C
ICOPAC
Professional Achievement Certification
C
ICOPAC
International Center for Outstanding
Professional Achievement Certification
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Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Effective date: 1 January 2026

Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how The Certification Center (cert-center.org), operated by Shev FZE, collects, uses, stores and protects your personal data. We are committed to safeguarding your privacy and handling your data transparently and responsibly.

Data Controller

The data controller responsible for your personal data is:

Shev FZE Office C1-1F-SF12562, C1 Building, Ajman Free Zone, UAE Registration No. 4442612247 Email: privacy@cert-center.org

Data We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

Personal identification data

Name, email address, phone number (if provided), country of residence.

Profile data

Industry, professional title, biography and other information you add to your account profile.

Application data

Evidence documents, links, descriptions and any other materials you submit as part of a certification application, as well as examiner notes and application status records.

Payment data

Transaction identifiers, payment status and billing details. Full card numbers are never stored on our servers -- they are processed and held exclusively by our payment processor, Stripe.

Usage data

IP address, browser type, operating system, pages visited, referral source, session duration and other analytics data collected automatically when you use the website.

How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

  • Application processing: To evaluate your certification application, communicate results and issue certificates.
  • Account management: To create and maintain your user account, authenticate your identity and provide customer support.
  • Payment processing: To process examination and issuance fees through Stripe.
  • Communication: To send transactional emails (application updates, payment receipts, certificate delivery) via Resend.
  • Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations and legal processes.
  • Service improvement: To analyse usage patterns and improve the website and our services.

We process your data based on:

  • Contractual necessity: Processing required to perform the services you have requested (application review, certificate issuance).
  • Legitimate interest: Analytics and service improvement, fraud prevention and security.
  • Consent: Where you have given explicit consent, for example by subscribing to optional communications.
  • Legal obligation: Where processing is required by applicable law.

Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only with the following categories of third-party service providers, strictly for the purposes described:

We may also disclose data if required by law, regulation, court order or governmental request.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide our services. Application records and certificate data are retained indefinitely to support ongoing verification. If you delete your account, we will remove your personal identification data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate business purposes (such as maintaining certificate verification records).

Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

  • Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data, subject to legal retention obligations.
  • Portability: Request a machine-readable copy of data you have provided to us.
  • Objection: Object to processing based on legitimate interest.
  • Withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@cert-center.org. We will respond within 30 days.

Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the website. For full details, please see our Cookie Policy.

International Transfers

Your data may be processed in countries outside the UAE, including countries where our hosting and service providers operate. We ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Security Measures

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including:

  • Encryption in transit (TLS/HTTPS) and at rest.
  • Access controls and authentication mechanisms.
  • Regular security reviews and monitoring.
  • Secure payment processing via PCI-DSS compliant providers.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Effective date" at the top of this page will be updated accordingly. We encourage you to review this page periodically. Continued use of the website after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact

For any privacy-related inquiries or to exercise your data rights:

  • Data Protection Officer: privacy@cert-center.org
  • Operator: Shev FZE
  • Address: Office C1-1F-SF12562, C1 Building, Ajman Free Zone, UAE