Privacy Statement & Authority Privacy Statement & Authority

1. Our Commitment
(a) Coface is part of the Coface Group, a worldwide leader in credit insurance. Coface offers solutions for trade receivables management. Coface advises and supports companies in Australia through the process of  providing security and management of their domestic and export trade receivables including the provision of a range of credit insurance solutions to secure an organisation's sales, finance an organisation's business development, and providing coverage for an organisation's contracts and investments abroad.
(b) Coface is committed to the protection of your right to privacy in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles, as set out in the Privacy Act 1988(Cth).  This Privacy Policy outlines how Coface collects, holds, uses, and discloses your Personal Information.
 
2.  Consent
By providing Personal Information to us, you consent to our collection, storage, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and any other arrangements that may apply between you and Coface.
 
3. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change this Privacy Policy by posting the revised Privacy Policy on the Website. By using the Website or providing us with Personal Information, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the revised Privacy Policy.
 
4. What Personal Information do we collect and hold?
(a) In the process of conducting its business, Coface will likely collect and hold a range of Personal Information about you.  Such collection is necessary for one or more of Coface's business functions or activities.
(b) The type of  Personal Information Coface may collect and hold about you includes:
     (i) your name;
     (ii) your mailing address;
     (iii) your residential address;
     (iv) your email address;
     (v) your mobile number;
     (vi) your telephone number;
     (vii) your place of work;
     (viii) financial details about you;
     (ix) details of your insurance and your claims history;
     (x) any information you provide us directly or indirectly through any other arrangement (including a contractual arrangement) between you and Coface;
     (xi) any information that you provide to us directly through the Website or indirectly through your use of the Website or through other websites or accounts from which you permit us to collect your Personal Information; and
     (xii) any other information that may be required in order to facilitate your dealings with us.
 
5. How do we collect and hold Personal Information?
(a) Coface will only collect Personal Information by lawful and fair means and in ways which are not unreasonably intrusive.
(b) Where reasonable and practical to do so, Coface will only collect Personal Information about you from you.  In some cases, however, Coface may collect Personal Information about you from third parties, including the third parties listed in paragraph 8(a) to 8(m) below.
(c) Coface may collect Personal Information when you:
     (i) submit a proposal to us;
     (ii) contact us or submit a query via the Website;
     (iii) communicate with us through correspondence, chats, email, or when you share information with us over the telephone or in person; or
     (iv) share information from social media platforms, services, and other permission based marketing sites.
 
6. Do we collect or hold Sensitive Information?
Unless Coface is required to do so by applicable law, Coface will not collect or hold Sensitive Information about you.
 
7. Why do we collect, hold, use, or disclose your Personal Information?
(a) Coface may collect, hold, use, or disclose your Personal Information for:
     (i) regulatory purposes;
     (ii) the purpose of providing products or services to you;
     (iii) the management of any contractual arrangements between you and Coface;
     (iv) the purposes of undertaking or providing credit assessment, credit management, credit insurance, reinsurance, debt collection, bonding, factoring, or financing activities; and
     (v) any business need of Coface or a business need of a related body of Coface.
(b) Coface may also collect, hold, use, or disclose your Personal Information to:
     (i) answer your queries;
     (ii) deal with, and advise, you in respect of general insurance products and financial risk products associated with managing trade credit exposure;
     (iii) fulfil your requests for our products or services;
     (iv) receive, process, and exchange information with our bank or payment provider in relation to the payment for our products or services;
     (v) develop and identify products and services that may interest you or Coface's clients;
     (vi) analyse or improve our offers, products, or services including, for example, by examining and keeping track of patterns of use in our interactions with you;
     (vii) undertake any new business or activity of Coface or a related body of Coface;
     (viii) conduct client satisfaction surveys;
     (ix) establish and administer alliances and other arrangements with other organisations in relation to the promotion, administration, or use of our products or services;
     (x) optimise the Website and our users' experience such as to perform analytics, conduct research, and for advertising and marketing purposes;
     (xi) provide customer support;
     (xii) resolve any disputes that we may have with you or any of our users, and enforce our agreements with third parties; or
     (xiii) provide information as authorised or required by law or a relevant government body or authority.
(c) Coface does not use or disclose your Personal Information for any purpose that is unrelated to any of the use or purposes specified in this Privacy Policy and that you would not reasonably expect (except with your consent) unless any such proposed use or disclosure is permitted by, or falls within an exemption in, the Privacy Act.
 
8. Who does Coface disclose your Personal Information to?
Coface may disclose your Personal Information to third parties. These third parties may include:
(a) related bodies of Coface;
(b) organisations who are involved in the provision of Coface's products or services. For example, in arranging and managing your insurance needs, Coface may provide Personal Information to its related bodies, advisers (such as legal advisors and accountants) and other parties involved in the claims handling process;
(c) mail service providers for the mailing of statements, insurance policy documentation, or Coface marketing material;
(d) brokers;
(e) reinsurers;
(f) Coface's affiliates or CreditAlliance partners;
(g) Coface's insurers;
(h) Coface's payment systems operators such as banks, merchants receiving card payments, or payment providers;
(i) anyone to whom Coface's assets or businesses (or any part of them) are transferred;
(j) organisations who provide services to, or on behalf of, Coface such as organisations who provide IT and infrastructure services, customer services, email delivery, and auditing services;
(k) expert advisors;
(l) government agencies, courts, regulatory bodies, and law enforcement agencies, or as required, authorised, or permitted by law;
(m) any third party expressly agreed with you; or
(n) the legal advisers, accountants, tax advisors, or other advisors of Coface or any of the third parties listed in paragraphs8(a) to 8(m) above.
 
9. Will we market or advertise to you?
(a) You consent to our use and disclosure of your Personal Information for the purposes of promoting and marketing our products or services to you including, for example, to inform you about our new products or those of our affiliates and about any changes to the existing products. We may do this by mail, e-mail, SMS, MMS, social media, or telephone. 
(b) Your consent is voluntary.  You may revoke your consent to the use or disclosure of your Personal Information for promotion and marketing purposes by contacting the Coface Privacy Officer during normal business hours on:
    (i) Postal Address: GPO Box 129, Sydney NSW 2001;
    (ii) Telephone:61 (0)2 8235 8600; or
    (iii) Email:privacy.australia@coface.com
(c) Upon receipt of your revocation of the disclosure or use of your Personal Information for marketing and promotion purposes, Coface will immediately cease and desist from any further use of your Personal Information for such purposes.
 
10. What measures do we take to ensure your Personal Information is accurate and secure?
10.1 Accuracy of Personal Information
(a) Coface will take reasonable steps to ensure that the Personal Information it collects about you is accurate, complete, and up-to-date whenever Coface collects uses or discloses it.
(b) If your Personal Information is not accurate, complete, or up-to-date, Coface may not be able to provide you with any, or the appropriate, products or services.  You must contact Coface whenever your Personal Information changes or if you become aware that Coface records are incomplete, incorrect or not up-to-date.  By contacting Coface, Coface can take reasonable steps to ensure that your Personal Information is correct before Coface uses or discloses it again.
 
10.2 Security measures taken by Coface
(a) Coface will take precautions that are reasonable in the circumstances to protect the Personal Information it holds about you from misuse, loss, or unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.
(b) Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed as completely secure.  Although Coface strives to protect such information, Coface cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to it electronically or any information which Coface (either with your express or implied consent) transmits to you electronically.  Consequently, such transmissions are carried out at your own risk. Once Coface receives your transmission, it will take reasonable steps to preserve the security of the information.
 
10.3 How long do we keep your Personal Information?
Unless Coface is required to do so by applicable law, when Coface can no longer use or disclose Personal Information it holds about you, it will take reasonable steps to permanently destroy or de-identify that information.
 
11. Do we collect or use identifiers
Coface will not use Commonwealth Government identifiers as its own identifier for you. If Coface does collect Commonwealth Government identifiers, then it will only use them in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles relating to identifiers.
 
12. Can you remain anonymous?
Where it is lawful and practical, you will have the option not to identify yourself when entering into a transaction with Coface. However, if any Personal Information Coface request from you is not provided, Coface may not be able to provide any, or the appropriate, products or services to you.
 
13. Do we monitor your access and use of Coface's website and use cookies?
(a) Coface may collect Personal Information about you when you use and access the Website. We may record certain information about your use of the Website, such as which pages you visit, the time and date of your visit, and the internet protocol address assigned to your computer.
(b) A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record-keeping purposes. 
(c) We use cookies on the Website. We use session ID cookies to make it easier for you to navigate the Website. A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser. If you reject cookies, you may still use the Website but your ability to use some areas of the Website will be limited and you may not able to use the full functionality of the Website.
 
14. Do we disclose Personal Information outside Australia?
(a) Coface may disclose your Personal Information to our related bodies, reinsurers, affiliates or partners. Coface may also disclose your Personal Information to third parties involved in the management of products and services we provide you including third parties used for the management of your credit insurance contract and for the needs of our insurance activities and, as the case may be, our credit assessment, credit management and financing activities. These organisations may be outside of Australia.
(b) In these circumstances, Coface will generally take reasonable steps to ensure that we have arrangements in place with such parties that prevent them from using or disclosing your Personal Information for any purposes other than those set out in this Privacy Policy. However by providing Personal Information to us, you acknowledge that we may not always be able to guarantee that overseas parties are subject to requirements similar to those contained in the Privacy Act and you consent to the disclosure on this basis.
(c) If you would like further information about whether your Personal Information will be disclosed to overseas recipients, please contact the Coface Privacy Officer using the contact details in paragraph 17 below. 
 
15. How do you access your Personal Information
(a) You may request access to the Personal Information Coface holds about you including for the purposes of determining what Personal Information we hold about you, why we are using the Personal Information, and who has access to your Personal Information.  You may also request that we delete Personal Information we hold about you or request to receive an electronic copy of your Personal Information in order to transmit it to another organisation to the extent your right to data portability is provided by applicable law.
(b) If you wish to access your Personal Information for any of these purposes, please contact us using the contact details in paragraph 17 below. If we will not comply with your request, we will tell you why.
 
16. How do you make a complaint?
If you wish to make a complaint about the way we have handled your Personal Information or that we may have breached this Privacy Policy, please contact us using the contact details in paragraph 17 below.  Please include your name, email address, and telephone number.  Please also clearly describe your complaint. We will acknowledge your complaint and respond to you regarding your complaint within a reasonable period of time. If you think that we have failed to resolve the complaint satisfactorily, we will provide you with information about further steps you can take.
 
17. Our contact details 
(a) Any questions, issues, notices, or complaints in relation to the collection, holding, use, disclosure, accuracy, security of, and access to, your Personal Information should be made to the Coface Privacy Officer during normal business hours. 
(b) Coface's Privacy Officer can be contacted on:
     (i) Postal Address: GPO Box 129, Sydney NSW 2001;
     (ii) Telephone:61 (0)2 8235 8600; or
     (iii) Email:privacy.australia@coface.com
 
18. Note on rights of EU Data Subjects under the GDPR
Please note that if you are a resident in the European Economic Area, you have a number of important rights under theGeneral Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679. These rights are in addition to any other rights you may have under the Privacy Act.
 
19. Definitions used in this Privacy Policy
In this Privacy Policy:
(a) Coface, our, us, andwemeans Coface Services (Australia) Pty Limited (ABN 20 108 110 032);
(b) Personal Informationhas the same meaning as in the Privacy Act;
(c) Privacy Actmeans thePrivacy Act 1988(Cth);
(d) Sensitive Informationhas the same meaning as in the Privacy Act; and
(e) Website means http://www.coface.com.au