Privacy

African Circular Economy Network - Privacy Policy

Introduction

This Privacy Policy outlines African Circular Economy Network (" we ", " our " or " the Company ") practices with respect to information collected from users who access our website at www.acen.africa (" Site ") or otherwise share personal information with us (collectively: " Users ").

Responsible authority within the meaning of data protection laws in South Africa where the Company is registered as a non-profit company (Reg. No. 2020/115399/08).

User Rights

You may request to:

Receive confirmation as to whether or not personal information concerning you is being processed and access your stored personal information, together with supplementary information.
Receive a copy of personal information you directly volunteer to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
Request rectification of your personal information that is in our control.
Request erasure of your personal information.
Object to the processing of personal information by us.
Request to restrict processing of your personal information by us.
Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

However, please note that these rights are not absolute and may be subject to our own legitimate interests and regulatory requirements.

If you wish to exercise any of the above rights or receive more information, please contact our Data Protection Officer (“DPO”) at info@acen.africa

Retention

We will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services, and as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our policies. Retention periods will be determined taking into account the type of information that is collected and the purpose for which it is collected, bearing in mind the requirements applicable to the situation and the need to destroy outdated, unused information at the earliest reasonable opportunity. Under applicable regulations, we will keep records containing client personal data, account opening documents, communications and anything else as required by applicable laws and regulations.

We may rectify, replenish or remove incomplete or inaccurate information, at any time and at our own discretion.

Grounds for data collection

Processing of your personal information (i.e. any information which may potentially allow your identification through reasonable means; hereinafter "Personal Information") is necessary for the performance of our contractual obligations towards you and providing you with our services, to protect our legitimate interests and for compliance with legal and financial regulatory obligations to which we are subject.

When you use the Site, you consent to the collection, storage, use, disclosure and other uses of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.

We encourage our Users to carefully read the Privacy Policy and use it to make informed decisions.

What information do we collect?

When you register as a user of our site, to receive our emails or to attend one of our events, we will collect the personal information necessary in order to provide those services. Typically, we will ask for your name, job title, email address and the organisation which you work for.

How do we receive information about you?

We receive your Personal Information from various sources:

When you voluntarily provide us with your personal details in order to register on our Site;
When you use or access our Site in connection with your use of our services;

How is the information used? With whom do we share the information?

We use your personal information in order to personalise the services we provide to you, and in order to improve your experience of our website. We will send you our newsletter approximately two times a month. We may send extra emails out where something significant happens that we think will be of interest to you, for example where you have subscribed to receive such updates, during one of our events.

We keep data for as long as is considered necessary for the purpose(s) for which it was collected or for business, operational or legal purposes.

We will only share personal data with others when we are required to do so or when we have your explicit consent. When we share data with others, we put contractual arrangements and security mechanisms in place to protect the data and to comply with our data protection, confidentiality and security standards. Personal data held by us may be shared with contractors who carry out work on our behalf, for example we use third parties to support us in providing our services and to help provide, run and manage our internal IT systems.

Cookies

We and our trusted partners use cookies and other technologies in our related services, including when you visit our Site or access our services.

A "cookie" is a small piece of information that a website assigns to your device while you are viewing a website. Cookies are very helpful and can be used for various different purposes. These purposes include allowing you to navigate between pages efficiently, enabling automatic activation of certain features, remembering your preferences and making the interaction between you and our Services quicker and easier. Cookies are also used to help make sure that the advertisements you see are relevant to you and your interests and to compile statistical data on your use of our Services.

The Site uses the following types of cookies:

a. 'session cookies' , which are stored only temporarily during a browsing session in order to allow normal use of the system and are deleted from your device when the browser is closed;

b. 'persistent cookies', which are read only by the Site, saved on your computer for a fixed period and are not deleted when the browser is closed. Such cookies are used where we need to know who you are for repeat visits, for example to allow us to store your preferences for the next sign-in;

c. 'third-party cookies' , which are set by other online services who run content on the page you are viewing, for example by third-party analytics companies who monitor and analyse our web access.

Cookies do not contain any information that personally identifies you, but Personal Information that we store about you may be linked, by us, to the information stored in and obtained from cookies. You may remove the cookies by following the instructions of your device preferences; however, if you choose to disable cookies, some features of our Site may not operate properly and your online experience may be limited.

We use a tool which is based on the Snowplow Analytics technology to collect information about your use of the Site. The tool collects information such as how often users access the Site, which pages they visit when they do so, etc. The tool does not collect any Personal Information and is only used by our Site hosting and operating service provider to improve the Site and services.

Use of script libraries (Google Web Fonts)

In order to present our contents correctly and make them graphically appealing across all browsers, we use script libraries and font libraries such as Google Web Fonts ( https://www.google.com/webfonts ) on this website. Google Web Fonts are transferred to your browser's cache to avoid multiple loading. If your browser does not support Google Web Fonts or does not allow access, content will be displayed in a default font.

Calling script libraries or font libraries automatically triggers a connection to the library operator. In theory, it is possible – but currently also unclear whether and, if so, for what purposes – that operators of corresponding libraries collect data.
The privacy policy of the library operator Google can be found here: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy.

Third-party collection of information

Our policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. To the extent you disclose your information to other parties or sites throughout the internet, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. Accordingly, we encourage you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of each third party that you choose to disclose information to.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, nor to individuals whom we do not employ or manage, including any of the third parties which we may disclose information to as set out in this Privacy Policy.

How do we safeguard your information?

We take great care in implementing and maintaining the security of the Site and your information. Although we take reasonable steps to safeguard information, we cannot be responsible for the acts of those who gain unauthorised access or abuse our Site, and we make no warranty, express, implied or otherwise, that we will prevent such access.

Transferring information overseas

Please note that some data recipients may be located outside the EEA. In such cases we will transfer your data only to such countries as approved by the European Commission as providing adequate level of data protection, or enter into legal agreements ensuring an adequate level of data protection.

We may use a third-party advertising technology to serve advertisements when you access the Site. This technology uses your information with regards to your use of the Services to serve advertisements to you (e.g., by placing third-party cookies on your web browser).

Marketing

We may use your Personal Information such as your name, email address, telephone number, etc., ourselves or by using our third-party subcontractors, for the purpose of providing you with promotional materials concerning our services which we believe may interest you.

To respect your right to privacy, within such marketing materials we provide you with the means to opt out of receiving further marketing offers from us. If you unsubscribe, we will remove your email address or telephone number from our marketing distribution lists.

Please note that even if you have unsubscribed from receiving marketing emails from us, we may send you other types of important email communications without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. These may include customer service announcements or administrative notices.

Minors

We understand the importance of protecting children’s privacy, especially in an online environment. The Site is not designed for or directed at children. Under no circumstances shall we allow the use of our services by minors without prior consent or authorisation by a parent or legal guardian. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from minors. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with Personal Information without their consent, he or she should contact us at contact@acen.africa.

Updates or amendments to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to periodically amend or revise the Privacy Policy; material changes will be effective immediately upon the display of the revised Privacy policy. The last revision will be reflected in the "Last modified" section. Your continued use of the Platform, following the notification of such amendments on our website, constitutes your acknowledgment and consent of such amendments to the Privacy Policy and your agreement to be bound by the terms of such amendments.

How to contact us

If you have any general questions about the Site or the information we collect about you and how we use it, you can contact us at contact@acen.africa.

The African Circular Economy Network, registered in South Africa as a Non-Profit Company (Reg. No. 2020/115399/08).

Registered Office: 15 Haven Drive, Noordhoek, Sun Valley, Western Cape 7985, South Africa.

Last Modified 28th July 2020