Privacy, Terms and Conditions

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Privacy Officer: Simone Carlysle-Smith sctp@sunshinecoastcanada.com

The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership Privacy Policy

Protecting the privacy and the confidentiality of your information over the Internet, on the telephone, or through our offices has always been fundamental to the way we do business at the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership. We operate on the basis of a Privacy Policy and related procedures that guide the handling of the personal and business information we collect. We have created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to protecting the privacy of our partners and potential Web site visitors. This policy and related procedures are consistent with the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information (herein CSA Model Code) and the British Columbia Personal Information Protection Act (herein the Act).

Privacy Statement
This policy deals with personal information that may be collected as part of the business information handled by the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership. Personal information is information about an identifiable individual, excluding business contact information. The following explains how the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership handles personal information as it forms part of a business profile. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership reserves the right to change this policy and it may be updated periodically. In the event of a change in the policy, which will affect our use of your personal information the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership will provide notice of the changes to all necessary individuals.

Accountability
The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership is accountable for all personal information under its control. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership privacy officer is the Director, responsible for maintaining the database, Simone Carlysle-Smith.

The privacy officer can be reached by: Email:sctp@sunshinecoastcanada.com
Telephone: (604) 885-5924 Fax: (604) 885-5970
Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership c/o PO Box 1506, Sechelt, BC V0N 3A0  Any questions about the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership’s handling of personal information should be directed to the privacy officer. Please see below for more information about the process for referring questions about the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership handling of personal information.

Purpose of Personal Information
The purpose for which Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership collects, uses, or discloses personal information will be identified at or before the time the information is collected. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership may collect personal information for the purposes of:
1. Contacting individuals by phone or email who may operate their business from home, or a home/office
2. Providing benefits through the marketing activities of the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership
3. Registering for Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership events, for example the Taste of the Coast industry networking event
4. Purchasing various Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership services including cooperative marketing opportunities
5. Processing and administering the above or other purposes as necessary.

Marketing Services
The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership may collect contact information from public sources build its tourism industry business inventory of the Lower Sunshine Coast to:
1. Broadcast email newsletters, events notices, meeting notices, industry issues and other relevant information.
2. Publish business information on the Recreation Map and http://www.sunshinecoastcanada.com website.
3. Supply marketing partners with one time access to contact information such as Vancouver Coast and Mountains Tourism Region for the Sunshine Coast Experience Guide.
 Consent
The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership seeks consent for all personal information we collect, use and disclose through information provided to individuals prior to collection, or at the time of collection.

This contact information is voluntarily provided to the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership by creating an account online at http://www.sunshinecoastcanada.com, by completing a free listing form for the Recreation Map and SCTP website, by answering questions from a SCTP representative by telephone or responding to a broadcast email to re-verify contact information based on current records. The online database allows an option to NOT publish private phone numbers that may be recorded for contact purposes but are not to be published for marketing purposes. At any time a contact can be removed from the database list by either deleting their own listing directly from the website or by contacting the privacy officer. If information is voluntarily provided, this constitutes consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information only for a purpose that would be considered obvious to a reasonable person. In the majority of cases, Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership will seek consent to collection, use and disclosure. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership will not use personal information for any purpose other than that for which consent has been provided. Should the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership require use of personal information for a new purpose, consent will be sought for that new use.

Limits for Collecting, Using, Disclosing and Keeping Personal Information
The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership does not collect, use or disclose personal information of individuals except when individuals give consent, provide the information on a voluntary basis, or as required or authorized by law. There may be occasions where more specific personal information is necessary for us to proceed with a request for information, or provide you with a product or service. In such cases, we will provide you with a description on the information we need. In all cases, the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership limits the amount and type of information collected to only the personal information that is required to provide the individual with the requested information, product, or service. We collect only information that is voluntarily provided by you and undertake that such information will be kept strictly confidential.   The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership may disclose personal information collected by it without the knowledge or consent of the individual, in certain circumstances prescribed by the Act, for example to its lawyers; for purposes relating to an investigation or proceeding, or where required by law to disclose the information. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership will not use or disclose personal information without the consent of the individual except as authorized by applicable law.

We retain personal information only as long as is necessary to provide the individual with the requested product, service or information and delete or destroy this information after that time. In some cases, however, legal reporting and retention requirements necessitate that Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership retain information for a specific amount of time.  If the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership uses an individual’s personal information to make a decision that directly affects the individual, Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership will retain that information for at least one year after using it.

The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership does not sell or trade any personal information with third parties, however to does collect business information from its partners and re-verifies that information for the purposes of maintaining a regional inventory of the tourism industry for the Lower Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership may transfer information to service providers where information processing is outsourced by Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership in the course of its administrative procedures or member services in specific cases. Where personal information is transferred to a service provider for processing, we require the service provider to respect this Privacy Policy and we restrict them from using or disclosing personal information transferred to them for any purpose other than the provision of services to us. The service provider is informed they cannot copy or retain the information and must remove the information from any electronic source used in the course of providing the service at the close of a project.

Any personal information that Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership retains is kept in such a manner as to ensure its security and confidentiality at all times.

Safeguarding Personal Information
The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership respects the privacy of our stakeholders, partners, potential website visitors and Internet users and will protect that privacy as vigorously as possible. We store personal information in electronic and physical files that are secure. Our security measures include industry standard techniques such as firewalls, encryption, intrusion detection and restricted access to records and to equipment, including computers. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from us electronically. This is especially true for information you transmit to us via e-mail. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best efforts to ensure its security on our servers.

Accuracy of and Access to Personal Information Collected
The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership makes every reasonable effort to keep personal information as accurate, complete, current and relevant as necessary for the identified purposes. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership does routinely update personal information when business information is updated for publishing on the Recreation Map and the website http://www.sunshinecoastcanada.com.   The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership makes readily available to individuals our Privacy Policy and related procedures for managing personal information. We provide access to the Privacy Policy and related procedures to individuals on the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership’s web site and in written form by the privacy officer. Any questions about the handling of personal information by Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership can be raised with our privacy officer.

At the written request of an individual, he or she may access or request a correction of their personal information as collected by Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership. In case of an access request, the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership will inform them of the personal information we have about the individual under our control, what it has been and is being used for and, in cases where it has been disclosed, to whom it has been disclosed. There may be exceptional circumstances as provided by the Act under which Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership may not be able to give an individual access to the personal information about her or him held by Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership. In this case Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership will explain the reason for this lack of access, as provided by the relevant provision of the Act.

To make a request, please send a letter, email or fax addressed to the Privacy Officer at the address noted on page one. In any written request, please include the nature of the request, for example: access and/or correct information/inquire regarding use and/or disclosure etc.

If an inquiry concerns a specific transaction, please indicate the date of the transaction, and provide a receipt number if applicable. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership will reply to your request in no later than thirty days after receipt of the request, or if we are not able to respond within this time period, we will send you a notice of extension. If we are not able to provide you with access to all the personal information about you that is under our control, we will give you a reason for our inability to do so, unless prohibited by law.

Questions and Complaints
Any questions, comments, or complaints about the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership’s handling of personal information should be directed to the privacy officer.  Complaints should be in writing and Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership will provide notice of receipt of the complaint within 30 days of the postmark date. Within a reasonable time of receipt of the complaint, the privacy officer will conduct an investigation into the complaint. The format of this investigation may vary, depending on the circumstances. Within a reasonable time of conclusion of the investigation, the privacy officer will inform the complainant of the outcome of the complaint.  Use of the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership Website The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership believes that online privacy is important to the success of the Internet and electronic commerce in general and is strongly committed to each web visitor’s right to privacy. This statement sets forth the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership’s Privacy Policy for its website located at http://www.sunshinecoastcanada.com and describes the practices that Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership follows in respect to the privacy of the users of this site. By accessing and using materials from this website or sending or posting materials to it, you (the “userâ€) agrees to the terms of this privacy commitment and to our practices to collect, use or disclose personal information.  This Privacy Statement may be updated periodically to reflect enhancements to Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership website that may affect the use of personal information. Accordingly, please check back periodically.  

Information on this Website
Information which includes all facts, data and other information, collectively the "Information" in the pages of this website is of a general nature, is intended only for informational purposes, is subject to change without notice, and is not intended to be relied on by visitors as binding legal advice on any particular matter.  Individual information provided to Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership to gain access to any feature of this website will not be sold or made available to any third party, except where information processing is outsourced by Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership in the course of its regular administrative procedures.  The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership reserves the right to perform statistical analyses of aggregated user behavior and characteristics, in order to measure interest in and use of the various sections of its site so as to improve design and navigation and to gather information for marketing purposes. Only aggregated data from these analyses, not personally identifiable individual data, will be used for this purpose.  

Accuracy of the Information on this Website
The information is believed to be accurate, complete and current when posted, but Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership cannot guarantee that it will remain accurate or complete or that it will be current at all times.  Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership is not responsible for direct, indirect, special or consequential damages, regardless of the cause, arising out the use of this website.

Accuracy of Information on Linked Websites
Through the links to other sites found on the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership website, the user may enter domains that are beyond the boundaries of Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership and, once there, the Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these websites. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership has no control over the accuracy, completeness or relevance of the information on these sites and provides links to these sites solely for the information and convenience of visitors to our website.

Copying Information from this Website
The information on Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership website may be used or copied provided that it is used or copied accurately, or is used in its entirety and/or that the source of the information is clearly identified. Only a partner of Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership may use the information for commercial purposes. Permission may be granted to others who have a need for the information. The Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership is not responsible for the way in which the information may be used or copied. Sunshine Coast Tourism Partnership reserves the right to change, delete or add information at any time.