Gerard Design, Inc. ("Gerard") complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries transferred to the United States pursuant to Privacy Shield. Gerard has certified that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles with respect to such data. If there is any conflict between the policies in this privacy policy and data subject rights under the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification page, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov.

This notice explains Gerard’s policy regarding information received with regard to our website visitors, the website of applications that we oversee, the email address and other information given to us either directly or through our clients, and other client data managed by Gerard. We guarantee our commitment to respecting and protecting your online privacy. This includes your need and your right to know what we do with the personal information you share with us and your right to access your personal data. It also guides our policies regarding the management of this data, including how the information is collected, processed, and for what purposes. By accessing this website you are consenting to the way information is collected and used, as described within this privacy policy. In return, Gerard commits that we will use the personal data you provide only in ways that are compatible with this privacy policy.

Every time you visit our website your IP (Internet Protocol) address registers on our servers. Your IP address reveals no information other than the number assigned to you. We do not use this technology to get any personal data against your knowledge or free will (i.e., automatically recording e-mail addresses of visitors). Nor do we use it for any purpose other than to help us monitor traffic on our website. If at any time you wish that we cease to communicate with you, and/or do not want us to disclose your personal data, please use this Opt Out Here link.

If a visitor interacts with us by completing our CONTACT ME form, the visitor becomes a lead. We collect this data for sales and marketing purposes, to allow us to respond to a request from a lead so that we may provide information about our services. We use SharpSpring to store data provided by completing our Contact Me form. You can opt out to prevent your data from being stored by SharpSpring by visiting https://sharpspring.com/legal/privacy/.

Users who have an account with SharpSpring have the right to review, change, or suppress personal data that we have collected from them. You can also contact us at info@gerardagency.com. We may need to retain certain information for mandatory record keeping purposes and/or to complete any in-process requests that you began. Residual information may remain within our databases and other records, but it will no longer be tied to your identity.

We use Google Analytics to collect information about visitor behavior on our website. Google Analytics stores information such as what pages people visit, how long they’re on the site, how they got here and what they click on. This Analytics data is not tied to personally identifiable information. This information cannot be used to identify who you are. You can opt-out here to prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics.

We may use Google AdWords Remarketing to advertise across the Internet. AdWords remarketing will display relevant ads tailored to you based on what parts of the Gerard website you have viewed, by placing a cookie on your machine. This cookie does not in any way identify you or give us access to your computer. If you do not wish to participate in our Google AdWords Remarketing, you can opt out by visiting Google’s Ads Preferences Manager.

Dispute Resolution: You may direct any inquiries or complaints concerning our Privacy Shield compliance to info@gerardagency.com. Gerard shall respond within 45 days. If your complaint cannot be resolved through Gerard’s internal processes, Gerard is committed to cooperate, at no cost to the individual, with the panel established by the EU data protection authorities (DPAs) as our independent recourse mechanism (IRM) https://privacyshield.uscib.org/. In addition, Gerard has registered with JAMS as our alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provider, https://www.jamsadr.com/.

The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over Gerard’s compliance with Privacy Shield. An individual has the possibility, under certain conditions, to invoke binding arbitration for complaints regarding Privacy Shield compliance not resolved by any of the other Privacy Shield mechanisms. For additional information, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/article?id=ANNEX-I-introduction.

Law & Order and the Public Interest: We may disclose your information to third parties if we determine that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or appropriate government request; (b) protect any person from death or serious bodily injury; (c) protect Gerard’s rights, property, safety, or interest; or (d) perform a task carried out in the public interest.

Accountability for Onward Transfer: During the course of providing services, Gerard may contract a third-party Processor. In such cases, a contractual agreement between Gerard and the third-party Processor will be in place. Gerard will determine that any third-party Processor adheres to the obligation of providing at least the same level of privacy protection as is required by the Privacy Shield Principles before such an agreement is made. Any Personal Data transferred to a third-party will be for limited and specified purposes.

Gerard complies with the Privacy Shield’s Principle regarding accountability for onward transfers. Gerard remains liable under the Principles if its agent processes such personal information in a manner inconsistent with the Principles, unless Gerard proves that it is not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

Third Party Services: This Privacy Policy does not apply to any third-party website, service or social media button ("Third Party Service") that may be linked to our site, such as links to an article or social networking buttons (for example, Facebook or Twitter). We have no control over, and are not responsible for, their data collection and/or handling practices. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of these Third-Party Services. The inclusion of a link to a Third Party’s Service does not imply that we endorse any of the third party’s products, services or data handling practices; or that this Privacy Policy covers the third parties’ products, services or practices.

Contacting Us
If you have any questions regarding this privacy policy, please contact us at: info@gerardagency.com.