Privacy Policy

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce (“We”, “Us”, “Chamber”) is committed to preserving the privacy of all visitors to this website. Please read the following privacy policy to understand how we use and protect the information that you provide to us.

By browsing, registering or placing an order on this site, you consent to the collection, use and transfer of your information under the terms of this policy.

Introduction

Protecting the personal, private and confidential information of Chamber members and visitors, whether obtained electronically, over the telephone or through our offices, is a fundamental principle, and integral to the way we do business. We therefore operate on the basis of a Privacy Policy that guides the handling of any and all personal information that we collect. We have created this policy in order to demonstrate and communicate our commitment to protecting the privacy of our members, partners and potential website visitors. This policy is consistent with the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information (herein referred to as the “CSA Model Code”) and applicable privacy legislation. The Chamber reserves the right to change this policy, and it may be updated periodically. These changes may affect our use of your personal information. Please check for changes regularly.

Privacy Statement

This policy deals only with personal information handled by The Calgary Chamber of Commerce. Personal information identifies a specific individual but excludes business contact information. The following explains how we handle your personal information.

Accountability

The Chamber is accountable for all personal information under its control. The Chamber’s privacy officer is the Director, Operations and Technology, who is designated as responsible for the privacy policy. The privacy officer is:

Aazil Jaffer
T 403 750 0444
Calgary Chamber of Commerce
#410, 112 4th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 0H3
ajaffer@calgarychamber.com

Any questions about our handling of personal information should be directed to our Privacy Officer. Please see below for more information about the process for referring questions regarding your personal information.

Purpose of Personal Information

The purpose for which the Chamber collects personal information will be identified at or before the time the information is collected. We may collect personal information for the purposes of:

• administering Chamber membership and providing member services, including business surveys;
• registering for Chamber events;
• purchasing various Chamber products or and;
• processing and administering the above, including contractual arrangements that the Calgary Chamber has entered in to with third parties in pursuance of the above, as strictly necessary.

We will not use personal information for any purpose other than that identified at or before the time of collection.

Consent

The Chamber seeks consent for all personal information we collect, use and/or disclose prior to, or at the time of, collection. If you have voluntarily provided information, you have consented to the collection, use and/or limited disclosure of your personally identifiable information as described in this privacy policy and in conjunction with website (CalgaryChamber.com) Terms of Use. As required by law, we will not use your personal information for any purpose other than that for which you have consented. Should we require personal information for a new purpose, we will contact you to seek consent for that new use.

Limits for Collecting, Using, Disclosing and Keeping Personal Information

We do not collect, use or disclose personal information of individuals except when you give consent (explicit or implied) and provide the information on a voluntary basis. There may be occasions where more specific personal information is necessary for us to proceed with a request for information, or provide you with a product or service. In such cases, we will provide you with a description on the information we need. In all cases, the Chamber limits the amount and type of information collected to only that which is required to provide you with the requested information, product, or service. We collect only information that is voluntarily provided by you and undertake that such information will be kept strictly confidential.

We retain personal information only as long as is necessary to provide you with a requested product, service or information, and for the purposes of current and future membership renewals. We then delete or destroy this information as appropriate to do so. For example, personal information that is voluntarily provided to enable the renewal or maintenance of your membership, or registration for Chamber events, will be used only for the purposes of said renewal or registration, and will then be deleted or destroyed as required and appropriate to the circumstances. In general, information for these purposes will only be retained for a period of two (2) years.

In some cases, note that legal reporting and retention requirements require us to retain information for a specific amount of time. Under these limited circumstances, privacy-protected information will only be kept for the period required by law.

We will not sell or trade any personal information with third parties. Disclosures of information will be made in circumstances where the Chamber has entered in to a contractual arrangement with a third party, and the purpose of that contract is the provision of a product, service or benefit. In such circumstances, information disclosure will be limited to information strictly necessary for the provision of the contracted benefit or service. The Chamber may transfer information to service providers where information processing is outsourced in the course of certain administrative or contractual procedures or member services. Where personal information is transferred to a service provider for processing, we require that provider to respect this Privacy Policy and we restrict them from using or disclosing personal information transferred to them for any purpose other than the provision of services to us.

Any personal information that we keep is kept in such a manner as to ensure its security and confidentiality at all times.

Safeguarding Personal Information

The Chamber respects the privacy of our members, partners, website visitors and internet users, and will protect that privacy as vigorously as possible. We store personal information in electronic and physical files that are secure.

Our security measures include:

• Secure locks on filing cabinets
• Secure locks on file boxes
• Computer system firewall protection
• Password protected files
• Virus protected software
• Locked file storage rooms

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from us electronically.

This is especially true for information you transmit to us via e-mail. We have no way of protecting that information until it reaches us. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best efforts to ensure its security on our servers.

Data Retention

We employ security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorized persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. We will retain your information for a reasonable period or as long as the law requires.

Information That We Collect From You

When you visit, register or order products or services on this website you may be asked to provide certain information about yourself including your name, contact details, membership number and credit or debit card information. We may also collect information about the following:

1. Your usage of our website as well as information about you from any messages you post to the website and/or e-mails or letters you send to us.

2. Information about your visit, including but not limited to: your IP Address, operating system, browser version, geographical location, length of your visit and pages visited. This information is held on our server logs and is used for generating anonymous statistics to help us improve our service to you. We reserve the right to use this information to investigate and take action against any misuse of the site.

3. Information provided by you via online forms. This includes, but is not limited to; enquiries, complaints, registration forms.

4. Any transaction you perform on our site. This includes personal information that may identify you for the purposes of the transaction and any account you may hold with us. We may also use this information for anonymous statistical purposes.

Use Of Your Information

Your information will enable us to provide you with access to appropriate parts of our site and to supply the goods or services you have requested. It will also enable us to bill you and to contact you where necessary concerning your orders. We will also use and analyze the information we collect so that we can administer, support, improve and develop our business.

In particular, we may use your information to contact you for your views on our services and to notify you occasionally about important changes or developments to the site or our services. Further, we might also use your information to let you know about other products and services which we offer which may be of interest to you and we may contact you by e-mail.

We may also use your information for all or any of the following purposes:

1. To generate anonymous statistical reports. These are essential to give us an overview of how our site is being used and enables us to improve our service.

2. Personal data submitted to this site may be used for the following, plus any purpose stated on the relevant part of the site:
administer the website;

• improve your browsing experience by personalising the website;
• enable your use of the services available on the website;
• send statements and invoices to you and collect payments from you;
• send you general commercial communications;
• send you email notifications which you have specifically requested;
• provide third parties with statistical information about our users – without identifying any individual user;
• deal with enquiries and complaints made by or about you relating to the website.

3. Any other purpose stated on the relevant part of our website at the point the data is gathered.

Disclosure Of Your Information

Third parties outside of Canada may be used to website host, process information, fulfil and deliver orders, process credit card payments and provide support services on our behalf. We will only use providers that follow all reasonable safeguards to protect your information.

We may also pass aggregate information on the usage of our site to third parties but this will not include information that can be used to identify you.

When providing us with your details, we may also allow carefully selected third parties, including other companies in our group, to contact you occasionally about products and services which may be of interest to you. They may contact you by e-mail.

Finally, if our business enters into a joint venture with or is sold to or merged with another business entity, your information may be disclosed to our new business partners or owners.

Countries outside Canada do not always have strong data protection laws. However, we will always take steps to ensure that your information is used by third parties in accordance with this policy. Unless required to do so by law, we will not otherwise share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent.

Cookies and Password Protected “Member Only” Services

Cookies are small amounts of information which we store on your computer. Cookies make it easier for you to log on to and use the site during future visits. They also allow us to monitor website traffic and to personalize the content of the site for you. Cookies cannot damage files, nor can they read information from a user’s hard drive. This cookie does not contain any personal information, but it allows our server to identify you as having successfully logged in so that you do not have to re-enter your password each time you access a password-protected page during that session.

You may set up your computer to reject cookies although, in that case, you may not be able to use certain features on our site. In order to access password protected member areas on the Calgary Chamber website you must accept a cookie from our Web server.

Accessing and Updating

We make every effort to keep personal information as accurate, complete, current and relevant as necessary for the identified purposes. We do not routinely update personal information. Also on written request you may view or edit your personal information as collected and currently stored by the Chamber. You are entitled to see the information held about you and you may ask us to make any necessary changes to ensure that it is accurate and kept up to date. If you wish to do this, please contact us at info@calgarychamber.com.

The Chamber will inform you of what personal information we have, what it is being used for and, wherever possible, to whom it has been disclosed. There may be exceptional circumstances as provided by law under which the Chamber may not be able to give an individual access to the personal information about her or him held by the Chamber (see PIPA Section 24) In this case the Chamber will explain the reason for this lack of access. Any requests should be directed to our Privacy Officer. To make a request, please send a personally-signed letter to:

Aazil Jaffer
Director, Operations and Technology
Calgary Chamber of Commerce
#410, 112 4th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 0H3

In your letter, please specify the following information: your name, complete contact information, membership number, business or organizational affiliation, and the nature of your request, including whether you wish to edit or simply view the information, or inquire as to its use and/or disclosure. We will reply to your request within sixty days after receipt of the request, or if we are not able to respond within this time period, we will send you a notice of extension. If we are not able to disclose all the personal information we hold on you, we will give you a reason for our inability to do so, unless prohibited by law.

Questions

Any questions or comments you may have about our handling of personal information should be directed to our Privacy Officer.

Changes To Our Privacy Policy

Any changes to our privacy policy in the future will be posted to the site and, where appropriate, through e-mail notification.