PRIVACY POLICY of KVV Incorporated

Prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act, no 4 of 2013

INTRODUCTION

The Protection of Personal Information (“POPI”) Act emanates from Section 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, which section provides that everyone has the right to privacy, and it includes a right to protection against the unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information.

The POPI Act has been promulgated to regulate, in harmony with the international standards, the processing of personal information by public and private bodies in a manner that gives effect to the right to privacy, subject to justifiable limitations that are aimed at protecting other rights and important interests.

KVV Incorporated (“KVV”) is committed to protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of any personal information that you provide to us.

The purpose of this policy is to inform our clients about the type of personal information KVV collects and the ways in which it is collected, used, shared, protected and stored.

By accessing KVV’s website and subsequently providing information, or when you provide us with your personal information directly, you indicate your acceptance of this policy.

KVV reserves the right to change this policy from time to time.

1. What is personal information

The POPI Act defines personal information as “information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person”. Examples of personal information include, but are not limited to, names, addresses, contact numbers, email addresses, demographic information and financial information.

2. Scope of our Privacy Policy

• To disclose how and when we obtain information for a specific purpose.
• To ensure that the information is relevant and up to date.
• To have reasonable security measures in place to protect the information.
• To only keep the necessary information and delete information no longer required.
• To allow you to obtain or view your information on request and update it.

3. How we obtain personal information

We obtain and process your personal information based on information received from the Deed’s Office Registry, transfer attorneys, auditors, trustees and directors, our website, mandates signed with us, information provided to us contractually and by you.

The POPI Act provides that personal information must be collected:

• Directly from you
• From a public record
• From another source, where the collection of the information will not prejudice your legitimate interests
• From another source where the collection of the information is necessary:

• To comply with an obligation imposed by law or
• To maintain our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party to whom the information is supplied.

Similar principles apply to the use by us or the disclosure to a third party of personal information which we have obtained.

4. How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file that is placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once the file is added, the cookie in question helps to analyse web traffic or tracks when you visit a particular site.

Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can, as a result of the cookies, tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic cookies to identify which pages are being accessed. This helps us analyse data about the web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to our client’s needs. The information is only used for statistical purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website and browsing experience by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie does not give us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer.

Please be advised however, that denying access to cookies may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

5. How we use your information

We will use your personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected and agreed with you.  In addition, where necessary your information may be retained for legal or research purposes. We need to collect and use personal and other information in order to enable us to:

• Respond to your enquiry.
• Provide services as contracted.
• Provide access to our website.
• Comply with legal requirements or industry codes.
• For billing purposes.
• Communicate with you and inform you of new services and offerings.
• Ensure that our business offering meets your requirements. 

6. Disclosure of information

We may disclose your personal information to third parties on the following basis:

• Where we have your consent; or
• Where we are required to do so by law; or
• To service providers who are involved in the delivery of services to you, where required by them to perform a service.
• Where required to protect your legitimate interests.
• When necessary for pursuing our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party to whom the information is supplied.

Whenever we appoint third parties to provide support services to us, we will, where reasonably practical, bind them to our Privacy Policy, when they require us to provide them with your personal information to perform such services.

We advise our clients, where reasonably possible, to ensure that similar third-party declarations are signed where service providers are appointed, who are not part of the group of service providers referred to above.

7. Information security

KVV will apply the necessary due care and diligence to secure the content of the KVV Website and the information provided by and collected from users, and to preserve the privacy of your information. KVV undertakes to review security controls and related processes to ensure that your personal information remains secure.

In the event of your information being shared with third parties as provided for in paragraph 6 hereof, please bear in mind that KVV will not have any control over your personal information once its shared and will not be able to take responsibility for the security of that information thereafter. Please also bear in mind that no data transmitted over the internet, or information stored on a server which is accessible through the internet, can be guaranteed or fully secure.

We will not sell or lease your information to any third parties unless we have your permission to do so. We will not distribute your personal information to any third parties unless we have your permission to do so or are required to do so in order to:

• Perform our contractual obligations.
• Protect your legitimate interests, or
• Comply with one or more laws.

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest or value. While we try to link only to sites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the content, or the security or privacy practises employed by other sites. We recommend that you always read the privacy and security statements on such sites.

8. Access to and Correction of your personal information

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and, you have the right to ask us to update, correct or delete your personal information.

To do this, simply contact us at the numbers/addresses as provided on our website and specify what information you require.  We will need a copy of your ID document to confirm your identity before providing details of your personal information.

Your personal information will be destroyed once it is no longer necessary for achieving the purpose for which it was collected, provided that it is not required to be retained in terms of our contractual obligations or by law.