- Privacy policy & Cookies
Privacy policy & Cookies
The The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) website (www.defra.gov.uk/fera) and any subsidiary websites in the domain fera.defra.gov.uk are owned and operated by Fera. Fera does not automatically collect personal information from visitors to this site, unless it is voluntarily provided.
Some non-personal information is collected by the Fera webserver, in order to continually improve the site and tailor it to the needs of visitors to the site.
Information tracked includes the type of browser being used by the visitor (e.g. Netscape©, Microsoft © Internet Explorer), the type of operating system (e.g. Apple Macintosh©, Microsoft Windows©) in use by the visitor and the domain name of the visitor's Internet Service Provider (e.g. AOL©) or corporate domain.
By having this information, Fera is able to review the number of visitors to the site but only in an aggregate and non-personally identifiable form.
Email addresses and other personally identifiable data about visitors to this site are known to Fera only when voluntarily submitted.
Fera will only collect personal information with consent of users of the site. Cases may include but are not limited to the following:
- (i) registration for marketing communications
- (ii) subscription to parts of the site
- (iii) submission of general enquiries
Fera may use such information for the purpose of communicating with the user in the future (to the extent that is explained when visitors provide the information).
We will never share, sell or rent individual personal information with anyone without your advance permission or unless ordered by a court of law.
Use of Cookies
Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to an individual's hard drive for record keeping purposes. Cookies make web surfing easier by saving basic contact information whilst at the Fera site. The use of cookies is an industry standard - they can be found at most major websites.
By showing how and when guests use the site, cookies help Fera see which areas are popular and which are not. Many improvements and updates to the site are based on data such as total number of visitors and pages viewed. This information is most easily tracked with cookies. If you accept a cookie from www.defra.gov.uk/fera, it will not only help avoid having to fill out multiple forms as the site is traversed, but it will also help Fera to learn how to continue improving the site based on the experiences of the users.
Examples of how www.defra.gov.uk/fera uses cookies:
- A cookie lets the computers remember that you have registered on the site for any given site visit, which allows Fera to speed up additional activities at the site during that visit.
How www.defra.gov.uk/fera does not use cookies:
- www.defra.gov.uk/fera never uses cookies to retrieve information from your computer that was not originally sent in a cookie
- Except as described below, www.defra.gov.uk/fera does not use information transferred through cookies for any promotional or marketing purposes, nor is the information shared with any third parties whatsoever
- www.defra.gov.uk/fera does not use cookies to identify specific individuals, except in cases such as demo registration (where a cookie allows you to register once to download a demo without registering again each time you download subsequent demos in the same session)
Our use of Cookies
When we provide services, we want to make them easy, useful and reliable. Where services are delivered on the internet, this sometimes involves placing small amounts of information on your device, for example, computer or mobile phone. These include small files known as cookies. They cannot be used to identify you personally.
These pieces of information are used to improve services for you through, for example:
- enabling a service to recognise your device so you don't have to give the same information several times during one task
- recognising that you may already have given a username and password so you don't need to do it for every web page requested
- measuring how many people are using services, so they can be made easier to use and there's enough capacity to ensure they are fast
You can manage these small files yourself and learn more about them through "Internet browser cookies - what they are and how to manage them".
Our website asks your browser to set these Cookies for a finite period of time.
Name: surveysCompleted
Typical content: If you have answered a survey on our website, this Cookie prevents you receiving another invitation to respond to it.
Expires: 30 years
Name: CFID,CFTOKEN
To remember your selections or preferences that you've already made when looking at information or using a service and once you have logged on with username and password, so you don't have to do it for every Web page you request from our service.
Expires: 30 years
Name: JSESSIONID
As our site is accessed by more than one person at a time, this Cookie is used to allow us to tell them apart from one another.
Expires: when user exits browser
Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you would prefer, you can set your browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. However, it is possible that some parts of the site will not function properly if you do so.
By using this site, you signify your acceptance of the Fera Privacy Policy. Fera reserves the right to make updates to its privacy statement at its sole discretion, and you are advised to check these conditions regularly.
'Opting out' of marketing communications
All marketing communications (e.g. email newsletter, brochure, newsletter, etc.) sent by Fera contain easy ways for you to 'Opt out' of further communications. Alternatively, if you wish to unsubscribe at anytime, simply email .