Privacy Policy

This document sets out the privacy policy of The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology Limited ABN 15 602 767 019 (“AIFST”, “we” or “us”).
AIFST complies with the Australian Privacy Principles (“APPs”) as contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).  The APPs detail how personal information may be collected, used, disclosed, stored and destroyed, and how an individual may gain access to or make complaints about the personal information held about them. 

“Personal information” is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or about an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

This policy details how AIFST manages personal information about you. We may update this policy from time to time.

What personal information we collect and hold

The kind of personal information that we commonly collect and hold from you, or about you include your name, address, phone numbers including mobile and fax, your email address, your current employment details, your professional qualifications and industry experience. 
When you contact us via a request through our website, we record your name and the contact details you have given to us in that request.

The kind of personal information AIFST collects from you or about you depends upon the nature of your enquiry or request to us. 

How we collect and hold personal information

We aim to collect personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable for us to do so.  For example, we collect personal information from you or about you from letters, emails, faxes and application forms that you submit to us and telephone calls with us.
In some instances, we may receive personal information about you from third parties, such as your current and past employers in the case of membership applications to verify professional experience criteria under AIFST’s membership criteria.
You can be anonymous or use a pseudonym when dealing with us, unless:

• the use of your true identity is a legal requirement; or

• it is impracticable for us to deal with you on such basis.

However, if you wish to become a member of AIFST, attend any of our events, subscribe for one of our publications or make a purchase via our website you will generally need to be identified and cannot be anonymous or use a pseudonym.

Cookies and use of the website

We use cookies to allow you to log into your membership account including to access member-only information on our website and to renew your membership online.  Cookies sent to your computer from AIFST’s server only last while you are browsing the site.  AIFST does not store persistent cookies on your computer.

Whenever you use our website the computer on which the web pages are stored (the web server) will track the network address of your computer so that it can send the requested web pages to your internet browser.  The unique network address of your computer (or IP address) is sent automatically each time you access any site on the internet.  From a computer’s IP address it is possible to determine the general geographic location of that computer, but otherwise, it is anonymous.
We do not keep a record of the IP addresses from which users access our site except where you have specifically provided us with information about yourself, in which case we also record your IP address for security purposes.  An example of this would be when proceeding to the shopping cart checkout area to finalise the purchase of a membership or to purchase a membership renewal.  After completing the form provided your IP address will be stored along with a transaction number that allows us to track your order.

Online Credit Card Payments

AIFST uses the Stripe payment gateway for its online credit card transactions. Stripe processes online credit card transactions for thousands of Australian merchants, providing a safe and secure means of collecting payments via the Internet. All online credit card transactions performed on this site are secured payments.

Payments are fully automated with an immediate response. Your complete credit card number cannot be viewed by AIFST or any outside party. At Stripe, all card numbers are encrypted at rest with AES-256 and decryption keys are stored on separate machines.

For more in-depth reading in terms of Stripe security, please visit: https://stripe.com/docs/security/stripe

Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information from you or about you where it is reasonably necessary for us to carry out our functions and activities.  For example, we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information as necessary to provide notices for member events, AIFST publications and reminders as to membership renewals. 

If we do not collect, hold, use or disclose your personal information, or if you do not consent, then we may not be able to answer your enquiry, assess and process your membership application or provide you with your entitled membership benefits.

We also collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for related purposes that you would reasonably expect, such as our administrative and accounting functions. Where we wish to use or disclose your personal information for other purposes, we will obtain your consent.

AIFST does not pass on, sell or swap your personal information with anyone, except where we may be required to do so by law or you have requested us to provide you with a service or product and in providing this to you it is necessary to disclose those details to third party contractors engaged by AIFST to provide that service or product.

Where we use your personal information for marketing and promotional communications, you can opt out at any time by notifying us.  Opt out procedures are also included in our marketing communications. 

How we hold and store personal information

Your personal information is held and stored on paper, by electronic means or both.  We have physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in place for personal information and take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is protected from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. This includes the following measures and safeguards:

• for data held and stored on paper, it is stored in lockable filing cabinets contained within locked offices that are secure premises with the secured entry; 

• for data held and stored electronically, it is protected by internal and external firewalls and password protected computers;  

• for data held and stored “in the cloud”, it is protected by industry standard security measures applied by our cloud service provider;

• for data stored or archived off-site, it is contained within secure facilities.  We also require our storage contractors to implement privacy safeguards;

• where we disclose personal information to third parties, those third parties have in place privacy protection measures; and

• our staff receive training on privacy procedures.

Destruction and De-identification

We will retain your personal information while ever it is required for any of our functions or for any other lawful purpose. 
We use secure methods to destroy or to permanently de-identify your personal information when it is no longer needed or if we determine that the personal information received is required to be destroyed or permanently de-identified.
 
Overseas disclosure

Currently, we do not disclose personal information to any overseas recipients. If in the future it is necessary to send personal information to overseas recipients in order to complete any transaction you have entered into with us, we may send personal information to overseas recipients where:

• you have provided consent; or

• we believe on reasonable grounds that the overseas recipient is required to deal with your personal information by enforceable laws which are similar to the requirements under the APPs; or

• it is otherwise permitted by law.

 
Requests for access and correction

We have procedures in place for dealing with and responding to requests for access to, and correction of, the personal information held about you.In most cases, we expect that we will be able to comply with your request. However, if we do not agree to provide you access or to correct the information as requested, we will give you written reasons why.  For further information, please see our Privacy Access, Correction & Complaints Statement or contact us.

To assist us to keep our records up-to-date, please notify us of any changes to your personal information.
 
Complaints and Concerns

We have procedures in place for dealing with complaints and concerns about our practices in relation to the Privacy Act and the APPs.  We will respond to your complaint in accordance with the relevant provisions of the APPs.  For further information, please see our statement on requests for access, correction of personal information and complaints handling.

Contact

AIFST Privacy Officer
The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology Limited
PO BOX 780, Cherrybrook NSW 2126
Telephone: +61 447 066 324