Privacy Policy

Welcome to the Research Institute for Fragrance Material Inc.’s (RIFM’s) websites (the “Websites”). We appreciate your interest in us. By accessing and using the Websites, you acknowledge that you have read, understand, and consent to this Privacy Policy.

Collecting and Using Personal Information

When you visit and navigate our Websites and communicate with us via our Websites, we will not collect personal information about you unless you provide us with that information voluntarily. Any non-public personal information that you may provide via our Websites will be used solely for the purpose stated on the page where it is collected. 

In some cases, and in all cases where required by law or regulation, you will be able to update the personal information that you provide to us either by sending us an email or, where you have established personal profiles with us, by updating your profile online. Please refer to the specific pages where data is collected for more information. 

RIFM will not sell, license, transmit or disclose your personal information outside of RIFM and its affiliated companies unless (a) expressly authorized by you, (b) necessary to enable RIFM contractors or agents to perform certain functions for us, or (c) required or permitted by law. In all cases, we will disclose the information consistent with applicable laws and regulations. We will require the recipient to protect the information and use it only for the purpose it was provided.

By “personal information,” we mean data that is unique to an individual, such as name, address, Social Security number, email address, or telephone number. From time to time, we may request personal information from you at our Websites to deliver requested materials to you, respond to your questions, or provide a product or service.

Your Email

We welcome your comments or questions about our Websites and have provided email addresses for that purpose. We will share your comments and questions with our employees most capable of addressing your questions and concerns.

Please note that your email, like most, if not all, non-encrypted Internet email communications, may be accessed and viewed by other Internet users without your knowledge and permission while in transit to us. For that reason, to protect your privacy, please do not use email to communicate information to us that you consider confidential. If you wish, you may contact us instead via telephone at the numbers provided at various locations on our Websites or, in the case of our health plan members, at the Member Services toll-free number that appears on your ID card.

There are some locations on RIFM’s Websites where we have made special provisions for a more secure environment to exchange information with you. At each of these locations, we will provide you with appropriate instructions.

Other Information: “Cookies,” “Tags,” and “Web Beacons”

You should be aware that when you visit our Websites, we collect certain information that does not identify you personally but provides us with “usage data,” such as the number of visitors we receive or what pages are visited most often. This data helps us to analyze and improve the usefulness of the information we provide on these Websites.

Like most commercial website owners, we may use what is known as “cookie” technology. A “cookie” is an element of data that a website can send to your browser when you link to that website. It is not a computer program and cannot read data on your computer or instruct it to perform any step or function. By assigning a unique data element to each visitor, our Websites can recognize repeat users, track usage patterns, and better serve you when you return to that site. In addition, the cookie does not extract other personal information about you, such as your name or address. If your browser settings do not allow the attachment of cookies, or if you decline the attachment of any cookie, you will not have access to the full benefits of the Websites.

We also may use what is known as “client-side page tagging,” which uses code on each page to write certain information about the page and the visitor to a log when your web browser renders a page. This technique is also commonly used on commercial websites. “Tagging” does result in a JavaScript program running on your computer; it is limited to providing information about the page you are requesting and the configuration of your browser. It will not read any of your data files or execute any additional programs. In addition, it does not extract any personal information about you, such as your name or address. You can prevent tagging by disabling JavaScript in your browser, but that may prevent you from using all of our Website’s functions.

We also may use web beacons (either directly or from third parties), along with cookies, to determine if you have visited a particular page. These beacons aid in providing more relevant information to you but collect no personally identifiable information.

Log Files

Like most standard website servers, we use log files that record information such as internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the Websites, track user’s movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information about aggregate use. IP addresses and other information stored and collected in such log files are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Sharing – Legal Disclaimer

ALTHOUGH RIFM MAKES EVERY EFFORT TO PRESERVE YOUR PRIVACY, WE MAY NEED TO DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION WHEN (I) REQUIRED BY LAW IF WE HAVE A GOOD-FAITH BELIEF THAT SUCH ACTION IS NECESSARY TO COMPLY WITH A CURRENT JUDICIAL PROCEEDING, A COURT ORDER OR LEGAL PROCESS SERVED ON US; OR (II) NECESSARY TO PROTECT AND DEFEND THE RIGHTS OR PROPERTY OF RIFM OR RIFM’S AFFILIATES, INCLUDING THEIR WEBSITES. RIFM DOES NOT SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES EXCEPT AS STATED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY. IN ADDITION, WE MAY SHARE AGGREGATE DATA WITH THIRD PARTIES WHERE SUCH DISCLOSURE DOES NOT ENTAIL THE DISCLOSURE OF ANY PERSONALLY-IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.

Opting Out and Correcting Personal Information

If your Personal Information changes (such as phone number, email address, or postal address) or if you no longer desire to access or use our services, email our Customer Support at info@rifm.org or click the “Contact” link on the Website in order to inform RIFM of the changes.

Handling of Do Not Track Signals

California law requires us to inform you how our Websites respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals from your web browser. We do not respond to DNT signals at this time because currently there is no industry standard for recognizing or responding to DNT signals.

Linking to Other Sites

RIFM Websites may provide links to other websites not owned or controlled by RIFM that might be useful or of interest to you from time to time. However, we cannot be responsible for the privacy practices used by other website owners or operators or the content or accuracy of those other websites. Links to various non-RIFM websites do not constitute or imply endorsement by RIFM of these websites, any products or services described on or provided by these sites, or any other material contained on them.

Security

RIFM has adopted and adheres to stringent security standards to protect non-public personal information collected by RIFM’s Websites against accidental or unauthorized access or disclosure. Among the safeguards that RIFM has developed for its sites are administrative, physical, and technical barriers that together form a protective firewall around the stored information. In addition, we periodically subject our Websites to simulated intrusion tests and have developed comprehensive disaster recovery plans.

Residents of the European Union/European Economic Area

If you are in the European Union (“EU”) or the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the following additional disclosures apply: (a) RIFM acts as the Controller of your personal information, (b) when we process your personal information, we will only do so in the following situations: (i) we need to use your personal information to perform our responsibilities under our obligations with you (e.g., processing payments); (ii) we have a legitimate interest in processing your personal information (for example, we have a legitimate interest in processing your personal information to provide, improve and secure our Websites and their functionality and in communicating with you about our Websites and their functionality; (iii) we have your consent to do so; or (iv) we need to process your personal information to comply with our legal obligations. You may contact us to submit a request to exercise your rights in personal information (see Contact Information below). If you initially consented to our processing of your personal information, you may contact us to withdraw your consent. If you are an EU/EEA resident and have a concern about our practices concerning the processing of personal information that we are not able to resolve, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority where you reside or in which you work, or in which the alleged infringement occurred.

You may have the right to: (a) request confirmation of whether we are processing your personal information; (b) obtain access to or a copy of your personal information; (c) receive a portable copy of your personal information, or ask us to send that information to another organization (the “right of data portability”); (d) seek correction or amendment of inaccurate, untrue, incomplete, or improperly processed personal information; (e) restrict our processing of your personal information; (f) object to our processing of your personal information; and (g) request erasure of personal information held about you by us, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us as set forth below, Contact Information. We will process such requests in accordance with applicable laws. To protect your privacy, we may take steps to verify your identity before fulfilling your request. For some requests and, where permitted by law, an administrative fee may be charged. We will advise you of any applicable fee prior to performing your request.

Data Transfers

RIFM is headquartered in the United States and has operations and provides services in the United States. The Websites and their related services may be accessed and used throughout the world, and data processing for some services offered by the Websites may occur outside the United States. As such, we and our service providers may transfer your personal information to, or store, process or access it in, jurisdictions that may not provide equivalent levels of data protection as your home jurisdiction. We will take steps to ensure that your personal information receives an adequate level of protection in the jurisdictions in which we store and process it.

Use of Website by Children

The Website is not targeted for use by children under the age of sixteen. We do not target any of our products or services or website content and features for use by children under the age of sixteen.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

RIFM may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we decide to change our policies regarding privacy, we will post those changes to this Privacy Policy and on other web pages we deem appropriate, so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We recommend that you periodically review this Privacy Policy so that you are aware of any changes. You can determine whether the policy has been changed since you last reviewed it by checking the “Last Updated” date at the top of this web page. This Privacy Policy is not intended to and does not create any contractual or other legal rights in or on behalf of any party.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@rifm.org.