Privacy Policy

Effective Date: January 2025

The Imperial Institute of Ceramic Science and Technology (IICST, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have when you visit our website or use our services.

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal information:

• Identity & contact details — full name, email address, phone number, and mailing address provided when you register, apply for membership, or contact us.
• Membership & academic records — membership category, qualification details, examination results, training history, and certificate information.
• Payment information — transaction references and payment status. Card numbers and bank details are processed exclusively by our payment processor (Razorpay) and are never stored on our servers.
• Usage data — pages visited, time spent, referring URLs, browser type, and IP address collected automatically for analytics purposes.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Process membership applications, renewals, and upgrades.
• Manage course and examination registrations and issue certificates.
• Send transactional communications (payment confirmations, admission letters, reminders).
• Send newsletters, event updates, and relevant industry news (you may opt out at any time).
• Maintain accurate training and certification records as required by our professional standards.
• Improve our website and services through aggregated analytics.
• Comply with legal obligations.

3. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties. We may share information in the following limited circumstances:

• Service providers — we engage trusted vendors (e.g., Razorpay for payment processing, email delivery providers) who process data on our behalf under confidentiality obligations.
• Regulatory & legal requirements — where disclosure is required by law, regulation, or a lawful request from a government authority.
• Organisational transfers — in the event of a merger, restructuring, or transfer of IICST operations, your data may be transferred subject to equivalent privacy protections.

4. Third-Party Services

Razorpay is our authorised payment gateway for processing membership fees, course fees, and event registrations. When you make a payment, you are subject to Razorpay’s own privacy policy and terms of service. We encourage you to review them at razorpay.com/privacy.

5. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These include encrypted connections (HTTPS), access controls, and regular security reviews. However, no transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your membership or enrolment is active and for a reasonable period thereafter, or as required by applicable law. Examination and certification records may be retained indefinitely as part of our professional registry.

7. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Withdraw consent for non-essential communications at any time.
• Request deletion of your personal data, subject to our legal retention obligations.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@iicst.org.

8. Cookies

Our website may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience and gather analytics data. You can control cookie settings through your browser preferences. Disabling cookies may affect some functionality of the website.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please reach out to us:

• Email: info@iicst.org
• Address: 710, Samanvay Silver, Munjmahuda, Vadodara – 390020, Gujarat, India