Cookie policy

The LGC Site https://www.lgcgroup.com (hereafter "Site") is controlled and operated by LGC Limited (which, along with other LGC Group Affiliate companies, is referred hereafter as "LGC", "we", "us" and/or "our").

1. About cookies

A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

Cookies may be either "persistent" cookies or "session" cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.

Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal data that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

2. Why we use cookies on the Site

  1. We use cookies for the following purposes:
    1. Necessary cookies: - the following cookies are used by LGC to enable core functionality such as page navigation and access to secure areas. The Site cannot function properly without these cookies and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences:

      Domain Name and Expiry Purpose
      www.lgcgroup.com __RequestVerificationToken (Session) This is an anti-forgery cookie set by web applications built using ASP.NET MVC technologies. It is designed to stop unauthorised posting of content to a website, known as Cross-Site Request Forgery. It holds no information about the user and is destroyed on closing the browser.
      .youtube.com, .google.com,
      .google.co.uk      		 __Secure-3PAPISID (722 days),
      __Secure-3PSID (722 days),
      __Secure-APISID (722 days),
      __Secure-HSID (722 days),
      __Secure-SSID (722 days),
      APISID (722 days),
      HSID (722 days),
      SAPISID (722 days),
      SID (722 days),
      SIDCC (722 days),
      SSID (722 days)​      		 These cookies are set via embedded YouTube videos. They register anonymous statistical data on for example how many times the video is displayed and what settings are used for playback. No sensitive data is collected unless you log in to your google account, in that case your choices are linked with your account, for example if you click “like” on a video. For more information, read the general Google Privacy policy.
      .www.lgcgroup.com ARRAffinity (Session) This cookie is set by websites run on the Windows Azure cloud platform. It is used for load balancing to make sure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session.
      www.lgcgroup.com CookieControl (90 days) This cookie is used to remember a user's choice about cookies on www.lgcgroup.com. Where users have previously indicated a preference, that user’s preference will be stored in this cookie.
      .youtube.com / .google.com GPS (1 day) This cookie registers a unique ID on mobile devices to enable tracking based on geographical GPS location.
      www.lgcgroup.com Language (365 days) This cookie is used to remember the language chosen by the user. Where users have previously chosen a language, is will be used to display the website in that language.
      .google.com NID (183 days) This cookie is set via embedded YouTube videos. It registers anonymous statistical data on for example how many times the video is displayed and what settings are used for playback. No sensitive data is collected unless you log in to your google account, in that case your choices are linked with your account, for example if you click “like” on a video. For more information, read the general Google Privacy policy.
      .youtube.com VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE (180 days) This cookie is set by YouTube and measures your bandwidth to determine whether you get the new player interface or the old.
      .youtube.com YSC (Session) This cookie registers a unique ID to keep statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
      www.lgcgroup.com ASP.NET_SessionId (Session) General purpose platform session cookie, used by sites written with Miscrosoft .NET based technologies. Usually used to maintain an anonymised user session by the server.
    2. Analytical cookies: - the following cookies are used by LGC to help us to improve our Site by collecting and reporting information on visitor usage:

      Domain Name and Expiry Purpose
      .lgcgroup.com _gat (1 minute),
      dc_gtm_UA-3807620-1 (1 minute)      		 This cookie is used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate. Read more about Google Analytics cookies on the Google website.
      .lgcgroup.com _ga (730 days),
      _gat_UA-3807620-1 (1 minute)      		 Google Analytics cookie used to collect information about how visitors use our Site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone, including the number of visitors to the site and blog, where visitors have come to the Site from and the pages they visited. Read Google's overview of privacy and safeguarding data on the Google website.
      .lgcgroup.com _gid (1 day) This is a Google Analytics cookie used to distinguish users.
      .youtube.com / .google.com 1P_JAR (30 days) This cookie sets a unique ID to remember your preferences and other information such as Site statistics and track conversion rates. Google’s policies can be viewed on their website.
      .doubleclick.net IDE (300 days) Used by Google DoubleClick to register and report the site user's actions after viewing or clicking one of the advertiser's ads with the purpose of measuring the efficacy of an ad and to present targeted ads to the user.
      .doubleclick.net test_cookie (1 day) Test cookie used by Google DoubleClick to check that cookies can be set.
      pi.pardot.com,
      go.pardot.com,
      www2.lgcgroup.com      		 Pardot (Session) A session cookie named pardot is set in your browser while you’re logged in to Pardot as a user or when a visitor accesses a form, landing page, or page with Pardot tracking code. The cookie denotes an active session and isn’t used for tracking.
      .pardot.com,
      www2.lgcgroup.com      		 visitor_id# (10 years) This cookie is a security measure to make sure that a malicious user can’t fake a visitor from Pardot and access corresponding prospect information.
      .pardot.com,
      www2.lgcgroup.com      		 visitor_id#-hash (10 years) This cookie is a security measure to make sure that a malicious user can’t fake a visitor from Pardot and access corresponding prospect information.
      .soundcloud.com sc_anonymous_id (10 years) This cookie allows users to embed files or other content onto the website, this function can be limited to specific visitors.
      blog.seracare.com __cfruid (Session) This cookie is associated with sites using CloudFlare, used to identify trusted web traffic.
      blog.seracare.com __cfduid (30 days) This cookie is associated with sites using CloudFlare, used to speed up page load times. It is used to override any security restrictions based on the IP address the visitor is coming from. It does not contain any user identification information.
      .youtube.com, .google.com,
      .google.co.uk      		 CONSENT (6094 days) YouTube is a Google owned platform for hosting and sharing videos. YouTube collects user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted advertising to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites.
      .doubleclick.net RUL (359 days) Used by Google DoubleClick to determine whether website advertisement has been properly displayed.
      .lgcgroup.com _clck (1 year) This cookie is installed by Microsoft Clarity to store information of how visitors use a website and help in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visited in an anonymous form.
      .lgcgroup.com _clsk (Session) This cookie is installed by Microsoft Clarity to store information of how visitors use a website and help in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visited in an anonymous form.
      .clarity.ms MUID (1 year) This cookie is installed by Microsoft Clarity. It identifies unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. These cookies are used for advertising, site analytics, and other operational purposes.
      www.clarity.ms CLID (1 year) This cookie is installed by Microsoft Clarity. It identifies the first-time Clarity saw this user on any site using Clarity.
      .c.clarity.ms SM (Session) This cookie is installed by Microsoft Clarity. It is used in synchronizing the MUID across Microsoft domains.
      .c.clarity.ms ANONCHK (Session) This cookie is installed by Microsoft Clarity. It indicates whether MUID is transferred to ANID, a cookie used for advertising. Clarity doesn't use ANID and so this is always set to 0.
      analytics.talentegy.com TGVisitorId (1 year) This cookie is installed by Talentegy. Talentegy is an AI enhanced Talent Analytics Platform that optimizes Recruiting and Talent Management.
    3. Cookies used by our service providers
      1. Our service providers use cookies and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our Site.
      2. Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to gather information about the use of our Site by means of cookies. The information gathered is used to create reports about the use of our Site. You can find out more about Google's use of information by visiting https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ and you can review Google's privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.
        The relevant cookies are: ['_ga', '_gali', '_gat', '_gat_UA-TRACKERID', '_gid', '__utma', '__utmb', '__utmc', '__utmt', '__utmv', '__utmz'].
      3. MS Clarity: We use MS Clarity in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience. Clarity is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. You can view the privacy policy of this service provider at https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement. The relevant cookies are: ['_clck', '_clsk', 'CLID', 'ANON', 'ANONCHK', 'MR', 'MUID', 'SM'].

    3. Managing cookies on the Site

    Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser and version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links: