Privacy Policy

Privacy Statement

Last Revised: 1 December 2020

Who does this Privacy Statement apply to?

JVAT and its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, “JVAT”, “us”, “we” or “our”) understand that your privacy is important to you. We are committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal data, which is any information that can identify you as an individual person.

This Privacy Statement describes how we handle and protect your personal data in connection with JVAT’s business activities and client services, and on websites, applications, and communications that link to this Privacy Statement (collectively, “the Sites”).

What does this Privacy Statement cover?

This Statement explains how we collect, handle, store and protect personal information when:

We provide professional services to you or our clients;

You use “this Website”; or

We perform any other activities that form part of the operation of our business.

When we refer to “this Website” we are talking about websites associated with JVAT Australia, JVAT USA and Forward Facing, including:

Pages accessed using the www.jvat.com.au and www.jvat.us URL; and

Pages or communications that are linked directly to this Privacy Statement.

This Statement also contains information about when we share information with JVAT, its subsidiaries and affiliates, or their related entities (collectively, the “JVAT Network”).

Are all areas of this Website covered by this Statement?

Certain areas of this Website have separate privacy statements that apply to personal information collected via those pages. A separate statement may be necessary because of the nature of the personal information being collected (for example, information collected during the recruitment process) and to provide additional detail about how we handle information collected via those pages.

What about the privacy statements of other JVAT subsidiaries and affiliates?

The JVAT subsidiaries and affiliates are located all over the world and are subject to the privacy laws of the particular country or countries in which they operate. As a result, each subsidiary and affiliate has its own privacy statement governing the handling of any personal information they collect. Importantly, the websites of JVAT subsidiaries and affiliates, as well as other websites that may be linked to this Website, are not covered by this Statement.

We encourage visitors to review each website’s privacy statement before disclosing any personal information.

What laws apply to us?

When handling personal information, we will comply with the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and other applicable legislation (such as Australian State and Territory health privacy legislation). We will also comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth).

The Australian Privacy Principles are legally binding principles that are designed to ensure that individuals’ personal information is protected throughout the information lifecycle – that is, from the time the information is collected through to its destruction. The Australian Privacy Principles also give individuals the right to access their personal information and have it corrected if it is incorrect.

We take our obligations under the Australian Privacy Principles, Australian State and Territory privacy legislation and other applicable data protection laws seriously. Therefore, in addition to this Statement, we also: Maintain an internal privacy policy; and where appropriate, include terms in our agreements with our clients that describe how we handle personal information during the delivery of our professional services.

What personal information do we collect?

Information we collect when we provide professional services to our clients

We may be provided with personal information directly by our clients to enable us to deliver professional services or to perform due diligence checks before we agree to provide services. This information may relate to clients’ employees, members or customers or it may refer to third parties (for example, the spouses and dependents of a client’s employees, members or customers).

JVAT Network collects personal data in the course of its business activities and in the provision of client services. We also collect personal data on certain areas of the Sites when you apply for jobs through the Careers page, submit details as part of our various reporting mechanisms, subscribe to JVAT newsletters and alerts, provide details via our Contact page, and/or participate in public user posting areas (such as bulletin boards, discussion forums and surveys). The personal data collected varies and may include information that you provide, such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, fax number, and background information required to apply for a job.

As part of providing professional services to our clients, we may also collect personal information from other sources (such as directly from individuals themselves or information that is publicly available).

The types of personal information we may collect or be provided may include, but are not limited to:

Contact details;

Dates of birth;

Gender;

Employment records;

Financial records;

Complaint details.

We may also collect sensitive personal information (also called ‘special category information’). For example, where we are provided with such information directly by our clients to provide professional services, or where we collect information directly from individuals with their consent. This sensitive personal information may include:

Government identifiers such as drivers’ licence, passport and Medicare numbers and visa/work permit status;

Tax file numbers;

Health records;

Information about racial or ethnic origins;

Information about criminal convictions;

Membership of a political association or trade union.

Where we are provided with personal information by a client, we take steps to ensure that the client has complied with the relevant obligations under applicable data protection laws concerning that information. This personal information may include where a client has provided you with notice of the collection (and other matters) and has obtained any necessary consent for us to collect, use and disclose that information.

We also collect personal information (such as contact details and account details) from suppliers, contractors and third-party service providers that we engage to help us operate our business.

Information we collect when we perform any other activities that form part of the operation of our business

We may collect personal information when performing other activities that form part of the operation of our business, but which do not directly form part of providing professional services to our clients. For example, we might collect personal information from members of the public as part of undertaking surveys, research on current issues or as part of projects or initiatives we are conducting with other organisations.

The types of information that we collect may vary depending on the nature of the activity. However, we will take reasonable steps to provide clear information about the nature of those activities and the purpose for which we are collecting your information.

Information we collect via this Website or when you attend events

We may collect your personal contact details when you use this Website or when you attend a JVAT event or an event sponsored by JVAT. For example, if you sign up to receive promotional materials, thought leadership or communications about services provided by us or other JVAT subsidiaries and affiliates.

We may use cookies (small text files stored in a user’s browser) and Web beacons (electronic images that allow this Website to count visitors who have accessed a particular page and to access certain cookies) to improve your experience when you use this Website and ensure that it is functioning effectively.

Protecting children’s privacy

We understand the importance of protecting children’s privacy. This Website is not designed for, or intentionally targeted at, children 16 years of age or younger. It is not our policy to intentionally collect or store information about anyone under the age of 16.

How do we use personal information collected to provide services to our clients?

We use the personal information that we collect to provide clients with agreed services. We have an agreement with each client that governs the provision of our services and sets out the purposes for which we may use any information that the client provides to us (including any personal information). We use that information as permitted by the client agreement, and we do not use that information for any other purposes unless it is necessary to comply with a legal or professional right or duty.

Because we provide a wide range of different types of services to our clients, the way we use personal information also varies. For example, we might use personal information:

About a client’s employees to help those employees manage their tax affairs when working overseas;

About a client’s customers to help the client improve the quality of the services they offer;

Collected by a client as part of their ordinary business activities in the course of helping that client restructure their business; and

Collected by a client as part of their ordinary business activities to help that client manage their cyber-security and other business risks.

How we use information collected when we perform other activities that form part of the operation of our business

When we collect personal information as part of performing other activities that form part of our business, we will take reasonable steps to provide clear information about the nature of those activities and how we will use any personal information collected.

We may also use non-personal, de-identified and aggregated information for several purposes including for data analytics, research, submissions, thought leadership and promotional purposes.

How do we use information collected via this Website or through other sources? Do we use it to market goods and services to you?

We may use personal information that we collect from you via this Website, through your interactions with our employees or through your attendance at events, to provide you with promotional materials, thought leadership or communications about services provided by us or other subsidiaries and affiliates that we feel may be of interest to you. We may provide these materials to you directly (e.g. via email) or through third parties who provide us with marketing services (e.g. via your news feed in professional networking platforms).

We will not use your personal information collected via this Website or through other sources to market the goods and services of third parties to you without first notifying you and seeking your consent (usually through a separate privacy notice).

We may also use your personal information collected via this Website:

To manage and improve this Website;

To tailor the content of this Website to provide you with a more personalised experience and draw your attention to information about our services that we feel may be of interest to you;

To seek feedback on our services; and

For market or other research purposes (however, we will only ever report aggregated results of any research we undertake and will never include your personal information in those results unless you explicitly give us your consent).

If you do not want to receive marketing materials from us, you can click on the unsubscribe function in the communication.

At times, you may choose to register or create a user profile on this Website – for instance, to gain access to specific content, attend a hosted event, respond to a survey, or request communications about specific areas of interest. In such cases, the information you submit will be used to manage your request and to customise and improve this Website and related services offered to you. You may request at any time that we discontinue sending you emails or other communications generated in response to your registration on this Website.

Are there any other ways we use your personal information?

We may also use personal information to protect our rights and those of our users or to comply with a legal or professional right or duty.

When will we disclose your personal information?

We will only disclose your personal information as set out below. Importantly, we will never sell your personal information to third parties for advertising purposes or disclose it for any other secondary purpose without your authorisation.

We may disclose personal information to:

Other entities in the JVAT Network;

Third parties that we engage to assist us in providing professional services to our clients or in the operation of our business (i.e. our subcontractors, advisors and suppliers).

These entities and third parties may sometimes be in other countries, in particular the United States, Europe, Singapore, UK and India.

Where we disclose your personal information to other entities in the JVAT Network or third-party service providers, we will take steps to ensure that those recipients protect that information from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, and from misuse, interference and loss.

We may also be required to disclose personal information to law enforcement, regulatory or government agencies, or other third parties:

To comply with legal or regulatory obligations or requests; or

Where there is a legal or professional right or duty to disclose.

We may share non-personal, de-identified and aggregated information with third parties for several purposes, including data analytics, research, submissions, thought leadership and promotional purposes.

Articles, forums and other social media

This Website hosts various articles, forums, and other social media applications or services that allow you to share content with other users (collectively ‘social media applications’). Importantly, any personal information that you contribute to these social media applications can be read, collected and used by other users of the application. We have little or no control over these other users and, therefore, we cannot guarantee that any information that you contribute to any social media applications will be handled in accordance with this Statement.

On what basis do we process personal information about you?

Certain data protection laws require us to have a ‘legal basis’ for processing personal information. Where those laws apply, we may process your personal information for the purposes outlined above because:

(a) You have consented to the processing of your personal information for those purposes.

(b) We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal information, which may be to: provide services to you and/or to the entity that has engaged us to provide the services; support the management of our client engagements; evaluate, develop or improve our services or products; protect our business interests.

To the extent that we process any sensitive (special category) personal information about you for any of the purposes outlined above, we will do so because either:

(a) You have given us your explicit consent to process that information;

(b) We are required by law to handle that information. For example, to ensure we meet our ‘know your client’ and ‘anti-money laundering’ obligations;

(c) The processing is necessary to carry out our obligations under employment, social security or social protection law; or

(d) The processing is required for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

How do we protect your information?

We hold personal information in hard copy and electronic formats. We use a range of physical, operational and technological security measures to protect this information. These measures include:

Staff education and training to ensure our staff are aware of their privacy obligations when handling your personal information;

Administrative and technical controls to restrict access to personal information to only those people who need access;

Technological security measures, including firewalls, encryption and anti-virus software;

Physical security measures, such as staff security passes to access JVAT Australia premises, laptop cable locks and the use of privacy screens where appropriate.

How can you access your personal information, or seek to have it corrected?

You may access your personal information or seek to have that information corrected if you believe that it is incorrect, at any time.

To request access, or to correct your personal information, please contact the JVAT at privacy@jvat.com.au. The privacy team will then get in contact with you (either by phone or via email) and will work with you to provide you with access to your information or to determine whether it requires correction.

Depending on the jurisdiction in which you are located, you may also have the right to:

Ask that we delete personal information that we hold about you, or restrict how we use your personal information;

Withdraw consent to our processing of your personal information (to the extent our processing is based on your consent);

Ask us to stop or start sending you marketing messages at any time;

Obtain and/or move your personal information to another service provider; and/or

Object to our processing of your personal information.

If you believe these rights apply to you and wish to exercise these rights, please contact privacy@jvat.com.au.

Who should you contact?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your privacy, or if you would like to make a complaint, please contact the JVAT Australia Privacy Officer at privacy@jvat.com.au.

How do we handle the complaints that we receive?

We take all the privacy complaints we receive seriously. We will acknowledge the receipt of a complaint immediately and will work with you to resolve it.

Where can I find out more about my privacy rights?

For further information about privacy and the protection of privacy, visit the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Website at www.oaic.gov.au.

What is our process for making changes to this Privacy Statement?

We may modify or amend this Privacy Statement from time to time. To let you know when we make changes to this Statement, we will amend the revision date of this page. The new modified or amended Privacy Statement will apply from that revision date. Therefore, we encourage you to periodically review this Statement to be informed about how we are protecting your information.