Privacy Policy
PRIVACY POLICY
Your privacy is important to the Richardson International Group, which is comprised of Richardson International Limited and all of its various divisions, subsidiaries and affiliated companies, including Richardson Pioneer Limited, Richardson Oilseed Limited and Richardson International (Quebec) Limited / Richardson International (Québec) Limitée (collectively, the “Richardson International Group”, “we”, “us” and “our”). We have adopted this Privacy Policy to ensure that personal information in our control is protected by appropriate means. We regularly assess ourselves to ensure that customer privacy is respected. We conduct business in a manner that fulfills our commitment to privacy in accordance with our obligations under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”).
The Richardson International Group Privacy Policy for Customers
While information is the cornerstone of our ability to provide superior service, our most important asset is our customers’ trust. Keeping customer information secure, and using it only as our customers would want us to, is a top priority for all of us at the Richardson International Group. Here, then, is our commitment to privacy.
Identifying The Purposes
We use your personal information to communicate with you, adjudicate your eligibility for products and services, fulfill requests for products, services and information, provide customer services, administer contests, promotions and programs, offer, set up, manage and administer our business, products and services, including allowing the Richardson International Group and its suppliers to notify you of important information about products that you have purchased, including health, environmental and product bulletins, create and maintain customer databases for market analysis and analysis of your buying and selling patterns, provide you with ongoing information about us and our promotions, measure and improve our websites and marketing initiatives, tailor our product and service offerings to your preferences and generally fulfill our legal and regulatory requirements. We may survey your opinions of current products or services or of potential new products or services that may be offered. For purposes of our credit reporting, verification and risk management, we will exchange information about our customers with reputable reference sources, credit bureaus and clearinghouse services.
Personal information (as defined in PIPEDA) that you provide to Richardson in the course of business dealings, including your name, company name (if any), address, telephone number and information about your purchase(s) of crop inputs from Richardson and/or your sale(s) of grain and other harvested crops may be used for any or all of the following purposes:
i. to carry out the intent of any contract of purchase or sale of products or services entered into by you with Richardson;
ii. to comply with applicable laws (including any required disclosure to government agencies or authorities);
iii. to market and sell crop inputs to you and/or to purchase grain or other harvested crops from you;
iv. for insurance purposes;
v. to allow Richardson or its suppliers to notify you of important information about products that you have purchased, including health, environmental and product bulletins;
vi. to create, maintain and update customer databases and facilitate market analysis (including analysis of your buying and selling patterns);
vii. to determine your suitability for Richardson’s other available products and services;
viii. for use in Richardson’s customer loyalty programs and direct marketing services;
ix. for disclosure to any of Richardson’s related companies, their suppliers and business partners for any of the foregoing purposes; and
x. to facilitate customer identification for Richardson’s suppliers’ rebate and incentive programs.
If you do not consent to Richardson’s use of your personal information with respect to the purposes described above please contact Richardson’s Privacy Compliance Officer.
As we continue to develop and grow, we may buy or sell parts of our business. As an important part of our businesses include the relationships with our customers, employees and contractors, personal information would generally be one of the assets which would be transferred or transitioned to a third party purchaser.
We may collect anonymous/non-personal information and business information or render anonymous information we have about you. Because this information cannot be associated with or traced back to you, it is not governed by this Privacy Policy.
Notice About Sharing Customer Information And About Marketing Lists
To serve our customers better and with your consent, the Richardson International Group may share with each other and with their affiliates certain information about you on a confidential basis. We are also committed to keeping you informed about our marketing and promotional offers. However, if you wish to be removed from our marketing lists, please write to us.
Types of Information We Collect
Typical information that we collect includes: your legal name, business name, mailing address, e-mail address, phone number(s), date of birth, occupation, marital status, referral source, credit card information (including card type and number, expiry date and name of card holder), banking information, status of employment, place and details of employment, annual income, net worth information, credit history, Social Insurance Number, farming information, such as whether you own livestock, which crops you grow or have an interest in, your rating of your knowledge with respect to grain marketing and crop inputs, information regarding your preferences when visiting our website and historical information regarding your prior dealings and transactions with the Richardson International Group.
Like many other websites, we automatically collect certain non-personal information regarding website users that does not identify you. Examples include the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer, the IP address of your internet service provider, the date and time you access our website, the internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our website, the operating system you are using, the sections of our website you visit, the website pages read and images viewed, and the content you download from our website. Our website uses "cookies", a technology that installs a small amount of information on a user's computer to permit the website to recognize future visits using that computer. Cookies enhance the convenience and use of our website. You may choose to decline cookies if your browser permits, but doing so may affect your use of our website and your ability to access certain features of our website or engage in transactions through our website.
Withholding Consent
Subject to legal and contractual requirements, you can refuse to consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, or you may withdraw your consent to our further collection, use or disclosure of information at any time in the future by giving us reasonable notice. If you refuse or withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you or continue to provide you with some products, services or information which may be of value to you. During the term of any agreement you have with us, you may not withdraw your consent to our ongoing collection, use or disclosure of your personal information in connection with such agreement.
Limiting Collection and Sources of Information
We will limit the collection and use of personal information to that which is necessary for the purposes we have identified to you, including without limitation, the purposes identified above, using means which are fair and lawful. Although we will collect your personal information primarily from you, we may also collect it from external sources such from credit bureaus, references, employers, personal property and land titles registries and other government agencies, other creditors and financial institutions.
Safeguarding Information.
We protect personal information against loss or theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification with security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. Our safeguards vary depending on the information's sensitivity, amount, distribution and format of the information and the method of storage. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help safeguard your personal information. For example, personal information which we hold electronically is on password protected computer systems with limited access that are located in controlled facilities. Paper-based files are kept in controlled facilities and access is restricted on a need to know basis. All security measures are appropriate to the sensitivity level of your information.
We will permit only authorized employees and contractors, who are trained in the proper handling of customer information, to have access to your personal information. Employees and contractors who violate our Privacy Policy will be subject to our normal disciplinary process.
We are responsible for all personal information in our control. Whenever we hire other organizations to provide support services, we will require them to conform to our privacy standards and to allow us to audit them for compliance. Although we cannot take responsibility for any theft, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, loss, alteration or destruction of data by a third party, we take reasonable precautions to prevent such unfortunate occurrences.
In some cases, we may refer you to a third party where you provide your personal information directly to the third party. In this instance, your disclosures will be made pursuant to the third party’s privacy policies and we are not responsible in the event of any breach or non-compliance by such third party of their privacy policies or applicable privacy legislation.
Retention Policies
We retain personal information only as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected. The length of time personal information is retained varies depending on the purpose for which the information was collected. This period may extend beyond the end of your relationship with us but only for so long as it is legally necessary for us to have sufficient information to respond to any issue that may arise at a later date. When your information is no longer needed for the purposes it has been collected, we have procedures to destroy, delete, erase or convert it to an anonymous form.
Keeping Information Accurate
We will attempt to keep customer files complete, up to date, and accurate. We will tell our customers how and where to conveniently access their account information (except when prohibited by law) and how to notify us about errors which we will promptly correct.
How To Find Out What Information We Have About You
Write to our Privacy Officer at the address below, if you have any questions concerning the information we have in your file or about our information practices. To obtain certain information that we have on file for you, you must specify the information you are interested in. If you believe any of our information is incorrect, we’ll investigate it and correct it as required.
All requests and notification applicable to the Richardson International Group must be made in writing. When you write, please be sure to tell us your:
Name
Address
Phone number (where you can be reached during business hours)
The best time of day for us to call you; and
If you are requesting information, specify the information you are interest in.
If you are writing to exercise your opt-out rights, specify whether you are opting out of our sharing information with affiliates and/or from our marketing lists.
To file an opt-out request, request access to your information, or to report incorrect information, write to:
Privacy Officer
Richardson International Limited
c/o Legal Department
2800 - One Lombard Place
Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3B 0X8
Amending this Policy
We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time and such change will become effective upon us making our updated Privacy Policy available on our website at www.richardson.ca.