Privacy policy

Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers of Fine Art A/S (Company number: 25472020), Registered Office Address: Sundkrogsgade 30, 2150 Nordhavn, (“BRK” or “we/us/our”) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

Like most businesses, BRK holds and processes information about its clients and other persons who interact with us or who may be interested in any of the services we offer (together the ‘Services’). This Policy sets out why we collect personal information and how we use that information.  It explains the legal basis for this and the rights you have over the way your information is used.

If you give us your consent to hearing from the Bonhams group, other controllers within the Bonhams group may use your personal data to contact you. A list of the controllers within the Bonhams group can be found in section 1 of this privacy policy, “Who We Are”. You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time.

This Policy includes:

1.  Who we are;

2.  The personal data we collect;

3.  How we collect personal data;

4.  How we use the personal data we collect/use of ‘aggregated’ data;

5.  How we keep your personal data secure;

6.  Who has access to your personal data;

7.  International transfers of data outside of the EU / EEA;

8.  How to keep your information up to date/how to contact us;

9.  How long we retain your personal data;

10.  Your rights;

11.  Special rights for individual residents in California

12.  Supplemental Privacy Notice for individual residents in California; and

13.  Changes to this Policy.

BRK is part of the Bonhams Group of Companies (the ‘Group’).  The list of other companies within the Group is below.  BRK is the primary Data Controller for the purposes of EU Data Protection Legislation.   

Several other Bonhams companies may also control your personal data depending on where you interact with us:

Where you interact with us in the EEA, the following companies may also control your data:

Bonhams 1793 Limited (Company Number: 04326560), Registered Office Address: Montpelier Galleries, Montpelier Street, SW7 1HH, London.

Bonhams Credit Limited (Company Number: 05092005), Registered Office Address: Montpelier Galleries, Montpelier Street, SW7 1HH, London.

Bonhams GMBH (Company Number: HRB102178), Registered Office Address: Maximillianstrasse 52, 80538 München.

Bonhams France SAS (Company Number: 500 772 652 RCS PARIS), Registered Office Address: 4 rue de la Paix, 75002, Paris, France.

Bonhams (Europe) SA (Commerce Registry Reference Number: 08615/1997), Registered Office Address: Rue Etienne-Dumont 10, 1204 Genève.

Bonhams Auctions Ltd (Company Number: 569475), Registered Office Address: 31 Molesworth St, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Bukowski AB (Registration Number 556434-1369) PO Box 1754, 11187, Stockholm Sweden.

Bukowski Oy Ab (Company number: 0906523-0), Registered Office Address: Mastgatan 4-6, 00160 Helsingfors, Finland.

Cornette St Cyr Maison de Ventes SAS, (Company number: 443 390 869 RCS Paris), Registered Office Address: 6 Avenue Hoche, 75008 Paris, France.

Cornette de St Cyr SA (Company number: 0847969248), Registered Office Address: 89 Chaussee de Charleroi, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Belgium. 

Patina Classics Limited (Company Number: 11281872), Registered Office Address: Montpelier Galleries, Montpelier Street, SW7 1HH, London.
 

Where you interact with us in Monaco, the following company may also control your data:

Bonhams SAM (Registry of Commerce Number: 92 S 02808), Registered Office Address: Le Beau Rivage, 9 Ave d’Ostende, MC 98000, Monaco.
 

Where you interact with us in Asia, the following company may also control your data:

Bonhams (Hong Kong) Limited (Company Number: 1426522), Registered Office Address: Suite 5801, 5804-06, Central Plaza, 18 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
 

Where you interact with us in the Americas, the following companies may also control your data:

Bonhams & Butterfields Auctioneers Corporation (Delaware Corporations File Number: 3002993), Registered Office Address: 160 Greentree Dr Ste 101, Dover, Kent, DE 19904.

Skinner Auctions LLC (Delaware Corporations File Number: 6664926, Registered Address: The Corporation Trust Company, 1209, N.Orange Street, Wilmington, DE 19801, Newcastle, trading as Bonhams Skinner.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

Identity Data: includes your name, title, preferred pronoun, date of birth, gender, username or similar identifier, identification and proof of address documents, the results of identification verification checks, the nature of your connection to an organization if the consigning/buying entity is a company or trust, communications with law enforcement authorities in relation to you or your property, your interest in or possession of or ownership (historic or current) of any relevant art object or other property.

Contact Data: includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers, as well as details of any additional persons for whom copy correspondence is required.

Correspondence Data: includes details of your correspondence with us.

Image data: including photographs and video images (from CCTV footage).

Financial Data: including bank account details (if we need to pay you) or payment card details or bank transfer receipt (where you are paying us), the results of any credit report, your occupation, your source of wealth and whether you are a Politically Exposed Person (a PEP) or a family member or close associate of a PEP.

Transaction Data: includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us, details of the property to which our services relate (as well as the nature of these services), as well as details of your insurance if your property remains at your own risk during our period of possession of it.

Credit History Data: details relating to your credit history.

Technical Data: includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.

Profile Data: includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.

Usage Data: includes information about how you use our website, products and services

Marketing and Communications Preferences Data: includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

If you are a job applicant, the information you are asked to provide is as set out in the application and necessary for the purposes of our considering the application.

a. Directly from you

Most of the personal data we collect and process about you comes directly from you when you interact with us, for example, when you:

• visit our premises;
• attend a meeting with us and provide us with information;
• enquire about any of our services or activities;
• agree to sell your property through BRK or ask us to perform a valuation;
• register to bid in an auction;
• subscribe to BRK’s catalogues, newsletters or other publications;
• opt to receive news about our services or activities;
• opt to receive similar news about related activities or services from our group companies;
• post content onto our Site or social media sites;
• take part in one of our live or digital events;
• contact us in any way including online, email, phone, SMS, social media or post.

b. Automatic collection when you call Client Services, use our telephone bidding service, visit our premises or our website or attend a digital event.

You will be recorded when you call our Client Services team and/or use our telephone bidding service. Information about you (such as your IP address) may be collected when you visit the website of certain companies in the Bonhams group.

Your image may be collected on CCTV if you attend our Bredgade saleroom in Copenhagen or another location where we are holding a sale or an event. CCTV is necessary to help protect our employees, our clients and other visitors and the property that we sell. Live streaming of our auctions is carried out and your image may be captured.

On rare occasions, we may also film segments of television broadcasts at our premises. Where this is the case, we will place signage at the premises making this clear. We may also use this footage for other marketing purposes, including on our social media.

If you object to your image being captured while on our premises, please notify Client Services.

c. From other sources

We may collect personal data about you and/or property you own or wish to acquire from other sources, for example:

• where a client appoints you as their agent or in some other capacity, for example, you are their restorer or shipper;
• where a third party introduces you to us;
• when we carry out research on artworks or/the art market and you are referred to in that research;
• when your information is publicly available, for example, you are an officer or beneficial owner of a company or your personal data is available from companies that carry out personal identification checks or screening for anti-money laundering, other criminal offences, sanctions and or media coverage;
• when it is available on social media sites you use, for example, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Depending on your settings or the applicable privacy policies, you might give us permission to access information from those accounts or services.

d. When you have given other organisations permission to share your personal data with us.

For example, a business working with us or when you buy a product or service from a third-party organisation.

We set out below the types of personal data that we process, how we use it and the legal basis or bases on which we process it.

The Glossary contains more information about the legal grounds for processing.

Use of aggregated data

Where Data can be aggregated (and anonymised), we may use this for research purposes without restriction. For example, we may monitor customer traffic patterns, website and Services usage and related information to optimise users’ usage of the website and Services and we may give aggregated statistics to a reputable third-party.

We are entitled to do this because the resulting data will not personally identify you and will therefore  no longer constitute personal data for the purposes of data protection laws.

We recognise and take seriously our responsibility to protect the personal data you entrust to BRK from loss or misuse. We understand the importance of keeping your personal information secure and take appropriate technical and physical steps to safeguard it. BRK uses a variety of security technologies and organisational procedures to help protect your personal data. For example, we implement access controls, use firewalls and secure servers, and we encrypt  data, such as financial information, personal data and other important data using Secure Sockets Layer standard encryption. We always ensure only authorised persons have access to your information, which means only our employees and contractors, and that everyone who has access is appropriately trained to manage your information.

We are confident that we have protections in place to keep your personal data safe. In addition, we have procedures in place in the event that we have any breaches and will notify you and our regulator of a breach where we are legally obliged to do so.

• Your personal data will be processed by BRK and  may also be transferred to and processed by other companies within the Bonhams  group as  listed at the beginning of this Policy. BRK uses and regulates the transfer and processing of data between group companies in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
• We do not transfer your personal data to third parties who wish to use it for their own marketing or other purposes. As a rule, we do not share your personal data with the other websites and collaborators who may be named on our website. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of other websites that you may access from our website, and which govern the collection of personal data by those collaborators.
• We will only transfer your personal data to third parties where it is necessary to enable us to provide you with the services you have requested (for example, our bank, payment card system operators, shippers, warehouse operatives, insurers, experts who help us authenticate or value property, event venues, caterers, catalogue and direct marketing fulfilment and distribution). These organisations will only use the information to carry out the instructed services and on the basis, that the information is confidential and secure. Some of these organisations may be located outside the EEA or outside of the US if you are  a US based resident (please see below).
• We may need to carry out anti-money laundering and trade sanction checks and for us to do so we may need to retain and disclose certain information about you to appropriate agencies. This is also to assist with fraud, crime prevention and detection.We may also need to provide your data to authorities (e.g. the Danish Nature Agency and the Danish Business Authority) in connection with, for example, applying for permits on your behalf. We will otherwise only disclose your personal data in response to a request from a government or law enforcement authority when we are ordered to do so by a court or in response to a request from the police, after we have undertaken an internal review and concluded that the institution making the request has both complied with the correct procedure and has the right to seek disclosure or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others and is not prohibited by law.
• Third parties who provide services for us, for example our mailing houses and providers of database and marketing tools. We select our third-party service providers with care. We will provide these third parties with only the information that is necessary to provide the service and we will have an agreement in place that requires them to operate with the same care over data protection as we do.
• Third parties if we run an event in conjunction with them. We will let you know how your data is used when you register for any such event.
• Analytics and search engine providers that help us to improve the Site and its use.
• Third parties in connection with restructuring or reorganisation of our operations, for example if we merge with another business. In such event, we will take steps to ensure your privacy rights will be protected by the third party.

Other than this, we will not share your information with other organisations without your consent.

The information you provide to us may be transferred to countries outside the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) or to countries which are not subject to the same data protection regulations as apply in the EU or EEA pursuant to the GDPR. We ensure that the information transferred to such countries has equivalent protection as if it were being held under the GDPR by requiring that any third party processing your data outside the EU/EEA benefits from an adequacy determination for GDPR purposes and/or, where appropriate, we have entered into a data processing agreement to regulate the processing of personal data.

You can notify us if your contact details change, by contacting us at privacy@bruun-rasmussen.dk

Additionally, do ensure you notify us of any changes to your personal data whenever you transact with us.

We will hold your personal information for as long as it is necessary to provide the relevant services, maintain business records as required under tax, legal and other regulatory requirements and protect and defend against potential legal claims.

If you have made a purchase with us, we will retain personal data relating to that purchase for five years following that purchase (as required by law). Any other personal data relating to your bids or transactions with us will be placed in a protected environment with limited access for three years (unless there is a legitimate need for a longer storage time).

With regard to personal data relating to ownership, provenance and/or title of art objects, we will keep this data indefinitely given our legitimate business interests in keeping this data. Please contact us if you wish to obtain further information.

If you ask us to stop contacting you with marketing materials, we will keep a record of your contact details and limited information needed to ensure we comply with your request.

We may from time to time send you communications regarding our services which you have expressed an interest in, or we feel may be of interest to you. You can opt out of receiving these marketing materials and communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link contained in all relevant communications to you or contacting us at privacy@bruun-rasmussen.dk

You can also opt-out of receiving direct marketing material from us.

You have the right to request details of the processing activities that we carry out with your personal information by making a data subject access request (DSAR). If the request is ‘manifestly unfounded or excessive’, or further copies are requested, we may charge a reasonable administration fee. To make a request, please contact us at privacy@bruun-rasmussen.dk

You also have the following rights:

• the right to access;
• the right to request rectification of information that is inaccurate or out of date;
• the right to erasure of your information (the “right to be forgotten”);
• the right to restrict the way in which we are dealing with and using your information;
• the right to request that your information be provided to you in a format that is secure and suitable for re-use (the “right to portability”);
• rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling including profiling for marketing purposes.

These rights are subject to certain safeguards and limits or exemptions. To exercise any of these rights, you should contact privacy@bruun-rasmussen.dk

If you are not happy with the way in which we have processed or dealt with your information, you are entitled to lodge a complaint with the Danish Data Protection Agency, Borgergade 28, 5, 1300 Copenhagen K, about BRK’s handling of your personal data. The complaint can, among other things, be submitted via email to dt@datatilsynet.dk or by phone on +45 3319 3200.

Glossary

Legal Grounds for Processing

a.  Legitimate Interests means the interest of our business, or the legitimate interest of a third party, in conducting and managing our respective business to enable us to give you the best service/ product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the interest or fundamental rights and freedoms of you which require protection of personal data unless we have your consent or otherwise required or permitted to by law.

b.  Performance of a Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

c.  Compliance with a Legal Obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

d.  Consent means you have given specific consent to the processing of your personal data.

You can find further information about California privacy law in the Supplemental privacy notice for California based residents section.

If you are a California resident, you may have certain rights. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

You have the right to request disclosure of certain information held about you regarding the categories of personal information we have collected or disclosed about you in the last twelve months. Once the request has been verified, we will disclose:

• the categories of sources of such information;
• the business or commercial purpose for collecting your personal information;
• if we disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained;
• the specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request); and
• the categories of third parties with whom we shared personal information.
   

You also have the right to request deletion of certain personal information (and direct our service providers to delete) we have about you. Please note, we may refuse the deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:

• Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a good or goods or service that you requested, or take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you.
• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
• Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.).
• Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us.
• Comply with a legal obligation.
• Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.
   

We will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before responding to a request. Verification could include collecting personal information such as Name, Address, Email address and any other information that allows us to verify the identity of the person whom personal information was collected.

You are also permitted to designate an authorized agent to submit certain requests on your behalf. In order for an authorized agent to be verified, you must provide the authorized agent with signed, written permission to make such requests or a power of attorney. We may also follow up with you to verify your identity before processing the authorized agent’s request.

If you would like further information regarding your legal rights under California law or would like to exercise any of them, please contact us at privacy@bruun-rasmussen.dk

This Supplemental Privacy Notice supplements the information in our Privacy Policy above and applies solely to California residents. It applies to personal information we collect on or through the Services and through other means (such as information collected offline, in person, and over the telephone). It does not apply to personal information we collect from our employees or job applicants.
 

Summary of Information We Collect

California law, including the California Consumer Privacy Act 2018 and related regulations (the “CCPA”), requires us to disclose information regarding the categories of personal information that we have collected about California consumers, the categories of sources from which the information was collected, the business or commercial purposes (as those terms are defined by applicable law) for which the information was collected, and the categories of parties with whom we share personal information.
 

California Notice of Collection

We, or our service providers, have collected the below categories of information for the following business purposes in the last 12 months (as those terms are defined in applicable law):

• providing the Services (e.g., account servicing and maintenance, customer service, delivery, and communication about the Services);
• our, or our service provider’s, operational purposes;
• detecting, protecting against, and prosecuting security incidents and fraudulent or illegal activity;
• bug detection and error reporting;
• customizing content that we or our service providers display on the Services;
• improving our existing Services and developing new services (e.g., by conducting research to develop new products or features);
• other uses that advance our commercial or economic interests, such as communicating with you about relevant products and services available to you from third party partners; or
• other uses about which we notify you.
   

Examples of these types of uses are identified below and discussed more generally in how we collect data and how do we use your information sections above. We may also use the below categories of personal

information for compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and we may combine the information we collect (“aggregate”) or remove pieces of information (“de-identify”) to limit or prevent identification of any particular user or device.

Metrics

California law may require us to compile metrics for the previous calendar year regarding consumer requests and responses. If required by applicable law, we will update this section after the CCPA has been in effect for a calendar year.
 

Disclosures of Personal Information for a Business Purpose

In the preceding twelve (12) months, Company has disclosed the following categories of personal information for a business purpose:

• Identifiers.
• California Customer Records personal information categories.
• Commercial information.
• Internet or other similar network activity.
• Geolocation data.
• Inferences drawn from other personal information.

We disclose your personal information for a business purpose to the following categories of third parties:

• Service providers.
   

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, specifically we will not:

• Deny you goods or services.
• Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.
• Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.
• Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

However, we may offer you certain financial incentives permitted by the CCPA that can result in different prices, rates, or quality levels. Any CCPA-permitted financial incentive we offer will reasonably relate to your personal information’s value and contain written terms that describe the program’s material aspects. Participation in a financial incentive program requires your prior opt in consent, which you may revoke at any time. We do not currently offer any financial incentives.

California Shine the Light

California law permits users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed their ‘personal information’ (if any, and as defined under applicable California law) for their direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the type of personal information disclosed to those parties. If you are a California resident and would like to request this information, please submit your request in an email at privacy@bruun-rasmussen.dk

This policy may be changed from time to time. If we make any significant changes, we will advertise this on our Site or contact you directly with the information. We recommend that you read this Privacy Policy each time you consider giving your personal information to us.

This policy was last updated in January 2023.
 

Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers of Fine Art
Version 6.23