Privacy policy.

Last updated: 4 October 2026

Who we are

Validated Vegan is an independent, third-party vegan certification body based in Washington, DC, USA. In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Validated Vegan. For any privacy question or request, email information@validatedvegan.org.

What we collect

Information you give us

• Certification enquiries: when you use our contact form we collect your name, company, email address, phone number (optional), product category, number of products and the details you write about your products.
• Email and documents: if you write to us or apply for certification, we receive whatever you send, such as ingredient documentation and supplier statements. This is mostly business information but may include names and contact details of your staff and suppliers.

Information collected automatically

• Server logs: our hosting provider records technical data such as IP address, browser type, pages requested and the date and time of each request, to keep the site secure and working.
• Analytics (only with your consent): if you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics collects information about how you use the site — pages viewed, time on page, approximate location, device and browser. If you decline, these cookies are not set. See our Cookie Policy.
• Spam protection: our contact form uses Google reCAPTCHA v3, which checks whether a submission comes from a person or an automated program. To do this Google collects information such as your IP address, browser and device details, and how you interact with the page, and may set a security cookie. Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

How we use it

• To respond to your enquiry and prepare a certification quote.
• To carry out certification — reviewing ingredients, auditing, issuing and renewing your Letter of Certification.
• To keep the website secure, prevent abuse and fix problems.
• With your consent, to understand how the site is used and improve it.
• To meet our legal and regulatory obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

Legal bases (visitors in the EU, EEA and UK)

• Taking steps at your request / performing a contract: answering enquiries and providing certification.
• Legitimate interests: running and securing our website and business, including protecting our contact form from spam with reCAPTCHA.
• Consent: analytics cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time using Cookie settings.
• Legal obligation: keeping records the law requires.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only with service providers who help us run our business, and only as needed:

• Website hosting: IONOS hosts this website and its database, including contact-form submissions.
• Email: our email providers deliver and store messages sent to us.
• Google: Google Analytics (only with consent), Google reCAPTCHA (contact form spam protection) and Google Search Console.

We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect our rights. We do not otherwise share your information with third parties.

International transfers

We are based in the United States and work with clients worldwide, so your information may be processed in the United States and other countries. Where the law requires it, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses offered by our service providers.

How long we keep it

We keep enquiry details for as long as we need them to respond and follow up. If you become a client, we keep certification records for the life of the certification and for as long afterwards as needed for audit, legal and regulatory purposes. Analytics data is kept according to the retention setting in our Google Analytics account. We delete or anonymise information we no longer need.

Your rights

Depending on where you live — for example under the GDPR, UK GDPR or US state privacy laws such as California’s — you may have the right to:

• access the personal information we hold about you;
• correct inaccurate information;
• ask us to delete your information;
• object to or restrict certain processing;
• receive your information in a portable format;
• withdraw consent at any time, without affecting earlier processing.

To make a request, email information@validatedvegan.org. We will respond within the time the law allows and will not treat you differently for exercising your rights. You may also complain to your local data-protection authority.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, including encrypted (HTTPS) connections and restricted access to our website administration. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we work to protect your information.

Children

Our services are for businesses. This website is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “last updated” date at the top shows when it last changed.

Contact

Validated Vegan, Washington, DC, USA · information@validatedvegan.org