Privacy Policy

IMPORTANT NOTICE

This Privacy Policy forms part of and is incorporated into the terms and conditions of and applicable to the website, https://www.firstcare.solutions or such other mirrored mobisite or application forming part of or attached to this website (“site”), including but not limited to accessing, browsing and/or using the site.

Please review this Privacy Policy carefully, as your accessing, browsing and/or use of the site will be subject thereto. If you do not accept the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, then you are to immediately cease accessing, browsing and/or using the site, failing which you will be deemed to have agreed to have accepted the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy.

Please note that the Company cannot, despite its safeguards and security, guarantee the security of any Personal Information that you disclose on the internet or online.

Definitions and Interpretation

“the Company” means First Care Solutions Proprietary Limited, company registration number 2011/011890/07.
“ECT Act” means the South African Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act No. 25 of 2002), as amended.
“Health Acts” means the National Health Act, 2003 (Act No. 61 of 2003), the Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974), as amended, and the Regulations and Guidelines promulgated by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (“HPCSA”) in terms of the Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974), as amended.
“Personal Information” means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person and where it is applicable, identifiable, existing juristic person, including all information as defined in the South African Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013), as amended (“PoPI”). When referenced to you, it means all information specific to you, that identifies you, provided over the internet.
“Process” or “Processing” or “Processed” or words of similar nature or meaning, means the creation, generation, communication, storage, destruction of personal information as more fully defined in PoPI.
“you” or the “user” means any person who accesses, uses and/or browses the site, for any purpose.

Status and Amendments

The Company respects your privacy and will take reasonable measures to protect it, as more fully detailed below.

This Privacy Policy sets out the Company’s information gathering and dissemination Companys on and in respect of the site.

This Privacy Policy governs the Processing of Personal Information provided to the Company through you accessing, browsing and/or using of the site.

The Company may, in its sole discretion, amend the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy from time to time. The version of this Privacy Policy is indicated by the version reference number and effective date referred to above, from which version and date governs the accessing, browsing and/or use of site until the next revision of this Privacy Policy becomes effective.

It is your duty to remain appraised of the prevailing or current version of this Privacy Policy from time to time, as the then prevailing version will apply from time to time.

A certificate signed by the administrator of this site is prima facie proof (meaning in the absence of proof to the contrary) of the date and content of the latest and any previous versions of these terms and conditions.

Why would the Company collect your Personal Information

The Company will use your Personal Information only as appropriate in the normal course of business. Your personal information will be collected essentially for the following reasons:

to identify you;
for the Company to Process your instructions;
to manage any transaction you may have with the Company;
to comply with the laws of the Republic of South Africa;
to detect fraud; and/or
for direct marketing to you via e-mail, mobile phone or telephone.

The Company does not permit the selling or providing of Personal Information to third parties for independent use or commercial gain. The Company may share your Personal Information with its business partners or affiliated companies if that information is required to provide you with the products or services requested by you.

Registration

Should you be required, at any time, to register as a user on the site, you may be required or obliged to provide the Company with the following Personal Information:

first name and surname;
date of birth or age;
email address;
physical address;
medical aid details;
gender;
marital status;
contact telephone or mobile / cellular number; and/or
username and password.

Should that information change, you are requested to update such information as soon as reasonably possible to enable the Company to update its records.

You may choose to provide additional Personal Information to the Company, in which event you agree to provide accurate and current information, and not to impersonate or misrepresent any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with anyone or anything.

Processing of Personal Information

By providing your Personal Information to the Company you acknowledge that it has been collected directly from you and consent to and authorise its Processing by the Company.

Where you submit Personal Information (such as your name, address, telephone number and email address etc.) via the site (e.g. through completing any online form or registration) the following principles will be observed in the Processing of that information:

the Company will only collect Personal Information for a purpose consistent with the purpose for which it is required, which will be apparent from the context in which it is requested;
the Company will only Process Personal Information in a manner that is adequate, relevant and not excessive in the context of the purpose for which it is processed;
Personal Information will only be Processed for a purpose compatible with that for which it was collected, unless you have agreed to an alternative purpose in writing or the Company is permitted or obliged in terms of legislation of general application dealing primarily with the protection of Personal Information;
the Company will keep records of all Personal Information collected and the specific purpose for which it was collected for a period of 12 (twelve) months from the date on which it was last used, save where otherwise required by law;
the Company will not disclose any of your Personal Information to any third party without your prior written agreement or the Company is required to do so in law;
if Personal Information is released with your consent the Company will retain a record of the information released, the third party to which it was released, the reason for the release and the date of release, for a period of 12 (twelve) months from the date on which it was last used; and/or
the Company will destroy or delete any Personal Information that is no longer needed by the Company for the purpose it was initially collected, or subsequently Processed.

The Company will, where required to and as governed by the Rules of the HPCSA and the Health Acts, retain medical records appropriately and safely for periods required in terms thereof.

As permitted by the ECT Act, the Company hereby advises that it may use your Personal Information, so collected, towards the compiling of profiles for statistical purposes. The information contained in the profiles or statistics will not be able to be linked back to any specific user. In other words, it is deidentified or anonymised data and statistics.

ECT Act

The Company subscribes to the principles of collecting Personal Information electronically as provided for in section 51 of the ECT Act.

Collection of Anonymous Data

The Company may use standard technology to collect information about the use of the site, but which will only be for the collection of statistical data.

The Company may utilise temporary or session cookies to keep track of users’ browsing habits. It is important that it be brought to your attention that a “cookie” is a small file that is transferred or downloaded onto the hard drive of your computer in order to keep a record of your interaction with the site and facilitate your convenience. Cookies, by themselves, will not be used to identify a user, but may be used to compile deidentified or anonymised statistics relating to the use of services or goods offered or to provide the Company with feedback on the use, efficiency and/or performance of the site.

The following types of information may be collected in respect of users who have enabled cookies:

It is possible to opt out and/or alter the manner in which your browser handles cookies. Please note that, if this is done, certain services and/or products or links on the site may not be available.

Security

The Company takes reasonable measures to ensure the security and integrity of information submitted to or collected by the site, but cannot, under any circumstances, be held liable for any loss or other damage sustained by you as a result of unlawful access to or dissemination of any Personal Information by a third party.

Links to other websites

The Company has no control over and accepts no responsibility or liability for the privacy Companys of any third party websites or mobisites to which hyperlinks may have been provided.

The Company urges you to review the privacy policy of every website or mobisite you visit before using it.

Children’s Privacy

The Company will not address or service anyone under the age of 13 (thirteen). The Company does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 (thirteen).

If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided the Company with Personal Information, please contact the Company. If the Company becomes aware that it may have collected Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13 (thirteen) without verification of parental consent, the Company will take steps to remove that information from its servers. If the Company needs to rely on consent as a legal basis for Processing your information and your country requires consent from a parent, the Company will have the right and may require your parent’s consent before it collects and uses that information.

Cookie policy

A cookie is a small piece of data sent from sites or applications to your computer or device hard drive or Internet browser where it is saved. The cookie contains information to personalise your experience on a website, mobisite or applications and may improve your experience on the sites or applications. The cookie will also identify your device, like the computer or smart phone.

By accessing and using the Company’s sites or applications you agree that cookies may be forwarded from the relevant site or application to your computer or device. The cookie will enable the Company to know that you have visited the site or application before and will identify you. The Company associates, cessionary, delegates, assigns, affiliates or successors in title and / or appointed third parties (like its authorised agents, partners, contractors and suppliers) may also use the cookie to prevent fraud and for analytics.

Queries

If you have any queries about this Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy please contact the Company by emailing it on: info@erconsulting.co.za.

PoPI

The following statements are made to comply with PoPI.

Introduction

In addition to the Privacy Policy above, where reference is made to “Process”, it means how the Company collects, uses, stores, makes available, destroys, updates, discloses, or otherwise deals with Personal Information. As a general rule, the Company will only process this Personal Information if it is required to deliver or offer a service, provide a product, carry out a transaction or obligation in a contract.

The Company may combine this Personal Information and use the combined Personal Information for any of the purposes stated in the above Privacy Policy.

If you use the Company’s other services, goods, products and service channels you agree that the Company may Process this Personal Information as explained in the Privacy Policy.

By accessing and using the site you provide the Company with consent to Process this Personal Information.

The Company is considered a global organisation operating and trading ostensibly in the Republic of South Africa and, as such, the Privacy Policy will apply to the Processing of Personal Information by any natural person globally.

If the Company Processes Personal Information for another party under a contract or a mandate, the other party’s privacy policy will apply to the Processing of such information.

The Privacy Policy establishes a general standard for the appropriate protection of Personal Information within the Company’s environment, whilst also acknowledging the rights of individuals to privacy and to reasonable safeguards of their Personal Information.

Scope

All of the Company’s employees, contractors, consultants, temporary and other workers, including all personnel affiliated with third parties should adhere to the Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy applies to information, assets owned or leased by the Company, or to devices that connect to the Company’s network or reside at a Company site.

Policy Statement

What is personal information?

Personal Information refers to any information that identifies you or specifically relates to you, or the Company’s employees, as the case may be, that is Processed. Personal Information includes, but is not limited to, the following information about you and/or the Company’s employees, as the case may be:

Marital status
National origin
Age
Language
Birth place
Education
Relevant financial history
Identifying number (like an employee number, identity number or passport number)
E-mail address;
Physical address (like residential address, work address or your physical location);
Telephone number
Biometric information (like fingerprints, signature or voice)
Race; gender; sex; pregnancy status; ethnic origin; social origin; colour; sexual orientation;
Physical health; mental health; well-being; disability; religion; belief; conscience; culture;
Medical history; criminal history; employment history;
Personal views, preferences and opinions;
Another’s views or opinions about you;
Full names and initials.

When will the Company Process your Personal Information?

The Company will only process Personal Information for lawful purposes relating to its business if the following applies:

If you have consented thereto;
If a person legally authorised by you, the law or a court, has consented thereto;
If it is necessary to conclude or perform under a contract the Company has with you;
If the law requires or permits it; and/or
If it is required to protect or pursue your, the Company’s or a third party’s legitimate interest.

What is special Personal Information?

Special personal information is personal information about the following:

Race (where reports to the Department of Labour for statistical information is requited);
Ethnic origin;
Trade union membership;
Health (for an insurance policy);
Biometric information (to verify identity); and/or
Criminal behaviour and alleged commission of an offense.

When will the Company process your special Personal Information?

The Company may process your special personal information in the following circumstances:

If you have consented to the processing;
If the information is being used for any Human Resource or payroll related requirement;
If the processing is needed to create, use or protect a right or obligation in law;
If the processing is for statistical or research purposes and all legal conditions are met;
If the special personal information was made public by you; and
If the processing is required by law.

When and from where the Company obtains Personal Information about you?

The Company collects Personal Information from you directly.
The Company may collect Personal Information from a public record or if you have deliberately made the information public.
The Company may collect personal information from third parties that are directly integrated with the site’s software platform.
The Company may collect information about you based on your use of its products, services or service channels.
The Company may collect information about you based on how you engage or interact with the Company, such as via emails, letters, telephone calls and surveys.
The Company may collect Personal Information from completed forms, such as contact and billing information - If the law requires the Company to do so, it will ask for your consent before collecting Personal Information. The third parties from whom the Company may collect your Personal Information include, but are not limited to, the following:

the Company’s partners, affiliates and associates, as well as other bureau or channel partners or connected companies, subsidiary companies, cessionaries, delegates, assigns, or successors in title and/or appointed third parties (like its authorised agents, partners, contractors and suppliers) for any of the purposes identified in the Privacy Policy;
your employer and fellow employees or you directly;
your spouse, dependents, partners, and other similar sources;
people you have been authorised to share your Personal Information, like a person that makes a travel booking on your behalf or a medical practitioner for insurance purposes;
attorneys, tracing agents, debt collectors and other persons that assist with the enforcement of agreements;
payment processing services providers, merchants, banks and other persons that assist with the processing of your payment instructions, like EFT transaction partners;
insurers, brokers, other financial institutions or other organisations that assist with insurance and assurance underwriting, the providing of insurance and assurance policies and products, the assessment of insurance and assurance claims and other related purposes;
law enforcement and fraud prevention agencies and other persons tasked with the prevention and prosecution of crime;
regulatory authorities, industry ombudsman, governmental departments, local and international tax authorities;
trustees, executors or curators appointed by a court of law or otherwise in accordance with the law;
the Company’s service providers, agents and sub-contractors, like couriers and other persons it uses to offer and provide products and services to you; and/or
courts of law or tribunals.

What are the reasons the Company needs to Process your Personal Information?

The Company may need to Process your Personal Information for the following reasons:

to provide you with products, goods and services;
to market our products, goods and services to you;
to respond to your enquiries and complaints;
to comply with legislative, regulatory, risk and compliance requirements (including directives, sanctions and rules), voluntary and involuntary codes of conduct and industry agreements or to fulfil reporting requirements and information requests;
to conduct market and behavioural research, including scoring and analysis to determine if you qualify for products and services or to determine your credit or insurance risk;
to develop, test and improve products and services for you;
for historical, statistical and research purposes, like market segmentation;
to process payment instruments;
to create, manufacture and print payment advice;
to enable us to deliver goods, documents or notices to you;
for security, identity verification and to check the accuracy of your personal information;
to communicate with you and carry out your instructions and requests;
for customer satisfaction surveys and promotional offerings;
to enable you to take part in and make use of value-added products and services;
to assess any and all risks; and/or
for any other related purposes.

How will the Company use your Personal Information for marketing purposes?

The Company may use your Personal Information to market its services, as well as related products and services to you.

The Company may also market non-banking or non-financial products, goods or services to you.

The Company will do this in person, by post, telephone, or electronic channels such as SMS, WhatsApp and email.

If you are not a customer, patient or client, or in any other instances where the law requires, the Company will only market to you by electronic communications with your consent.

In all cases, you can request the Company to stop sending marketing communications to you at any time.

When, how and with whom may the Company share your Personal Information?

In general, the Company will only share your Personal Information if any one or more of the following apply:

If you have consented to this;
If it is necessary to conclude or perform under a contract the Company has with you;
If the law requires it;
If it’s necessary to protect or pursue your, the Company’s or a third party’s legitimate interest. Where required, each shareholder of the Company may share your Personal Information with the following persons, who, together with its and their associates, cessionary, delegates, assigns, affiliates or successors in title and/or appointed third parties (like its authorised agents, partners, contractors and suppliers) have an obligation to keep your Personal Information secure and confidential –

The Company’s employees, as required by their employment conditions;
Attorneys, tracing agents, debt collectors and other persons that assist with the enforcement of agreements;
Payment processing services providers, merchants, banks and other persons that assist with the processing of your payment instructions, like third party EFT service providers;
Law enforcement and fraud prevention agencies and other persons tasked with the prevention and prosecution of crime;
Regulatory authorities, industry ombudsmen, governmental departments, local and international tax authorities and other persons the law requires us to share your Personal Information with;
Service providers, agents and sub-contractors like couriers and other persons the Company uses to offer and provide products and services to you;
Persons to whom the Company has ceded its rights or delegated its obligations to under agreements, such as the sale of a business;
Courts of law or tribunals that require the Personal Information to adjudicate referrals, arbitrations, actions or applications;
Trustees, Executors or Curators appointed by a court of law or in accordance with the law;
Participating partners in customer loyalty reward programmes, where you purchase goods, products and services or spend loyalty rewards; and/or
The Company’s joint venture and other partners with whom it has concluded business agreements, for your benefit.

Under what circumstances may the Company transfer your Personal or other information to other countries?

The Company will only transfer your Personal Information to third parties in another country in any one or more of the following circumstances:

Where your Personal Information will be adequately protected under the other country’s laws or an agreement with the third party recipient;
Where the transfer is necessary to enter into or perform under a contract with you, or a contract with a third party that is in your interest;
Where you have consented to the transfer; and/or
Where it is not reasonably practical to obtain your consent, the transfer is in your interest. This transfer will take place within the requirements and safeguards of the prevailing law. Where possible, the party Processing your Personal Information (in the other country) will agree to apply the same level of protection as available by law in South Africa (if in South Africa) or your country of residence (if outside South Africa) or if the other country’s laws provide better protection the other country’s laws would be agreed to and applied. An example of transferring your Personal Information to another country is where foreign payments take place if you purchase goods or services in a foreign country, or request that the Company facilitates payments in those countries.

What are your duties and rights about the Personal Information the Company has about you?

You must provide proof of identity when enforcing the rights;
You must inform the Company when your personal information changes. Please refer to the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000), as amended and the Company’s Manual (PAIA Manual) for further information on how you can give effect to the rights listed below;
You have the right to request access to the Personal Information the Company has on you by contacting the Company. This includes requesting: ·

The Company will attend to requests for access to Personal Information within a reasonable time;
You may be required to pay a reasonable fee to receive copies or descriptions of records, or information about third parties;
The Company will inform you of the fee before attending to your request;
Please note that the law may limit your right to access information;
You have the right to request the Company to correct or delete the Personal Information the Company has about you if it is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading, obtained unlawfully or the Company is no longer authorised to keep it;
You must inform the Company of your request in writing. Please refer to our PAIA Manual for further information in this regard, in particular, the process you should follow to give effect to this right;
It may take up to 15 (fifteen) business days for the change to reflect on the applicable system;
The Company has the right, but not the obligation, to request documents from you to verify the change in Personal Information;
A specific agreement that you have entered into with the Company may determine how you must change your Personal Information provided at the time when you entered into the specific agreement;
Please adhere to these requirements. If the law requires the Company to keep the Personal Information, it will not be deleted upon your request. The deletion of certain Personal Information may lead to the termination of your relationship with the Company;
You may object on reasonable grounds to the Processing of your Personal Information;
The Company will not be able to give effect to your objection if the Processing of your Personal Information was and is permitted by law; you have provided consent to the Processing and the Processing was done according to your consent or the Processing is necessary to conclude or perform under a contract with you;
You must inform the Company of any objection in writing. Please refer to our PAIA Manual for further information in this regard, like the process you should follow to give effect to this right;
Where you have provided your consent for the processing of your Personal Information, you may withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent the Company may explain the consequences to you. The Company may proceed to Process your Personal Information even if you have withdrawn your consent if the law permits or requires it. It may take up to 15 (fifteen) business days for the change to reflect on the system, during this time the Company may still Process your Personal Information.
You have a right to file a complaint with the Company or any Regulator with jurisdiction about an alleged contravention of the protection of your Personal Information. The Company will address your complaint as far as possible.

How will the Company secure your personal information?

The Company will take appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your personal information according to industry best Companys. The security measures (including physical, technological and procedural safeguards) will be appropriate and reasonable, and include the following:

Keeping the system secure (like monitoring access and usage);
Storing records securely;
Controlling the access to buildings, systems and/or records;
Safely destroying or deleting records; and/or
Ensuring compliance with international security standards.

How long will the Company keep your Personal Information?

The Company will keep your Personal Information for as long as:

The law requires the Company to keep such informntion;
A contract between you and the Company requires it to keep such information;
You have consented to the Company keeping such information;
The Company is required to keep such information to achieve the purposes listed in the Privacy Policy;
The Company requires such information for statistical or research purposes;
A code of conduct requires the Company to keep such information; and/or
The Company requires such information for its lawful business purposes .Note: The Company may keep your Personal Information even if you no longer have a relationship with it, for the historical data that may be required by your employer or an employee,

whichever is the later.