This Data Protection Statement outlines the personal data (personal information) that the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) processes, and includes how personal information is collected and stored, and how it may be used. It also explains your data rights and how you can contact us about your data privacy.

It is important that you read this statement together with any other information relating to data protection which may be provided to you when we are collecting or processing your personal information, so that you are aware of how and why we are using your information.

We hope this statement will assist you to understand the VCI’s data processing activities. Please contact us if you have any questions.

About us

The VCI is a statutory body established in law to regulate and manage the practice of veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing in the State in the public interest and in the interest of animal health and welfare. The VCI collects and processes personal information when carrying out its role and functions as provided for under the Veterinary Practice 2005, as amended, and its associated statutory instruments. This information is received from, or is about, a range of individuals (data subjects) including VCI registrants, applicants seeking registration, members of the public, and our service providers. We do this in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Acts 1988-2018 (the applicable data protection legislation).

We use personal information to enable us to meet our public interest responsibilities as the regulatory body for veterinary practitioners, veterinary nurses, and veterinary premises in Ireland.  We work to ensure, and where necessary enforce, compliance with the Veterinary Practice 2005, as amended. We process personal information when carrying out our role and legal responsibilities, which include:

  • Registration of veterinary practitioners, veterinary nurses and veterinary premises;
  • Setting standards and reviewing programmes of veterinary education and further education necessary for the purposes of registration, including ensuring all veterinary practitioners and veterinary nurses are undertaking appropriate continuing veterinary education (CVE);
  • Promoting the practice of veterinary medicine for the benefit of animals and the wider public;
  • Regulation through inspection and enforcement of veterinary premises and considering complaints made against a veterinary practitioner or veterinary nurse, including the imposition of sanctions; and,
  • Providing advice and guidance to the public, veterinary profession and to the Government on veterinary care, treatment and service in Ireland.

For the purposes of the applicable data protection legislation, the VCI is the data controller of your personal information. As an employer and public body with a board (the Council of the VCI) and committees, the VCI also holds information about its staff and office holders, and details about how we keep this information is provided to our internal stakeholders.

Data Protection Officer

The VCI has appointed a Data Protection Officer who can be contacted in relation to the content of this Data Protection Statement and about the exercise of your Data Protection rights.

Email: info@vci.ie

Phone: 01-668 4402

Post: Data Protection Officer, Veterinary Council of Ireland, 53 Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, D04 NY29.

Data Security

All personal information provided by you to the VCI will be treated in the strictest of confidence and maintained securely. We have put in place appropriate security measures to protect the personal information that we hold. We limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business or regulatory need to know. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and the Data Protection Commission of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

Data Retention

The VCI will retain the data, or parts of the data you have provided for as long as it is necessary for compliance with its legal obligations, or for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, or in the exercise of official authority vested in the VCI, as set out in the Veterinary Practice Act 2005, as amended.

Information we collect about you

To carry out our legal functions, we may process, including collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information.

Personal information includes details such as your name, your personal and/or business address, phone number, e-mail address, your nationality, your birth certificate, details related to your education and qualification, evidence of English language competency, your place of work, and your bank or payment card details.

The VCI may also process details concerning your health (special category personal data), if it is required to do so by law, for example for the purpose of registration or where the VCI is considering a health impairment matter in relation to a registrant’s professional practise, or if provided with the consent of an individual, for example where a complaint is made to the VCI with details of healthcare, medicines and treatment.

Criminal offence information will be collected and processed by the VCI for the purposes of registration, or fitness to practise including sanctioning, as outlined in the Veterinary Practice Act 2005, as amended. This includes information about criminal allegations, proceedings or convictions, where applicable.

Usage and technical information may also be collected through your use of the VCI website or the VCI newsletter. Our cookie policy provides more details.

How your personal information is collected

The VCI generally obtains information in the following ways:

  • You provide us with your personal information. This may be given to us when you fill in a form, in writing or online, for registration and related purposes to subscribe to the VCI newsletter, or other reasons connected to our statutory functions. You may also give us information in a letter, email or over the phone, or in order to provide your details for the provision of a service to the VCI.
  • A third party provides us with information about you. This may include your employer, an academic institution, another State agency, or another competent authority for the purpose of qualification recognition or registration. Information about a registrant may also be provided to the VCI when someone raises a formal complaint or where they have reason to be concerned about a veterinary practitioner, veterinary nurse or veterinary premises.
  • If you have consented to our cookie policy and are using VCI online services, the analytics service may gather information about you.
  • Images recorded and stored by the CCTV system  at the VCI offices. Our CCTV Data Protection Policy provides more details.

Why your personal information is collected

We process personal information in the course of carrying out our legal and contractual requirements, in order to meet our responsibilities to the public, or in the exercise of official authority vested in the VCI, or where consent for particular matters is provided.

The personal information you have provided will be processed by the VCI for the purposes outlined in this statement, and will be kept according to our retention schedule, which sets out the time periods for how long information is kept by the VCI for different purposes, and per legal requirements.

The VCI does not use your personal information for automated decision making.

How information may be shared

In order to carry out our regulatory functions in accordance with legislation, we may share or provide access to personal information to other parties. If it is required, we will seek your consent before we release your personal information to others. Your information may be shared with:

Data Processors: Companies or individuals who provide the VCI with data processing services, including legal or IT services.

Disclosure to Third Parties: Some of your personal information may be disclosed to external organisations in certain circumstances for the VCI to comply with its legal obligations, for public health and safety purposes. These organisations include, but are not limited to, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Health Products Regulatory Authority, An Garda Síochana, and Schools of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Nursing. The VCI also has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreed with other organisations. Where it is appropriate to do so, limited personal information may be shared in accordance with an MOU’s stated purpose in line with the VCI’s regulatory remit. Your consent is not required to share personal information where there is a legal requirement and the VCI is operating within its legal remit.

We ensure the security and privacy of your information by requiring other parties to act in compliance with data protection law, and that they process or access information only for specific purposes and according to our instructions. We provide more details about information sharing under each of the drop-down categories below. We encourage you to read the sections relevant to you.

Transfers of personal information abroad

We seek to limit the transfer of personal information beyond the EU/EEA.

We may transfer personal information on the request of someone who is seeking to be, who is or has been registered with the VCI, for example, for the purposes of processing registration payments or where an individual seeks to share details of their qualifications, professional status and fitness to practise with a competent authority in a country outside the EU/EEA.

Please note that where the VCI selects to gather information or feedback using the online software called SurveyMonkey, participants will first be asked to consent before they provide information to the VCI through this channel. The collection of personal information is limited or avoided when using this software. SurveyMonkey’s servers are located in the United States. We have entered into a contractual arrangement with SurveyMonkey to ensure that your personal information is given the appropriate level of data protection. We work closely with them to ensure that your privacy is respected and protected at all times.

The VCI may transfer personal information to a country outside the EEA where it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim, but will at all times ensure that any personal information transferred is done so within the requirements of the applicable data protection legislation.

More details in relation to this are provided in the drop-down categories below.

VCI functions and activities and your personal information

We have aimed to provide a broad understanding of the VCI’s data processing activities with as much information as possible, but it is not exhaustive. We are happy to provide any additional information or explanation as needed. The VCI may process your personal information in the course of performing one or more of the following functions.

VCI NEWSLETTER VCI

View here.

VCI Statistics and Research

We sometimes use information for statistical and learning purposes. The VCI compiles statistics and research based on data we hold or when we invite feedback through public consultations, surveys and other opportunities to input into the VCI’s work. Where we do so, we make every effort to remove any personal information in the reports we produce.

Your Data Protection Rights

If your personal information is processed by the VCI, you have rights in relation to that data. You may exercise your rights by contacting the Data Protection Officer at info@vci.ie

If you are making a request to the VCI, please describe the records and actions you are seeking in detail. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access personal information (or to exercise any of your other rights). Requests must be responded to by the VCI within one month, however, if there is a degree of complexity or large volume involved, we may need to extend this period by a further two months. If this is the case, we will inform you of this within one month of receiving your request. There will usually be no fee for making a request relating to your data rights. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive, or we may refuse to comply with those requests.

Please note that the scope of your data rights may be subject to restrictions if, for example:

  • Your rights may be limited by the legal requirements in the Veterinary Practice Act, including the requirement that the VCI maintain registers of veterinary practitioners, veterinary nurses and veterinary premises, as well as, for example, carry out investigations and process complaints,
  • We are using your data to carry out our statutory functions, because there are strong public interest and animal welfare grounds for us to process personal information in order to carry out our role.
  • Your data protection rights may be restricted by the rights and freedoms of third parties.
  • We have another legal requirement to use your personal information in a particular way.

If we cannot comply with your request, we will let you know why this is the case.

Complaints

If you have a query or complaint about the use of your personal information by the VCI, the Data Protection Officer is available to assist you in the first instance.

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Data Protection Commission, the supervisory authority in Ireland, which is responsible for upholding the rights of individuals under Data Protection legislation and GDPR.

Email: info@dataprotection.ie

Telephone: +35 (0) 761 104 800

Data Protection Commission, 21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2, DO2 RD28.

This notice may be updated from time to time.

Veterinary Council of Ireland, 53 Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

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