Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice details our use of your personal information.

The Government of Bermuda’s Department of Planning takes your privacy seriously and will only use your personal information to deliver the services you have requested or require.

Please read this document carefully and contact us if you have any questions.

Who are we?

Government of Bermuda | Department of Planning
44 Church Street | City of Hamilton, HM12, Bermuda
(441) 297-7756
planningfrontdesk@gov.bm
For any general query please contact us at this phone number or email address.

Who is our privacy officer?

Our Privacy Officers are:

Victoria Cordeiro – Director

Paul McDonald – Assistant Director

If you have any general questions regarding this Privacy Notice or our use of your personal information, please contact either one of our Privacy Officers at:
(441) 297-7756 or email planningfrontdesk@gov.bm

Website Data Usage

The Department of Planning’s website, found at www.planning.gov.bm, is intended to provide you with information and services provided by the Department of Planning.
Our website is hosted on a server located in Bermuda and managed by the Government of Bermuda’s Information and Digital Technology Department (IDT).
Our website is built using WordPress and is maintained by a Bermuda web design company called McGinger.
McGinger provides a monthly report on user traffic and the most visited pages on the site. They also identify which countries users are in when visiting the site and the type of device being used (desktop, mobile or tablet).
No personal information is collected by the site unless requested.

What personal information do we use and where does it come from?

The Department of Planning does collect personal information for the purposes of providing services requested or required.
To use the services provided via our Customer Self Service (CSS) site, including, but not limited to, submitting an application for planning permission, you must have created a CSS user account.
We obtain your personal information from you.

1. Subscribing for Updates

You have the option to subscribe to be added to our mailing list to receive an email notification whenever new applications for planning permission are advertised in the Official Gazette. MailChimp, an email marketing platform, is used to provide this service. Mailchimp is now part of the Intuit group of companies. ONLY your email is collected for the service. No other contact details are collected. Your email address is stored on world class data centers located in the United States

2. Customer Self Service (CSS)
When you create your user account, we collect the following types of personal information from you:

• Name
• Company Name (optional)
• Email address
• Phone number (optional)
• Address

3. Supporting documents submitted with application
Personal information may be found on documents and drawings submitted as part of your application.
We do not collect, view, or store credit or debit card information.
We do not collect sensitive personal information.

What is our purpose for use?

We use your personal information for the following purposes:
• To create and manage your Customer Self Service (CSS) user account
• To communicate with you:
• Your contact details, such as your email address, are used to send important updates, notifications, and to respond to your inquiries

Who has access to your personal information?

The following individuals and/or types have access to your personal information:
• The general public, in certain circumstances;
• Applications for planning permission are publicly accessible and therefore any personal information made available via the documentation and drawings submitted with an application for planning permission is available to the general public, via the CSS.

• Department of Planning staff;
• Department of Information and Digital Technology (IDT) staff;
• Specific staff members from the following departments:
  • Land Valuation
  • Public Lands and Buildings
  • Department of Environment and Natural Resources
• Tyler Technologies Ltd support staff
  • Tyler Technologies Ltd. is our software vendor and at times when software support services and maintenance is required, support staff from Tyler Technologies are granted access to our database, where your personal information is stored.

Third-party personal information

When using the CSS, you should not provide personal information about a third-party, unless you have been authorized to do so. 

Where is your personal information stored?

Your personal information is stored on Amazon Web Service (AWS) servers located in Canada and hosted by Tyler Technologies Ltd. 

Following consultation with Bermuda’s PIPA Unit, Canada is a preferred jurisdiction because it is recognized by the EU as adequate, in relation to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

It is for this reason that when deciding to move our system from local servers to AWS, we requested a data center located in Canada. 

AWS provides industry-leading data security and resilience. 

Backup copies of your personal information are stored on locally hosted servers, managed and maintained by the Government of Bermuda’s Department of Information and Digital Technology (IDT).

How long do we keep your personal information?

We retain your personal information for as long as you need to use our services.
Information retained may include:
• Email
• Name
• Telephone Number
• Address
• Usage History

What are your rights?

We will do all we reasonably can to assist you with any issue arising from our use of your personal information.
You have the right to access your personal information and the right of modification and destruction.
For more information on how to manage or remove your information, please contact our Privacy Officer.
For further details concerning your rights please also see the website of the Privacy Commissioner at www.privacy.bm/guide-to-pipa.

Security

The Government of Bermuda’s Department of Information and Digital Technology (IDT) regularly monitor the security of the servers that host your personal information.
Information transmitted normally over the Internet can never be guaranteed as 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us. Once we receive your personal information, we make all reasonable and appropriate efforts to ensure its security on our systems.

Links, Social media plug-ins, cookies and website analytics

Our websites contain links to other sites, particularly to other public entities’ sites or to social media sites. These websites have their own privacy policies that are different from the one stated here. If you choose to follow those links, please remember to check the Privacy Notices at those sites

Cookies: General

The Department of Planning’s website and the Customer Self Service (CSS) site use cookies.
Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer. They are designed to hold information specific to a particular client and website and can be accessed either by the web server or the client computer.
Cookies help us optimise your access to and use of our website and enables the correct functioning of those parts of our site that you access. You may at any time deactivate and block cookies, via your web browser settings. However, this may affect access to or the performance of our website.
In addition, we use Google Analytics Service for report website statistics for planning.gov.bm. Google Analytics tracks the number of times a visitor has been to our site, when their first visit was, and when their last visit occurred. Google Analytics uses the information to calculate visitor statistics.

Administrative Details

Effective Date: January 1, 2025
This Privacy Notice may be updated from time to time. Any amended Privacy Notice becomes effective and replaces the previous version once published.