as is necessary to provide the services and to achieve the purposes outlined in this Policy.
Impact of processing We consider that it is reasonable for us to process your personal data for the purposes of our legitimate interests outlined above as it can be reasonably expected for us to process your personal information in this way to provide our services, and the processing of your personal data does not unreasonably intrude on your privacy.
8. DATA TRANSFERS TO THIRD PARTIES
8.1 We may share personal data with our subsidiaries that Scientist.com controls and that are subject to this Policy or that follow practices at least as protective as those described in this Policy. We will only share personal data with our subsidiaries where we have appropriate protections in place.
8.2 Aside from our subsidiaries, we may share your personal data:

8.2.1 with other Suppliers or Clients as required for a transaction between a Supplier and a Client to take place on the Platform, for example contact information;
8.2.2 with Collaborators, where required to order and invoice Services bought and sold by Clients and Suppliers, where a Client request for Services from a Supplier originates through a portal operated by Scientist.com but marketed and made accessible to the Client by a Collaborator. Scientist.com may also transfer your personal data to a Collaborator to enable that Collaborator and Scientist.com to work together to market that portal, make it available to Clients and Suppliers and for that Collaborator to help facilitate transactions between Clients and Suppliers on the Platform. In relation to such Client requests, the Collaborator has the same access to the portal and the Platform and all information on it as Scientist.com, including information you enter on it and all correspondence between Clients and Suppliers. The Collaborator may only use such information: (i) in relation to Clients, in accordance with the terms of use of the portal in question, and (ii) in relation to Suppliers, in accordance with the letter from the Collaborator you may receive with every request from a Client which originates from the portal in question (the “Supplier Letter”). The Collaborator shall keep such information confidential in accordance with the terms of use of the portal in question and the Supplier Letter. If you are a Supplier and do not accept the terms of the Supplier Letter, please do not respond to any request from a Client originating from the portal in question;
8.2.3 To third parties who provide supply chain financing and invoice management services to us, and who will have access to certain information on invoices; and
8.2.4 We may also engage third-party service providers to work with us to administer and provide the Platform and to perform functions on our behalf. For example, we may utilize the services of third party service providers to provide:
(a) email services;
(b) cloud services;
(c) online file storage;
(d) customer services via the Platform;
(e) IT support;
(f) document management services;
(g) marketing services;
(h) website analytics;
(i) billing and finance;
(j) travel and expenses;
(k) invoice management;
(l) supply chain financing;
(m) auditors and other professional advisors;
(n) delivering packages and mail;
(o) providing marketing assistance; and
(p) creating and producing Images.
These third-party service providers (and others that we may engage in the future) may have access to Client or Supplier personal data for the purposes of performing services on Scientist.com’s behalf. These service providers must not use such personal data for any other purposes as set forth in the terms of their agreements with Scientist.com, and such terms of agreement will contain appropriate provisions to safeguard your personal data and shall comply with the applicable data protection laws.
8.3 Business transfers: Scientist.com may transfer your information to a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Scientist.com’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which your information is among the assets transferred, but only so far as such transfer is necessary for the purposes of such sale or administration;
8.4 Protection of Scientist.com and others: We may release account and other personal data when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law or an investigation into illegal activity; in response to lawful requests by public, governmental or regulatory authorities, courts of competent jurisdiction, including in order to meet national security or law enforcement requirements; to enforce our agreements, including when your actions violate the terms of any of your agreements with us or any of our Platform term of use or policies; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Scientist.com, our Users, or others. It is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of Terms of Service, or as otherwise required by law. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction. This does not include selling, renting, sharing, or otherwise disclosing personal data from Users for commercial purposes in violation of the conditions set forth in this Policy.
8.5 Where we use a service provider to process Personal Data on our behalf

Scientist.com is responsible for the processing of personal data that it receives and subsequently transfers to a third party supplier acting on its behalf. Scientist.com remains liable under its agreements with Clients and Suppliers and under data protection laws if such supplier processes such personal data in a manner inconsistent with the its agreements with Clients and Suppliers and the data protection laws, unless Scientist.com demonstrates that it is not responsible for the event that gives rise to the damage. As set out above, the terms of agreements with third-party suppliers will contain appropriate provisions to safeguard your personal data and will comply with the applicable data protection laws.
8.6 External Websites

Our services may contain links to other websites and services. Any personal data that a Supplier or Client provides on or to a third-party website or service is provided directly to the owner of the website or service and is subject to that party's privacy policy. This Policy does not apply to such websites or services and Scientist.com is not responsible for the content, privacy or security practices and policies of those websites or services. You should carefully review the privacy policies of other websites before accessing such sites.
9. WHAT DO WE DO TO ENSURE THE SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION?
9.1 We maintain reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction in accordance with data protection laws. In cases where we are acting as a processor, Scientist.com secures personal data in accordance with its contractual obligations.
9.2 We restrict access to User information to Scientist.com and Collaborator employees, contractors and agents who need to know that information to operate, develop or improve the Platform. These individuals are bound by strict confidentiality and may be subject to discipline if they fail to meet these obligations.
9.3 Secure software: We work to protect the security of your information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input.
9.4 Unauthorized access: It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off from your account when finished using a shared computer. Do not share your login information with anyone else.
9.5 Data Storage: Scientist.com uses third party suppliers and hosting partners to provide the necessary hardware, software, networking, storage, and related technology required to run the business.
9.6 Storing personal data outside of the EEA

9.6.1 Your personal data may be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located outside of the EEA and/or Switzerland, where the privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your jurisdiction. We may transfer your personal data to our servers in the United States, and other countries where you have requested Services from a Client or Supplier who is located in a country outside of the EEA and/or Switzerland.
9.6.2 To ensure the security of your personal data, for personal data that we receive from Users in the EEA and Switzerland, Scientist.com will:

(a) obtain the consent to such transfer, of the individuals whose personal data is being transferred; or
(b) where applicable, enter into the model clauses approved by the European Commission between it and the party the personal data is being shared with overseas. A copy of the model clauses can be located at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32010D0087&from=en
10. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION FOR?
10.1 We may retain your personal data as long as you continue to use our services and have an account with us, and typically for six years after the closure of your account with us, in order to enable us to deal with any issues or concerns you may have about the services or your account, and also to allow us to bring and defend legal proceedings.
10.2 We may retain some personal data for an additional period as is required under applicable laws, for legal, tax or regulatory reasons.
10.3 In some circumstances, some of your data will be deleted in much shorter timescales, for example:

  • marketing information is kept for:

    • where you are a prospective Supplier, Client or other individual who may register to use the Platform or receive associated services – 2 years from the date on which the information is collected by us; and

    • where you are an existing Supplier, Client or other individual (including representatives or employees of Suppliers and Clients) the length of the contractual relationship between you and Scientist.com.

  • cookies are refreshed in accordance with our cookies policy which can be found at https://app.scientist.com/legal-notices.
10.4 You can close your account by contacting us at the details below.
11. WHAT RIGHTS DO YOU HAVE IN RELATION TO YOUR PERSONAL DATA?
11.1 You have a number of rights under the Data Protection Laws in relation to the way we process your personal data, which are set out below. You may contact us using the details at the beginning of this privacy policy to exercise any of these rights.
12. In some instances, we may be unable to carry out your request, in which case we will write to you to explain why. In particular, rights may not apply in some cases, including where providing access is unreasonably burdensome or expensive under the circumstances or where it would violate the rights of someone other than you.

1. You have the right to request access to your personal data You have the right to request confirmation that your personal data is being processed, access to your personal data (through us providing a copy) and other information about how we process your personal data.
2. You have the right to ask us to rectify your personal data You have the right to request that we rectify your personal data if it is not accurate or not complete.
3. You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data You have the right to ask us to erase or delete your personal data where there is no reason for us to continue to process your personal data. This right would apply if we no longer need to use your personal data to provide the services to you, where you withdraw your consent for us to process your personal data (for example, your Images), or where you object to the way we process your personal data (see right 6 below).
4. You have the right to ask us to restrict or block the processing of your personal data You have the right to ask us to restrict or block the processing of your personal data that we hold about you. This right applies where you believe the personal data is not accurate, you would rather we block the processing of your personal data rather than erase your personal data, where we do not need to use your personal data for the purpose we collected it for but you may require it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
5. You have the right to port your personal data You have the right to obtain and reuse your personal data from us to reuse for your own purposes across different services. This allows you to move personal data easily to another organisation, or to request us to do this for you.
6. You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data on the basis of our legitimate business interests, unless we are able to demonstrate that, on balance, our legitimate interests override your rights or we need to continue processing your personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
7. You have the right not to be subject to automated decisions You have the right to object to any automated decision making, including profiling, where the decision has a legal or significant impact on you.
8. You have the right to withdraw your consent You have the right to withdraw your consent where we are relying on this to process your personal data (for example, your Images).
12.1 In order to exercise one of your rights above you can submit a written request to the contact information provided below (How to Contact Us). We may request specific information from you to confirm your identity before processing any request.
13. YOUR CHOICES

You may choose to change or limit the use and disclosure of their personal data or cancel an account by contacting us using the contact details below (How to Contact Us). Individuals can also unsubscribe from our marketing communications by following the instructions or unsubscribe mechanism in the original email message.
14. QUESTIONS OR COMPLAINTS

A Supplier or Client can direct any questions or complaints to us about the use or disclosure of personal data that relates to them by sending an email to us at privacy@scientist.com, or in writing to the address below (How to Contact Us). We will investigate and attempt to resolve any complaints or disputes regarding the use or disclosure of personal data within forty-five (45) days of eceiving a complaint. Where you are exercising one of your rights (as set out above) we will respond to your request within one (1) month of receipt.

You can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF www.ico.org.uk, which is Scientist.com's lead supervisory authority for the purposes of data protection laws, or your local data protection authority.
15. HOW TO CONTACT US

To ask any questions regarding this Policy, to exercise any of your rights, or to submit a complaint regarding the processing of personal data by us, please contact us by email at privacy@scientist.com or by standard mail addressed to:

Legal Department
Scientist.com
329 S Highway 101
Suite 230
Solana Beach
California 92075
16. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

This Policy may be amended from time to time consistent with the requirements of applicable data protection laws. The date of the last update will appear at the top of this policy. Scientist.com will take all reasonable measures to communicate any changes to this Policy to you and in any event shall provide appropriate notice about such amendments via a notification on the Platform.