Privacy Policy

The Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) Data Policy refers to our commitment to treat information of members, stakeholders and other interested parties with the utmost care and confidentiality.

With this policy, we ensure that we gather, store and handle data fairly, transparently and with respect towards individual rights.

If you have any comments or questions about this notice, contact us with the subject “Data Policy Inquiry” at info@ota.com.

Scope

This policy refers to all parties (members, product purchasers, etc.) who provide any amount of information to us.

Who is covered under the Data Protection Policy?

Employees of our company and its subsidiaries must follow this policy. OTA Member Community leaders, contractors, consultants, partners and other external entities (“data users”) are also covered in accordance with their own policies. Generally, this policy applies to anyone we collaborate with or who acts on our behalf and requires access to data to further the mission and values of the OTA.

Policy Elements

To fulfill our mission, we need to collect and use information from our members. This includes offline or online data that makes an organization and its employees identifiable such as names, titles, addresses, facility data, etc.

We collect this information transparently:

At the start of an organization’s membership
During event registration
Through website forms
Via third-party vendors

Once collected, the following rules apply:

Data will be accurate and updated as needed
Collected fairly and for lawful purposes only
Processed within legal and moral boundaries
Shared minimally with authorized data users
Stored securely with MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)

Our data will not be:

Sold to third parties
Shared informally
Transferred to entities with inadequate data protection
Distributed beyond the mission of OTA (except for law enforcement)

OTA has responsibilities toward data subjects, including to:

Inform them about what data is collected
Explain how and why data is processed
Clarify who has access to it
Provide provisions for compromised data
Allow access to modify or delete personal data (via OTA Member Portal in 2025)

How We Use Collected Data

We use your data in ways appropriate to the original collection purpose. OTA data users access member data only to provide and operate services.

Dept/Data Users	Purpose	Data Available for Use (Key Elements)	Example(s)Note: The examples stated below are not to be considered an exhaustive list as there may/will be other departmental uses for the available data.
Communications	Member/Non-Member Outreach Promotion Call to Action Info Dissemination Industry Presentations¹	Contact(s) Name, Contact(s) Email, Contact(s) Phone, Industry Scope, Facility Footprint, Membership Status, Sponsorship Status, Payment Information, Event/Organization Photographs, Survey responses	Industry-specific email notification on an issue with a product/item General information emails such as bi-weekly News Flash Photographs taken of speakers and participants at Organic Week
Events (In person, virtual)	Registration and Event Outreach		Invitations to OTA events (general or industry-specific) B2B connections via event apps and/or breakout sessions Attendance information for other attendees or sponsors Photographs taken of speakers and participants at Organic Week Speakers presentations
Finance & Administration	Invoicing Payments Grant Reporting Auditing		Payment captures via our merchant vendor apps Receipts
Legislative	Outreach Congressional Information Sheets		Aggregate publishing for OTA membership footprint by district Contact information for congressional staff for in-district members
International	Outreach Grant Reporting Industry Presentations		Federal Market Access Program (MAP) grants require detailed trip reports of attendees
Media/Press	Press Releases Press Hearings		Contact information for media-screened outreach
Membership	Outreach for Membership Information and Engagement Opportunities		Meeting outreach for sponsorship and engagement opportunities Communicating digital advertising opportunities
Member Communities	Council Participant direct communication		Communications sent through OTA’s member communities’ listserv Peer-to-peer outreach related to council/task force business
Regulatory	Outreach Industry Presentations Surveys		Aggregate publishing of survey data collected for regulatory commenting Contact information for regulatory authorities on screened topics
The Organic Center	Outreach (Fundraising and Research) Grant Partnerships Research Partnerships Surveys		Invitations to meetings and conferences as speaker or attendee Solicitation of letters of support for grant proposals Invitations to participate in research activities including advisory committees, surveys, focus groups, etc.

Actions

To exercise data protection we’re committed to:

Restrict and monitor access to sensitive data
Develop transparent data collection procedures
Train employees in security measures
Maintain secure networks to protect online data from cyberattacks
Establish clear procedures for reporting privacy breaches or data misuse
Include contract clauses or communicate statements on how we handle data
Establish data protection practices (document shredding, secure locks, data encryption, frequent backups, access authorization, etc.)

Our data protection provisions will appear on our website.

Disciplinary Consequences

All principles described in this policy must be strictly followed by OTA data users. A breach of data protection guidelines will invoke disciplinary action.

* Data will be shared as part of group (e.g. industry member make-up where organization/contacts are anonymous)