Privacy Policy, South Africa (supplementary policy)

(“Essity” or "we" or "us") takes data privacy seriously.

THIS PRIVACY POLICY (“PRIVACY POLICY”) APPLIES TO HOW WE COLLECT, USE AND PROCESS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN SOUTH AFRICA WHEN YOU PURCHASE OUR PRODUCTS THROUGH OUR WEBSITE, USE ANY OF OUR SERVICES, OUR WEBSITE, AND ANY APPLICATIONS. PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. PLEASE NOTE IN PARTICULAR THE PARTS THAT ARE IN BOLD WRITING AS THESE PARTS MIGHT LIMIT OUR RISK OR LIABILITY, REQUIRE YOU TO ASSUME RISK AND LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN ISSUES, OR TO ACKNOWLEDGE CERTAIN FACTS.

THIS PRIVACY POLICY SHOULD BE READ WITH OUR GENERAL PRIVACY POLICY AND SERVES TO SUPPLEMENT SUCH POLICY AND IS NOT INTENDED TO WHOLLY REPLACE SUCH POLICY.  WHERE THERE IS ANY CONFLICT BETWEEN THE GENERAL PRIVACY POLICY AND THIS PRIVACY POLICY, THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY SHALL PREVAIL TO THE EXTENT OF SUCH CONFLICT.

 

  1. Active collection of Personal Information

To access or take advantage of certain features of our website, we may request that you provide personal information. “Personal Information” is information about you that is associated with your name or identity, such as, name, mailing address, e-mail address, credit or debit card account number, birth date, telephone number, or purchase information. Personal Information may also include “Demographic Information”, such as your gender, marital status, salary, purchasing habits, or similar information.

Personal Information may be requested and collected at various locations and on various forms on the Website, including but not limited to:

  • registration forms for newsletters and other e-mail communications;
  • registration for membership to our website;
  • when you submit an inquiry via our website;
  • when you submit an order for any of our products; or
  • when you communicate or otherwise interact with us via our website.

You may always select not to submit Personal Information, however, as a result, you may not be able to access certain of our website’s features and/or functionality.

By continuing to use our website, you consent to processing, collection, storage, retention and use of the Personal Information you provide for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, and you consent to our collection of any changes or updates that you may provide to any information you provide that is collected by us. If you do not agree to this Privacy Policy, please do not use our website.

Where you provide us with Personal Information relating to a third-party data subject (for example, your friends, customers and/or clients), you warrant that you have obtained all necessary consents from such data subject, including the data subject's consent for you to share such Personal Information with Essity to process. We shall protect, store and process this Personal Information in the same manner and equal level of security as Personal Information about you.

  1. POPI

This Privacy Policy and the content provided and/or made available on our website are regulated by or subject to the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (“POPI”) and it is not intended that any provision of these terms herein contained contravene any provision of POPI. Therefore, all provisions herein must be treated as being qualified, to the extent necessary, to ensure that the provisions of POPI are complied with.
 

No provision herein:

 

  • does or purports to limit or exempt us from any liability (including, without limitation, for any loss directly or indirectly attributable to our gross negligence or wilful default or that of any other person acting for or controlled by us) to the extent that the law does not allow such a limitation or exemption;
  • requires you to assume risk or liability for the kind of liability or loss, to the extent that the law does not allow such an assumption of risk or liability; or
  • limits or excludes any warranties or obligations which are implied herein by POPI or other applicable laws, to the extent that the law does not allow them to be limited or excluded.

 

  1. Categories of Personal Information and processing purposes

Metadata:

You may use our website or app without providing any Personal Information about you. In this case, Essity will collect only the following metadata that result from your usage:

  • Referral page, data and time of access, data volume transmitted, status of transmission, type of web browser, IP-address, operating system and interface, language and version of browser software.
  • Your IP-address will be used to enable your access to our website or app. Once the IP-address is no longer necessary for this purpose, we will shorten your IP-address by removing the last octet of your IP-address. The metadata, including the shortened IP-address will be used to improve the quality and services of our website or app by analyzing the usage behavior of our users.

Account:

If you create an account on/in our website or app, you may be asked to provide Personal Information about you, for example: Name, mailing address, email address, selected password, telephone number, bank account details, credit card details, invoicing and delivery address, interests in certain products/services (voluntary), request to receive marketing emails (voluntary). Essity processes such Personal Information for purposes of providing our services to you, to provide you with marketing materials to the extent permitted by applicable law, and to analyze your interests for marketing purposes.

Product Orders:

If you order a product via our website or app, Essity collects and processes the following Personal Information about you: Your account data, type and amount of product, purchase price, order date, order status, product returns, customer care requests. Essity processes such Personal Information for purposes of carrying out the contractual relationship and the product order, providing customer care services, compliance with legal obligations, defending, establishing and exercising legal claims, and tailored marketing.

Sweepstakes:

If you participate in a sweepstake, Essity collects and processes the following Personal Information about you: Name, postal address, email address, date of entry, selection as winner, prize, answer to quiz. Essity processes such Personal Information for purposes of carrying out the sweepstake, informing the winner, delivering the prize to the winner, carrying out the event, and marketing.

Health Data:

By ordering some products, Essity may collect and process also information about health conditions as implied by product order. Health data are sensitive data within the meaning of POPI and Essity is taking all necessary steps to protect such sensitive data as legally required. Subject to consent, Essity collects or processes health data solely for the purposes of carrying out the contractual relationship and the product order, providing customer care services, compliance with legal obligations, defending, establishing and exercising legal claims, and tailored marketing.

  1. Third Parties

The website contains content and may contain links to third-party websites, through which other users of this website or third parties may gain authorised or unauthorised access to your Personal Information. These terms and conditions do not apply to the collection, processing or use of Personal Information that the you have communicated to other users of this website and/or third parties.  

Notwithstanding the fact that our website may refer to or provide links to third-party websites, your use of such third-party websites is entirely at your own risk and we are not responsible for any loss, expense, claim or damage, whether direct, indirect or consequential, arising from your use of such third-party websites or your reliance on any information contained thereon.

  • Transfer to service providers

Essity may engage external service providers, who act as a data processor of Essity, to provide certain services to Essity, such as website service providers, marketing service providers or IT support service providers. When providing such services, the external service providers may have access to and/or may process your Personal Information.

We request those external service providers to implement and apply security safeguards to ensure the privacy and security of your Personal Information.

  • Other recipients

Essity may transfer - in compliance with applicable data protection law - Personal Information to law enforcement agencies, governmental authorities, legal counsel, external consultants, or business partners. In case of a corporate merger or acquisition, Personal Information may be transferred to the third parties being involve in the merger or acquisition.

  • International transfers of Personal Information

The Personal Information that we collect or receive about you may be transferred to and processed by recipients which are located inside or outside South Africa. The countries include those listed at http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/international-transfers/adequacy/index_en.htm which provide an adequate level of data protection from a South African data protection law perspective. Other recipients might be located in other countries which do not adduce an adequate level of protection from a South African data protection law perspective. Essity will take all necessary measures to ensure that transfers out of South Africa are adequately protected as required by applicable data protection law. With respect to transfers to countries not providing an adequate level of data protection, we base the transfer on appropriate safeguards, such as approved code of conducts together with binding and enforceable commitments of the recipient, or approved certification mechanisms together with binding and enforceable commitments of the recipient. You can ask for a copy of the such appropriate safeguards by contacting us as set out in Sec. 14 (Contact us) below.

 

  1. Legal basis for the processing

 

We may carry out the processing of your Personal Information on the following legal basis:

 

  • You have given your consent to the processing of your data for one or more specific purposes;
  • The processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract;
  • The processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject to;
  • The processing is necessary to protect your vital interests or legitimate interest of you or of another person;
  • The processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us;
  • The processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of you which require protection of Personal Information, in particular if you are a child;
  • Other applicable legal basis for data processing, especially provisions set out by member state law;

 

We may carry out the processing of your sensitive and/or special Personal Information on the following legal basis:

 

  • You have given your explicit consent to the processing of your sensitive Personal Information for one or more specific purposes;
  • The processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of Essity or of the data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law;
  • The processing relates to Personal Information which are manifestly made public by the data subject;
  • The processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity;

The provision of your Personal Information is required by a statutory or contractual obligation, or necessary to enter into a contract with us or to receive our services/products as requested by you, or simply voluntary by you for purposes of using our website and the offerings on it.

Not providing your Personal Information may result in disadvantages for you, e.g. you may not be able to receive certain products and services. However, unless otherwise specified, not providing your Personal Information will not result in legal consequences for you.

  1. What rights do you have and how can you assert your rights?

If you have declared your consent regarding certain collecting, processing and use of your Personal Information, you can revoke this consent at any time with future effect. Further, you can object to the use of your Personal Information for the purposes of marketing without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs in accordance with the basic tariffs.

Pursuant to the applicable data protection law you have the right (i) to request access to your Personal Information, (ii) to request rectification of your Personal Information, (iii) to request erasure of your Personal Information, (iv) to request restriction of processing of your Personal Information, (v) to request data portability, (vi) to object to the processing of your Personal Information (including objection to profiling), and (vii) to object to automated decision making (including profiling).

To exercise your rights please contact us as stated under Sec. 14 (Contact us) below.

In case of complaints you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection supervisory authority.

  1. Cookies and other tracking technologies

This website or app uses cookies. For further information please visit our Cookie Policy.

  1. How do we store your personal information?

Your Personal Information is stored with a third party service provider in [South Africa] and overseas (outside of South Africa).  We may also from time to time keep a backup on premises and/or hard copies (as applicable).  We have agreements with service providers to keep Personal Information secure and they are using appropriate and reasonable security measures to ensure the handling of Personal Information receives at least the same level of protection as it is given in this Privacy Policy.

  1. Why we need your Personal Information?

We will collate the Personal Information which you give to us to provide you with services and personalise your use and visits of this website. We may also use such Personal Information to inform you, the user, about changes in the services we offer and/or about features we think you would find of interest. We may also permit the affiliated entities in our company group to inform you about products or services they offer that might interest you. By giving us this Personal Information, you consent to our use of it for these purposes, including for the purpose of processing your orders and instructions.

In addition to the above, we collect and process your Personal Information for the following purposes:

  • to communicate requested information to registered users/customers;
  • to respond to queries, responses or complaints submitted by registered users/customers;
  • to process orders for products or services and for making related decisions including by verifying your identity, credit status, contact details, financial track record and otherwise ascertaining that you qualify for our products or services from time to time;
  • to take such actions as may be required to enable and improve your access to and/or use of our products and/or services and to exercise our rights and comply with our obligations in respect thereof, including by processing and recording your product orders and service requests and transactions, managing your accounts and policies, delivering our products and services to you, communicating with you regarding your use of our products and services and collecting payments you may owe us;
  • to ensure that the information we receive and hold about you is accurate, complete and up to date;
  • to prevent, investigate and prosecute fraud, money laundering, abuse of our services and other unlawful activities;
  • to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, for audit purposes and legal proceedings;
  • to conduct market research and business analysis, understand your preferences, learn more about the products and services that you are interested in and improve the products and services we offer to you and to compile non-personal statistical information about browsing habits, click-patterns and access to the online services;
  • to inform and provide you with the opportunity to make use of products, services and benefits that we offer and what we believe may be of interest to you to the extent that we are lawfully permitted to do so; and
  • for such other purposes as you may consent to or as may otherwise be lawfully permitted, including for the purposes of protecting our and/or your legitimate interests and/or that of our suppliers and other customers.

Please note that we will not contact you telephonically for unsolicited marketing purposes or send unsolicited marketing communications to you by mail, facsimile, SMS or electronic mail if you have objected to receiving such communications by way of a public register recognised for such purposes by law or by notifying us of your objection in the prescribed manner. We will provide you with reasonable opportunities to object to and/or opt-out from receiving marketing communications in the manner prescribed by law, including on each occasion when we send you such communications.

 

  1. How long do we keep your Personal Information?

Your Personal Information will be retained as long as necessary to provide you with the services and products requested and as may otherwise be required in law. Once our relationship has come to an end, we will either delete your Personal Information or anonymize your Personal Information, unless statutory retention requirements apply (such as for taxation purposes). We may retain your contact details and interests in our products or services for a long period of time if Essity is allowed to send you marketing materials. Also, we may be required by applicable law to retain certain of your Personal Information for a period of up to 10 years after the relevant taxation year. We may also retain your Personal Information after the termination of the contractual relationship if your Personal Information is necessary to comply with other applicable laws or if we need your Personal Information to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim, on a need to know basis only. To the extent possible, we will restrict the processing of your Personal Information for such limited purposes after the termination of the contractual relationship.

  1. Modification and deletion of Personal Information

The registered user/customer is legally entitled to request modification or deletion of their Personal Information, or deletion from the registered user database at any time. Modification or deletion of data shall be effected on the basis of an appropriate written notice addressed to Essity in accordance with clause 14 below.

 

  1. Modifications to the Privacy Policy

We reserve the right, at any time, for any reason in our sole discretion and without prior notice or liability, to change, modify, amend and/or update this Privacy Policy. Therefore, you should review this Privacy Policy before submitting any information to us. By continuing to use our website, you consent to us collecting, storing, using and sharing your Personal Information in a manner consistent with any revised Privacy Policy from time to time.

 

  1. Objections

Please contact us if you want to object to our collection, processing, recording, protection, use or sharing of your information. Please note that we may require a reasonable period to comply with your objection and can only do so if permitted thereto by law and such compliance does not unreasonably prejudice our legitimate interests or that of a third party.

 

  1. Contact us

If you have concerns or questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

ESSITY SOUTH AFRICA (Pty) Ltd

 

BSN Medical PTY (LTD)
an Essity Company
30 Gillitts Road
3610, Pinetown
Customer Care email: customercareza@essity.com

Customer Care contact number: + 27 (0) 31 710 8000