Privacy Policy

THE PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION ACT “POPIA” PRIVACY POLICY

The POPI Act is a new privacy law, effective from 1 July 2021 in South Africa and designed to protect people’s private information.  It covers the sourcing, usage and storage of personal Information relating to “natural persons”.

According to the POPI Act, personal information includes but is not limited to:

• Information relating to the race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, national, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental health, well-being, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth of the person;
• Information relating to the education, medical, financial, criminal and employment history of the person;
• Names, surnames, nicknames and identifying numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, telephone numbers, location, online identifiers and the like;
• Biometric information of the person;
• Personal opinions, views and preferences of the person;
• Correspondence sent by the person that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature or further correspondence that would reveal the contents of the original correspondence;
• Views or opinions of other individuals about the person.
  
  

The POPI Act ensures that people’s personal information is appropriately protected, used only for the purposes it was obtained, and in a manner that facilitates transparency around:

• What companies and other entities do with their clients’ personal information;
• Why and how this personal information is processed (collection, usage, sharing, disposal, storage and archiving etc);
• Who the personal information is shared with (third parties locally and internationally, legal entities etc);
  
  

KERINGA-PETWINGS (KERINGA CC) is legally compliant with the requirements of the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPIA”).  To this end, we are committed to protecting our clients’ personal information, which will only be used for the purposes agreed by them.  

Keringa (“us”, “we,” “Company”, “our”) is committed to respecting the privacy rights of visitors and other users of the Keringa website (the “Site”) and their interaction with us. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) was compiled to give you confidence as you visit and use the website, to understand what is done with your information, and to demonstrate our commitment to fair-minded legally compliant information practices. This Policy is only applicable to our site (Keringa), and is not related to any other websites nor websites that you may be able to access through our site since other websites may have / use data collection practices and policies that differ materially from this Policy.

This Policy describes how the personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”) you may provide on the keringa.com website (“Website” or “Service”) and any of its related products and services (collectively, “Services”) is collected, protected and used. It also describes the choices available to you regarding our use of your Personal Information and how you can access and update this information. This Policy is a legally binding agreement between you (“User”, “you” or “your”) and this Website operator (“Operator”, “we”, “us” or “our”). By accessing and using the Website and Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Policy. This Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, or to individuals that we do not employ or manage. This privacy policy was created with the help of the privacy policy generator.

Automatic collection of information

When you open the Website, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends. This data may include information such as your device’s IP address, browser type and version, operating system type and version, language preferences or the webpage you were visiting before you came to the Website and Services, pages of the Website and Services that you visit, the time spent on those pages, information you search for on the Website, access times and dates, and other statistics.

Information collected automatically is used only to identify potential cases of abuse and establish statistical information regarding the usage and traffic of the Website and Services. This statistical information is not otherwise aggregated in any way that would identify any particular user of the system.

Collection of personal information

You can access and use the Website and Services without telling us who you are or revealing any information by which someone could identify you as a specific, identifiable individual. If, however, you wish to use some of the features on the Website, you may be asked to provide certain Personal Information (for example, your name and e-mail address). We receive and store any information you knowingly provide to us when you fill in any online forms on the Website. When required, this information may include the following:

• Personal details such as name, country of residence etc;
• Contact information such as email address, physical address, postal address etc;
• Geolocation data such as latitude and longitude;
• Information about other individuals such as your family members, friends etc;
• Any other materials you willingly submit to us such as articles, images, feedback etc;

Some of the information we collect is directly from you via the Website and Services. However, we may also collect Personal Information about you from other sources such as public databases and our joint marketing partners. You can choose not to provide us with your Personal Information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of some of the features on the Website. Users who are uncertain about what information is mandatory are welcome to contact us.

Use and processing of collected information

In order to make the Website and Services available to you, or to meet a legal obligation, we may need to collect and use certain Personal Information. If you do not provide the information that we request, we may not be able to provide you with the requested products or services. Any of the information we collect from you may be used for the following purposes:

• Send administrative information;
• Request user feedback;
• Enforce terms and conditions and policies;
• Protect from abuse and malicious users;
• Respond to legal requests and prevent harm;
• Run and operate the Website and Services;
• Use of testimonials: note that only first names will be shown;

Processing your Personal Information depends on how you interact with the Website and Services, where you are located in the world and if any of the following applies:

(i) You have given your consent for one or more specific purposes.  This, however, does not apply, whenever the processing of Personal Information is subject to European data protection law.

(ii) Provision of information is necessary for the performance of an agreement with you and/or for any pre-contractual obligations thereof;

(iii) Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which you are subject;

(iv) Processing is related to a task that is carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us;

(v) Processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party.

Note that in terms of some legislations we may be allowed to process information until you object to such processing (by opting out), without having to rely on consent or any other of the following legal bases below. In any case, we will be happy to clarify the specific legal basis that applies to the processing, and in particular whether the provision of Personal Information is a statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract.

Disclosure of information

Depending on the requested Services or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any service you have requested, we may share your information with your consent with our trusted third parties that work with us as well as any other affiliates and subsidiaries we rely upon to assist in the operation of the Website and Services available to you. We do not share Personal Information with unaffiliated third parties. These service providers are not authorised to use or disclose your information except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or comply with legal requirements. We may share your Personal Information for these purposes only with third parties whose privacy policies are consistent with ours or who agree to abide by our policies with respect to Personal Information. These third parties are given Personal Information they need only in order to perform their designated functions, and we do not authorise them to use or disclose Personal Information for their own marketing or other purposes.

Retention of information

We will retain and use your Personal Information for the period necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. We may use any aggregated data derived from or incorporating your Personal Information after you update or delete it, but not in a manner that would identify you personally. Once the retention period expires, Personal Information shall be deleted. Therefore, the right to access, the right to erasure, the right to rectification and the right to data portability cannot be enforced after the expiration of the retention period.

The rights of users

You may exercise certain rights regarding your Personal Information processed by us. In particular, you have the right to do the following:

• You have the right to withdraw consent where you have previously given your consent to the processing of your information;
• You have the right to complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa) – [email protected]
• You have the right to object to the processing of your information if the processing is carried out on a legal basis other than consent.
• You have the right to learn if the information is being processed by us, obtain disclosure regarding certain aspects of the processing and obtain a copy of the information undergoing processing;
• You have the right to verify the accuracy of your information and ask for it to be updated or corrected;
• You have the right, under certain circumstances, to restrict the processing of your information, in which case, we will not process your information for any purpose other than storing it;
• You have the right, under certain circumstances, to obtain the erasure of your Personal Information from us;
• You have the right to receive your information in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and, if technically feasible, to have it transmitted to another controller without any hindrance. This provision is applicable provided that your information is processed by automated means and that the processing is based on your consent, on a contract which you are part of or on pre-contractual obligations thereof.

To comply with the latest data protection laws, this site asks you for consent per purpose category, which gives you control over which 3rd parties have access to your data (through cookies or other tracking technologies). Please refer to the cookies section in our Privacy Policy on how to delete or block your cookies from our website, or alternatively contact us to assist you with this.

Consent is presumed not to be freely given if it does not allow separate consent to be given to different personal data processing operations. (This in terms of GDPR Recital 43.  For your information, the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area. It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas.)

This Site supports your right to privacy and transparency. To comply with rights afforded to you under the latest data protection laws, this site maintains a record of your consent and allows you to exercise your rights as a data subject through the Privacy Contact section below.

Each controller shall maintain a record of processing activities and shall make the record available to the supervisory authority on request. (This in terms of GDPR Article 7.  For your information, the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area. It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas.)

Your consent is given to us whenever you submit any of the forms on our website. We state above the submit buttons that “By clicking “Submit”, you have read and agree to Keringa’s Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy and Disclaimer and that you give consent to the given information being used by Keringa to contact you regarding your enquiry.” Your consent is then stored on our website with the submitted information that you filled in and can request to have this data deleted by filling in our data deletion form.

We are also committed to operating in terms of compliance with US-based federal privacy laws and acts such as CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act).  (To date, the US doesn’t (yet) have a federal-level general consumer data privacy law, let alone a data security law. The EU with its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has both! However, the Californian Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), does come close to addressing consumer data privacy at least for California residents and it’s a great exercise to compare and contrast to the GDPR). 

CCPA is defined as: selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, a consumer’s personal information by the business to another business or a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration. We do not sell you data to any third parties.

Privacy of children

We do not knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, please do not submit any Personal Information through the Website and Services. We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and to help enforce this Policy by instructing their children never to provide Personal Information through the Website and Services without their permission. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 18 has provided Personal Information to us through the Website and Services, please contact us. You must also be old enough to consent to the processing of your Personal Information in your country (in some countries we may allow your parent or guardian to do so on your behalf).

Cookies

The Website and Services use “cookies” to help personalise your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programmes or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

We may use cookies to collect, store, and track information for statistical purposes to operate the Website and Services. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. You may learn more about cookies and how they work, and how to block your cookies from being collected by clicking on computer, Android or iPhone & iPad.

Where we place cookies

We set cookies in several different locations across our services. These include:

• On our website https://keringa.com;
• In the administrative dashboards of our websites (eg wp-admin etc);
• On sites that use our plugins (eg Jetpack).
  
  

Do Not Track signals

Some browsers incorporate a Do Not Track feature that signals to websites you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Tracking is not the same as using or collecting information in connection with a website. For these purposes, tracking refers to collecting personally identifiable information from consumers who use or visit a website or online service as they move across different websites over time. How browsers communicate the Do Not Track signal is not yet uniform. As a result, the Website and Services are not yet set up to interpret or respond to Do Not Track signals communicated by your browser. Even so, as described in more detail throughout this Policy, we limit our use and collection of your personal information.

Email marketing

We offer electronic newsletters and other communications to which you may voluntarily subscribe at any time. We are committed to keeping your e-mail address confidential and will not disclose your email address to any third parties except as allowed in the information use and processing section or for the purposes of utilising a third party provider to send such emails. We will maintain the information sent via e-mail in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

In compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, all emails sent from us will clearly state who the email is from and provide clear information on how to contact the sender. You may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails or by contacting us.

Links to other resources

The Website and Services contain links to other resources that are not owned or controlled by us. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other resources or third parties. We encourage you to be aware when you leave the Website and Services and to read the privacy statements of each and every resource that may collect Personal Information.

Information security

We secure information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorised access, use, or disclosure. Our website has 2FA (2-step authentication enable). We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards in an effort to protect against unauthorised access, use, modification, and disclosure of Personal Information in our control and custody. However, no data transmission over the Internet or wireless network can be guaranteed. Therefore, while we strive to protect your Personal Information, you acknowledge that:

(i) There are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control;

(ii) The security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and the Website and Services cannot be guaranteed;

(iii) And any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party, despite our best efforts.

Data breach

In the event we become aware that the security of the Website and Services has been compromised or users’ Personal Information has been disclosed to unrelated third parties as a result of external activity, including, but not limited to, security attacks or fraud, we reserve the right to take reasonably appropriate measures, including, but not limited to, investigation and reporting, as well as notification to and cooperation with law enforcement authorities. In the event of a data breach, we will make reasonable efforts to notify affected individuals if we believe that there is a reasonable risk of harm to the user as a result of the breach or if notice is otherwise required by law. When we do, we will post a notice on the Website.

Changes and amendments

We reserve the right to modify this Policy or its terms relating to the Website and Services from time to time in our discretion and will notify you of any material changes to the way in which we treat Personal Information. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page. We may also provide notice to you in other ways at our discretion, such as through contact information you have provided. Any updated version of this Policy will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Policy unless otherwise specified. Your continued use of the Website and Services after the effective date of the revised Policy (or such other act specified at that time) will constitute your consent to those changes. However, we will not, without your consent, use your Personal Information in a manner materially different than that stated at the time your Personal Information was collected.

Acceptance of this policy

You acknowledge that you have read this Policy and agree to all its terms and conditions. By accessing and using the Website and Services you agree to be bound by this Policy. If you do not agree to abide by the terms of this Policy, you are not authorised to access or use the Website and Services.

Contacting us

If you would like to contact us to understand more about this Policy or about any matter relating to individual rights and your Personal Information, you may do so via the contact form, send an email to [email protected] or phone us: + 27 11 976 3030 (international) or 011 976 3030 (South Africa)  

You may request your data to be deleted by filling in this form.

You may request to unsubscribe from our mails by filling in this form.

This document was last updated on June 19, 2022.