Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy applies to the activities of Ruralco Holdings Limited and all trading entities of the Ruralco Holdings Group ("Ruralco"). It explains how Ruralco handles your personal information and complies with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (“the Act”) and the Australian Privacy Principles (“APPs”). Ruralco also has a Credit Information Policy which governs how we deal with your credit information.

What kind of information we collect and hold

As a group of companies offering a wide range of services, Ruralco may at times collect personal information in relation to clients, customers, suppliers, agents and CRT Members. We collect information that is necessary for our business functions and activities.

The type of information we collect and hold varies depending on the nature of our business and interactions with you. Generally all our businesses collect and hold name and contact information. We may collect financial, credit, repayment information and banking details through our businesses that provide credit (see also Ruralco’s Credit Information Policy).

Some personal information is referred to as sensitive information. We will only collect sensitive information with your consent or when permissible under Australian law and will only use this information for a legitimate purpose where this is reasonably necessary.

How we collect your personal information

Wherever possible and practical to do so, we collect personal information directly from you. This may be in person, in an agency or store, over the telephone, by mail, over the internet, by e-mail or fax, or by completion of a form, such as an application form. We may also collect your personal information from a third party but only in circumstances where it is impracticable or unreasonable for us to collect it directly from you. Third parties who might provide information to us will vary depending on the nature of the business and interaction with you. Such third parties could be:

• a credit reporting body
• your authorised representative ( agent, broker, accountant or solicitor);
• a referee;
• an employer;
• a government body; or
• a financial institution.

How we hold your personal information

We understand the importance of protecting your personal information and take steps to ensure your personal information is free from misuse, interference, modification loss or unauthorised access by:

• limiting access to personal information to those that need access;
• securing your personal information; and
• protecting our systems with relevant technology solutions.

We may need to retain your information after our relationship has ended; however, we will not retain identifiable personal information longer than reasonably necessary and permitted by law.

How we use and disclose your personal information

We collect, hold and use personal information in order to provide you with products and services and to operate our business efficiently. We may also use or disclose personal information to assess credit or other applications, manage credit and other agreements, for planning, product and service development, research purposes and to assess risk profiles of customers or potential customers.

Ruralco will not use or disclose any information about you without your consent, unless required by law or necessary to provide you with a service which you have requested.

Ruralco may use your personal information for direct marketing purposes in order to advise you of products or services that may be relevant or of interest to you. If you do not wish to be contacted for direct marketing purposes, please contact us using one of the methods below.

Like many businesses, Ruralco uses a range of service providers to ensure quality and efficiency of our services. Therefore sometimes individuals and organisations outside of the Ruralco group may have access to and use your personal information, particularly where insurance or finance terms are obtained on your behalf from another company.

Tracking information on the web

We collect information on website activity such as the number of users, the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, navigation patterns, what country and what systems users have used to access, and, if entering one of our websites from another website, the address of that website. This information is obtained through the use of ‘cookies’. A ‘cookie’ is a packet of information that allows a website to identify and interact more effectively with a computer. Your browser can be set to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify when a cookie is sent.

Our websites may also provide links to websites outside of the Ruralco group. The links are provided for your convenience and the information handling practices of linked websites may differ from ours.

How you can access and change your personal information we hold

If at any time you want to know exactly what personal information we hold about you, you should speak to the relevant business with whom you deal. More complex requests should be made by contacting us using one of the methods below.

If there is a reason why we cannot agree to your request for access to your personal information we will advise you in writing.

If at any time you wish to change personal information that is inaccurate or out of date, please contact us by using one of the methods below and we will amend this record. In some situations we may not agree to a request to correct information we hold about you, however if this occurs we will advise you of our reason for not agreeing to the request.

What to do if you have a question or concern

If Ruralco becomes aware of any ongoing concerns or problems concerning our privacy practices, we will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns. If you have any further queries relating to our Privacy Policy, or you have a problem or complaint, please contact us using one of the methods below. If your complaint remains unresolved you may refer the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (the “OAIC”). The contact details for the OAIC are:

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 2999
Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: 1300 363 992
Website: www.oaic.gov.au

Future Changes
Our commitment to being the leading and most innovative group of independent rural merchants in Australia means that our business will continue to evolve as we respond to member and licensee needs. Because of this, from time to time, our policies will be reviewed and may be revised. Ruralco reserves the right to change its Privacy Policy at any time and notify you by posting an updated version of the policy on its website www.ruralco.com.au.

Contact Us
Ruralco Holdings Limited
273C Kennedy Drive
Cambridge TAS 7170

By email: privacy@ruralco.com.au
By phone: (03) 6235 1412
By facsimile: (03) 6234 1023