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At BC Travel Guide.ca, we are committed to providing our clients and customers with
exceptional service. As providing this service involves the collection, use and
disclosure of some personal information about our clients, protecting their personal
information is one of our highest priorities.
While we
have always respected our client’s privacy and safeguarded their personal information,
we have strengthened our commitment to protecting personal information as a result
of British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). PIPA, which came
into effect on January 1, 2004, sets out the ground rules for how B.C. businesses
and not-for-profit organizations may collect, use and disclose personal information.
We will inform
our clients and customers of why and how we collect, use and disclose their personal
information, obtain their consent where required, and only handle their personal
information in a manner that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the
circumstances.
This Personal
Information Protection Policy, in compliance with PIPA, outlines the principles
and practices we will follow in protecting clients’ and customers’ personal information.
Our privacy commitment includes ensuring the accuracy, confidentiality, and security
of our clients’ and customers’ personal information and allowing our clients and
customers to request access to, and correction of, their personal information.
DEFINITIONS
Personal
Information –means information about an identifiable individual. For example a client
or customer’s name, home address and phone number, email address, flight information
and credit card details. Personal information does not include contact information
(described below).
Contact information
– means information that would enable an individual to be contacted at a place of
business and includes name, position name or title, business telephone number, business
address, business email or business fax number. Contact information is not covered
by this policy or PIPA.
Privacy Officer
– means the individual designated responsibility for ensuring that BC Travel Guide.ca
complies with this policy and PIPA.
POLICY
1 – COLLECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION
Unless the
purposes for collecting personal information are obvious and the client and customer
voluntarily provides his or her personal information for those purposes, we will
communicate the purposes for which personal information is being collected, either
orally or in writing, before or at the time of collection.
We will only
collect client and customer information that is necessary to fulfill the following
purposes:
- To verify identity, we may collect name, home address, home telephone number;
- To identify [client and customer] preferences;
- To deliver requested products and services;
- To ensure a high standard of service to our [clients and customers];
- To meet regulatory requirements;
POLICY
2 – CONSENT
We will obtain
client and customer consent to collect, use or disclose personal information (except
where, as noted below, we are authorized to do so without consent).
Consent can be provided orally, in writing, and electronically or it can be implied
where the purpose for collecting using or disclosing the personal information would
be considered obvious and the client and customer voluntarily provides personal
information for that purpose.
Consent may
also be implied where a client and customer is given notice and a reasonable opportunity
to opt-out of his or her personal information being used for mail-outs, the marketing
of new services or products, fundraising and the client and customer does not opt-out.
Subject to
certain exceptions (e.g., the personal information is necessary to provide the service
or product, or the withdrawal of consent would frustrate the performance of a legal
obligation), clients and customers can withhold or withdraw their consent for BC
Travel Guide.ca to use their personal information in certain ways. A client’s, customer’s,
member’s decision to withhold or withdraw their consent to certain uses of personal
information may restrict our ability to provide a particular service or product.
If so, we will explain the situation to assist the client and customer in making
the decision.
We may collect,
use or disclose personal information without the client’s knowledge or consent in
the following limited circumstances:
- When the collection, use or disclosure of personal information is permitted or
required by
law;
- In an emergency that threatens an individual's life, health, or personal security;
- When the personal information is available from a public source (e.g., a phone
directory);
- When we require legal advice from a lawyer;
- For the purposes of collecting a debt;
- To protect ourselves from fraud;
- To investigate an anticipated breach of an agreement or a contravention of law.
POLICY 3 – USING AND DISCLOSING PERSONAL INFORMATION
We will only
use or disclose client and customer personal information where necessary to fulfill
the purposes identified at the time of collection or for a purpose reasonably related
to those purposes such as:
- To gather information to enhance the provision of our services;
- To contact our clients and customers directly about products and services that
may be of
interest.
We will not
use or disclose client and customer personal information for any additional purpose
unless we obtain consent to do so. We will not sell client and customer lists or
personal information to other parties.
POLICY
4 – RETAINING PERSONAL INFORMATION
If we use client and customer personal information to make a decision that
directly affects the client and customer, we will retain that personal information
for at least one year so that the client and customer has a reasonable opportunity
to request access to it.
We will retain
client and customer personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill the
identified purposes or a legal or business purpose.
POLICY
5 – ENSURING ACCURACY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We will make
reasonable efforts to ensure that client and customer personal information is accurate
and complete where it may be used to make a decision about the client and customer
or disclosed to another organization.
Clients and customers may request correction to their personal information in order
to ensure its accuracy and completeness. A request to correct personal information
must be made in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify the personal information
and the correction being sought. .
POLICY
6 – SECURING PERSONAL INFORMATION
We are committed
to ensuring the security of client and customer personal information in order to
protect it from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification
or disposal or similar risks.
The following
security measures will be followed to ensure that client and customer personal information
is appropriately protected:
- The use of locked filing cabinets;
- Physically securing offices where personal information is held;
- The use of user IDs, passwords, encryption, firewalls;
- Restricting employee access to personal information as appropriate (i.e., only
those that need to know will have access; contractually requiring any service providers
to provide comparable security measures.
We will use
appropriate security measures when destroying client’s, customer’s, member’s personal
information such as:
- Shredding documents;
- Deleting electronically stored information.
We will continually
review and update our security policies and controls as technology changes to ensure
ongoing personal information security.
POLICY
7 – PROVIDING CLIENTS AND CUSTOMERS ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION
Clients and
customers have a right to access their personal information, subject to limited
exceptions.
A request
to access personal information must be made in writing and provide sufficient detail
to identify the personal information being sought. Upon request, we will also tell
clients and customers how we use their personal information and to whom it has been
disclosed if applicable.
We will make the requested information available within 30 business days, or provide
written notice of an extension where additional time is required to fulfill the
request.
A minimal
fee may be charged for providing access to personal information. Where a fee may
apply, we will inform the client and customer of the cost and request further direction
from the client and customer on whether or not we should proceed with the request.
If a request
is refused in full or in part, we will notify the client and customer in writing,
providing the reasons for refusal and the recourse available to the client and customer.
POLICY
8 – QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS: THE ROLE OF THE PRIVACY OFFICER OR DESIGNATED INDIVIDUAL
The designated
individual is responsible for ensuring BC Travel Guide.ca’s compliance with this
policy and the Personal Information Protection Act.
Clients and customers should direct any complaints, concerns or questions regarding
BC Travel Guide.ca’s compliance in writing to the Privacy Officer. If the Privacy
Officer is unable to resolve the concern, the client and customer may also write
to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia.
Contact information
for BC Travel Guide.ca:
1993 Kloppenburg Court
Kelowna, BC V1P 1N6
Tel: 250-451-9306 Fax: 250.451-9308
Email: info@bctravelguide.ca
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