Privacy Notice


Why we need your data

Your employer has entered in a services agreement with the Association of International Agricultural Research Centers (AIARC) for the provision of employee benefits that require the processing of personal data of eligible employees and their relatives, where applicable. Your employer is the “data controller” under applicable European, UK and Swiss data privacy laws, including under the General Data Protection Regulation (together the “Data Privacy Laws”), and AIARC is the data processor under these Data Privacy Laws.

In order to enroll you in or cover you under employee benefits, your employer must provide sufficient personal data (as defined in the Data Privacy Laws) about you to AIARC, both initially and on an ongoing basis, as may be required under the terms of the relevant employee benefit contract and where applicable for the purposes of processing claims for benefits that may become payable under the contract.

Your employer will explain to you the legal basis for sharing your personal data with AIARC. However, the basis is likely for one or all of the following: 1) necessary to fulfill the contractual obligations (e.g., salary and benefits) related to your employment, 2) necessary to protect your vital interests (emergency medical and security evacuation) while working for your employer, or 3) necessary for compliance with a legal obligation for which your employer may be subject such as AML, CRS, OFAC, etc.


What data we collect

The following data is typically collected to enroll and cover you in the various employee benefit contracts:

  • Name, postal address, email address, birth date, nationality, and gender;
  • Job title, salary, and other relevant financial information for processing payroll or a claim;
  • Health information for the purpose of medical underwriting or in the event of a claim;
  • Eligibility information; and
  • Other personal data supplied directly by employees to include information about family members and beneficiaries.

Your employer may only need to notify you that it will share your personal data with third parties to provide benefits to you. If, however, you are asked to provide your consent to this data sharing with AIARC and your employer does not have any other legal basis to continue to share your personal data with AIARC for these purposes under the Data Privacy laws, you may withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data by AIARC by giving written notice to your employer. However, it must be noted that if AIARC is unable to process your personal data, any employee benefit provided to you under the relevant employee benefit contract on behalf of your employer will terminate immediately.


How we collect data

We obtain personal data from your employer in connection with your employment or engagement and directly from you via the application process (e.g., enrollment forms) and through your data input into our systems and into those of our benefit suppliers (e.g., establishing your personal account for retirement or medical insurance to manage your benefits).

If personal data is provided about members of your family or beneficiaries, it is your responsibility to inform them of their rights with respect to such information. You are also responsible for obtaining the consent of these individuals, unless you can provide such consent on their behalf.


How we use your data

AIARC collects, processes, and stores your personal data in order to carry out its function to provide employee benefits on behalf of your employer. The following is how we typically use your data:

  • We use personal data to complete transactions on your behalf, for example, to process payroll, make retirement contributions and withdrawals, provide emergency medical evacuation services, process claims for medical, death, disability, etc.
  • We use personal data to send administrative information to you, for example, information about various plan policies, benefits, etc. We will not use your personal data for marketing purposes without your prior authorization.
  • We use personal data to provide or improve customer service by responding to your enquiries or complaints or surveying your opinions on plan benefits, where you are content to participate in such surveys.
  • We may use and disclose your personal data to take any action that we believe to be necessary or appropriate:

Who we disclose your personal data to

AIARC will share your personal data with other benefit suppliers when it is necessary to carry out the function of providing benefits to the employees of AIARC member Centers, specifically:

  • We share personal data with our benefit suppliers as required to secure coverage, provide customer service, support and/or improve the programs or services we offer you, or assist you in managing your employee benefits. A list of these benefit suppliers and their respective privacy notices can be found in the links below:
  • Where required and permitted by law, we may disclose your personal data to your employer or to a company acting on your employer’s behalf, so that the entity can monitor, audit and otherwise administer the employee benefit in which you participate.
  • Where required by law, we may disclose your personal data to a government agency that is legally responsible for ensuring compliance with the rules of government benefit programs.
  • All third parties with whom we share your personal data are restricted by contract against using your personal data for any purposes other than the administration of benefits to you or for legal entitlements or their legitimate interests in accordance with the Data Privacy Laws.

How we safeguard your data

Within AIARC, we restrict access to your personal data to those AIARC employees who need to know the information in order to provide employee benefits to you. To protect your personal data, we maintain physical, technical, and organizational safeguards, and we review and adjust these safeguards regularly in response to advances in technology.


Retention of personal data

In accordance with our data retention policy, we will retain your personal data only for as long as is reasonably necessary to achieve the purposes for which it is collected and for our legal entitlements and legitimate business interests.


Access to and accuracy of your personal data and right to raise concerns

You may ask AIARC to provide any personal data that we maintain about you, and you may also ask us to correct any personal data if you believe that it is inaccurate. You can also refer these requests to your employer directly. AIARC may request that you provide sufficient documentation to support any correction of personal data.

If you have questions about your privacy rights, want to review your personal data, correct or delete your personal data, or raise a concern, you can send us an email at privacynotice@aiarc.org or contact us at the following address:

Association of International Agricultural Research Centers

901 North Washington Street

Suite 706

Alexandria, Virginia 22314 USA


Notice Availability and Duration

This Privacy Notice is available for you to view, print and/or download from our website.

AIARC reserves the right to amend the terms of this Notice at any time, and we will post an updated Notice on the aiarc.org website when any terms are amended.

This Notice is effective as of 25 May 2018.