Please be sure to read and understand the following AOCS policies:
AOCS is a professional membership association for people who work to advance the science and technology of oils, fats, proteins, surfactants and related materials.
AOCS is committed to protecting the personal data collected from and about members, volunteers, donors, program participants, purchasers of our products and services and others. We collect and use personal data from or about you to help us support our non-profit mission, serve our membership and the industries that support our mission. We do not sell personal information to anyone and only share it with third parties who are facilitating the delivery of AOCS services. This Privacy Policy applies to all operations of AOCS and AOCS Foundation. This Privacy Policy also applies when you use AOCS websites or applications designed for smartphones, tablets, computers and other devices, as well as our community, inform|connect. This Privacy Policy applies when you communicate with us by mail, email, phone, social media or in person, including at AOCS events. We recognize that information privacy is an ongoing responsibility and will therefore update this Privacy Policy as necessary. Whenever we change the Privacy Policy, we will give reasonable notice by posting a notice on our home page. Since these policy change notices are posted for a limited time, you should check this Privacy Policy regularly to see if there have been any changes.
As a membership organization, we must maintain contact information on our members to communicate relational or transactional information. We will also maintain customer contact information to communicate relational or transactional information in the process of fulfilling contractual orders for products and services and may use this information to inform members and customers of AOCS member benefits, events and other products/services.
AOCS collects personal information about its members, donors, volunteers and other customers. We collect your personal data when you choose to provide it as you interact with AOCS in person, through correspondence, by phone, by social media or through our websites or apps. As an example, when you join AOCS or register for an account on our websites or apps, you will be asked to provide basic personal data. Certain personal data will also be required when you register to participate in AOCS meetings, present at AOCS meetings or purchase AOCS products or services. You may be asked to provide certain personal data when you submit a contest or sweepstakes entry, respond to a survey, or volunteer. The personal data you provide might include:
AOCS may also maintain information about you that you do not directly provide. AOCS keeps track of :
AOCS may receive information about you from publicly available and third-party databases or services that provide information about business people and companies, or from third parties from whom we have purchased information (including an individual’s name, job title, business contact information, and information about the business where the individual works), and combine this data with information we already have about you. This helps us to update and expand our records, and to identify potential members and new customers that may be interested in our products and services.
AOCS collects personal information about users over time and across our web sites when you use our sites. We also have third parties that collect personal information this way. To do this, we use several common tracking tools, which may include browser cookies, web beacons, flash cookies, and similar technologies.
Cookies are small files that download when you access certain websites for record-keeping purposes. To learn more, visit here, here and here. These pages also explain how you can manage and delete cookies.
AOCS uses tracking tools:
AOCS uses the following tracking technologies and cookies on our sites to improve our site and the experience of our users:
Interest-based advertising or “online behavioral advertising” includes ads served to you after you leave our website, encouraging you to return. They also include ads we think are relevant based on your browsing habits or online activities. These ads might be served on websites or on apps. They might also be served in emails. We might serve these ads, or third parties may serve ads. They might be about our products or other companies’ products.
The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) has created guidance for online advertisers and provided the “AdChoices” mechanism for such advertisers to comply with users’ choices regarding the placement of interest-based ads. By clicking on the AdChoices icon presented in the corner of each ad served by participants in the AdChoices program, you will be directed to a webpage to allow opt-outs from that ad network and/or for all ad networks participating in the AdChoices program.To learn more about ad networks, including how to opt out of interest-based ads, click here.
It is important to note that your choice to stop targeted advertising is specific to the browser you are using. If you make a choice to opt-out from one computer browser and you want your opt-out to apply to a different computer and/or browser, you must also opt-out from that computer. It is also important to note that most of these choices are cookie-based. If you delete cookies after making an opt-out choice, you will need to perform the opt-out again.
You can manage targeted ads in our apps through your device operating system settings. For iOS apps, visit the “advertising” controls in your privacy settings. For Android apps, use the Settings App. Both operating systems allow you to opt-out of targeted ads and/or reset your device advertising ID.
Online web site users should be aware that AOCS’ professional networking community (inform|connet) is public in nature. Any contributions and postings you make to the community will be viewable by other community users and will be associated with the personally identifiable information in your public profile (which includes your name, user name, and other optional information you may choose to include). If you decide to participate in our professional networking community, keep in mind that your personally identifiable information (for example, your name and online name), along with any other information you disclose in the communication you decide to post, will be publicly accessible and viewable by others who visit that area. In addition, we may highlight certain users’ postings or contributions to other members of the professional networking community. It is possible that your posting may result in unsolicited messages from third parties. Such activities are beyond the control of AOCS, and AOCS makes no guaranties about the discoverability of your identity.
AOCS has a legitimate interest to maintain your personal data. As a membership organization, we must maintain contact information on our members to communicate relational or transactional information. We will also maintain customer contact information to communicate relational or transactional information in the process of fulfilling contractual orders for products and services and may use this information to inform members and customers of AOCS member benefits, events and other products/services. This may include, for example, processing your personal information for membership administration, to deliver member benefits to you and to inform you of AOCS related events, content, products and services. Your personal data may be used so that goods and/or services purchased can be delivered, or your membership record can be established, or processing credit card details in order to process your payment. Your personal data may be processed prior to entering into a contract with AOCS when you request information about a particular product, service or event. It may also be used to help the AOCS understand our members' and constituents' needs and interests to better tailor our products and services to meet your needs.
In association with attending one or more of our conferences, you will have the option to download the "AOCS Event App" to help you navigate the conference and plan your schedule. The "AOCS Event App" provider will only use your personal data to provide and support the Event App application.
AOCS may process your personal information for carefully considered and specific legitimate business purposes which support our non-profit mission and enable us to enhance the services we provide which also benefit our members and customers, which may include some or all of the following:
AOCS uses the automated tracking technologies listed above to improve our website and communities and to enhance the experience of our visitors.
AOCS may share personal data with third parties for legitimate business purposes, including for the following reasons or in the following circumstances:
We may also share data about activities on our websites with advertising networks administered by third parties, which may use many of the same technologies previously discussed (such as cookies, web beacons, and analytics tools) to track your online activities over time and across websites. This collection and ad targeting takes place both on our websites and apps and on third-party digital properties that participate in those ad networks. As a result, you may see certain ads on other websites based on prior activity on our websites and apps, and vice versa.
We may also work with certain social media websites or platforms (such as Facebook or Twitter) to serve ads to you as part of a customized social media campaign. You can opt-out of receiving customized ads by changing your ad preferences on those platforms, which we do not control.
Our websites, community and apps may provide links or automatically redirect you to third-party websites that are not controlled by AOCS or governed by this Privacy Policy. For example, if you click on an advertisement or a link to access a technical journal you may be redirected to a website operated by that provider. These third-party websites may collect personal data and other data from or about you. AOCS is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any website that we do not control, and your interactions with such websites are governed solely by the privacy policies of the entity operating the websites, not this Privacy Policy. We suggest that when you go to another website you carefully read their privacy policy.
We do not currently process or respond to "Do Not Track" signals from your browser. As previously described, we do participate in online advertising networks administered by third parties, which may track your online activities over time and across third-party websites. You may opt-out of interest-based and other targeted advertising as set forth above in the Targeted Advertising section. However, even if you opt out of such ads, AOCS may continue to collect and use online activity data on our websites and in our apps for other purposes.
AOCS retains personally identifiable information for as long as necessary for its legitimate business purposes, and as otherwise permitted by applicable law.
AOCS is headquartered in the United States and all of our data processing activities occur in the United States. Any personal data you provide to us, including through our websites and apps, will be transferred to, processed, and stored in the United States. By providing us your personal data or using our websites and apps, you acknowledge that the United States has standards for the processing and storage of personal data that may not be equivalent to (and may be less comprehensive than) those in the country where you reside and/or are a citizen, and you consent to our collection, transfer, processing, and storage of your personal data in the United States. If you do not agree to such cross-border transfers of your personal data, please do not submit it though our websites and/or apps.
The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and other countries' privacy laws provide certain rights for data subjects. A good explanation of them (in English) is available on the website of the United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office. AOCS is the data controller for the processing of your Personal Data. We act as data processor on behalf of Clients for Personal Data that we process through the Laboratory Proficiency Program. You may review and/or request changes to certain personal data we have collected about you (such as your contact information, username and password, year of birth) by logging onto your account on aocs.org or informconnect.org, or by contacting us at privacy@aocs.org You have the right to make a written request to be informed whether or not we hold or process any of your personal information (by emailing privacy@aocs.org).
Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights in relation to your Personal Data:
AOCS's products and services are generally designed for those ages 18 and older. AOCS does not intentionally gather personally identifiable information from visitors who are under the age of 13. If a child under 13 submits personally identifiable information to us and we learn that the personally identifiable information is the information of a child under 13, AOCS will attempt to delete the information as soon as possible. If you believe that we might have any personally identifiable information from a child under 13, please contact us at privacy@aocs.org.
We use commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and physical security measures designed to protect personal data against accidental, unlawful, or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure, or use. In addition, in some areas of our Sites, AOCS may use Secure Socket Layer (“SSL”) or Transport Layer Security (“TLS”) encryption technology to enhance data privacy and help prevent loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under AOCS control. Despite our safeguards, however, no website, app, or information system can ever be completely secure, so we cannot guarantee that the use of our systems, websites, or apps will be completely safe or secure.
Unfortunately, no transmission of Personal Data over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Accordingly, and despite our efforts, AOCS cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, or to or from our online products or services. AOCS has no responsibility or liability for the security of information transmitted via the Internet.
We restrict access to Personal Data to our employees, contractors and services who need to know the information in order to operate, develop, or improve our services.
We retain your Personal Data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.
AOCS gives users the option to change and modify personally identifiable information previously provided. To change such information, visit https://www.aocs.org, or https://www.informconnect.org and log in with the credentials you provided when you first registered. Or contact us at +1.217.359-2344.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our treatment of the information you provide us, please contact as at:
Address: 2710 S Boulder Dr., Urbana, IL 61802
Email: privacy@aocs.org
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This document sets out the terms and conditions between AOCS and you when you register for any Society-sponsored or -organized meetings, conferences, or events, wherever located, including all virtual events organized by AOCS. By registering for an AOCS sponsored meeting, conference, or event, you are agreeing to comply with these terms and conditions.
The following AOCS Registration Terms and Conditions (the “Terms and & Conditions”) apply to all AOCS events. Should you not wish to accept the terms and Conditions, you should not register. Submission of a registration is regarded as affirmation of our acceptance of the Meetings and Event Terms and Conditions. If a meeting or event registration requires payment, registration will not be finalized until full payment is received by AOCS. Web-event participation may require you to configure your software settings on your web-device upon first use or require you to download the software for your operating system. Please note that you may require administrator privileges on your computer to be able to manually install software.
AOCS is committed to data privacy and protecting your personal information. Information on how AOCS collects, processes, and uses your data is included in the AOCS Privacy Policy which is hereby incorporated into these Terms & Conditions. Additionally, by submitting your email address during the event registration process, you agree that AOCS and its event partners may send you event-related information. A valid email address is required for all registrations.
AOCS uses the personal data you provide in this registration for administering your participation in this event. This may include information about the event’s content, event logistics, payment, updates, and additional information related to the event.
AOCS may disclose your personal data to third party service providers engaged by AOCS to assist in the conduct of the event (e.g. housing bureau, mobile application provider, platform provider).
Information you provide when registering for or participating in an event managed or co-sponsored by parties other than or in addition to AOCS may be shared with those parties, and the treatment of such information is further subject to the privacy policies of those parties. Except as described herein, AOCS will not disclose your personal data to any other third party without your consent except where required to do so by law.
AOCS prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying against any person for any reason—for example, because of age, ancestry, color, disability or handicap, national origin, race, religion, gender, sexual or affectional orientation, gender identity, appearance, matriculation, political affiliation, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Participants’ conduct at society meetings and events must meet these requirements to satisfy the Meetings’ purpose of advancing excellence by enabling equitable and full engagement and contributions by all Participants and gaining the benefit of a full range of perspectives. See, AOCS Statement of Diversity & Inclusion (PDF).
AOCS is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment to all participants, including staff and vendors at AOCS-related events. AOCS has no tolerance for discrimination, harassment, or bullying in any form at AOCS-related events. Participants are expected to adhere to these principles, respect the rights of others and must abide by the AOCS Meetings Conduct Policy.
AOCS staff or hired professional service providers may record (photography, video, online streaming, and all future mediums) at its events to document and display the event experience. Virtual events will record audio and any documents and other materials exchange or viewed during the session. By joining a session, you automatically consent to such recordings.
All protectable intellectual property available through AOCS events are our property or the property of our speakers, advertisers and licensors and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. The content presented must under no circumstance be recorded or reproduces. If you seek to reproduce or otherwise use the content in any way it is your responsibility to obtain approval for such use where necessary. Any breach of copyright, including recording the presentation or any unauthorized use of the material may lead to legal action.
In consideration of being allowed to register for, and participate in the event, I hereby warrant and represent that I am age 18 or above and freely waive, release from liability, assume all risks, and covenant not to sue AOCS or its members, employees, board members, agents, or volunteers for any expense, loss, damage, personal injury, including loss of life, disability, property damage, or property theft or actions of any kind that I may hereafter suffer or sustain before, during, or after the event, unless said expense, loss, damage, personal injury, including loss of life, disability, property damage or property theft or actions of any kind is caused by the sole, gross negligence of AOCS. This Liability Waiver and Release is specifically binding upon my heirs and assigns and is knowingly given.
AOCS reserves the right to change, amend, add, or remove any of the above Terms & Conditions in its sole discretion and without prior notice. If one or more of the conditions outlined in these Terms & Conditions should become invalid, the remaining conditions will continue to be valid and apply. These Terms & Conditions apply to all event participants (attendees, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors). The views expressed by any event attendee, speaker, exhibitor, or sponsor are not necessarily those of AOCS. All attendees, speakers, exhibitors, and sponsors are solely responsible for the content of all individual or corporation presentations, marketing collateral, and/or advertising.
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Approved by the AOCS Governing Board on March 10, 2020
The American Oil Chemists’ Society (“Society”) is committed to providing a safe, inclusive and productive environment for “Society Meetings” that fosters open dialogue in the areas of focus for such Meetings, promotes full participation and belonging for all participants, and is free of harassment and discrimination. Accordingly, AOCS strictly prohibits any intimidating, threatening, or harassing conduct during Society Meetings. This Conduct Policy applies to all Participants in all Society Meetings.
The Policy’s overarching objective is advancing productive outcomes, with safety, full participation and belonging for all Participants.
Participants’ conduct at Society Meetings must meet these requirements to satisfy the Meetings’ purpose of advancing excellence by enabling equitable and full engagement and contributions by all Participants, rejecting discrimination and exclusion, and gaining the benefit of a full range of perspectives. See, AOCS Statement of Diversity & Inclusion (PDF).
Expected Behavior
Unacceptable Behavior, Harassment and Safety:
Note About Differences of Opinion and Offense. To achieve the purposes of a Society Meeting in the limited time provided, with the intended benefit of contributions made by all Participants, discussions should be focused on the Meeting topic at hand and all Participants must be able and welcome to equitably and effectively participate. It is not a violation of the Society Meetings Conduct Policy to express an opinion, raise research or describe an experience (“articulation”) that is at odds with the opinions of or is offensive to others—if the articulation is part of an on-point discussion of the Society Meeting topic at hand and is offered in a manner that does not interfere with others’ reasonable ability and welcome to participate fully. That means expressing differing positions on a topic at a Meeting with respect and consideration for all. It also means not making an articulation that is reasonably expected to cause offense gratuitously (unrelated to the Society Meeting topic at hand or unnecessary for the work on that topic). It means not directing the articulation as a personal attack or put-down of an individual, and not dominating the discussion with one articulation.
This Policy applies to all Participants at a Society Meeting. It also applies to activities and at locales that are associated with a Society Meeting.
By registering for a meeting., Participants agree to Meeting Terms and Conditions, the AOCS Privacy Policy and this Meetings Conduct Policy. Registration also constitutes consent to audio and visual recording (and use and alteration of the recording) by the Society (or those it authorizes) at a Society Meeting for non-commercial purposes aligned with the Society’s mission.
An appeal of a decision on whether a violation occurred, or regarding the consequences imposed, during the Meeting Period may be made under (and subject to the limitations of) the Society’s regular conduct policies and processes after the Society Meeting. However, the only remedy for an accused Participant’s successful appeal of a requirement to leave a Society Meeting and notice to the accused’s employing institution is a waiver of a future similar Meeting’s registration fee (if the accused Participant paid a fee for the Meeting the accused was required to leave). An appeals must be made in writing and directed to the AOCS Secretary.