INTRODUCTION
1. Houghton Harper Inc (“Houghton Harper Attorneys; we; us; our”) is a law firm duly incorporated in terms of South African law, offering professional legal services to our clients (“services”).
2. Our website www.houghtonharper.co.za (the “website”) provides information about us and in general about the services we offer prospective clients. It also enables clients and prospective clients to contact us via the website.
3. This Privacy Policy (“this policy”) serves as an explanation on how we protect and use data subjects’ personal information.
4. By providing Houghton Harper Attorneys with your personal information, you (the “data
subject”)-
4.1. Agree to this policy and authorise us to process your information as set out in this policy; and
4.2. You are giving us, our associates, our service providers and other third parties your consent to distribute your personal information to third parties for the purposes stated in this policy.
DEFINITIONS
5. “associates” means Houghton Harper Attorneys’ directors, employees, consultants and
stakeholders.
6. “consent” means any voluntary, specific and informed expression of will in terms of which permission is given for the processing of personal information”.[1]
7. “consultants” means a person providing expert professional advice.
8. ““data subject” means the person to whom personal information relates”. [2]
9. “directors” means the directors of Houghton Harper Attorneys.
10. ““information officer” of, or in relation to, a-(a) public body means an information officer or deputy information officer as contemplated in terms of section 1 or 17;10. ““information officer” of, or in relation to, a-
(a) public body means an information officer or deputy information officer as contemplated in terms of section 1 or 17;
or
(b) private body means the head of a private body as contemplated in section 1, of the Promotion of Access to Information Act”. [3]
11. ““operator” means a person who processes personal information for a responsible party in terms of a contract or mandate, without coming under the direct authority of that party”. [4]
12. “”person” means a natural person or a juristic person”.[5]
13. “”personal information” means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person, including, but not limited to-
(a) Information relating to the race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, national, ethic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental health, well-being, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth of the person;
(b) Information relating to the education or the medical, financial, criminal or employment history of the person;
(c) any identifying number, symbol, e-mail address, physical address, telephone number, location information, online identifier or other or other particular assignment to the person;
(d) the biometric information of the person;
(e) the personal opinions, views or preferences of the person;
(f) correspondence sent by the person that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature or further correspondence that would reveal the contents of the original correspondence;
(g) the views or opinions of another individual about the person; and(h) the name of the person if it appears with otherpersonal information relating to the person or if the disclosure of the name itself would reveal information about theperson;”[6]
14. ”processing” means any operation or activity or any set of operations, whether or not by automatic means, concerning personal information, including-
(a) the collection, receipt, recording, organisation, collation, storage, updating or modification, retrieval, alteration, consultation or use;
18.5. medical information such as: clinical records and accounts; medical aid membership number;
(b) dissemination by means of transmission, distributing or making available in any other form; or
(c) merging, linking, as well as restriction, degradation, erasure or destruction of information”. [7]
15. ”Promotion of Access to Information Act” means the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No.2 of 2000)”. [8]
16. ”responsible party” means a public or private body or any other person which, alone or in conjunction with others, determines the purpose of and means for processing personal information”.[9]
COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
17. We may collect or obtain personal information about you (the “data subject”)-
17.1 directly form you;
17.2. in the course of providing you legal services;
17.3. in the course of our relationship with you;
17.4. from third parties for purposes of providing our legal services.
CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE PROCESS
18. We process the following categories of personal information about you-
18.1. personal details such as: name; surname; photograph;
18.2. demographic information such as: gender; date of birth; age; nationality; language preference;
18.3. identifier information such as: passport or identity number; utility provider details; bank statements;
18.4. contact details such as: telephone number; email address; postal address; residential address;
18.6. information for purposes of the legal services you require from us;
18.7. employment information and payment of salary information;
18.8. consent and mandate records.18.1
SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION
19. When processing sensitive personal information we do so in the ordinary course of our business, only for legitimate purposes and in accordance with applicable law.
PURPOSES OF PROCESSING AND LEGAL BASIS FOR PROCESSING
20. We process your personal information in the ordinary course of our business of providing legal services; and or in accordance with applicable law and any law enforcement agency; and or to transfer the information to our consultants, stakeholders and other third parties.
DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION TO THIRD PARTIES
21. Houghton Harper Attorneys may disclose your personal information, as and when wedeem it necessary, for a legitimate business reason and in accordance with applicablelaw, for purposes of investigating and or finalising your legal matter, to-
21.1 our consultants and or stakeholders;
21.2. legal counsel;
21.3. medical aid schemes and or their representatives;
21.4. legal and regulatory authorities;
21.5. to the relevant parties for purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, including, but not limited to, safeguarding against, and the prevention of threats to public security;
DATA SECURITY
22. We implement technical and organisational measures that ensure that data subject’s personal information in our possession is sufficiently protected against unlawful or unauthorised access, unauthorised disclosure, unlawful destruction, loss or alteration;
23. Should there be reasonable grounds to believe your personal information has suffered any form of breach or damage, both you and the information regulator will be immediately notified.
24. Houghton Harper Attorneys will endeavour to update your personal information on a regular basis so that it is accurate, complete and up to date.
25. The onus also rests on the data subject as our client to notify us should any of your personal information change or no longer be relevant.
DATA RETENTION
26. We will only retain and store your personal information for the period of time as stipulated by law, after the file is closed.
27. The personal information will be destroyed in a manner which will not enable any unauthorised party to reconstruct it in order to identify or use the details of the data subject.
YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
28. The data subject has the right to access its personal information and to ask us to rectify, erase and restrict use of its personal information;
29. The data subject has the right to object to the destruction of its personal information by giving sufficient notice to the information officer.
CONTACT DETAILS OF INFORMATION OFFICER
Information Officer: Giuseppina Harper
Postal Address: PO Box 1498
Pinegowrie
2123
Telephone No.: 0116481066
E-mail: info@houghtonharper.co.za
giusi@houghtonharper.co.za
Website: www.houghtonharper.co.za