一、免责声明

签证中心尽力确保本网站内容准确无误，但不对网站内容的准确性和完整性做出任何保证。签证中心有权在未预先通知的情况下更改网站内容及网站介绍的服务与价格。网站内容可能过期，但签证中心不承诺对以上内容进行更新。

网站内容不受任何附加条件、承诺及其他任何条款约束下按所呈现内容提供。为此，签证中心在法律许可的最大范围内提供此网站，原则是：签证中心免除所有诉讼、保证和条件以及包括但不限于法律暗示的条件的其他条款的约束。这些法律暗示的条件可能对网站中除本免责声明外其他内容具有法律效力。

 

二、服务协议

第一条 定义

1.1 “使馆”是指中华人民共和国大使馆。

1.2 “总领馆”是指中华人民共和国总领事馆。

1.3 “其他领事机构”是指中华人民共和国领事馆、领事办公室等机构。

1.4 “使领馆”是指使馆(或/和)总领馆(或/和)其他领事机构。

1.5 “中国签证申请服务中心”是指按照符合使领馆规定的工作流程，为客户提供与中国签证申请相关的各项服务的机构，以下简称“申请中心”。

1.6 “客户”是指向申请中心递交中国签证申请的申请人本人或其委托的第三方，包括：个人、旅行社或其它代理机构。

1.7 “客户资料”是指客户提交给申请中心的，以便申请中心向其提供服务所需的纸质、电子介质或其他形式的材料、信息等。

1.8 “个人信息”是指客户递交申请资料中记载的有关个人的一切信息，包括但不限于姓名、性别、出生日期、出生地、婚姻状况、国籍、护照信息、联系电话、个人疾病记录、个人犯罪记录、家庭住址、工作地点、家庭成员信息、视频录像、电话录音、邮件记录等可能涉及个人隐私的信息。

1.9 “网站”是指专门为客户提供信息发布、在线填写申请表、在线预约、签证办理状态查询等各类在线服务的、地址为www.visaforchina.org的互联网网站。

1.10 “基本服务”是指申请中心提供给客户的、与签证申请直接相关的服务。

1.11 “延伸服务”是指申请中心为方便客户而提供的基本服务以外的其它服务。

1.12 “签证费”是指申请中心按照使领馆规定的标准，代使领馆向客户收取的，应向使领馆缴纳的领事规费，包括但不限于签证费、签证加急费、签证特急费等。

1.13 “申请服务费”是指申请中心向客户提供基本服务而向其收取的费用，此费用不包括向客户提供延伸服务而收取的费用。

1.14 “取证单”是指申请中心受理客户提交中国签证申请的凭证，也作为客户向申请中心缴纳签证费、服务费以及取回护照、签证等证件的唯一凭证。

 

第二条 关于申请中心的基本服务范围

2.1 接待客户，按照使领馆的要求整理各类签证申请材料。

2.2 为客户提供有关中间事务性服务，包括基本信息录入、在申请中心和使领馆之间传递护照、签证和客户资料等。

2.3 按照使领馆的要求代收代缴签证费，代使领馆把护照与签证发还给客户。

2.4 通过网站、接待大厅咨询台、咨询电话、传真或电子信箱等，按照使领馆的要求，及时发布和传递有关签证政策信息。

2.5 申请中心在此特别声明，有关签证申请的审查、批准、拒签及签证制作等政府职能均属于使领馆的专属职权，申请中心对此不向客户负担任何承诺、保证、解释或者其它法律义务。

 

第三条 关于接受签证申请服务须知

3.1 客户已明知并在此确认，申请中心不参与中国签证的审批程序，使领馆根据中国有关法律和规定决定是否颁发签证、颁发何种签证及签证的有效期、停留期和入境次数；无论使领馆是否批准客户的签证申请，客户均须向申请中心交纳申请服务费，此费用为不可退还之款项。

3.2 客户可以通过网站或者咨询电话向申请中心进行咨询。客户应当知悉，申请中心非官方机构，其对客户提供的咨询是依据对客户问题的单方面理解以及所了解和掌握的有限信息而提供的免费咨询，旨在为客户申请签证提供帮助，在任何情况下均不得理解为对客户做出了任何承诺、保证或者负担其他法律义务。

3.3 客户应向申请中心提交签证申请所需的客户资料，并保证所有信息均真实可靠完整。客户应当明知并同意，申请中心对客户资料的受理并不意味着这些客户资料已经充分，在任何情况下，使领馆均有权要求客户补充其认为必要的客户资料或要求申请人本人到使领馆面谈。

3.4 客户在取得申请中心出具的取证单时，应仔细检查其所载明的内容，确保无误。如发现有误，客户应及时告知申请中心，申请中心将尽快予以修改。

3.5 客户在领取签证时，应核对签证所载内容，确保无误。如发现有误，客户应及时告知申请中心，申请中心将尽力协助客户修改或换发签证。客户已明知，如果因为客户自身的原因导致签证记载内容错误，则修改或换发签证会发生新的费用。

3.6 为保证服务安全和服务质量，申请中心安装了网络监控系统和电话录音系统，客户在申请中心的举动以及与申请中心之间的电话内容均有可能会被记录并保存下来。客户在此明知并同意接受前述安排。

3.7 除非申请中心另有通知，否则客户应当于签证有效期届满前领取护照签证；逾期未领取的申请中心不再承担其保管义务；签证有效期届满，或者，自使领馆做出核发或者拒发签证决定之日起365日后，申请中心有权将有关证件提交使领馆，由使领馆退还给护照签发国政府主管部门。

 

第四条 关于个人信息的使用与保护

4.1 客户在此同意并确认，无论其通过网络、直接或者委托第三方递交给申请中心的个人信息，均可以按照本条约定被采集、传输、存储、处理和使用。

4.2 为了处理客户的签证申请，申请中心须通过客户提交的申请材料对相关的客户个人信息进行采集并录入系统。

4.3 申请中心会通过电话、电子邮件、传真、申请材料(含护照、照片)、网上填表系统、网上预约系统、监控系统等媒介采集客户的个人信息。

4.4 个人信息将通过申请中心的专有渠道提交给使领馆并可能被传输至和存储在客户居住国以外的国家，如：中华人民共和国。

4.5 个人信息，包括视频录像、电话录音、电子信息等，可能被申请中心在有必要时(如因当地政府有关主管部门提出要求或内部服务监督需要等)提取使用。

4.6 客户提供的纸质信息，将转交至使领馆保存。申请中心将采取物理或电子形式保存客户信息，并采取合理的管理措施防止客户信息泄露和未经授权的使用，确保正确使用所有信息。

4.7 申请中心将根据当地法律规定，采集、传输、存储、处理和使用所有的客户信息，目的是为了履行申请中心的法定责任和义务，包括但不限于申请中国签证。

4.8 申请中心将采取各种合理措施保护客户个人信息和证件的安全，但不承担向使领馆送办、自使领馆取回过程中因自然灾害(天灾)等不可抗力、意外、盗窃等导致的后果。

 

第五条 关于责任

5.1 如果客户提交的护照是在申请中心保管过程中丢失或损毁的，申请中心将承担申请人通过正常程序向本国护照管理部门申请补办护照时所交纳的相关合理费用，申请中心将在收到申请人提供的有关付款凭证时支付该费用，但本约定不代表申请中心需要承担任何责任。

5.2 客户应当根据出行计划合理地安排提交签证申请的时间，在任何情况下因客户提交签证申请的时间安排不合适，或者，使领馆对签证审批结果，导致客户出行计划受到任何影响的，申请中心均不对此承担任何责任。

5.3 如果客户要求申请中心以邮寄方式将使领馆审批后的护照签证返还，对于因邮寄延误、投递错误，或者非因申请中心原因导致的任何证件损坏或者遗失，申请中心均不承担任何责任。

5.4 在法律许可的范围内，除本协议中明确规定的条款和保证之外，申请中心不接受其他任何有关签证申请服务的明示或暗示的条件和保证。当法律排斥这些除外责任时，并认为本条款中暗示某些条件或保证(以下简称“隐含条款”)时，申请中心对此类“隐含条款”的违反仅承担有限责任，且有权在以下一项或多项中选择承担责任的方式：

(1)重新提供相关申请服务；或

(2)重新申请所产生的费用；或

(3)客户向本国管理部门或机构支付的相关服务费用(需提供付款凭证)。

5.5 客户承认并同意，申请中心在任何情况下均无需对客户或其他通过客户所主张的间接、偶然、特定(或/和)连带损失，或者，在机会、商业、商誉、停业方面的损失承担责任，不论该损失是否与签证申请服务有关，也不论是否是由于申请中心管理人员、职员、雇员或代表错误、遗漏或者失误造成的。

5.6上述规定受申请中心所在地法律管辖，如出现与签证申请服务相关的诉讼，应提交申请中心所在地法院进行管辖和审理。

 

第六条 其它条款

6.1 申请中心可能在不预先通知的前提下，修改、取消或收回一些或所有条款。如果不同意有关条款的变更，客户可以拒绝申请中心提供的服务。

6.2 客户同意并确认，其已阅读、理解并同意接受本协议所有条款。

三、隐私条款

Who we are

Your information will be held by China Bridge Group (UK) Limited, which is a company incorporated in England (company number 6505224) and which has its registered office at 1 Lothbury, London EC2R 7DB. China Bridge Group (UK) Limited is part of the Bank of China Group. When we refer to 'we', 'us' and 'our' in this Privacy Notice, we mean China Bridge Group (UK) Limited. If you are an organisation (or a person or person(s) representing an organisation), references to 'you' and 'your' include the organisation, together with the people representing or connected with the organisation (such as proprietors, officers, beneficial owners, settlors and beneficiaries) where this is appropriate.

More information about the Bank of China Group can be found at www.bankofchina.com

Introduction

We take your privacy seriously and this Privacy Notice tells you how we will look after your personal information.

We recommend you read this Privacy Notice very carefully because it contains important information about:

·        the personal information we collect about you and how we process it

·        who we might share your personal information with

·        your rights in relation to your personal information – for example, how to get a copy of your personal information and how to ask us to correct or remove information

Our promises to you

We promise:

• To keep your personal information safe and private.
• Not to sell your personal information.

How the law protects you

Your privacy is also protected by UK law, which says that we are allowed to use your personal information only if we have a proper reason to do so. The law says we must be able to rely on one or more of the following reasons:

• to perform our contract with you; or
• to comply with our legal obligations; or
• when we have your consent to do so (if consent is needed); or

Special categories of personal data

Some categories of personal information are treated as special. These are called 'special categories of personal data'. We will only collect and use these special categories of personal data if the law allows us to do so:

·      information about your religious, political or philosophical beliefs

·      information about your trade union membership

·      genetic data

·      your biometric data, for the purpose of identifying you

·      information about your health

·      information about your sex life or sexual orientation

·      information about any criminal convictions or offences, or alleged criminal activity

If we process a special category of personal data, we will only do it if one of the following conditions is satisfied:

(1)       There is a substantial public interest - for example, if we use information from criminal records to prevent, detect or prosecute fraud or unlawful acts. This also applies in situations where we find out that you have a health issue and we need to use this information in order to provide you with services that are suitable to you, and to ensure that you are treated fairly and equally.

(2)       To protect or enforce our legal rights, or to defend claims.

(3)       With your explicit consent.

(4)       To protect your vital interests, where you are unable to give your consent – for example, if we need to give you urgent medical assistance when you are in one of our Visa Centres.

Type of Personal Information Used

We may obtain and use different kinds of personal information about you, depending on our relationship with you. In this section, we will set out the types of information we may obtain. We have separated these into groups, and for each group we give a brief explanation of what this type of information could include.

Type of personal information	Description
Biographical	Your name and date of birth.
Financial	Your financial position, status and history, including details of your income and expenditure.
Contact	Your postal address, telephone number(s), email address and other contact details, including how to contact you.
Socio-Demographic	Details about your work or profession, nationality, education.
Communications	What we learn about you from letters, emails and telephone conversations between you and us.
Relationships	Your family and other relationships.
Documentary Data	Details about you that are stored in documents in different formats, or copies of them. This could include things like your passport, identity card, driver’s licence or birth certificate.
Consents	Any permissions, consents or preferences that you give us.
National Identifier	A number or code given to you by a government to identify who you are, such as an identity card.

Where we collect personal information from

We may collect personal information from any of these sources:

Information you give to us

·        When you apply for our services

·        When you talk to us on the phone or in branch (we record calls on some of our telephone lines, and we use CCTV on some of our premises to ensure the safety and security of our staff and customers)

·        In emails, letters and faxes

Information we collect when you use our products and services

This includes the amount, frequency, type, location, origin and recipients:

·        Payment

Information from third parties

 

• People acting on your behalf (for example, your solicitor or accountant)
• Companies that introduce you to us
• Companies involved in processing payments
• Employers (for example, if we ask for evidence of employment and salary)
• Government and law enforcement agencies

How we will use your personal information

In the table below we explain the various situations in which we will use your personal information. We have separated these into groups, and for each group we give a brief explanation of:

• how we can use your personal information
• the reasons we can rely on when using your personal information
• the legitimate interests we can rely on for doing so

HOW WE CAN USE YOUR INFORMATION	OUR REASONS FOR DOING THIS	OUR LEGITIMATE INTERESTS IN DOING THIS
To process your visa applications to you
· To provide the services you have applied for · To process your instructions · To manage complaints and seek to resolve them · To fix mistakes	·  performing our contract ·  our legal obligations ·  your consent ·  our legitimate interests	·  protecting and enforcing our legal rights ·  obtaining your consent to do something, when we need this
To advise you as to whether a service is suitable for you
· to advise you on the suitability of a service, where we offer an advice service	·  performing our contract ·  our legal obligations ·  your consent ·  our legitimate interests	·  protecting and enforcing our legal rights
To manage, develop and improve our business
· To run our business in an efficient and proper way, and in accordance with the laws and regulations that apply to us · To study how customers use our services · To develop new ways to meet our customers' needs and provide our services · To improve and update our brands, services, or develop and test new ones · To update and improve our business processes, and the way we work with other Visa Agencies who provide services to us or to our customers · To respond to changes in law or regulation	·  our legal obligations ·  your consent ·  our legitimate interests	·  developing our business and making it stronger ·  improving the efficiency of our business and reducing costs
To exercise our legal rights
· To exercise our rights under law or regulations · To exercise our rights under our contracts with you or with third parties	·  performing our contract ·  our legitimate interests	·  protecting and enforcing our legal rights

Who we share your personal information with

We may share your personal information with other companies within the Bank of China Group and with these organisations:

• ChineseEmbassy/ConsulatesGeneralin UK
• The police and other law enforcement agencies
• Organisations that introduce you to us 
• Any person you have appointed to act as your contact with us (for example, a person acting as your representative under a power of attorney)

Mergers and takeovers

We may share your personal information if the structure of our company or the Bank of China Group changes in the future. We may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business, or our assets. Or we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. 

During any such process, we may share your personal information with organisations involved in the process (such as the company we are looking to sell, transfer or merge part of our business or assets with, and any funders), as well as their advisers. We will only do this if they agree to keep your personal information safe and private.

If the change to our Group happens, then other parties may use your personal information in the same way as set out in this notice.

Automated decision making

Automated decision making is when a decision is made about you based only on automated means, without any human involvement. Some organisations use automated decision making when deciding whether you are able to afford credit, or whether to accept your application for a product or service. We do not currently use automated decision making technology. Any decisions which we make are made by our personnel and are subject to internal reviews and approvals.

Sending your personal information outside of the EEA

We will transfer your personal information to locations outside of the European Economic Area ('EEA'). Inparticular, your personal information will be transferred to andstored by the Chinese Ministry Of Foreign Affairs,who are located in the People’s Republic of China and who provide services to us.Where we transfer your personal information to such recipients, we use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give your personal information the same protection as it has in the EEA. 

When we transfer personal informationoutside of the EEA, we will make sure that it is protected in the same way as if it were being used in the EEA. This means that either the European Commission has decided that the country concerned has an adequate level of protection for your personal information, or that we have put in place our own measures to ensure your personal information is protected to an adequate level. These measures include ensuring that your personal information is kept safe, by carrying out strict security checks on our overseas providers, and by entering into contractual arrangements.

If you would like further information about the specific mechanisms we use to when transferring your personal information out of the EEA, please email your query to datapro.uk@mail.notes.bank-of-china.com or write to us at this address:  
Data Protection Officer, China Bridge Group (UK) Limited, 1 Lothbury, London, EC2R 7DB

If you choose not to give personal information

We may need to collect personal information to comply with our legal obligations, or under the terms of a contract we have with you.

If you choose not to give us this personal information, it may delay or prevent us from meeting our obligations. It may also mean that we cannot perform services needed to process your visa application. It could mean that we cancel a service you have with us.

If it is optional for you to give us certain information, we will tell you at the time we ask for that information.

How long we keep your personal information

We will keep your personal information for as long as you are a customer of China Bridge Group (UK) Limited (UK) Limited. After you stop being a customer, we will typically keep your personal information for up to 7 years for one of these reasons: 

·        To respond to any questions or complaints

·        To show that we treated you fairly

·        To maintain records according to rules that apply to us

We may keep your personal information for longer than 7 years if we cannot delete it for legal, regulatory or technical reasons. We may also keep it for research or statistical purposes. If we do, we will make sure that your privacy is protected and only use it for those purposes.

How to get a copy of your personal information

You can access the personal information we hold about you, along with information on how we use it and why, who we share it with and how long we keep it. You can do this by calling into your local branch, by speaking to your relationship manager, by emailing us at datapro.uk@mail.notes.bank-of-china.com or by writing to us at this address:  

Data Protection Officer, China Bridge Group (UK) Limited, 1 Lothbury, London, EC2R 7DB

Letting us know if your personal information is incorrect

You have the right to question any information we have about you that you think is wrong or incomplete. You can do this by calling into your local branch, by speaking to your relationship manager, by emailing us at datapro.uk@mail.notes.bank-of-china.com or by writing to us at this address:  

Data Protection Officer, China Bridge Group (UK) Limited, 1 Lothbury, London, EC2R 7DB

If you do, we will take all reasonable steps to check its accuracy and correct it.

What if you want us to stop using your personal information?

You have the right to object to our use of your personal information, or to ask us to delete, remove, or stop using your personal information if there is no need for us to keep it. These rights are known as the ‘right to object’ and the ‘right to erasure’, or the ‘right to be forgotten’.

There may be legal or other official reasons why we need to keep or use your personal information. If you think that we should not be using it, however, you should tell us.

We may sometimes be able to restrict the use of your personal information. This means that it can only be used for certain things, such as legal claims or to exercise legal rights. In this situation, we would not use or share your information in other ways while it is restricted.

You can ask us to restrict the use of your personal information if:

·        It is not accurate

·        It has been used unlawfully but you do not want us to delete it

·        It not relevant any more, but you want us to keep it for use in legal claims

·              You have already asked us to stop using your personal information but you are waiting for us to tell you if we are allowed to keep on using it

If you want to object to how we use your personal information, or ask us to delete it or restrict how we use it or, you can do this by emailing us at datapro.uk@mail.notes.bank-of-china.com or by writing to us at this address:  

Data Protection Officer, China Bridge Group (UK) Limited, 1 Lothbury, London, EC2R 7DB

Your right of 'data portability'

You can ask us to give you or a third party some of the information that we hold about you. This is called your right of 'data portability'. If you exercise this right we will provide the information in a structured, commonly used electronic form.

You can contact us to exercise your right of data portabilityby calling into your local branch, by speaking to your relationship manager, by emailing us at datapro.uk@mail.notes.bank-of-china.com or by writing to us at this address:  

Data Protection Officer, China Bridge Group (UK) Limited, 1 Lothbury, London, EC2R 7DB

How to withdraw your consent

If the reason we are relying on to hold and use your personal information is based on your consent, you can withdraw your consent. You can do this by calling into your local branch, by speaking to your relationship manager, by emailing us at datapro.uk@mail.notes.bank-of-china.com or by writing to us at this address:  

Data Protection Officer, China Bridge Group (UK) Limited, 1 Lothbury, London, EC2R 7DB

If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. If this is the case, we will tell you.

How to complain

Please let us know if you are unhappy with how we have used your personal information. You can contact us by calling into your local branch, by speaking to your relationship manager, by emailing us at datapro.uk@mail.notes.bank-of-china.com or by writing to us at this address:  

Data Protection Officer, China Bridge Group (UK) Limited, 1 Lothbury, London, EC2R 7DB

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Find out on their website how to report a concern. (https://ico.org.uk/concerns/)

We will not charge you where you exercise any of your rights under data protection law in most circumstances. We may however charge a fee for responding to subject access requests which are manifestly unfounded or excessive. We will respond to your requests in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may change this Notice from time to time. You should check this Notice occasionally to ensure that you are aware of the most recent version that will apply each time you access the website.