• Taking appropriate security measures when transferring data outside the EEA and the imposition of contractual obligations on the importing organisations.

 These controls have been selected, based on identified risks to personal data, and the potential for damage or distress to individuals whose data is being processed.

Demonstrating compliance with the GDPR’s other Principles (Accountability)

The GDPR includes provisions that promote accountability and governance. These compliment the GDPR’s transparency requirements. The accountability principle in Article 5(2) requires The Mayo School of Music to demonstrate that we comply with the principles and states explicitly that this is our responsibility.

Consent

The Mayo School of Music understands ‘consent’ to mean that it has been explicitly and freely given, and a specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes that, by statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her. The data subject can withdraw their consent at any time.

Mayo School of Music also understands ‘consent’ to mean that the data subject has been fully informed of the intended processing and has signified their agreement, while in a fit state of mind to do so and without pressure being exerted upon them. Consent obtained under duress or on the grounds of misleading information will not be a valid basis for processing. 

There must be some active communication between the parties to demonstrate “active consent”. Consent cannot be inferred from non-responsive communications. We must be able to demonstrate that consent was obtained for the processing operation.

For sensitive data, explicit consent from data subjects must be obtained unless an alternative legitimate basis for processing exists. 

Data Subjects’ Rights

Data subjects have the following rights regarding data processing, and the data that is recorded about them:

• To make subject access requests regarding the nature of information held and to whom it has been disclosed;
• To prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress;
• To prevent processing for purposes of direct marketing;
• To be informed about the mechanics of automated decision-making process that will significantly affect them;
• To not have significant decisions, that will affect them, taken solely by automated process;
• To sue for compensation if they suffer damage by any contravention of the GDPR;
• To act to rectify, block, erase, including the right to be forgotten, or destroy inaccurate data;
• To request the Data Protection Commissioner to assess whether any provision of the GDPR has been contravened;
• To have personal data provided to them in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and the right to have that data transmitted to another controller;
• To object to any automated profiling that is occurring without consent.

Data Subject Access Requests

All individuals who are the subject of personal data held by Mayo School of Music are entitled to:

• Ask what information the company holds about them and why;
• Ask how to gain access to it;
• Be informed about how to keep it up to date;
• Be informed about how the company is meeting its data protection obligations.

Should an Individual contact the company requesting this information, this is called a Subject Access Request. 

Subject Access Requests from individuals should be made by email, if possible, addressed to the Data Protection Officer at info.mayoschoolofmusic.com. The Data Protection Officer can supply a standard request form, although individuals do not have to use this.

We will aim to provide the relevant data within 30 days. When we are unable to provide the requested data to the data subject within 30 days, we will advise the data subject and provide the reason why.  

We will always verify the identity of anyone making a subject access request before handing over any information.

Security of Data

All Employees/Staff are responsible for ensuring that any personal data that The Mayo School of Music holds and for which we are responsible, is kept securely and is not, under any conditions, disclosed to any third party unless that third party has been specifically authorised by Mayo School of Music to receive that information and has entered into a confidentiality agreement.

All personal data should be accessible only to those who need to use it, and access may only be granted in line with the Access Control Policy. 

All personal data should be treated with the highest security and must be kept:

• in a lockable room with controlled access; and/or 
• in a locked drawer or filing cabinet; and/or 
• if computerised, password protected in line with Company Policy; and/or 
• stored on (removable) computer media which are encrypted in line with the Secure Disposal Procedure

Care must be taken to ensure that PC screens and terminals are not visible except to authorised employees/staff of The Mayo School of Music. All employees/staff are required to enter into a Confidentiality Agreement before they are given access to organisational information of any sort, which details rules on screen time-outs etc.

Manual records may not be left where they can be accessed by unauthorised personnel and may not be removed from business premises without explicit written authorisation. As soon as manual records are no longer required for day-to-day client support, they must be removed from secure archiving in line with our policies, provided that this removal does not infringe our other legal responsibilities and obligations.

Personal data may only be deleted or disposed of in-line with the Retention of Records Policy and Retention of Records Schedule.  

Records that have reached their retention date are to be shredded and disposed of as ‘confidential waste’. Hard drives of redundant PCs are to be removed and immediately destroyed, as required before disposal.

Processing of personal data ‘off-site’ presents a potentially greater risk of loss, theft or damage to personal data. Staff must be specifically authorised to process data off-site.

Disclosure of Data to Third Parties

The Mayo School of Music will ensure that personal data is not disclosed to unauthorised third parties which includes family members, friends, government bodies, and in certain circumstances, the Gardaí/Police.   All employees/staff will exercise caution when asked to disclose personal data held on a data subject to a third party. We will consider whether disclosure of the information is relevant to, and necessary for, the conduct of our business.Nonetheless disclosure will only be to third parties that are authorised to receive it, and with whom we have in place a data protection / confidentiality agreement. 

All requests to provide data for one of these reasons must be supported by appropriate paperwork and all such disclosures must be specifically authorised by the Data Protection Officer.

Disclosing Data for Other Reasons

In certain circumstances, GDPR allows personal data to be disclosed to law enforcement agencies without the consent of the data subject.

Retention and Disposal of Data

Mayo School of Music shall not retain personal data for a longer period than is necessary, in relation to the purpose for which the data was originally collected, except where it is required to be retained to meet other legislative or regulatory obligations.

The Mayo School of Music may also store data for longer periods if the personal data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, subject to the implementation of appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard the rights and freedoms of the data subject.

The retention period for each category of personal data will be set out in the Retention of Records Schedule along with the criteria used to determine this period, including any statutory obligations to which we are subject, to retain the data. 

Our Retention of Records Policy and Retention of Records Schedule will apply in all cases

Personal data must be disposed of securely, in accordance with the sixth principle of the GDPR.  Thus, processed in an appropriate manner, to maintain security, thereby, protecting the “rights and freedoms” of data subjects.Any disposal of data will be done in accordance with the Secure Disposal Procedure. 

Data Transfers within the EEA and to countries outside of the EEA

Two sets of Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) were adopted by the European Commission on 4^th June 2021:

1. one for data processing between controllers and processors in the EEA; and
2. one for the transfer of personal data to third countries

Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) are standard sets of contractual terms and conditions which the sender and the receiver of personal data both sign up to, aimed at protecting personal data through contractual obligations in compliance with the GDPR's requirements.

1. Data Transfers between controllers and processors within the EEA

Where personal data is being processed by a processor on behalf of a controller or is being transferred from the controller to the processor(e.g., to a back-office system provider, data processed via EDI, Insurer, or for Payroll/IT support), you, the broker as data controller, must ensure a ‘Standard Contractual Clause’is in place.  To be used between the controller and processor in the EEA (not to be used for data transfers to third countries).

These clauses cannot be amended, deleted, or restricted.  They can however, be added to, provided that the resulting agreement does not conflict with or contradict the clauses contained within the SCCs.

2. Data Transfers to non-EEA (third countries)

The transfer of personal data to a country outside of the EEA (referred to in the GDPR as ‘third country[1],’)e.g., data transferred to a back-office system supplier that transfers data to a cloud located outside of the EEA)is unlawful unless there is an appropriate “level of protection for the fundamental rights of the data subjects”.  Therefore, the transfer of personal data outside of the EEA is prohibited unless the EU Commission has granted an adequacy decision in respect of a third country, or appropriate specified safeguards have been put in place, (e.g.,Binding corporate rules (BCRs) and standard contractual conditions (SCCs)). 

See Data Protection Standard Contractual Clauses Information Documents on transfers between data controller and data processor within the EEA, and transfers outside of the EEA, for more information.

Data flow

The Mayo School of Music has established a data inventory and data flow process as part of its approach to address risks and opportunities throughout its GDPR compliance regime namely;

• business processes that use personal data;
• source of personal data; 
• volume of data subjects;
• description of each item of personal data;
• processing activity;
• data categories of personal data processed; 
• documents the purpose(s) for which each category of personal data is used;
• recipients, and potential recipients, of the personal data;
• the role of Mayo School of Music throughout the data flow;
• key systems and repositories;
• any data transfers;
• all retention and disposal requirements. 

The Mayo School of Music assesses the level of risk to individuals associated with the processing of their personal data.

Mayo School of Music will manage any risks identified by the risk assessment, to reduce the likelihood of a non-conformance with this policy.

Where a type of processing, particularly using new technologies and considering the nature, scope, context and purposes of the processing is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, we will, prior to the processing, carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) on the impact the envisaged processing operations will have on the protection of personal data.A single Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) may address a set of similar processing operations that present similar high risks.

Data Protection Risks

This policy helps to protect The Mayo School of Music from potentially, serious data security risks, including:

• Breaches of confidentiality: for instance, information processed inappropriately;
• Reputational damage: for instance, the Company could suffer material or non-material damage if hackers successfully gained access to sensitive data.

1. Data Storage

• These rules describe how and where data should be safely stored. Questions about storing data safely can be directed to the IT manager or Data Controller. When data is stored in paper format, it should be kept in a secure place where unauthorized people cannot see it.

 These guidelines also apply to data that is usually stored electronically but has been printed out for some reason:

• When not required, the paper or files should be kept in a locked drawer or filing cabinet;
• Employees should make sure paper and printouts are not left where unauthorized people could see them, like on a printer;
• Data printouts should be shredded and disposed of securely when no longer required;
• When data is stored electronically, it must be protected from unauthorized access, accidental deletion and malicious hacking attempts;
• Data should be protected by strong passwords that are changed regularly and never shared between employees;
• If data is stored on removable media (like a CD or DVD), these should be kept locked away securely when not being used;
• Data should only be stored on designated drives and servers and should only be uploaded to an approved cloud computing service.
• Servers containing personal data should be sited in a secure location, away from general office space.
• Data should be backed-up frequently.  Those back-ups should be tested regularly, in line with the company’s standard backup procedures.
• Data should never be saved directly to laptops or other mobile devices like tablets or smart phones.
• All servers and computers containing data should be protected by approvedsecurity software and a firewall.

      2. Data Usage         

Personal data is of no value to The Mayo School of Music unless the business can make use of it.  However, it is when personal data is accessed and used, that it can be at the greatest risk of loss, corruption or theft. For example:

• When working with personal data, employees should ensure the screens of their computers are always locked when left unattended.
• Personal data should not be shared informally.  It should never be sent by email (unless it is encrypted or pseudonymised), as this form of communication is not secure.
• Data must be encrypted before being transferred electronically. The IT manager can explain how to send data to authorised external contacts.
• Personal data should never be transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) without the knowledge and consent of the Data Protection Officer/GDPR Owner and then only where there is an appropriate “level of protection for the fundamental rights of the data subjects” (adequacy decision or SCCs/BCRs – see Data Transfers within the EEA and to countries outside of the EEA, above).
• Employees should not save copies of personal data to their own computers. Always access and update the central copy of any data.

      3. Data Accuracy

The law requires Mayo School of Music to take reasonable steps to ensure data is kept accurately and up to date.The higher the importance, that the personal data is accurate, the greater the effort the School should put into ensuring its accuracy.

The EU Commission adopted adequacy decisions for transfers of personal data to the UK.  This means that the EU accepts that the UK data protection regime is substantially equivalent to the EU regime and allows personal data to be transferred freely from the EEA to the UK.  Therefore, the UK is not deemed a third country.