Table of Contents
Your fitness studio must have a privacy policy to ensure your business meets its obligations under data protection rules. With COVID-19 restrictions easing, people are increasingly attending fitness studios. Consequently, such businesses must handle more personal information. This article will explore the benefits of using a privacy policy to ensure that your fitness studio or gym complies with the data protection rules under the General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
Why Are Privacy Policies Useful?
Like all businesses in England, your fitness studio must handle personal data lawfully and transparently. This involves informing individuals about the circumstances in which you will collect, store and disclose their information. Generally, businesses will include this information in a privacy policy. Providing individuals with sufficient information about how your business will use customers’ personal data is a crucial requirement of the GDPR. Therefore, a good privacy policy helps your fitness studio meet these requirements.
Importance of GDPR Compliance
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) enforces GDPR rules and fines businesses that breach them. Since ICO fines have a ceiling of £17.5m, it is sensible to invest in a well-drafted privacy policy rather than face a financial penalty. The ICO requires privacy policies to be clear and understandable to individuals without legal or technical knowledge. Thus, your policy should avoid complex and technical language that will be difficult for most people to understand.
Continue reading this article below the formCall 0808 196 8584 for urgent assistance.
Otherwise, complete this form and we will contact you within one business day.
What Can a Privacy Policy Include?
The ICO’s website contains helpful information on GDPR requirements and how they affect your business. However, since a privacy policy is a legal document you must draft according to the unique nature of your business, you should avoid using free online templates.
As every business processes information differently, no generic version of a privacy policy will apply to every organisation.
What Personal Information is My Fitness Studio Likely to Collect?
The GDPR defines personal information quite broadly as any personally identifiable information. In brief, your company may collect the following pieces of personal data from customers:
- full names;
- contact telephone numbers;
- email addresses;
- photographs or fingerprint data;
- payment information;
- home addresses; and
- weight and height measurements.
Is a Free Template Privacy Policy Sufficient?
Although free templates may appear to be an effective cost-cutting method, you must consider the risks. Unfortunately, having a privacy policy alone does not satisfy the ICO. The privacy policy must accurately reflect the customer information your business collects and why this is lawful. Your fitness studio will likely collect information for different purposes than a software company or manufacturer would and, therefore, requires different clauses and wording within your policy. Consequently, by using a generic template, your business risks supplying an inadequate privacy policy in breach of the GDPR.
Key Takeaways
Every fitness studio will collect different types of information for various services and products. Some will record contact details for scheduled classes, while others may simply need the name and payment details of users desiring a monthly membership. One of the main requirements of the GDPR is that a business records precisely which pieces of information it collects and why. Therefore, no template privacy policy covers all fitness studios.
Instead, any lawyer drafting a suitable policy would first check what the studio offers customers and what information will help it do so. As such, many business owners prefer the certainty and confidence of engaging an experienced lawyer to prepare their privacy policy.
If you need help with data protection rules and putting an applicable Privacy Policy in place, our experienced Data, Privacy and IT lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
One of the core principles of the GDPR is to protect individuals’ personal information. A fundamental way of doing so is to ensure that organisations in England inform people about what they will do with their information.
Yes, this is standard practice. One of the main ways most businesses collect customer information is through customers accessing their website through a computer browser. Thus, your website should allow individuals to find the privacy policy quickly and easily.
We appreciate your feedback – your submission has been successfully received.
