Valmont_® Irrigation Australia Privacy Policy

Credit Reporting Privacy Policy

Introduction

1. This Credit Reporting Privacy Policy of Valmont Irrigation Australia Pty Ltd ACN 112 232 210 (“Valmont Irrigation”) is Valmont Irrigation’s official credit reporting privacy policy as required by the Privacy Act 1988 (the “Act”) and particularly Part IIIA of that Act and the Credit Reporting Code (the “CR Code”) and it applies to all credit information and credit eligibility information about individuals (“credit information”) collected, held and used by Valmont Irrigation in its activities as a credit provider.
   In this policy we explain how and why we collect credit information about individuals, how we use such information, and what controls individuals have over our collection and use of information about them. This policy is relevant to individuals who are current and former credit customers, as well as other individuals that Valmont Irrigation deals with in connection with credit we provide to our credit customers (for instance, such individuals may be guarantors or directors of corporate customers).
2. Valmont Irrigation is committed to complying with Commonwealth legislation and regulations (the Act and the CR Code) governing privacy of credit information about individuals by credit providers and to protecting and safeguarding the privacy of individuals when they deal with us.



Collection of information and types of information collected

3. Valmont Irrigation collects, holds and uses various types of credit-related information about individuals, which information includes:
   
   • identification information such as current and prior names and addresses, age, contact details and driver's licence number;
   • applications for credit (including the name of each relevant credit provider), the type and amount of that credit and the fact Valmont Irrigation has accessed credit information to assess a relevant application;
   • that Valmont Irrigation and other credit providers are or have been a provider of credit to an individual (or an entity associated with an individual) and the type, characteristics and maximum amount of credit that have been provided or will be provided;
   • the date that any credit contract Valmont Irrigation or other credit providers have or had with an individual was entered into and the date that it comes to an end;
   • payments owed to Valmont Irrigation or another credit provider, in connection with credit provided to an individual (or an entity associated with an individual) or in relation to which an individual is a guarantor (and, if there is subsequently paid any such overdue payment, the fact of that payment);
   • whether in Valmont Irrigation’s or another credit provider's opinion an individual has committed a serious credit infringement;
   • whether an individual has entered into arrangements with Valmont Irrigation or other credit providers in connection with credit provided to the individual (or an entity associated with the individual);
   • court proceedings information, personal insolvency information and credit-related publicly available information;
   • scores, ratings, summaries, evaluations and other information relating to an individual’s credit worthiness which is derived by Valmont Irrigation or its agents or by Credit Reporting Bodies (“CRB’s”) wholly or partly on the basis of the information above;
   • certain administrative information relating to credit, such as account and customer numbers.
   While the Act uses a variety of terms to refer to such information as referred to above, for ease of understanding and reading this policy, such information is referred to hereinafter as "credit information".
4. Credit information may be collected by Valmont Irrigation in a number of ways including:
   
   • being provided by an individual directly to Valmont Irrigation or by persons acting on behalf of the individual (such as on applications or other forms);
   • being provided by CRB’s and/or other credit providers and/or trade suppliers with the consent of the individual;
   • being information that is in the public domain;
   • being information that is derived by Valmont Irrigation from an individual’s usage and (where applicable) trade on and transactional history on any account (of the individual or of an entity associated with the individual) held with Valmont Irrigation.



How credit information is held

5. At or before the time any credit information is collected by Valmont Irrigation about an individual, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the individual is made aware of who we are, the fact that the individual is able to gain access to the information held about the individual, the purpose of the collection, the type(s) of entities to which we usually disclose such information collected about the individuals, any laws requiring the collection of the information and the main consequences for the individual if all or part of the information is not collected.
6. Valmont Irrigation may hold credit information about an individual in physical form or in electronic form on our systems or the systems of Valmont Irrigation’s IT service providers.
   The credit information Valmont Irrigation holds about individuals is protected by physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards and Valmont Irrigation also requires its service providers that hold and process such information on Valmont Irrigation’s behalf to follow appropriate standards of security and confidentiality. Any credit information we collect from an individual or about an individual is kept securely and held on secure servers in controlled facilities.
7. Valmont Irrigation trains its staff and others who work for it on how to handle credit information appropriately and Valmont Irrigation restricts access to what is necessary for specific job functions.



Use of information collected and disclosure of personal information to others

8. Valmont Irrigation may, as permitted by law, collect, hold, use or disclose credit information held about an individual for the purposes for which such information is collected. These purposes include:
   
   • to form decisions as to whether to provide an individual, or an entity associated with an individual, with credit or to accept an individual as a guarantor;
   • to make assessments relating to an individual’s credit worthiness which are used in Valmont Irrigation’s ongoing decision-making processes regarding provision of credit and the amount of such credit;
   • to participate in the exchange of credit information with other credit providers including obtaining from and providing information to CRB’s and/or other credit providers and/or trade suppliers as permitted by Part IIIA of the Act and the CR Code;
   • to assist an individual or entity associated with the individual to avoid defaulting on credit-related obligations to Valmont Irrigation or other credit providers;
   • to undertake debt recovery and enforcement activities, including in relation to guarantors, and to deal with serious credit infringements;
   • to deal with complaints and meet legal and regulatory requirements; and
   • to assist other credit providers to do the same.
   • (Some credit information may only be used or disclosed under the Act for some of the above purposes or in some particular circumstances. Certain such particular circumstances are set out in clause 9 below.)
9. Generally, Valmont Irrigation will be permitted to use or disclose credit information held about an individual where the individual has consented to the use or disclosure. Valmont Irrigation may disclose credit information about an individual to a CRB and/or to other credit providers for such purposes as set out at clause 8 above as permitted by the Act. For example, Valmont Irrigation may be permitted to disclose credit information to a CRB in such circumstances as where the individual has consented to the disclosure or where the individual has failed to meet payment obligations in relation to credit provided by Valmont Irrigation or if the individual has committed a serious credit infringement. Similarly, Valmont Irrigation will generally be permitted to disclose credit information to another credit provider about an individual where the individual has consented to such disclosure.
10. CRB’s may include credit information provided by Valmont Irrigation in reports provided to other credit providers to assist such other credit providers to assess the individual’s credit worthiness. Valmont Irrigation shares credit information with the following CRB:
    Veda
    Verify Holdings Australia Ltd
    Locked Bag 965, NORTH SYDNEY, NSW 2059
    Email: info@verifycv.com.au
    You are able to obtain a copy of Veda’s credit reporting policies from their website.
    Valmont Irrigation may, in the future, disclose credit information to a CRB other than Veda, but prior to disclosing any credit information about individuals to any other CRB, Valmont Irrigation will amend its Credit Reporting Privacy Policy to set out the name and contact details of any such other CRB and will post a notification of the change to the Credit Reporting Privacy Policy on Valmont Irrigation’s website.



Rights in relation to CRBs

11. Individuals have certain rights in respect of CRB’s and the information a CRB holds about the individual and those rights include:
    
    • Opting out of direct marketing pre-screenings. A CRB may use an individual’s credit information to assist a credit provider to market to that individual by pre-screening the individual for direct marketing by the credit provider. This process is known as a "pre-screening". If an individual does not want a CRB (including the CRB listed above) to use that individual’s information for the purpose of pre-screening, the individual has the right under the Act to contact the CRB to request that they exclude the individual from such processes.
    • If an individual is a victim of fraud (including identity-related fraud). An individual is entitled under the Act to request that a CRB not use or disclose credit reporting information they hold about the individual in circumstances where the individual reasonably believes that they have been or are likely to be a victim of fraud, including identity-related fraud. The period while this applies is called a "ban period". An individual can make such a request to any CRB, including those listed above.



Direct Marketing

12. As part of Valmont Irrigation’s functions and business activities and to promote the services, Valmont Irrigation can provide to its customers, including in respect of Valmont Irrigation’s credit-related activities, Valmont Irrigation may be permitted to use personal information about individuals that individuals have provided to Valmont Irrigation for the purposes of direct marketing. Direct marketing includes, but is not limited to, sending to and/or contacting individuals in relation to promotions, information about Valmont Irrigation. All recipients, including individuals, can opt out of receiving direct marketing communications by sending an email to Valmont Irrigation’s Privacy Officer at valleyausprivacy@valmont.com. In any direct marketing communication we remind recipients of their right to opt out of receiving direct marketing communications. Moreover, as a general rule, a credit provider such as Valmont Irrigation is not permitted to disclose to others credit information about individuals for the purposes of direct marketing.



Anonymity and Pseudonymity

13. Individuals would generally have the option of dealing with Valmont Irrigation anonymously. However, this only applies where it is not impracticable for Valmont Irrigation to deal with individuals acting anonymously or under a pseudonym. For example, individuals making general enquiries of Valmont Irrigation may do so anonymously or under a pseudonym. However, if the dealing with Valmont Irrigation is for Valmont Irrigation to supply goods and services and/or to enter into contractual relations (such as a commercial credit account) with a customer that is the individual or is associated with the individual, then it is impractical for such individuals to deal with Valmont Irrigation on an anonymous basis or under a pseudonym.



Links

14. Our web site may contain links to other web sites and those third party web sites may collect personal information about individuals. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other businesses or the content of web sites that are linked to our web site. Valmont Irrigation encourages users to be aware when they leave the site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information.



Security and storage

15. Valmont Irrigation places a great importance on the security of all information associated with our customers, clients and contractors. We have security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of personal information (including credit information) under our control. Valmont Irrigation takes all reasonable steps to protect individuals’ personal information that is under Valmont Irrigation’s control from misuse, interference, loss and/or unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. All personal information (including credit information) held is kept securely and that which is held electronically is held on secure servers in controlled facilities.
16. Personal information (including credit information) is de-identified or destroyed securely when no longer required by us and no longer required to be held by us.
17. Valmont Irrigation retains information provided to us including individuals’ contact and financial and transactional information to enable us to verify transactions and customer details and to retain adequate records for legal and accounting purposes. Such information is held securely, including on secure servers in controlled facilities.
18. No data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure. As a result, whilst we strive to protect users' personal information (including credit information), Valmont Irrigation cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to it or from its online products or services, and users do so at their own risk. Once Valmont Irrigation receives a transmission, we make every effort to ensure the security of such transmission on our systems.



Access to and correction of personal information

19. Valmont Irrigation is committed to and takes all reasonable steps in respect of maintaining accurate, timely, relevant, complete and appropriate information about our customers, clients and web-site users.
20. Any individual may request access to personal information (including credit information) about them held by Valmont Irrigation. Such a request for access to personal information is to be made to Valmont Irrigation’s Privacy Officer:
    
    Valmont Irrigation’s Privacy Officer
    30 Acanthus Street, Darra, QLD 4076
    
    Telephone: 07 3457 8830
    Email: valleyausprivacy@valmont.com
21. Please note Valmont Irrigation does require that, as part of any request by an individual for access to personal information (including credit information), the individual verify their identity so that Valmont Irrigation may be satisfied that the request for access is being made by the individual concerned.
22. Please note that Valmont Irrigation is not required to give an individual access to credit information about them in circumstances where:
    
    • giving access would be unlawful; or
    • denying access is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/ tribunal order; or
    • giving access would be likely to prejudice one or more enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body.
23. Inaccurate information will be corrected upon receiving advice to this effect. To ensure confidentiality, details of an individual’s personal information (including credit information) will only be passed on to the individual if we are satisfied that the information relates to the individual. From time to time, and having regard to the purpose of the collection and use of personal information (including credit information) about individuals, we may contact individuals to seek confirmation that the personal information provided to us by the individual is accurate, up-to-date and complete.
24. If we refuse to provide an individual with access to their personal information (including credit information) or to correct the personal information (including credit information) held by us about them, then we will provide reasons for such refusal. Such reasons will set out the grounds for refusal, the mechanisms available to complain about the refusal and any other matters that are required by the Act.
25. Valmont Irrigation will respond to any requests for access or correction within a reasonable time of receipt of the request, but by no later than 30 days of the request being received.



Complaints

26. If an individual has a complaint that Valmont Irrigation has not complied with its obligations under the Act then any such complaint should be directed in the first instance to Valmont Irrigation’s Privacy Officer at the contact details set out at clause 20 of this policy.
27. Upon receiving a complaint we will, within 7 days, give the complainant written notice acknowledging receipt of the complaint and setting out the process of how we will deal with it. Unless a longer time is agreed by the complainant, we will investigate the complaint and make a decision within 30 days of receipt of the complaint and communicate the decision to the complainant. We aim to resolve all complaints within 30 days of receipt. If we cannot resolve a complaint within 30 days we will notify the complainant of the reasons and specify a date when we expect a decision or resolution will be made and seek the complainant’s agreement to extend the 30 period – if the complainant does not agree then we may not be able to resolve the complaint.
28. It may be necessary (and it may be required by the Act), in order to deal with a complaint, to consult with a credit reporting body or another credit provider. Further, if, while a complaint remains unresolved, we are disclosing information subject to the complaint to a third party, we may be required to advise the third party about the complaint.
29. If we find a complaint is justified we will resolve it and do what is required to rectify any breach. Valmont Irrigation is committed to fulfilling its obligations as an APP entity and a credit provider under the Act.
30. If a complainant is not satisfied with the outcome of Valmont Irrigation’s internal complaints procedure in respect of Valmont Irrigation privacy practices then the complainant may refer their complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”). The website for the OAIC is: www.oaic.gov.au.



Transfer of information overseas

31. Valmont Irrigation utilises local and overseas cloud services for the purpose of storing information. Your personal and/or sensitive information may be disclosed to a Valmont Irrigation cloud service provider for that purpose. While Valmont Irrigation’s cloud service providers are located in such places as Australia and America, the country location of those providers may periodically change. Valmont Irrigation may also from time to time be required to send your information overseas to other members of the Valmont Irrigation Group or related entities. You may obtain more information about any of those entities by contacting us.



Changes to Privacy Policy

32. If Valmont Irrigation decides to or is required to change this Credit Reporting Privacy Policy, we will notify of such amendments on our web site and post changes on our privacy policy page so that users may be aware of any such changes and how they may affect them. As such, please remember to refer back to Valmont Irrigation’s privacy policy page regularly to check whether there are any amendments.

Contacting us

33. For further information regarding our privacy policies, please contact us at the following address:
    
    E-mail: valleyausprivacy@valmont.com
34. For more information on privacy legislation and the CR Code please visit the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.

Complaints Handling Policy

Introduction

1. Objectives and purposes of Complaints Handling Policy.
   
   Valmont Irrigation Australia Pty Ltd ACN 112 232 210 (“Valmont Irrigation”) is committed to delivering high quality products and services to those who deal with it. Valmont Irrigation is committed to understanding and responding to the needs and concerns of our customers and clients.
   
   The aim of this policy is to provide guidance as to the manner in which Valmont Irrigation receives and handles complaints made to Valmont Irrigation in respect of Valmont Irrigation’s business activities and dealings with its customers and clients.
   
   The objective of this policy is to assist Valmont Irrigation in dealing with and resolving complaints in an efficient, effective and professional manner.
2. Background
   
   In creating this policy, Valmont Irrigation has sought to ensure that our procedures accord with relevant legal requirements and best practice. In particular, this policy has been created to satisfy the requirements of AS ISO 10002-2006 Customer Satisfaction – Guidelines for complaints handling in organisations.
3. What is a Complaint?
   
   AS ISO 10002-2006, defines a complaint as follows:
   

   “An expression of dissatisfaction made to an organisation, related to its products, or the complaints–handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected.”

   Valmont Irrigation adopts that definition of “complaint” for the purposes of this policy.
   
   Any person or entity who is dissatisfied with a product or service provided by Valmont Irrigation for any reason, may contact us to complain. A complaint may be made in writing or verbally. Certain types of “complaints” may be by way of negative feedback, which may not require a resolution or any response. Whilst we acknowledge this type of feedback can be useful and valuable, this policy does not apply to such feedback as such feedback does not fall under the definition of a complaint as set out above.

Guiding principles for effective handling of complaints.

Valmont Irrigation abides by the guiding principles as set out at section 4 of AS ISO 10002-2006 for effective handling of complaints. The guiding principles set out at section 4 of AS ISO 10002-2006 are as follows:

Complaints Handling

1. How may a complaint be made
   
   Where possible, complaints should be made in writing so that the details of the complaint are clear and complete and so that we may more effectively deal with the complaint.
   
   Complaints should be directed to:
   
   Valmont Irrigation Complaint’s Officer
   30 Acanthus Street
   DARRA, QLD 4076
   
   Telephone: 07 3457 8830
   Email: valleyausprivacy@valmont.com
2. Information to be provided when making a complaint
   
   When making a complaint, please provide the following information:
   • Your Name, the organisation you are from (if applicable), your position and contact details;
   • Your relationship with Valmont Irrigation;
   • The name of any contact person at Valmont Irrigation;
   • Details of the complaint (including when the conduct giving rise to the complaint occurred);
   • Details of any persons or persons of Valmont Irrigation involved (if applicable);
   • Copies of any documentation that supports the complaint.
3. Help with making a complaint
   
   If you require any assistance in formulating or lodging a complaint, please contact the Complaints Officer at the contact details set out above.
4. Acknowledgment of complaint
   
   We will acknowledge receipt of a complaint immediately upon receipt.
   
   We will endeavor to resolve complaints within four (4) weeks of receiving the complaint. However, this may not be possible in all instances. Where time to deal with a complaint will exceed four (4) weeks, we will contact the complainant to inform of the reasons for the delay and indicate when we expect to be in a position to complete our review of the complaint.
5. Your rights in the complaints process
   
   Complainants have the right to enquire as to the status of their complaint by contacting the Complaints Officer or any other employee or representative of Valmont Irrigation who has been identified to the complainant as handling the complaint.
6. Responding to a complaint
   
   Once we have reviewed a complaint, we will provide the complainant with a written response. If the complainant is dissatisfied with our response, the complainant has a right to ask for the response to be re-considered by the Complaints Officer. Such a request should be made in writing to the Complaints Officer and forwarded by post or email to the addresses provided above.
7. Further action
   
   If a complainant remains dissatisfied with the manner in which the complaint has been handled, the complainant may have a right to refer the complaint to some other external resolution body.

Quality Assurance

Complaints will be analysed by our Complaints Officer at regular intervals to identify any recurring or systemic problems. If any such problems are identified, we will consider what actions we need to take to address any such problems.

Our complaints handling process will be reviewed periodically in order to enhance our delivery of efficient and effective outcomes in respect of complaints received.