Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY 

1. INTRODUCTION

This policy sets out how Blue Flag (Pty) Ltd, 21 12th Avenue, Kensington, Cape Town. Blue Flag may use personal information that any user (you) provide or that we collect about you when you visit our website at www.blueflag.co.za (the website), use any (mobile) applications, enter, or apply to enter into an agreement with us, and you agree to be bound by it. “Personal information” includes any personal information as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.

2. WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THE PROTECTION OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Blue Flag determines the purposes and means of the processing of your personal information and is the responsible party for this website and all (mobile) applications which refer to this privacy policy.

3. HOW IS PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED?

All our activities are based on stringent ethical principles, and we are committed to protect the privacy of all visitors to our website and users of our (mobile) applications. For this reason, the way in which we collect, and store information is dependent on how you use our website and related services.

3.1 PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED THROUGH YOUR INTERACTION WITH US

Various technologies may be used on our websites and our (mobile) applications in order to improve them, make them more user-friendly, effective and secure. These technologies may lead to personal information being collected automatically by us or by third parties on behalf of us. Examples of such technologies are cookies, flash cookies and web analytics.

3.1.1 CLICK-STREAM PERSONAL INFORMATION

A visit to one of our websites results in personal information that is sent from your browser to our server. This personal information makes it possible to optimize our services and improve your experience on our websites and apps. The personal information is automatically collected and stored by us or by third parties on our behalf. This personal information can include, in particular, the following:

• the user’s IP address
• the date and time of the visit
• the referral URL (the site from which the visitor has come)
• the pages visited on our website
• information about the browser used (browser type and version, operating system, etc.)

3.1.2 COOKIES

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer or mobile device. For this section, we conveniently use "cookies" as an umbrella term for techniques such as cookies, Flash cookies, web beacons and JavaScript. They don’t take much space and they will be removed automatically when expired. Some cookies expire at the end of your internet session, while others will be saved for a limited amount of time.

Blue Flag uses cookies to ensure your visit to our website is as pleasant as possible. There are different types of cookies with different uses. Some are there just to allow you to browse the website and see certain features. Some give us an idea on your browsing experience, i.e. when you have trouble finding what you are looking for, so we can improve and make your future visit as pleasant as possible.

You can change your browser settings to delete or prevent cookies from being stored on your computer or mobile device without your explicit consent. The ‘help’ section in your browser should provide information on how to manage your cookie settings. 

3.2 PERSONAL INFORMATION PROVIDED BY YOU

Besides the personal information collected by automated means, we also process personal information which you have provided to us. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Your contact information, including your first and last name, billing or delivery address, birthdate, and email address and, optionally, your telephone number. We need your e-mail address and (optionally) telephone number so that we may contact you if we have questions or information for you regarding your relationship with us;
• Any other information required to process your order, such as information concerning the products you have ordered, the billing and delivery address, banking and/or credit card details;
• If you have created an online profile, the preferences and interests stored in this profile (please see below for further information concerning the profiles);
• If you have contacted customer service, the details of the conversation, which may be recorded and the contact history;
• Personal information which we reasonably need to perform our duties for purposes of marketing to you, any agreement we may have with you, or to operate your account or any Blue Flag program that you have signed up for or fulfil our regulatory or other business rights and obligations.

All of this personal information is characterised by the fact that you have provided this information yourself. We use this information for the purposes described in this privacy policy. You can always have your personal information corrected or object to further processing (please see subsection 7).

3.3 THIRD PARTIES

Blue Flag may collect personal information about you from third parties such as fraud agencies, or Banks, in order to verify information about you. Collection from third parties will always relate to your existing relationship with us.

4. HOW WILL WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We will only process your information insofar it is adequate, relevant and not excessive for the purposes set out below:

We will use your personal information for purposes relating to your agreement or relationship with us or your order; e.g., to notify you regarding the status of your order or delivery. We may use your personal information to assess your creditworthiness, for which we may use third parties.

If you have provided us with your personal information in relation to a promotion, event, (mobile) application, etc., we may send you emails or other messages which relate to the service you have requested.

We may use personal information collected about you to enhance and update our current personal information records.

If you contact customer service, we will use your personal information (including your contact history) so that customer service is able to process your request and provide you with the best service possible.

If you have given us your personal information during the sale of a product or service, we will inform you about similar products and services. We may also contact you to ask for your feedback after the sale of a product or service. In case of an interrupted sales process, we will send you a reminder. You can immediately unsubscribe from any of these notifications at any time at no cost by clicking on a link in the corresponding e-mail or other message (see further below in clause 7).

We may contact you via the contact details provided by you (including per regular mail, e-mail, SMS, telephone or any other electronic means) for marketing, advertising and opinion research purposes for Blue Flag.

This includes for example information related to our products, e-commerce activities, special offers, promotions as well as information on our store activities and cycling events. In order to be able to contact you with information which is of special interest for you, your overall interaction with Blue Flag (such as but not limited to your shopping behaviour online and at our store, your ratings and reviews of products, your contact history with our customer service, your newsletter clicks/ opening results, your surfing behaviour (web tracking), the newsletter types you are subscribed to, your participation in promotions or events, will be combined, analysed and used.

In section 7 you can find information on your rights, for example on how you can withdraw your consent or correct your personal details. We may use your personal information to comply with our regulatory or other rights and obligations and in general to carry out any other reasonable business operation considering our business and the relationship between the parties.

5. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

One of our core principles is that we will treat your personal information with care and confidentiality. We will not sell your personal information to third parties. We will share your personal information with third parties (i) as set out in this policy; (ii) if required by law; or (iii) if you have consented to it.

We will share your personal information for purposes of (i) with the following third parties:

• any company we use to provide a service on our behalf or to provide a service to us;
• any company who provides us with products or services, and or delivery of those products, only to the extent that it is reasonably required to provide the product or service;
• any payment system we may use;
• regulatory and governmental authorities, ombudsmen, or other authorities, including tax authorities, where we are requested by them to do so;)
• any other third party, if we are allowed to do so in law.

Where we use service providers and personal information operators working on behalf of Blue Flag, these third parties are granted access to the personal information they require in order to carry out the particular service. The service providers and personal information operators are contractually obliged to treat all personal information in the strictest confidence. It is also contractually forbidden for them to use the personal information in any other way than required. The necessary steps are taken to ensure that our service providers and the operators working on behalf of Blue Flag protect the confidentiality of your personal information. These services may for example include hosting and maintenance services, analysis services, e-mail messaging services, delivery services, handling of payment transactions, solvency check and address check, etc.

We will also share your personal information with employees who need access to it in order to fulfil their employment duties. The same principles that apply to service providers will also apply to employees.

6. RETENTION

We will retain your personal information in terms of our retention policies and the applicable laws.

If we keep your personal information longer than is strictly necessary for purposes of this agreement, we will either de-identify your personal information, or keep it for research or statistical purposes only.

During the period of retention, we will continue to implement reasonable and appropriate security measures.

7. YOUR RIGHTS

If you provide us with personal information via our websites or other channels, this is done on an entirely voluntary basis. If you choose not to provide the requested information, various customer benefits may not be available to you. In certain cases, only those people that have submitted the necessary personal information to us are able to order products, use certain services and in other ways avail themselves of the activities and offers available on our website and other sales channels. As transparency and fair play are particularly important issues for us, we provide various options, depending on the exact circumstances, in order to help you retain control over your personal information. These options may include displaying and editing your personal information online. It may also be possible to unsubscribe from services or delete user accounts or to receive information about the personal information held.

 

7.1 RIGHT TO OBJECT AND UNSUBSCRIBE

All marketing material that Blue Flag sends to you includes the option to unsubscribe to the receipt of the marketing material, by following the relevant instructions in the communication.

7.2 RIGHT TO REQUEST INFORMATION AND TO CORRECT IT

Please see our PAIA Policy.

8. SECURITY OF THE INFORMATION AND PERSONAL INFORMATION INTEGRITY

We take reasonable appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised use, disclosure or access, in particular where the processing involves the transmission of personal information over a network, and against all other unlawful forms of processing and misuse.

We make use of electronic and computer safeguards such as firewalls and data encryption. We have physical and electronic access control to our buildings and information. We only authorise access to information to those employees and operators who require it to fulfil their designated responsibilities.

When you use the website, you may be given a username and password. You are responsible to maintain the secrecy and confidentiality of this information.

We will report any security breach to both the Regulator and the individuals or companies involved.

9. PROTECTION OF CHILDREN’S PERSONAL INFORMATION AND SPECIAL PERSONAL INFORMATION

The protection of children’s personal information is extremely important. Blue Flag understands that it has a responsibility to protect the privacy of children and only intends to collect and use the personal information of children under the age of 18 in compliance with applicable laws. We encourage parents and other guardians to surf the Internet together with their children and enjoy the internet in a responsible manner.

If a child under the age of 18 attempts to register himself or herself, he or she may initially be asked to provide the information as described in the above section entitled “what personal information is collected”. In addition, he or she may be asked for consent from the parent/guardian to the registration and Blue Flag may require additional information from the parent or guardian to complete the registration. The personal information submitted by and collected about the child during the course of his or her visit (e.g. via cookies) may be used as described above.

We do not intend to process any “special personal information” about you, as defined in law, which includes e.g. political, religious or health-related information, except if we are under a legal obligation to do so.

10. SOCIAL NETWORKS

Our website and (mobile) applications provide you with Social Plug-ins from various social networks. If you choose to interact with a social network, your activity on our website or via our (mobile) applications will also be made available to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

If you are logged in on one of these social networks during your visit to one of our websites or (mobile) applications, the social network might add this information to your profile. If you are interacting with one of the Social Plug-ins, this information will be transferred to the social network. In case you do not want a personal information transfer, please log off on your social network before you use our website or (mobile) applications.

We cannot control this personal information collection and personal information transfer via the Social Plug-ins. Please read the privacy policies of those social networks for detailed information about the collection and transfer of personal information, what rights you have and how you can achieve satisfactory privacy settings.

11. GEOLOCATION SERVICES

We offer location-enabled services within some of our applications, such as Google Maps. If you use those applications, the companies that provide these services may receive information about your actual location or information that can be used to approximate a location. You can generally enable or disable your location services in your device or browser settings. We also use your IP address to send users to the correct regional store.

WEB ANALYTICS BY GOOGLE ANALYTICS

The web analytic services on our website are provided by Google Analytics (www.GoogleAnalytics.com). This means that when you visit our website a cookie by Google Analytics will be stored on your computer or mobile device, except when your browser settings do not allow for cookies (see clauses 3.1.2 above).

This further means that when you visit our website, the web analytics personal information described above in clause 3.1– including the “click-stream personal information”, the personal information from “web beacons and tracking links” and information stored in Google Analytics’ cookies – will be sent to Google Analytics for analysis for and on behalf of Blue Flag. Please note that if you have created an online profile at our website and if you are logged on in this profile, a unique number identifying this profile is also being sent to Google Analytics in order to match the web analytics personal information to this profile.

Google Analytics acts as an agent to Blue Flag, which means that Blue Flag solely determines the purposes for which the personal information is being used and that Google Analytics will not disclose the information to any third parties (except when required to do so by law or court order). In privacy terms, this means that Blue Flag is the “responsible party” and Google Analytics the “operator”. You can find out more about the relationships between Blue Flag and Google Analytics in the Google Analytic’s privacy policy under “Privacy Policy for Our Provision of Services” at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US.

12. RETARGETTING TECHNOLOGIES

Our website and (mobile) application use re-targeting technologies. This enables us to show our visitors, who were already interested in our shop and our products, advertisements from us on partner websites. We believe that the display of a personalised, interest-based advertising is more interesting for our users than advertising that does not have a personal connection.

We also work with other companies who use tracking technologies to serve ads on our behalf across the Internet. These companies may collect information about your visits to our websites or (mobile) applications and your interaction with our communications, including advertising.

Re-targeting technologies analyse your cookies and display advertisement based on your past surfing behaviour. For further information on cookies, please refer to clause 3 of this privacy policy.

13. CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions about the processing of your personal details or about our privacy policy you are welcome to contact us. You can email Customer Service at info@blueflag.co.za or call Customer Service at 021 593 0887 (Mondays – Fridays between 8am – 4pm).

14. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

Blue Flag is committed to the fundamental principles of privacy and personal information protection. We therefore regularly review our privacy policy in order to keep it up to date and compliant with privacy and personal information protection principles and the law. This privacy policy may be changed from time to time in order to keep pace with (i) new developments and opportunities relating to the Internet; (ii) our business operations and (iii) also to stay in line with prevailing legislation. Changes to the policy will be publicized on our website along with an updated version of the privacy policy.

15. LIMITATION

We are not responsible for, give no warranties, nor make any representations in respect of the privacy policies or practices of linked or any third-party websites.