Privacy Policy

Data Collection

Siltex Australia undertakes to collect personal data by means that are:

fair;
legal; and
transparent.

If you visit Siltex Australia's web-site, your web-browser automatically discloses, and Siltex Australia's web-server automatically logs, the following information: the date and time, the IP address from which you issued the request, the type of browser and operating system you are using, the URL of any page that referred you to the page, the URL you requested, and whether your request was successful. This data may or may not be sufficient to identify you.

Any additional data that you provide, e.g. in a web-form, may also be logged. This data may or may not be sufficient to identify you.

Any additional data that your web-browser automatically provides may also be logged. This will be the case, for example, if your browser has previously been requested to store data on your computer in 'cookies' and submits them each time you request a web-page within a particular domain (such as Siltex Australia.com). This data may or may not be sufficient to identify you.

If you disclose personal data to Siltex Australia in conjunction with an identifier such as your name or your credit-card details, Siltex Australia will collect personal data. Moreover, any data that becomes available to Siltex Australia through any of the means described in the preceding paragraphs may be able to be associated with that identifier, and hence become personal data.

Subject to the qualifications immediately below, Siltex Australia undertakes to collect personal data from you and not from other parties. This undertaking is qualified as follows:

where Siltex Australia reasonably considers that the protection of its financial interests requires that it gather YourData from other sources, or from additional sources. This applies in particular where Siltex Australia has a lending exposure to you, and seeks information about your creditworthiness;
where Siltex Australia reasonably considers that its capability to deliver quality services to you will be materially enhanced by gathering YourData from other sources. This applies in particular to consumer profile data.

Where Siltex Australia collects personal data from sources other than you, it undertakes:

to do so only by legal means;
to do so only with your Consent; and
to declare to you what sources it uses, and under what circumstances.

Siltex Australia undertakes to declare the purpose of collection in a manner which is clear and meaningful, and to avoid vague, highly inclusive statements such as 'to support our operations'.

Data Security

Siltex Australia undertakes to store personal data in a manner that ensures security against unauthorised access, alteration or deletion, at a level commensurate with its sensitivity.

Siltex Australia undertakes to store personal data only in jurisdictions where data protections are at least equivalent to those required under the OECD Guidelines.

Siltex Australia undertakes to transmit personal data in a manner that ensures security against unauthorised access, alteration or deletion, at a level commensurate with its sensitivity.

Siltex Australia undertakes to implement appropriate measures to ensure security of personal data against inappropriate behaviour by Siltex Australia's staff-members and contractors. These include:

training for staff in relation to privacy;
access control, to limit access to personal data to those staff and contractors who have legitimate reasons to access it;
particularly in the case of sensitive data, audit trails of accesses, including the identities of staff and contractors accessing the data;
reminders to staff and contractors from time to time about the importance of data privacy, and the consequences of inappropriate behaviour;
declaration of appropriately strong sanctions that are to be applied in the event of inappropriate behaviour
clear communication of policies and sanctions; and
processes to audit, to investigate and to impose sanctions.

Data Use

Use refers to the application of personal data by any part of Siltex Australia, or any staff-member or contractor of Siltex Australia in the course of their work.

Siltex Australia undertakes to use personal data only for:

the purposes for which it was collected;
such other purposes as are subsequently agreed between Siltex Australia and You;
such additional purposes as may be required by law. In these circumstances, Siltex Australia will take any reasonable steps available to it to communicate to You that the use has occurred, unless it is precluded from doing so by law; and
such additional purposes as are authorised by law (in particular to protect Siltex Australia's interests, e.g. if it believes on reasonable grounds that You have failed to fulfil your undertakings to Siltex Australia or have committed a breach of the criminal law).

Siltex Australia undertakes to use YourData only if it has demonstrable relevance to the particular use to which it is being put.

Siltex Australia undertakes to use YourData in such a manner as to take into account the possibility that it is not of sufficient quality for the purpose, e.g. because it is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, or out-of-context.

Data Disclosure

Disclosure refers to making YourData available to any party other than Siltex Australia and You. The term disclosure may include many different conditions of data transfer, including selling, renting, trading, sharing and giving.

Siltex Australia undertakes to disclose personal data only under the following circumstances:

in the course of business being conducted between You and Siltex Australia, where disclosure is necessary to a contractor, such as a transport company. Where personal data is disclosed in this way, Siltex Australia undertakes to exercise control over Siltex Australia's contractors to ensure that their actions are compliant with these Terms;
in other circumstances that are directly implied by the purpose agreed between You and Siltex Australia at the time of data collection or subsequently. Where personal data is disclosed in this way, Siltex Australia undertakes to exercise control over Siltex Australia's contractors to ensure that their actions are compliant with these Terms;
with your consent, or at your request;
where required by law, such as a provision of a statute, or a court order such as a search warrant or sub poena. In these circumstances, Siltex Australia will take any reasonable steps available to it to communicate to You that the disclosure has occurred, unless it is precluded from doing so by law;
where permitted by law (e.g. the reporting of suspected breach of the criminal law to a law enforcement agency; and in an emergency, where Siltex Australia believes on reasonable grounds that the disclosure of YourData will materially assist in the protection of the life of health of some person), provided that Siltex Australia will apply due diligence to ensure that the exercise of the permission is justifiable.

In all cases, Siltex Australia undertakes to disclose only such of personal data as is necessary in the particular circumstances.

Data Retention and Destruction

Subject to the qualifications immediately below, Siltex Australia undertakes:

to retain personal data only as long as is consistent with its purpose; and
to destroy personal data when its purpose has expired, and to do so in such a manner that personal data is not subsequently capable of being recovered.

This undertaking is qualified as follows:

personal data may be retained in Siltex Australia's logs, backups and audit trails within short-term retention cycles that are devised to protect the company's operations. In such cases, personal data will be destroyed in accordance with those cycles;
personal data may be retained beyond the expiry of its purpose if that is required by law, such as a provision of a statute, or a court order such as a search warrant or sub poena, or a warning by a law enforcement agency that delivery of a court order is imminent. In these circumstances, Siltex Australia:
- will take any reasonable steps available to it to communicate to You that personal data is being retained, unless it is precluded from doing so by law; and
- will only retain personal data while that provision is current, and will then destroy personal data;
personal data may be retained beyond the expiry of its purpose if it is authorised by law (in particular to protect Siltex Australia's interests, e.g. if it believes on reasonable grounds that You have failed to fulfil your undertakings to Siltex Australia or have committed a breach of the criminal law). In these circumstances, Siltex Australia will only retain personal data while that situation is current, and will then destroy personal data.

Access by You to Your Personal Data

Siltex Australia undertakes to provide you with access to personal data, subject to only such conditions and processes as are reasonable in the circumstances. In particular, Siltex Australia undertakes to enable access:

conveniently;
without unreasonable delay; and
without cost.

Siltex Australia undertakes to establish and operate identity authentication protections for access to personal data that are appropriate to its sensitivity, but practical. This may involve some inconvenience; for example, relatively straightforward procedures may be involved in order to provide you with access through a channel that you have previously registered with Siltex Australia (such as a particular email-address), but may impose more onerous procedures if you wish to use some other channel.

In the event that you dispute some aspect of personal data, Siltex Australia undertakes to take reasonable steps in relation to the amendment, supplementation or deletion of personal data.

You undertake:

not to seek access for frivolous purposes, or unreasonably frequently;
to accept that deletion of some data may not be consistent with the provision of particular services by Siltex Australia to you.

Information about Data-Handling Practices

Siltex Australia undertakes to make information available to you about the manner in which Siltex Australia handles your data:

in general terms, in a readily accessible manner; and
in more specific terms, on request.

Where personal data is disclosed to a contractor, Siltex Australia undertakes to make information available to you on request about the manner in which Siltex Australia's contractors handle your data.

Siltex Australia undertakes to ensure that the information provided is meaningful, and addresses your concerns.

You undertake:

not to seek such information for frivolous purposes, or unreasonably frequently; and
to accept that the disclosure of excessive detail may harm the security of personal data and Siltex Australia's business processes, and may harm Siltex Australia's commercial interests.

Handling of Enquiries, General Concerns and Complaints

If you have enquiries, general concerns, or complaints about these Terms, or about Siltex Australia's behaviour in relation to these Terms, you undertake:

to communicate them in the first instance:
- to Siltex Australia only;
- in sufficient detail;
- through a channel made available by Siltex Australia for that purpose;

Siltex Australia undertakes:

to provide one or more channels for communications to Siltex Australia, which are convenient to users;
to promptly provide acknowledgement of the receipt of communications, including the provision of a copy of the communication, the date and time it was registered, and Siltex Australia's reference-code for the communication;
to promptly provide a response to the communication, in an appropriate and meaningful manner.

You further undertake to not pursue Siltex Australia through any Regulator or the media:

until and unless Siltex Australia has had a reasonable opportunity to respond to the initial communication; and
while Siltex Australia and you remain are conducting a meaningful dialogue about the matter.

Enforcement

Siltex Australia declares that its undertakings in these Terms are intended to create legal obligations, and that those obligations are intended to be enforceable under appropriate laws in appropriate jurisdictions. These include laws relating to data protection, privacy, fair trading, corporations and criminal laws.

You undertake to seek enforcement only in a jurisdiction that is relevant to the transactions that have taken place between You and Siltex Australia, in particular the jurisdiction in which you live or in which you performed the relevant acts, and the jurisdiction in which Siltex Australia is domiciled or performed the relevant acts.

If you wish to discover the relevant laws in any particular jurisdiction, Siltex Australia draws your attention to the following resources:

WorldLII Privacy Links
Compilation of [U.S.] State and Federal Privacy Laws, Privacy Journal, Providence RI
Privacy Law Sourcebook 2004, EPIC, Washington DC
the Australian Privacy Foundation's pages:
Privacy International

Changes to These Privacy Undertakings

Siltex Australia undertakes:

not to materially change these Terms in a manner that reduces the protections for personal data;
to take all possible steps to prevent any company that acquires this company or any of its relevant assets from materially changing the Terms applicable to personal data in a manner that reduces the protections for personal data;
where it is considering making changes to these Terms, or creating more specific Terms relating to specific services, to consult with appropriate representative and advocacy organisations;
where it makes changes to these Terms, to ensure that the differences between successive versions are readily accessible;
to maintain all prior versions of these Terms in such a manner that they are dated, and readily accessible.