1      PURPOSE

1.1   This Privacy Policy provides information on the collection, use, sharing and processing and ultimately the deletion of personal information by PIMMS Group (Pty) Limited (“PIMMS”).


1.2   This Privacy Policy explains the choices you have in connection with your use of PIMMS websites and social media pages that link to this Privacy Policy, your interactions with PIMMS, whether in person or online, and your use of PIMMS’ products and services in relation to design, development, manufacturing and product sale  activities.


1.3   This Privacy Policy does not apply to non-PIMMS websites, services, products, or social networks (“non-PIMMS offerings”) that you may link to or connect with when interacting directly or on PIMMS websites. Use of non-PIMMS offerings may lead to parties other than PIMMS processing your personal information. PIMMS does not have any control over non-PIMMS offerings and you should review the privacy policies of these parties before using the non-PIMMS offerings.


2      DEFINITIONS

2.1   “you” is a reference to any person, including a natural person, a company, a body corporate, an association, a joint venture, a partnership, a trust and any entity capable of suing and being sued (a juristic person), who visits and/or uses PIMMS’ websites, social media pages and value adding systems, attendees at PIMMS events, customers and prospective customers and their representatives, suppliers, sub-contractors and distributors and their representatives and PIMMS’ employees;


2.2   “personal information” means information that relates to an identified or identifiable person such as a name, identification number, location data or online identifier;


2.3   “process” means any operation or set of operations that is performed on personal information, including the use of, recording, copying, compiling, collecting, collating, structuring, processing, mining, storing, erasing, altering, disclosing by transmission, disseminating and/or transferring such personal information;


2.4   “PIMMS offerings” means any one or more of PIMMS’ products and services, including the products and services sold through its brands (namely Safeload, Pallchem, SaniChoice, PIMMS Manufacturing, Medena and 7Twenty), social media pages, non-marketing related newsletters, case studies, blogs, education services and materials, events and PIMMS websites and the services, online stores, tools, content and features made available through the PIMMS websites; and


2.5   the interpretation of general words shall not be restricted by being followed by words including a particular class of acts, matters or things or by being followed by particular examples.


3      CONSENT

3.1        If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not access or use PIMMS offerings or interact with any other aspect of PIMMS’ business.


3.2       PIMMS may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If there is an important change, PIMMS will inform you about such change in an appropriate way, such as a pop-up notice, an e-mail notification, or a statement of the changes on one or all of our websites. Your continued or new interaction with PIMMS will require you to offer your consent to the use of your Private Information by PIMMS for the purpose of said interaction and potential repeat interactions. At various stages of your interaction with PIMMS “Opt-in” consent requests may appear based on the purpose of the interaction.


3.3       You may at any time withdraw a consent granted under this Privacy Policy. Please refer to clause 12 below.


4      WHAT INFORMATION PIMMS COLLECTS ABOUT YOU

4.1        PIMMS may collect information directly from you, including:


4.1.1      your name, physical address, email address, telephone numbers and/or your identification number and, in the case of a juristic person, your company’s name, your company’s identification number, your job title, your business telephone number and/or email address, such as when you submit an enquiry to PIMMS, when you contract with PIMMS for a PIMMS offering or when you create an online account or profile to access PIMMS’ offerings;


4.1.2     your payment information if you purchase or subscribe for PIMMS offerings that are provided by way of PIMMS websites or if PIMMS needs to process a payment to you. However in most instances when you pay PIMMS for a PIMMS offering by way of a PIMMS website, your payment information will be transferred directly from you to the third party service provider that processes the payment without PIMMS having access to your payment information;


4.1.3     your financial information for vetting purposes if you apply for credit as a customer or apply to become a distributor and, if you are a distributor, for purposes of assessing your performance;


4.1.4     your company logo for display on PIMMS websites as recognition of the relationship that exists between you and PIMMS, whether as a customer, a distributor or a supplier;


4.1.5      the passwords and log-in details that you have created to access your online account with PIMMS in respect of the PIMMS offerings; and/or


4.1.6      your opinions relating to PIMMS offerings received from surveys.


4.2         PIMMS may also collect other information through your interaction with and use of PIMMS offerings, including:


4.2.1      Internet Protocol address (“IP address”) and information derived from your IP address, such as your geographic location, your company or when you access PIMMS websites;


4.2.2      information about the device that you use to access PIMMS websites, such as device type and version, mobile device identifier, browser type, operating system, the presence or use of applications or information about your preferred language;


4.2.3      information about the company that you work for, such as the name, size, location, industry or its public officers;


4.2.4      behavioural or demographic attributes, when tied to personal information that identifies you;


4.2.5      behavioural data about the internet connected device you use when interacting with PIMMS websites, such as webpages clicked, content areas visited and time spent on webpages, content downloaded, date and time of activities, how often you access PIMMS websites or the web search used to locate and navigate to a PIMMS website;


4.2.6      transactional data, including products and services that you have enquired about or ordered or are using;


4.2.7      your activities in relation to PIMMS offerings;


4.2.8      your use and navigation of PIMMS websites and your use of the services, products, tools and material made available by way of PIMMS websites; and/or


4.3         In some instances, PIMMS may combine other information with personal information. If PIMMS combines other information with personal information, PIMMS will treat the combined information as personal information.


5      HOW PIMMS COLLECTS INFORMATION 

5.1        PIMMS, its affiliates and its third party service providers may collect information from a variety of sources including:


5.1.1      when you provide the information to PIMMS or its third party service providers either directly or through PIMMS websites;


5.1.2      your interaction with PIMMS, your use of PIMMS offerings and your access to and activities on or in relation to PIMMS offerings;


5.1.3      the use of technologies on PIMMS websites such as:


5.1.3.1    electronic communication protocols – when you visit PIMMS websites, PIMMS may automatically receive information from you as part of the communication connection itself, which may include the information listed in clauses 4.2.2 or 4.2.5 above, and PIMMS may also automatically receive and record information about your interaction with PIMMS’ websites;


5.1.3.2    cookies – are small text files sent by a web server to store information on your browser so it can later be read back from that browser. Cookies collect information such as your device ID, your IP address, behavioural data of your device usage on PIMMS websites and general usage and volume statistical information. Cookies remember log-in details and provide secure log-in, keep track of information you have provided to PIMMS, remember your task or transaction progress, analyse site usage to provide custom content, conduct analytics to optimise PIMMS website functionality, ensure the PIMMS websites look consistent and allow you to post comments. You can set your browser to alert you when a cookie is being used and accept, reject or disable the cookie. If you reject or disable a cookie, you may not be able to use certain functions or features of a PIMMS website;


5.1.3.3    tags (often called pixels) – are small blocks of code on a web page that allow PIMMS websites to do things like read and place cookies on your browser or device. PIMMS uses tags to collect information about you when you visit PIMMS websites, such as your IP address, the time that you visited the PIMMS website and the type of browser you used, and your behaviour on the PIMMS websites, such as which webpages you accessed or what information you downloaded; and/or


5.1.3.4    analytics tools – these tools may establish your location, track how you use PIMMS websites or create a profile of you. This assists PIMMS to determine which content is the most appropriate to be displayed while you visit PIMMS websites, which PIMMS offerings you are interested in and how you are using the information that is made available to you on PIMMS websites; and/or


5.1.4       other data you may have made publicly available, such as social media posts or when you ‘like’ PIMMS or any of its brands, share content or follow PIMMS or any of its brands on Twitter and LinkedIn or data provided by third party sources, such as professional networking sites or information service providers.


6      HOW PIMMS USES THE INFORMATION

6.1        Depending on which of the PIMMS offerings you use, how you use those offerings and any preferences you have communicated to PIMMS, PIMMS may use your personal information (unless otherwise restricted by applicable law):


6.1.1      to communicate with you and respond to your requests or enquiries which PIMMS may have received by you submitting contact forms on PIMMS websites, attending PIMMS events, sending an email to PIMMS or by visiting any one of its social media platforms;


6.1.2      to interact with you on third party social networks, such as providing a hashed user ID to third party social networks or other web offerings where this information is matched against their databases to display more relevant information to you;


6.1.3      if you choose to register with PIMMS, such as to become a customer or distributor or to receive PIMMS offerings, to create and manage an account for you;


6.1.4      to engage in transactions with you and to process your transactions, such as receiving Purchase Orders from you and sending you invoices;


6.1.5       to perform in terms of an agreement that you or your company have entered into with PIMMS, such as providing you with the relevant PIMMS offering, manufacturing agreements, verifying your identity, taking payments and sending you necessary communications;


6.1.6       to process activities necessary to perform or provide the PIMMS offerings, such as design, development, mould making, manufacturing and new product releases;


6.1.7       to communicate with you about any matters or information relating to PIMMS offerings, such as new product releases and service developments, updates, events, or special offers and promotions. This information may apply specifically to you or generally to all parties using those or related PIMMS offerings. This may occasionally include information from other business partners about their products and services that can add value to PIMMS offerings;


6.1.8       to send you newsletters and notify you about blogs published on PIMMS websites;


6.1.9       to share information about our services or your use of PIMMS offerings with your company,


6.1.10     to provide PIMMS online communities and moderate the activities that take place on such platforms. PIMMS websites may permit you to participate in interactive discussions, post content and engage in networking activities. Certain of your personal information, such as your name, may be visible to other participants. PIMMS does not control the content that users post to these forums. You should carefully consider whether you wish to submit personal information to these forums. Please refer to clause 12 below regarding your right to manage or remove your personal information from PIMMS online communities;


6.1.11      to help create and personalize content for you on PIMMS websites and to facilitate and improve your use of the PIMMS websites;


6.1.12      to diagnose problems in respect of PIMMS websites, to administer PIMMS websites, to keep PIMMS websites secure and to gather demographic information about the users of PIMMS websites;


6.1.13      to conduct surveys and market research in respect of various topics, such as PIMMS’s customers or their experience of PIMMS offerings or the effectiveness of PIMMS’s marketing campaigns, to evaluate and improve the use, function and performance of PIMMS offerings, marketing and sales campaigns and PIMMS’s customer and supplier relationships;


6.1.14       to investigate and prevent potential fraud or illegal activities involving PIMMS’s systems and networks, to administer PIMMS’s back-up and disaster recovery plans and policies and to confirm compliance with licensing and other terms of use applicable to PIMMS offerings;


6.1.15       to comply with applicable laws and to operate PIMMS’s business, such as confirming your identity, responding to a request from a regulator, defending a legal claim, conducting internal audits and investigations or for finance and accounting, archiving and insurance purposes;


6.1.16       as PIMMS believes to be necessary or appropriate to protect you, PIMMS’s employees and affiliates and other users of PIMMS offerings, PIMMS’s physical and online operations, PIMMS’s property, PIMMS’s rights and PIMMS’s privacy and/or that of PIMMS’s affiliates, you or others; and/or


6.1.17       carry out any other purpose described to you at the time the information was collected from you.


6.2           Some of the personal information uses specified above are not mandatory and may be controlled by you by electing to opt-out, however your decision to do so may affect your use of PIMMS offerings and/or PIMMS’s ability to transact with you.


6.3            if you are a natural person residing in the European Union, PIMMS’s basis for processing your personal information is the following:


6.3.1         in order to communicate adequately with you and to respond to requests, PIMMS needs to process information about you and therefore PIMMS has a legitimate interest in processing this information;


6.3.2        in order to engage in transactions with customers, suppliers and partners and to process purchases and downloads of PIMMS offerings, PIMMS needs to process information about you as necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you;


6.3.3        PIMMS processes personal information for marketing and sales activities based on your consent where so indicated on PIMMS websites at the time your personal information was collected or further to PIMMS’s legitimate interest to market and promote PIMMS offerings;


6.3.4        PIMMS relies on its legitimate interest to analyse, develop, improve and optimise PIMMS offerings and to maintain the security of its websites, networks and systems;


6.3.5        in order to comply with PIMMS’s legal obligations, applicable laws and regulations, such as to comply with a subpoena or other legal process or to process an opt-out request.


7      WHEN AND HOW PIMMS SHARES YOUR INFORMATION

7.1        PIMMS uses and shares the personal information it collects (unless otherwise restricted by applicable law):


7.1.1      globally between and amongst PIMMS affiliated companies. PIMMS employees are authorised to access personal information only to the extent necessary to serve the applicable purpose for which the information was gathered;


7.1.2     with third parties who provide services to PIMMS such as analytics, hosting websites, payment processing, website management, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, e-mail delivery, auditing, legal and other similar services;


7.1.3     with third parties who provide products to PIMMS which are incorporated into or used with PIMMS offerings;


7.1.4     with your consent, such as displaying your testimonial as a satisfied customer or partner on a PIMMS website;


7.1.5     as PIMMS in good faith believes to be necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence or business; (b) to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence or business, for national security and/or law enforcement purposes; (d) to enforce PIMMS’s terms and conditions; and (e) to allow PIMMS to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that PIMMS may sustain; and/or


7.1.6     with the relevant third party in the event of a reorganisation, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of PIMMS’s business, assets or shares (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).


7.2        When PIMMS shares personal information with third parties, PIMMS requires that your personal information is processed only to the extent that such processing is necessary and subject to terms consistent with this Privacy Policy.


7.3        PIMMS does not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for any purpose.


7.4        PIMMS may use, transfer and disclose other information, which is not personal information, that PIMMS collects for any purpose, such as statistical information about visitors to PIMMS websites, except where applicable law requires otherwise.


8      ANOTHER PERSON’S INFORMATION 

8.1     If you share any personal information with PIMMS that relates to another person (“Data Subject”) you warrant and undertake to and in favour of PIMMS that:


8.1.1      you are in lawful possession and control of the personal information and that you have the consent of the Data Subject to allow PIMMS to process and in any other manner use such personal information for the purpose for which it was collected or made available and as contemplated in this Privacy Policy;


8.1.2      the Data Subject has consented to the Data Subject’s personal information being processed in a country that is different to the Data Subject’s country of residence or business;


8.1.3     you will promptly inform PIMMS in writing in the event that a Data Subject requests that its personal information be updated or in the event that a Data Subject withdraws the consent referred to in this clause 8.1;


8.1.4     you will be responsible for ensuring the correctness or accuracy of the Data Subject’s personal information that is processed by PIMMS.


8.2       You indemnify, defend and hold PIMMS harmless from and against any and all claims, demands, causes of action, liabilities, losses, damages, judgments, settlements, fines, penalties, awards, costs, expenses and fees (including legal costs and fees on an indemnity basis) that may be sustained, suffered or secured against or incurred by PIMMS arising out of or resulting from:


8.2.1     PIMMS’s lawful processing of a Data Subject’s personal information;


8.2.2     the personal information not being correct or accurate; or


8.2.3     your breach of the above provisions.


9      FOR WHAT PERIOD DOES PIMMS RETAIN PERSONAL INFORMATION 

9.1     The time periods for which PIMMS keeps your personal information may vary according to the use or purpose attached to the personal information. PIMMS will keep your personal information (i) only for as long as it is required to fulfil the purpose for which the personal information was collected or for which it is to be processed or (ii) until you withdraw your consent. However, where PIMMS is required by applicable law to retain your personal information longer or where your personal information is required for PIMMS to assert or defend against legal claims, PIMMS will retain your personal information until the end of the relevant retention period or until the claims in question have been settled.


9.2     At the end of the retention period, PIMMS will delete your personal information in a manner designed to ensure that it cannot be reconstructed or read.


10    HOW PIMMS SECURES YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION 

10.1  PIMMS uses reasonable technical and organisational safeguards that are designed to protect your personal information from unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.


10.2  All transmission of data to and from PIMMS’s servers is encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology.


10.3  However, despite PIMMS’s efforts, no security controls are 100% effective and PIMMS cannot guarantee the security of your personal information. In the event that your personal information is acquired, or is reasonably believed to have been acquired, by an unauthorised person and applicable law requires notification, PIMMS will give you notice promptly. PIMMS will determine the scope of the breach and investigate and restore the integrity of the data system.


10.4  It is important for you to protect against unauthorised access to your account password and to your devices.


11     HOW PIMMS TRANSFERS INFORMATION IT COLLECTS INTERNATIONALLY 

11.1  PIMMS may collect and shares information globally.


11.2  For purposes of providing the PIMMS offerings to you, PIMMS may transfer, process and store your personal information outside your country of residence or business to wherever PIMMS or its third party service providers operate. In some of these countries, such as the United States and Canada, the privacy protections and rights of authorities to access personal information may not be equivalent to those applicable to your country of residence or business. However, in such circumstances PIMMS requires that any processing of your personal information in such country will be subject to the provisions of this Privacy Policy.


12     YOUR RIGHTS 

12.1         You may:


12.1.1       request information from PIMMS at any time about the personal information that PIMMS processes about you;


12.1.2       request a copy of the personal information that you have provided to PIMMS. PIMMS will carefully consider your request and discuss with you how PIMMS can best fulfil it;


12.1.3       withdraw consent you have previously provided for the processing of your personal information;


12.1.4       ask PIMMS to erase or delete all or some of your personal information;


12.1.5       edit some of your personal information or request PIMMS to change, update or fix your personal information in certain cases, particularly if it is inaccurate;


12.1.6       ask PIMMS to stop using all or some of your personal information or to limit PIMMS’s use of your personal information.


12.2          Please note that these rights are not absolute and certain exemptions apply.


12.3          You can exercise some of the above rights by:


12.3.1        using the unsubscribe link within communications or updating your email preferences within your profile settings;


12.3.2        adjusting your browser settings; and/or


12.3.3        contacting PIMMS via the details provided in clause 18 below.


12.4           PIMMS will accommodate your request in terms of clause 12.1 above to the extent that it does not conflict with a statutory obligation or prevailing right of PIMMS.


12.5           You acknowledge that:


12.5.1         any request in terms of clause 12.1 above may mean that you may not be able to continue using some or all of the PIMMS offerings;


12.5.2        any request in terms of clause 12.1 above will have no effect on PIMMS’s past processing of information up until PIMMS’s receipt of your request;


12.5.3        even though you may opt out of receiving marketing communications, you cannot opt out of, and will continue receiving, transactional communications from PIMMS regarding your contracted PIMMS offerings.


12.6            For natural persons who reside in the European Union, you can request that PIMMS restricts its processing of your personal information (i) if you contest the accuracy of the personal information and then for a period enabling PIMMS to verify the accuracy of your personal information; (ii) if there is no legal basis for PIMMS to process your personal information and you oppose PIMMS’s erasure of such personal information; (iii) if PIMMS no longer needs your personal information for the purposes of processing same but you claim that you require PIMMS to retain such information in order to claim or exercise legal rights or to defend against third party claims; or (iv) if you object to the processing of your personal information, for as long as it is required to review as to whether PIMMS has a prevailing interest or legal obligation in processing your personal information. If you request a copy of your personal information, to the extent that PIMMS can comply with such request, it will provide you with that information in a machine-readable form.


13    LINKS TO OTHER SITES 

PIMMS websites may contain links to websites of other parties. PIMMS is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such other websites. Therefore, you must carefully read the privacy statements of such websites.


14    NOTE ABOUT MINORS 

14.1  PIMMS’s services are focussed on serving the needs of businesses and are not directed to minors (being children below the age of 18 years). Therefore minors are not eligible to use PIMMS websites or transact with PIMMS and PIMMS requests that they do not submit any personal information to PIMMS.


14.2  If you believe that PIMMS has mistakenly or unintentionally collected personal information of a minor, please notify PIMMS via the contact details contained in clause 18 below so that PIMMS may immediately delete the information from PIMMS’s or its service providers’ servers and make any other corrections.


15    SENSITIVE INFORMATION 

Save for information relating to your dietary preferences that you may furnish to PIMMS if you attend any functions hosted by PIMMS, as your sensitive personal information is not required for your transactions or communications with PIMMS, you undertake not to send or share with PIMMS or publish on PIMMS online communities any sensitive personal information (such as information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or other beliefs, health, genetic data, biometric data, criminal background or trade union membership). PIMMS reserves the right to remove and destroy such information.


16    DISPUTES 

16.1  If you have any complaints regarding PIMMS’s compliance with this Privacy Policy, you should first contact PIMMS at the details recorded in clause 18 below. PIMMS will investigate and attempt to resolve complaints and disputes regarding use and disclosure of personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved, you may lodge a complaint with the necessary regulatory authority.


16.2  This Privacy Policy shall be deemed to be made under the laws of the Republic of South Africa and the construction, validity, interpretation and performance of this Privacy Policy as well as any dispute related to or arising from this Privacy Policy shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the Republic of South Africa without regard to the principles of conflict of laws and specifically excluding the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods. You and PIMMS hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Republic of South Africa.


16.3  Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this Privacy Policy precludes PIMMS from taking proceedings against you in any court of competent jurisdiction nor will the taking of proceedings in any one or more jurisdiction preclude the taking of proceedings in other jurisdictions, whether concurrently or not.


17    GENERAL  

17.1  This Privacy Policy records the entire understanding and agreement between PIMMS and you with respect to the subject matter hereof. No party shall be bound by any express or implied term, representation, warranty, promise or the like not recorded in this Privacy Policy.


17.2  In the event that any provision of this Privacy Policy is or may become illegal, invalid, unlawful or unenforceable in any jurisdiction affected by this Privacy Policy, such provision as to such jurisdiction, shall be ineffective to the extent of such prohibition or unenforceability and shall be treated as not written in this Privacy Policy and severed from the balance of this Privacy Policy, without invalidating the remaining provisions of this Privacy Policy or affecting the validity or enforceability of such provision in any other jurisdiction.


17.3  PIMMS’s failure to enforce any provision of this Privacy Policy will not constitute a waiver of such provision or affect in any way PIMMS’s right to require the performance of such provision at any time in the future.


17.4  You shall not be entitled to cede or assign your rights or delegate your obligations in terms of this Privacy Policy to any third party without PIMMS’s prior written consent.


17.5  The termination of your relationship with PIMMS, for any reason, or the cessation of your use of PIMMS offerings shall not affect the provisions of this Privacy Policy as expressly provide that they will operate after any such termination or cessation or which of necessity must continue to have effect after such termination or cessation notwithstanding that the provisions themselves do not expressly provide for this.


17.6  The head notes to the paragraphs to this Privacy Policy are inserted for reference purposes only and shall not affect the interpretation of any of the provisions to which they relate.


17.7  Words importing the singular shall include the plural and vice versa, and words importing the masculine gender shall include the female and neuter genders and words importing persons shall include partnerships and corporate and unincorporated entities.


17.8  No provision in this Privacy Policy shall be construed against or interpreted to the disadvantage of PIMMS by reason of PIMMS having or being deemed to have structured, drafted or introduced such provision.


18    PIMMS’S CONTACT DETAILS 

If you believe that your personal information has been used in a way that is not consistent with this Privacy Policy or your choices, or if you wish to submit a request to PIMMS regarding your personal information or if you have any questions or comments related to this Privacy Policy, please address same in writing to the Information Officer at:


18.1  Email address: [email protected]


18.2  Physical address: 1050 Liner Avenue, Laser Park, Honeydew, Gauteng, Republic of South Africa.