Privacy Policy

Last updated: 29 June 2021

Information Officer: Adrian Auret (Mr)

In this Privacy Policy, “Brother”, “we”, “our” and “us” refers to Brother International South Africa (PTY) LTD.

Brother respects your privacy and in terms of South African law, the right to privacy is protected in terms of the common law and section 14 of the Constitution of South Africa 1996. The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act or POPIA) is essentially the South African Data Protection Bill or Data Protection Act.

The POPI Act, 2013 recognises the right to privacy enshrined in the Constitution and gives effect to this right by mandatory procedures and mechanisms for the handling and processing of personal information. The POPI Act is in line with current international trends and laws on privacy. ‘Processing’ is widely defined, including the ‘collection, recording, organisation, storage, updating or modification, retrieval, consultation, use, dissemination by means of transmission, distribution or making available in any other form, merging, linking, as well as blocking, erasure or destruction of personal information.’

The POPI Act provides eight information protection principles to govern the processing of personal information. There are specific provisions for:

  • direct marketing,
  • automated decision making,
  • the processing of cross-border flows of data (see section 72 of the POPI Act).

Collection of information

In the normal course of business we do not unnecessarily collect personal information about individuals. We only collect personal information directly from you, and only by lawful and fair means. We only collect what is reasonably necessary to assist you and run our business. Depending on the products or services you ask us to provide you, we collect information including; names, contact details (such as mailing address, telephone/facsimile numbers, email address); product registration details; product purchase details including the model, serial number, and retailer, and other information you might choose to share with us.

Wherever it is lawful and practicable, you will have the option of not identifying yourself when entering transactions with us.

Use

We use your personal information for the purpose for which it has been provided and any other purpose permitted under the Privacy Act. This may include to:

  • Provide you with products or services;
  • Provide information and training;
  • Process your application to participate in promotions or competitions;
  • Promote our brand including marketing purposes or market analytics;
  • Update you on important notices and policies;
  • Communicate the latest product announcements, events and offers;
  • Handle complaints;
  • Comply with the law.

Disclosure

We will always notify you in advance if we need to collect, use or disclose personal information, allowing you the opportunity to opt out of any such further activity. We will never collect, use or disclose personal information other than as permitted by the POPI Act.

We do not sell personal information and we will only disclose personal information as it relates to our direct business activities.

However, we may disclose your personal information both within and outside South Africa to other Brother Group Companies including its subsidiaries, and third parties such as:

  • Our business partners, service providers, dealers and agents, contractors and advisers
  • Our professional advisers including lawyers, accountants, tax advisors and auditor
  • Law enforcement agencies or as otherwise required or authorised by law
  • Regulatory or government bodies for the purposes of resolving customer complaints or disputes
  • Any other person or for any other purpose that would be reasonably expected.

In order to undertake one or more of the following actions above, it is likely that we may transfer your personal information to recipients overseas and you consent to such disclosure. It is not reasonably practical to list all the countries in which the recipients of your information are likely to be located, but it is likely such countries will include Brother Group companies in Japan and Singapore. If you do not consent to your information being disclosed to recipients overseas kindly contact Brother’s Privacy Officer whose details are outlined below under ‘Access and Correction’.

Data Quality and Security

We will take reasonable steps to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up-to-date and securely maintained. We have implemented and will maintain current standards of technology and operational security to protect your personal information from any such interference. We will delete or destroy personal information, if it is lawful and reasonable to do so, when it is no longer relevant to our business purpose.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of information that our web server may send to your machine when you visit our site. The cookie is stored on your machine, but does not identify you or give us any information about your computer.

A cookie helps us to recognise you when you revisit our website and to co-ordinate your access to different pages on it. With most internet browsers, you can erase cookies from your computer hard drive, block all cookies, or receive a warning before a cookie is stored. If you want to do this, refer to your browser’s documentation to learn more.

Access and Correction

We respect a person’s right to access any personal information that we collect and hold about them and to have it corrected if it is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date.  You have a right to request to correct, and to access the personal information that we hold about you, subject to some exceptions authorised by law.

Requests for access should be directed to the Privacy Officer, whose contact details are set out below. If you would like further information about how we manage your personal information, or if you have any queries relating to our Privacy Policy, or wish to lodge a complaint in relation to an alleged breach of the POPI Act, 2013, please contact us by:

Phone: +27 (0) 12 345 5332
E-mail: [email protected]
Mail:  The Privacy Officer
Brother International South Africa (PTY) LTD
96 Sovereign Drive, Route 21 Corporate Park, Irene, 0157, South Africa

Updates

From time to time, it may be necessary for us to review or update this Privacy Policy. We suggest that you should periodically review our current Policy via our website www.brother.co.za or by contacting our Privacy Officer, whose details are outlined above under ‘Access and Correction’, to inform yourself of any change. We will not send you any separate notification of changes to this Policy.