The Education Agents Association of Australia (“ EAAA ”) respects your right to privacy. This policy outlines the manner in which it (“ we ”) collect, use, disclose and manage personal information.

We treat your privacy very seriously and recognise the importance of protecting personal information at all times.

We are committed to ensuring the privacy of the personal information you have provided to us. We are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), established under the Privacy Act 1988 (“ Act ”).

2.1 We may collect personal information from you from a variety of sources, including but not limited to when you:

• Inquire about EAAA;
• Inquire about EAAA’s services;
• Access or complete EAAA’s website or social media profiles;
• Subscribe to receive our alerts, ebooks, newsletters or other publications, completing forms, or participating in surveys, research or promotions;
• Contact us for any reason including, but not limited to, reporting a problem with our website, social media, requesting further services or seeking our assistance; and
• Apply for employment with us directly, via a social networking site (eg. LinkedIn) or through your nominated referees.

2.2 Note that this list is not exhaustive as there may be other situations or circumstances in which we may be required to collect personal information from you. We will endeavour to notify you when we collect your personal information before, during or as soon as practicable. We will not collect any personal information from you except when you have knowingly provided that information to us or you have authorised a third party to provide that information to us.

2.3 We may collect personal information during the course of our operational activities, such as member prospecting, solicitation, service demonstrations, information sessions or networking.

2.4 We may also collect personal information from third party sources.

3. Anonymity and Use of Pseudonyms

3.1 You have the right to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym when dealing with EAAA, particularly when making initial enquiries.

3.2 Please note, however, that it is impracticable for us to deal with people who have not identified themselves, or who have used a pseudonym, for a significant proportion of our business operations.

4. Types of Information We May Collect

4.1 The information collected will generally comprise personal information relating to EAAA’s members and prospective members.

4.2 Such information includes your name, gender, date of birth, address, phone number, mobile number and email address.

4.3 If you do not provide us with information asked for we may not be able to provide the product and/or service that you have requested, such as consider an application for membership.

5. Use of Your Personal Information

5.1 We will only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our functions and activities such as to enable us to provide services to you. As a general rule, we do not collect sensitive information but if we do, we will seek your consent beforehand.

5.2 We will not use information about you other than for a purpose made known to you, a purpose you would reasonably expect, a purpose required, authorised or permitted by law, or a purpose otherwise authorised by you. These purposes include: Promotion of our business and/or services (such as online); Enhancing and assessing staff and/or member experience; Undertaking prospecting of potential members; Undertaking market or product research and related studies; Handling of complaints and inquiries; Statistical and marketing analysis and analytics.

5.3 We will not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than the purpose for which it was collected (“primary purpose”) unless: (a) You have consented to a secondary use or disclosure; or (b) The secondary use or disclosure is related to the primary purpose (in the case of personal information that is not sensitive information) or is directly related to the primary purpose (in the case of sensitive information); or (c) It is otherwise required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order.

6. Disclosure of Your Personal Information

6.1 We may disclose your personal information in the following circumstances: Where we have contracted an external organisation to provide us with support services. Such services may include but are not limited to marketing support, market research, debt collection, insurance, information technology arrangements, records management and auditing; To related entities with an intention to better understand your needs and provide you with information about services from across the group that are most relevant to you; To comply with our legal obligations, such as under the Australian Consumer Law and tax laws; and Where we suspect that unlawful activity has been or may be engaged in and the personal information is a necessary part of our investigation or reporting of the matter.

6.2 We may disclose your personal information only with your consent in the following circumstances: Where organisations cooperate with us in offering services; To service providers such as credit reporting agencies in order to conduct credit and/or compliance verification checks; and To anyone else you authorise us to disclose information to, from time to time.

6.3 Only information pertinent to the supply of our services is provided and strict confidentiality requirements are adhered to. Where personal information is disclosed to an external company operating in a foreign country, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the APPs in relation to your information.

7. Quality of Personal Information

7.1 We collect and verify your information directly from you, or from independent specialist sources, thereby upholding the quality and accuracy of your personal information.

7.2 Before we use or disclose your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete, relevant, up-to-date, and is not misleading. If you believe the information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, contact us and we will endeavour to either correct the information in our systems, or if necessary, discuss alternative action.

8. Storage and Security of Information

8.1 We are committed to keeping secure the personal information you have provided to us. We will take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. For example, your personal information is stored in secure premises and access to these premises is strictly controlled.

8.2 Personal information is stored electronically and in hard copy form, including databases. Generally speaking, your personal information will be stored electronically.

8.3 We will not keep your information for longer than necessary, and where we no longer need your information, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.

9. Access and Correction of Your Personal Information

9.1 You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you.

9.2 If you wish to access your information then we ask you to contact us. We will need to verify your identity prior to meeting your requests. Unless a lawful exception applies, we will endeavour to grant you access to personal information which we hold about you within 30 days.

9.3 If you find that the information we hold about you is inaccurate or out-of-date then we will endeavour to correct it within 30 days upon receiving your request in writing.

9.4 In the event that we are unable to grant you access to your personal information, or are unable to correct your personal information, we will provide you with a written explanation as well as the complaint mechanism available to you. Exceptions to this include: Where providing access will provide a serious threat to life or health of any individual or pose an unreasonable impact on the privacy of an individual; Your request for access or correction is frivolous or vexatious; Where information relates to existing legal proceedings between us and you; or Where providing access would be unlawful or may prejudice an investigation of possible unlawful activity.

10. Changes to This Policy

10.1 We may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time and for any reason including, but not limited to, the introduction of new legislation.

10.2 Any changes to this Privacy Policy will be updated regularly through brochures and/or our website.

11. Links to External Sites

11.1 Our website may contain links to other websites whose operators may or may not adhere to a Privacy Policy or be governed by privacy laws. We are not responsible for the content or practices of websites operated by third parties that are linked to our sites. These links are for the user’s convenience only. Links to third party sites do not constitute approval by us of the content, policies or practices of those third party sites. Once you have left our site via such a link, you should check the applicable Privacy Policy of that site.

11.2 We may establish relationships with business partners that allow visitors to our website to link directly to sites operated by these partners. Some of these sites may be “co-branded” with EAAA; however these sites may not be operated or maintained by us or on our behalf. These sites may collect personal information from you that may be shared with us.

11.3 This Privacy Policy will apply to any personal information we obtain in this manner.

12. How to Opt Out of Marketing Activities

12.1 You may be contacted by mail, telephone, email or otherwise electronically regarding our services, promotions, newsletters, surveys and similar materials that we may conduct or distribute from time to time. If you do not wish to receive any such communications, you may advise us that you wish to opt out: By utilising the unsubscribe (opt-out) functionality or link provided in the direct marketing communications we send you; or By sending an email to info@eaaa.com.au; or Sending a message on our social media.

13. Lodging a Privacy Complaint

13.1 While we will always strive to do our best, we recognise that we are not perfect: there will be times when we may not meet your service expectations. We are, however, fully committed to providing you with a fair and efficient process for the handling of any complaints that you might have.

13.2 If you wish to complain about any breach or potential breach of this Privacy Policy or the Australian Privacy Principles, you should contact us first and request that your complaint be directed to the Privacy Officer.

13.3 We will use our best endeavours to respond and resolve any complaint to your reasonable satisfaction. If you are unhappy with our response, you may apply to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to have your complaint investigated.

13.4 For more information on how you may lodge a complaint with the OAIC, please contact the Commissioner’s hotline service on 1300 363 992, or visit their website on www.oaic.gov.au.

14. How to Contact Us

14.1 For more information please see our website www.eaaa.com.au.

14.2 If you have any privacy-related enquiries, you may contact us by: Sending an email to us via info@eaaa.com.au; or Sending a message on our social media.