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SDA Privacy Policy

Description

This policy is about personal information – all the information we know about you, how we collect your personal information, what we do with it, and, most importantly, how it’s protected.

Date first Decided:

March 2014

Philosophy

The policy has been developed in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the introduction of Australian Privacy Principles, which came into effect in March 2014.

Because your information is important to us, we will always be honest and transparent about how we handle it. It reflects SDA’s commitment to best practice.

Why we collect personal information

SDA collects personal information from you when it is reasonably necessary for a business purpose. That means we collect it to supply you with information and benefits you have asked for, would expect as part of your membership with us, and to provide you with the best possible service.

Other reasons we collect personal information are to:

  • Understand you, and how we can meet your needs now and in the future.
  • Ensuring our members comply with our Constitution and Membership T&Cs
  • Distribution of publications
  • Manage our business including membership, career development pathway (CDP), running events and courses, conducting surveys.
  • To comply with our legal obligations.

Type of Information we collect

SDA collects personal information including your name, address, date of birth, education qualifications, employment details, location, contact details, payment details, and information about your professional development (our CDP).  We also collect personal information during the term of your membership – for example, when you pay your membership or make purchases from us or attend a course, conference or event.

For our suppliers and corporate partners, SDA collects contact address and email details, and any relevant information necessary to deliver on contracts and/or partnerships.

For members of the general public, SDA collects name, address, contact details and payment details, where applicable, for example when registering for a course. When users choose to join a mailing list their details are added to that specific mailing list and used for the stated purpose of that list only.

At all times, you and the public will know it is us collecting the information and how to contact us.

To comply with ATO ‘best practice’ guidelines, SDA will retain all member, customer and supplier records for seven years.

How we collect information

Straight from you

We collect most personal information directly from you via the member login of our website – for example, when joining SDA as a member online, or registering for an education course or event or SDA newsletters. We can also collect information by email, telephone, hard copy forms (surveys, registration forms) and in person.

You can choose not to provide your personal information or may want to deal with us anonymously. If this happens, we may not be able to provide you with the support you’ve asked for or give you the level of service you expect.

 From online activity

SDA’s website uses cookies (the small string of information that a website transfers to your browser for identification purposes) and other digital identifiers. These include:

  • Site performance identifiers: these give us information about how our websites are used. This helps us provide you with a more user-friendly experience.
  • Analytics cookies: we use these to gather statistics about our site. For example, they help us monitor how many users are on the site, and what sections are most popular.

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences. We may use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and improve the Site in order to tailor it to users’ needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes, after which the data is removed from the system. Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

It’s important to know you can clear cookies or digital identifiers from your device and also disable future use of them by changing the security settings on your web browser. However, doing this might mean that parts of SDA’s website may not work as it should.

SDA records visits to its website and logs the following information for statistical purposes: the user’s server or proxy address, the date/time/length of the visit and the files requested. The information is used to analyse our server traffic. No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except where authorised by law. For example in the event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency may exercise their legal authority to inspect the internet service provider’s logs. 

From others

We may collect personal information from other organizations that are able to disclose it to us, if it’s not practical to collect it from you – for example other peak professional bodies like DA or SMA. We will take reasonable steps to make sure you know we have your personal information, how we got it and how we’ll handle it  

Unsolicited Information

Sometimes we may receive unsolicited personal information (such as an employment application sent to us by an individual on their own initiative, rather than in response to a job advertisement).

If the information is reasonably necessary for one or more of our business functions or activities, we will keep the information. If it’s not, our policy is to destroy or de-identify the information as soon as practicable, provided it is lawful and reasonable to do so.

SDA and who we work with

SDA sometimes partners with other companies to offer products and/or services.  We don’t give them access to your personal information when we partner with them. Instead, we work with them to understand the type of audience they want to advertise to, and SDA delivers the information for them.

Other occasions when personal information may be shared include:

  • A member’s employer – to confirm membership status and/or CDP compliance
  • Educational institutions – to confirm membership to access discounts to courses/events
  • Other SDA members – when collaborating on activities
  • Third parties who have lodged a complaint about a member – to advise of conduct and outcome

Finally, we will only disclose personal information to others if you’ve given us permission, or if the disclosure relates to the main reason we collected the information and you’d reasonably expect us to do so, such as those occasions listed above.

SDA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of linked web sites and the other pages hosted by SDA on behalf of non-SDA agencies and organisations. 

Disclosure to overseas recipients

To assist in distributing our email communications, we currently use Mailchimp whose services are provided, supported and hosted in the United States of America. To the extent that the laws and rights of these countries are not equivalent to the laws of Australia, you agree to be bound by the laws and rights of the relevant extraterritorial jurisdiction, if this country has data protection laws that are not equivalent to the laws of Australia and you acknowledge you may not have equivalent rights of enforcement. 

Legal obligations and other privacy exceptions

If you are under 18 years of age you must ask your parent or legal guardian to approve your provision of personal information before you submit your personal details to us.

In certain circumstances, it may be necessary for us to disclose your personal information to third parties in order to assist us in providing our services, or where disclosure is required by us to meet our legal and regulatory obligations. For example, in some circumstances we will use or disclose personal information to react to unlawful activity, serious misconduct, or to reduce or prevent a serious threat to life, health or safety. We are obliged to cooperate with law enforcement bodies in some circumstances. We may disclose personal information, including information about phone calls and service use, when we receive an access request or warrant that is authorised under Australian law.

Third parties may include:

  • digital marketing and other service providers such as Sugar CRM, WooCommerce, Mailchimp, Trybz, Moodle, Survey Monkey and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn;
  • technology support service providers where applicable to the service provided to you;
  • data storage providers such as Amazon Web Hosting Services (servers located in USA) and OneDrive/SharePoint (servers located in Australia);
  • Amalgamated Couriers and other freight or shipping service providers for the purposes of sending any hardware;
  • government and law enforcement agencies and regulators;
  • entities established to help identify illegal activities and prevent fraud where authorised by law; and
  • Valley Computer Solutions (VCS), Gippsland and Unify Services, Port Melbourne who provide technical support to SDA.

We may also disclose your personal information to anyone authorised by you, or to whom you have provided your consent (either expressly or impliedly) or where another permitted general situation applies (as defined in Section 16A of the Privacy Act).

If we go through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or a sale of all or a part of our business assets, your personal information may be among the assets transferred.

We will not disclose information that personally identifies you to any third party other than as set out in this Privacy Policy.

Advertising

We use personal information about you for the primary purpose of providing you with our services. We may also use it for other purposes for which you might reasonably expect us to use that information. You authorise us to use any email address or other contact information you provide to use at any time for such above purposes.

Everyone hates being bombarded with information about things they don’t need or have any interest in. SDA may use your personal information to send you stuff that is relevant to your professional development, area of expertise or general location.

Opting out

You can opt out of receiving electronic communication at any time. We’ll make sure that any emails, surveys, texts and letters we send you clearly tell you how to opt out, or you can tell our staff.

You agree and acknowledge that even if you opt out of receiving information about future events or marketing material, we will still send you essential information that we are required to send you relating to the services we provide. 

Security

Security is serious. We’re committed to protecting your personal information. Some of the security measures we use include:

  • Firewalls and access logging tools that protect against unauthorised access to your data and our network.
  • Secure work environments and workflow systems that prevent unauthorised access and copying of your personal information.
  • Secure server and closed network environments.
  • Encryption of data in transit.
  • Virus scanning tools.
  • Management of access privileges, to ensure that only those who really need it can see your personal information.
  • Ongoing training and security reviews.

You warrant that you will not act in a manner that results in us collecting, using or storing information that is in breach of our obligations at law.

These measures are robust, but security risks do change. We use all reasonable endeavours to keep your information in a secure environment and to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. If you reasonably believe that there has been unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information please contact us using the details below.

If we no longer need your personal information, unless we are required under Australian law or a court or tribunal order to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy, securely delete, or de-identify your personal information as appropriate.

Notifiable Data Breaches

In the event of a data breach, where your personal information is involved in the breach, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner if the breach is likely to result in serious harm to you. 

How to access your personal information

You can access your personal information by logging into the website at any time, or by requesting access to the personal information we hold about you. If you request access to your information we will respond to your request within a reasonable period of time and, where reasonable and practicable, give access to the information in the manner you request.  This will be subject to any exemptions provided under the Privacy Act. You may request this information by writing to our Privacy Officer.

 

Where it is practical to do so, when contacting us, you have the option to either not identify yourself or to use a pseudonym.  However, this will not apply if we are required or authorised under Australian law (or a court or tribunal order) to only deal with individuals who have identified themselve

How to make a complaint

If you wish to make a complaint about a breach of the Privacy Act by us, you may do so by providing your complaint in writing to the contact details listed below. You may also make a complaint verbally. We will seek to respond to any complaint within a reasonable period of time. We may seek further information from you in order to provide a comprehensive and complete response.

You may also make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). You may contact the Australian Information Commissioner via telephone on 1300 363 992, by submitting a complaint or inquiry online at www.oaic.gov.au or by writing to the OAIC at GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001. 

Quality of Personal Information

We take reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we hold about you is accurate, up-to-date and complete. If you think our records need to be corrected, please call or email us or log onto the website and update your profile.

Keeping your details up-to-date helps us deliver better service/s to you and maintain exceptional membership support.

Getting in touch

Your personal information is important to you and us. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about this policy or our practices – here are our contact details:

Email: info@sportsdietitians.com.au

Phone: 03 9699 8634

Mail: Sports Dietitians Australia, 375 Albert Road, South Melbourne VIC 3206

Changes

We’ll amend this policy if our practices change. Details of most recent amendments and the date they were made will be detailed below. The policy will always be available on our website.

Authorised

First developed: February 2009

SDA Board approved at meeting 14 April 2014

Policy reviewed/Revised:

Update approved by the Board 2 August 2021