Privacy Policy

The Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) is committed to protecting your personal privacy. This Privacy Policy tells you how we collect, store, use and disclose your personal information, in accordance with the Privacy Act (Cth) 1988.

We encourage you to read this policy carefully so that you understand our information handling practices.

In this policy ‘personal information’ means any information or opinion about an individual from which his / her identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained in addition to information about their employment within the industry and related business sectors.

AMIC
AMIC refers to the Australian Meat Industry Council and any related entities (together “we,” “us,” “our” and other similar expressions).

Information we collect

Through its varied operations, AMIC gathers information from individuals to enable delivery of services and to improve the nature of the services provided. We understand individuals’ concerns regarding confidentiality and take our obligations seriously in respect of all information gathered.

 AMIC may collect and use personal information about you and others. If we are not provided with all the personal information we request, we may not be able to supply our products and services. 

The type of information we collect includes individual and business names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, website addresses and other information provided by you or others from time to time. Credit card details and / or bank account details will be collected when products or services are purchased from AMIC, as well as related contact details required.

 As an industry association, from time to time AMIC may collect information about an individual’s employment history. AMIC will only ask an individual for information where we believe it is necessary for us to know that information to provide our services.

We do not normally collect or store ‘sensitive information’, as defined in the Privacy Act (Cth) 1988 (e.g. information about ethnicity, religious beliefs or health). However, where we are required, and it is practicable to do so, we will seek your consent before collecting your sensitive information and inform you of the purpose at the same time. 

How we collect personal information 

Generally, AMIC collects an individual’s personal information from that individual. For example, we will collect personal information when you make an enquiry about our products and services via our website or otherwise, when you become an AMIC member, or order products or services from us.

However, we may also occasionally collect personal information from someone other than the individual. For example, we may collect your information from an existing customer when they tell us that you may be interested in our products or services, or from companies with whom you work, other organisations with whom you have dealings, information service providers or from publicly maintained records. 

When we collect personal information, in most cases it will be self-evident (such as completing an online or paper form). At the time of collection or as soon as practical afterwards, you may also be advised of the purpose of collection and the fact that you can request access to your personal information.

How we store personal information 
Access to personal information is limited to those of our personnel who specifically need it to carry out their business responsibilities. AMIC takes all reasonable steps to keep secure any personal information which we hold about you and to protect your personal information from loss, misuse or unauthorised alteration. Any personal information you provide to us electronically is stored on secure servers. Our employees are contractually bound to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by us.

 To help us protect your privacy, you must maintain the secrecy of your access credentials (i.e. username and password) that you use to access and use our website. 

 We also maintain physical security procedures to manage and protect the use and storage of records containing personal information. 

Purpose of collection

We collect personal information so we can:

• Identify our customers, potential customers and their representatives;
• Inform you or others of any information, products and services we think may be of interest to you or them;
• Inform you or others about our products and services and the benefits of using our products and services; 
• Provide you or others with information about offers or other benefits that may become available;  
• Seek your opinion or comments about our products and services; 
• Carry out billing and/or debt recovery activities;   
• Carry out our management, administrative, quality assurance and complaint handling activities in a professional and efficient manner;  
• Deliver customer service and resolve problems our customers may experience; 
  consider the suitability of potential employees for employment opportunities;
  and
• Develop and implement solutions to improve our products and services. 

An individual, where practical, may deal with AMIC on an anonymous basis. However, as we provide a wide range of services, we in most cases find it necessary to collect personal information during the course of providing our services.

Use and disclosure

AMIC uses and discloses the personal information we collect for the purposes indicated above.

We do not disclose the personal information we collect to third party service providers and contractors, who help us supply our products and services, except that mail and email distribution organisations may be provided with name and address and email address information only in order to distribute material to you with our authority and for no other purpose. 

We may be required, as a result of contractual or statutory obligations, to disclose personal information we collect to auditors, who conduct audits of our business and services, or to government agencies. 

Except where indicated above, we will not use or disclose personal information unless: 

the individual concerned has consented to the use and disclosure; 

• AMIC believes that unlawful activity is being undertaken and personal information is disclosed as part of our investigation into this activity;
• the third party is AMIC’s agent or contractor, required by us to keep that personal information confidential and will only use that information for the purpose for which it is disclosed; or
• the disclosure is permitted, required or authorised by or under law. 

We regularly delete, destroy or de-identify personal information if the information is no longer needed by us.

Marketing
AMIC may use personal information to advise you of new products and information that we think may be of interest. This may include product and service offerings, newsletters and general information about us.

If you prefer not to receive information about our products and services, you can contact us and ask to be removed from the relevant circulation list by using the details listed below or by completing any “Unsubscribe” options contained within electronic newsletters and similar. 

We never disclose personal information to a third party for the purpose of allowing them to directly market their products or service on an individual, unless individuals have expressly consented to that disclosure. 

Access 

If at any time you want to know what personal information we hold about you, you are welcome to request access to that information by contacting us, using the details listed in the Contact Us section below.

However, where: 

• the access impacts on the privacy of others;
• the request for access is frivolous or vexatious;
• there are existing or anticipated legal proceedings; or
• such access can be denied under law or by a law enforcement agency,

AMIC may deny your request for access.

If we deny your request for access, we will let you know why, and at our discretion may choose to give individuals a summary of that information. 

Quality & correction
At all times AMIC strives to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If at any time you believe the personal information that we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, you should let us know. We will use all reasonable efforts to correct the information.

Website & cookies 

To ensure the AMIC website is meeting the needs and wants of its users, and to develop our online services, we may collect aggregated information by using cookies or similar electronic tools.

A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you access AMIC’s website, a cookie helps the AMIC website to recall your specific information on subsequent visits.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to so efficiently, experience the features of the AMIC website.

We do not use this technology to access any personal information of a user in our records and a user cannot be personally identified from a cookie. 

Changes to our Privacy Policy 

As our business evolves, AMIC’s business processes and policies will be reviewed and may be revised. We may change our Privacy Policy at any time. We will notify you of any change by posting an updated version of our Privacy Policy on our website.

Complaints 

We are committed to constantly improving our procedures so that personal information is treated appropriately. If you feel that we have failed to deal with your personal information in accordance with this policy or in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles, please contact us using the details listed below so we have an opportunity to resolve the issue to your satisfaction. We will log your complaint and our privacy officer will:

• consider your concerns and grievances;  
• discuss with you the ways in which we can remedy the situation; and
• put in place an action plan to resolve your complaint and improve our information handling procedures if appropriate.  

Disclosure to overseas recipients
We do not disclose your personal information to overseas recipients. However, website cookies may be captured on servers maintained overseas by global search engine providers, such as Google, when you use them to access our website.

Contact us 
If you require more detailed information about our information handling practices or if you have any concerns about our handling of your personal information, please let us know by contacting us at:

Privacy Officer 
Australian Meat Industry Council
Email: [email protected] 

We will endeavour to respond to your concerns as quickly as possible. 

Version 4.0 January 2018