1. Your personal data – what is it?

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data.  Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”).

2. Who are we? 

The Chaplaincy Council of St Nicholas, Helsinki is the data controller (contact details below).  This means it decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes.

3. How do we process your personal data?

The Chaplaincy Council of St Nicholas, Helsinki complies with its obligations under the “GDPR” by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

  • To enable us to provide a voluntary service for the benefit of the public as specified in our constitution; 
  • To administer membership records; 
  • To fundraise and promote the interests of the Church; 
  • To manage our employees and volunteers; 
  • To maintain our own accounts and records;
  • To inform you of news, events, activities and services running at the Anglican Church in Finland;
  • To share your contact details with the Diocesan office (Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe) so they can keep you informed about news in the diocese and events, activities and services that will be occurring in the diocese and in which you may be interested. Your personal data is shared with the Diocesan office in the case you are a member of the Chaplaincy Council, Church Warden, synodical representative or member or, in matters relating to our Safeguarding Policy, including checks and training.

    The Diocese in Europe office is located at 14 Tufton Street, London SW1P 3QZ, United Kingdom. As of 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the European Union.

4. What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

  • Explicit consent of the data subject so that we can keep you informed about news, events, activities and services and keep you informed about diocesan events.
  • Processing is necessary for carrying out legal obligations under employment, social security or social protection law, or a collective agreement;
  • Processing is carried out by a not-for-profit body with a political, philosophical, religious or trade union aim provided: –
    • the processing relates only to members or former members (or those who have regular contact with it in connection with those purposes); and 
    • there is no disclosure to a third party without consent. 

5. Sharing your personal data
Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared with other members of the church in order to carry out a service to other church members or for purposes connected with the church. We will only share your data with third parties outside of the church with your consent (Please see Section 3 for how the data is shared within the Church).

6. How long do we keep your personal data?
We keep data in accordance with the guidance set out in the guide “Keep or Bin: Care of Your Parish Records” which is available from the Church of England website [see footnote for link].

Specifically, we retain electoral roll data while it is still current; gift aid declarations and associated paperwork for up to 6 years after the calendar year to which they relate; and parish registers (baptisms, marriages, funerals) permanently.

7. Your rights and your personal data  

Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data: –

  • The right to request a copy of your personal data which the Chaplaincy Council of St Nicholas, Helsinki holds about you; 
  • The right to request that the Chaplaincy Council of St Nicholas, Helsinki corrects any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date;  
  • The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for the Chaplaincy Council of St Nicholas, Helsinki to retain such data;
  • The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time
  • The right to request that the data controller provide the data subject with his/her personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller, (known as the right to data portability), (where applicable) [Only applies where the processing is based on consent or is necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject and in either case the data controller processes the data by automated means].
  • The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing;
  • The right to object to the processing of personal data, (where applicable) [Only applies where processing is based on legitimate interests (or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority); direct marketing and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics]
  • The right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Ombudsman (Tietosuojavaltuutettu).

8. Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Data Protection Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.

9. Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries of complaints please in the first instance contact the Anglican Church in Finland’s office at

Anglican Church in Finland
Sarah Tahvanainen
Tehtaankatu 23 B
00150 Helsinki
e-mail: office@anglican.fi . 

You can contact the Data Protection Ombudsman on +358 29 56 16670 (Monday to Wednesday: 9 am to 4 pm) or via email tietosuoja@om.fi or at the Data Protection Ombudsman’s Office, P.O. Box 800,  00521 Helsinki, FINLAND.


Details about retention periods can currently be found in the Record Management Guides located on the Church of England website.