Privacy Policy

AHAC is responsible for personal information under its control and shall designate an individual who is accountable for that information on behalf of AHAC. Personal Information is information about an identifiable individual, excluding an individual's name, title, and business address or business phone number. It also excludes information of a personal nature that relates to an unidentifiable individual (i.e., a statistic).

 

1.            Purpose

 

The Association will comply with provincial and federal legislation regarding privacy and personal information. Specifically, this is the Alberta Hydronics Advisory Council's Privacy Policy with respect to:

 

• The Privacy Officer
• What information is collected;
• How information is collected;
• By whom information is collected;
• How collected information is shared;
• How collected information is accessed, changed, or limited;
• Security of information;
• Amendments to the Privacy Policy; and
• Challenges to the Privacy Policy.

 

2.                  Privacy Officer

 

            Where one exists, the AHAC Administrator shall be appointed Privacy Officer to address items related to privacy and personal information.

3.                  What, How, and By Whom Information is Collected

 

AHAC shall identify the intended use of the personal information at the time of, or before, collection. Normally, the member will consent to the information's use at the time of providing it, whether express, implied, or as an "opt-out" condition.

 

(a)            Required Personally Identifiable Information

 

            AHAC compiles and maintains a members database about each member registered (name, business name, positions, business address, business telephone, business fax. business email, home address, home telephone, home fax, home email, and type of position held in industry). This information is collected at the time of first joining AHAC, and annually at renewal time. Members may update the information at any time. The Administrator and/or the Bookkeeper collect the information.

 

Transaction Information

 

When a customer authorizes a purchase transaction, AHAC will collect certain information related to that transaction. This includes the location from which the transaction is requested, the product or service involved, the quantity or amount of the product or service, and certain personally identifiable information such as credit card information and any special handling requests. This required personally identifiable information is necessary for AHAC to process transactions, protect customers against fraud, and contact the customer. This personally identifiable information will never knowingly appear in public.

 

Questionnaires and Surveys

 

AHAC may ask members to complete questionnaires or surveys that will be used to obtain additional demographic information about our members, to measure and improve the quality of our service, and to better assess member interests and needs. Members always have the option of not completing or not responding to any questionnaire or survey.

 

General Information

 

            AHAC may collect general information about people when they visit the AHAC website. This information includes technical information related to the computer and the manner in which you are accessing our site and includes such information as the internet protocol (IP) address of your computer, what operating system your computer is using, what browser software (e.g., Explorer, Netscape or other) your computer is using, who your Internet service provider is, the Uniform Resource Locator ("URL") of the web site from which you just came, and the URL to which you go next and certain operating metrics, such as the amount of time you use our Website.

 

The general information that we gather may be aggregated with general information of all users to help us better understand how our site is used. We may compile and analyze this aggregated information so that we can provide more meaningful information and more relevant content for members.

 

3.            Sharing Collected Information

 

(a)            Personally Identifiable Information

 

            The information collected by AHAC is primarily for internal use. AHAC currently makes certain general information about members available to other members and the public via the member roster. AHAC may also share certain business information about you with those of our vendors who are responsible for handling your account or performing other necessary services that you require. In addition, AHAC may share certain business information with carefully selected business partners, including those who offer services that complement those provided by us or which we believe may be of interest to you.

 

            Although AHAC may share member information in our membership roster and with business partners where necessary or appropriate, we will not share your personally identifying information with other third parties without your consent, except for the following purposes:

 

1.                   We are compelled to do so by law or by an order of a court or governmental authority;

2.                   In order to cooperate with law enforcement authorities or governmental regulatory bodies;

3.                   As necessary to complete a transaction for you;

4.                   As we deem necessary to protect the rights, safety, or property of AHAC, our members or others, or to enforce our Privacy Policy;

5.                   If you use our website through a link from one of our partners, then we may be required to share your user registration information or other personally identifying information about any search or transaction that you initiate through such promotional partner with that partner.

 

(b)            Aggregated General Information

 

AHAC may share aggregated general information with our business partners or the general public (e.g., information regarding the daily number of unique users to our site with potential partners or others). Aggregated data does not contain any information that could be used to contact or identify members.

 

(c)            Third Party Sites

 

AHAC may publish links to other sites from the AHAC website. AHAC does not control the content, practices, or policies of any other site, including what information those sites collect about you. Accordingly, AHAC does not endorse or hold itself responsible for the privacy policies or information gathering practices of any site that you may link to from our site. In addition, you may choose to respond to advertisements that are posted on our web site or made available via our service or to direct marketing offers from third party sponsors or advertisers. AHAC does not control the content, practices, or policies of our sponsors or advertisers and, accordingly, does not endorse or hold itself responsible for the privacy policies or information gathering practices of any sponsor or advertiser who may collect information about you.

 

4.         How To Access, Limit, or Change the Information Collected About You

 

A member shall be informed of the existence, use, and disclosure of personal information, and shall be able to challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and have it amended as appropriate. AHAC has the right to charge a reasonable fee to cover out-of-pocket costs for retrieving information upon the request of individuals. As of July 01, 2004, that fee shall be $10 exclusive of GST. In addition, a member can request that the information collected be updated at any time by making the request through the website www.hydronicsalberta.com or by sending an email request to albertahydronic@uniserve.com

 

5.            Security

 

AHAC has credit card encryption capabilities on its website. In addition, members who wish to pay by credit card may fax the information to 780-968-6733 or phone it in at 780-968-6828. Both phone and fax are secure, and no one but the Administrator and the bookkeeper have access. AHAC will destroy immediately any unsolicited personal information that it receives. AHAC will make every effort to safeguard personal information from loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties; however, there is always some risk no matter how the information is sent. AHAC will keep personal information only as long as is reasonable or as required by law.

 

6.            Amendments to the Privacy Policy

 

AHAC will post its Privacy Policy. AHAC may, from time to time, amend the Privacy Policy. AHAC will post any amendments so that members always have access to the current policy. AHAC reserves the right to modify portions of our Privacy Policy at any time. If at any point AHAC decides to disclose personal information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will advise members. Members will be given the choice at that time to "opt-out" of any disclosures of personal information that was made available to us prior to the change in our policy.

 

7.                  Challenges to the Privacy Policy

 

Any member with a challenge to the Privacy Policy may contact the Privacy Officer. If relief is not found there, the member may appeal to the Board of Directors. If relief is not found there, the member may appear to the Alberta Ombudsman.

 

 

Approved:            June 18, 2004