Terms & Conditions

This statement relates to our privacy practices in connection with how the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) processes your data in our capacity as a data controller, including through this website. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other websites. Any external links to other websites are clearly identifiable as such. Some technical terms used in this statement are explained at the end of this page

SEAI fully respects your right to privacy. This Data Protection and Privacy Statement relates to our privacy practices in connection with the use of personal data. This Data Protection and Privacy Statement is intended to help you understand what personal data SEAI collects about you, why we collect it, what we do with it, who we may share it with and how we protect it. It also details the rights available to you in relation to how we hold and use your personal data, how to exercise those rights, and what to do if you require more information or wish to make a complaint. The use of “we”, “us”, “our” and “ours” in this Data Protection and Privacy Statement refer to SEAI. You can find out more on our About Us webpage.

“Personal Data” is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (“Data Subject”); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier such as a user IP address or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person and includes Special Categories of Personal Data.

"Special Categories of Personal Data" means any Personal Data that reveals racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership; genetic data or biometric data and data concerning health or sex life and sexual orientation.

We ensure that the personal information we collect is appropriate to the purposes for which it is obtained and is processed in compliance with the provisions of Applicable Data Protection Law which means in no particular order:

• The General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the “GDPR”));
• The Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018;
• The European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks & Services) (Privacy & Electronic Communications) Regulations 2011;
• The EU ePrivacy Directive 2002/58/EC (as amended) (the “ePrivacy Directive”);
• Any successor or replacement to the laws set out above; and

All other industry guidelines (whether statutory or non-statutory) or applicable codes of practice and guidance notes issued from time to time by the Data Protection Commission relating to the processing of personal data or privacy.

SEAI is a "Controller" under the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) ("GDPR") in respect of certain personal data you furnish to us.

We collect and process personal data relating to you in connection with our relationship with you. Types of personal data includes but are not limited to:

• your assesor number, name and contact details, including your address, phone number, mobile number and email address;
• your IP address;
• any other personal data relating to you that you provide to us or that we generate about you in connection with our relationship with you, including records of any consent you have given and your use of the SEAI website.

We mainly collect and record your personal data from you. You will provide this information directly to us, by signing up to the members area.

When you visit the SEAI website, we gather cookies, statistical and other analytical information collected on an aggregate basis of all visitors to our website. This non-personal data comprises information that cannot be used to identify or contact you, such as demographic information regarding, for example, user IP addresses where they have been clipped or anonymised, browser types and other anonymous statistical data involving the use of our website.

SEAI does not collect any personal data about you on this website, apart from information which you volunteer.

Please view our cookie policy here.

The Personal Data that is referred to above will be processed for the purposes of:

• providing customer service to you and contacting you if required to respond to any communications you might send to us;
• improving the services which we provide to you;
• improving our existing schemes;
• developing new schemes;
• responding to requests and providing information;
• detecting and preventing fraud and other crime; and
• a range of other activities which we are obliged to undertake, or which we have gained your consent to complete.

Our legal bases for collecting and using this information in accordance with the provisions of this Data Protection and Privacy Statement are:

• that it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you;
• that it is necessary in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you;
• that it is necessary for the performance of tasks that we carry out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us by law (including the Sustainable Energy Act, 2002)
• that it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that applies to us; or
• that you have provided consent to us for the use of your personal data.

Where you have provided consent for the use of your personal data, you can withdraw it at any time by informing dataprotection@seai.ie, however, this will not affect the lawfulness of processing which was carried out based on your consent prior to its withdrawal.

As part of our ongoing operations, SEAI contracts certain third parties to carry out services on our behalf and, we may share your information with our service providers who provide us with support services. We disclose your personal data to various recipients in connection with the above purposes, examples include:

• third parties who we engage to provide services to us, such as outsourced service providers, IT service providers, professional advisers, lawyers, consultants and auditors;
• other public authorities and bodies where required or permitted by law, such as the Revenue Commissioners, the Comptroller and Auditor General, An Garda Síochána or other law enforcement authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation or detection of crime; and
• comply with any applicable law or regulation, a summons, search warrant, court or regulatory order, or other statutory requirement.

SEAI expects such third parties to process any data disclosed to them in accordance with applicable law, including with respect to data confidentiality and security. Where these third parties act as a “data processor” (for example, a call centre operator) they carry out their tasks on our behalf and upon our instructions for the above mentioned purposes. In this case your personal data will only be disclosed to these parties to the extent necessary to provide required services. We ensure that these third parties are subject to appropriate contracts and other safeguards.

Where you communicate with us via the SEAI website, the nature of the internet is such that we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us via the internet. No data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. However, we will take all reasonable steps (including appropriate technical and organisational measures) to protect your personal data.

We keep our computer systems, files and buildings secure by following legal requirements and international security guidance.

We make sure that our staff, and anyone with access to personal data that we are responsible for, are fully trained on how to protect personal data.

We ensure that our processes clearly identify the requirements for managing personal data and that they are up to date.

We regularly audit our systems and processes to ensure that we remain compliant with these policies and legal obligations.

SEAI aims to ensure that all personal data are correct. SEAI captures, stores and processes your personal data in order to carry out a range of activities. You have a range of rights available to you to give you confidence that your data is appropriately managed.

You have the right, without undue delay, to:

Gain access to and copies of your personal data: you are entitled to receive, on request and free of charge, a copy of all your personal data that we hold. There are some limitations to this right. For example, if the data also relates to another person and we do not have that person’s consent, or if the data is subject to legal privilege. Where there is data that we cannot disclose, we will explain this to you.

Ensuring that your data is accurate: our aim is to ensure that the data we hold about you is correct and up to date. From time to time we may contact you to verify the information that we hold. You may also contact us to correct any errors that you notice.

Granting or removing consent: where we require your consent for any processing, for example, to provide you with direct marketing communications, we will clearly explain what the consent is for, and any consequences of giving or refusing consent, and will provide that consent can only be given by way of a positive action by you. We will also ensure that you are able to withdraw any such consent at any time.

Restricting processing of your data: you have the right to request us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example, if there is a dispute over our rights to carry out specific processing activities, or where you do not want us to delete data. We will respond promptly to your request and will provide an explanation if we cannot fully comply.

Deletion of your data: in certain circumstances, you may have the right to have some or all of your personal data deleted from our records. This is sometimes referred to as the “right to be forgotten”. This may occur if, for example, we retain data which is no longer required by us, or if you withdraw a consent. If you continue to have a relationship with us, we must retain the data we need to manage this relationship. We will respond promptly to your request, and provide reasons if we object to the deletion of any of your personal data.

International transfers of data: in certain circumstances, we may transfer your personal information internationally, including outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). Should we do this, we ensure that all transfers are made in accordance with data protection law and that your data it will be given an equivalent level of protection that it has when it is being managed in Ireland.

Right to complain: You also have a right to complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commission if we fail to meet the required standards of data protection. You can contact the Office of the Data Protection Commission at:

Telephone: +353 (0)57 868 4800 or +353 761 104 800
Postal Address: Data Protection Commission: 21 Fitzwilliam Square South Dublin 2 D02 RD28 Ireland Webforms https://forms.dataprotection.ie/contact

In certain circumstances, you have the right to pursue a remedy through the Courts if we fail to meet the required standards of data protection. 

The collection and use of your personal data by SEAI is overseen by SEAI’s Data Protection Officer. If you wish to exercise any of your rights above or if, for any reason, you have a request or complaint about our use of your personal information, or you are unhappy in any way with the information we provide to you, we would like you to contact us directly so that we can address your complaint.

If you wish to contact our Data Protection Officer, you can do so in the following ways:

By email: dataprotection@seai.ie

SEAI endeavours to ensure that personal data are kept as current as possible and that irrelevant or excessive data are deleted or made anonymous as soon as reasonably practicable. We generally retain personal data for as long as is required to satisfy the purpose for which it was collected. We are required to keep certain types of information for a specific period of time in order to comply with legal requirements. The length of time we keep any part of your personal information will depend on the type of information and the purpose for which it was obtained.

SEAI may change this Data Protection and Privacy Statement at any time. Any changes to this privacy statement will be posted on this website, so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.