COMMITMENT TO PRIVACY

The Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC or “Institute”) recognizes the importance of privacy and is committed to maintaining the accuracy, confidentiality, and security of the personal information that it collects about its members, subscribers, authors, reviewers, editors, conference attendees, suppliers, clients, and other contacts, as outlined in this policy statement.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Personal information is any personally identifiable information such as an individual’s name, residential and e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers, membership, subscription and conference information, credit information and billing records, service records, recorded complaints, opinions, and preferences. Publicly available information such as the name, address, telephone and fax numbers, or general email addresses of a business are not considered personal information.

COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

The CIC collects and uses personal information only for the purposes of providing membership, conference, or subscription services, for receiving necessary products and services, and to communicate with members, authors, reviewers, editors, subscribers, conference registrants, suppliers, and other contacts about their accounts or about CIC business. All contacts may at any time specify their preferred (default) method of communication with the CIC. They may opt out of all communications not directly connected with their membership, subscription or business with the CIC.

PRIOR CONSENT

The CIC will seek consent prior to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information, as required by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and other applicable privacy legislation. Subject to legal and contractual requirements, anyone can at any time refuse consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by giving reasonable notice. If the Institute’s intended use or disclosure of personal information changes, CIC will provide advance notification.

LIMITATION OF USE AND DISCLOSURE

Contact information for selected groups of members will be provided to CIC Officers, Committee Chairs, and centre Executive members to enable them to provide membership services at national and centre levels. For the purpose of this document, ‘centre’ refers to identities such as Subject Divisions, Local Sections, and Member Resource Groups.

The CIC retains personal information only for as long as it is needed and only for the fulfillment of the purposes for which it was originally collected or as required by law.

The CIC will ensure that any of its employees, officers, committee chairs, and centre Executive members who deal with personal information are properly trained and are aware of the necessary and appropriate measures required to protect personal information.

Any personal information kept by the CIC will be disposed of or destroyed once it is no longer needed to meet the purposes for which it was collected. The CIC will ensure appropriate measures regarding the destruction or disposal of personal information so as to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the personal information.

The policy of the CIC is not to distribute or sell its membership list to anyone. However, the CIC occasionally agrees to distribute information to members on behalf of a client if it is judged to be useful to members. Members can select at any time not to receive such distributions.

The policy of the CIC is that all national communication with the general membership will be done through the National Office.

SECURITY

The CIC is committed to protecting the security of the personal information that it collects.

Security measures such as restricted access to the CIC office, locked cabinets for paper files, firewall-restricted access to the electronic database, and the use of passwords on computers have been adopted. These measures are in place in order to protect personal information against loss or theft, as well as against unauthorized access, copying, disclosure, use, or modification. Access to this information is restricted to CIC office personnel who have been trained to respect the privacy of personal information held by the CIC, in accordance with this policy, PIPEDA, and all applicable laws.

OPENESS AND AVAILABILITY

To obtain a copy of, or the answer to any question about this policy, or its application, please contact the CIC Privacy Officer at privacy@cheminst.ca.

INDIVIDUAL ACCESS

All persons wishing to ascertain what personal information the CIC may have on file about them, to access that information, to receive a copy, to correct or amend it, to know the source, to find out how it may have been used, etc., may contact the CIC Privacy Officer at privacy@cheminst.ca.

The CIC will not refuse individuals access to their own personal information, except in circumstances permitted by the applicable privacy legislation. If access is refused, the CIC will provide the reason(s) for such refusal. These reasons may include the fact that the information refers to other individuals, that it is subject to legal, commercial, or solicitor-client privilege, or that it bears on a matter before litigation.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND RECOURSE

For any questions or concerns about personal information held by the CIC, please contact the Privacy Officer at privacy@cheminst.ca.