Privacy policy

1. Who we are

This policy is issued by Oatcor Group Pty Ltd (ABN 99 701 374 398, ACN 701 374 398), an Australian proprietary company registered in Victoria 3166, Australia. In this policy, "we", "us" and "our" refer to Oatcor Group Pty Ltd.

We are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the thirteen Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) set out in Schedule 1 of that Act. This policy explains how we manage personal information, and it applies to this website and to the services described on it.

"Personal information" has the meaning given in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth): information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

2. Information we collect

We collect only the personal information reasonably necessary for our functions and activities. Depending on how you deal with us, that may include:

• your name and the organisation you represent;
• your email address and any other contact details you choose to give us;
• your role or position, where it is relevant to an engagement;
• the content of enquiries, correspondence and instructions you send us;
• information contained in company records we are engaged to prepare or maintain, including details of directors, secretaries, shareholders and other officeholders;
• billing and payment details necessary to invoice for services.

Sensitive information

We do not seek sensitive information as defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), such as information about health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions or religious beliefs. If sensitive information is provided to us incidentally, we will only collect it where you have consented and it is reasonably necessary for our functions, in accordance with APP 3.

3. How we collect it

We collect personal information directly from you wherever it is reasonable and practicable to do so, in accordance with APP 3. That normally happens when you email us, submit the enquiry form on our contact page, or provide instructions and documents during an engagement.

The enquiry form on this website does not transmit anything to a server we control. It opens a message in your own email application, which you then choose to send to us. Until you send that message, we receive nothing.

We may also collect personal information from a third party — for example from your accountant, solicitor or another adviser — where you have authorised that, or from a publicly available register such as the Australian Business Register or the ASIC company register.

4. Why we collect it and how we use it

We collect, hold and use personal information for the following purposes, consistent with APP 6:

• to respond to your enquiry and assess whether we can assist;
• to scope, quote for and provide the services described on this website;
• to prepare, maintain and lodge company records and statutory documents where we are engaged to do so;
• to communicate with you and with advisers you have authorised us to deal with;
• to issue invoices and maintain our own financial and business records;
• to comply with our obligations under Australian law.

We do not use personal information for direct marketing, and we do not sell, rent or trade personal information to any third party. If we ever wished to use your information for a purpose other than the one it was collected for, we would only do so where that purpose is related to the original one and you would reasonably expect it, or where you have consented, or where the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) otherwise permits it.

5. Disclosure

We may disclose personal information to:

• government agencies and registries where lodgement is part of the engagement — most commonly the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC);
• your other professional advisers, where you have asked or authorised us to deal with them;
• service providers who assist us in operating our business, such as email, document storage and accounting providers, which are bound to protect the information and use it only for the purpose we supply it;
• a court, tribunal or regulator, where disclosure is required or authorised by Australian law.

6. Overseas disclosure

We do not routinely disclose personal information to overseas recipients. Some of the software and cloud services we use to run our business, such as email and file storage, may store data on servers located outside Australia. Where that is the case we take reasonable steps under APP 8 to ensure that the recipient handles the information in a way consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.

7. Cookies and this website

This website is a set of static pages. It does not set cookies, it does not run analytics or advertising scripts, and it does not embed content, fonts or images loaded from third-party services.

Our hosting provider may record standard technical information as part of delivering the site, such as the IP address a request came from, the page requested and the time of the request. That information is used for security and operational purposes and is not combined by us with any other information to identify you.

You can control cookies generally through your browser settings. Because we do not set any, changing those settings will not affect how this site works.

8. Security and retention

We take reasonable steps, as required by APP 11, to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Those steps include access controls on our systems, encrypted transmission and storage where available, and limiting access to the people who need it for the engagement.

We keep personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected for, or for as long as we are required to keep it under Australian law — including record-keeping obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and taxation law, which in some cases require records to be kept for seven years. When information is no longer needed and we are not required to retain it, we destroy it or de-identify it.

If we become aware of an eligible data breach as defined in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), we will assess it and, where required, notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

9. Access and correction

Under APP 12 and APP 13 you may ask us for access to the personal information we hold about you, and you may ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

To make a request, email [email protected]. We may ask you to verify your identity before we act on the request. We aim to respond within 30 days. There is no fee for making a request, although we may charge a reasonable cost of providing access in some cases; we will tell you before any such cost is incurred.

If we refuse access or refuse to correct information, we will give you written reasons and explain how you can complain about that decision.

10. Complaints

If you believe we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles or otherwise mishandled your personal information, please raise it with us first. Email [email protected] with the details of your concern. We will acknowledge your complaint, investigate it and respond in writing, ordinarily within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), which is the independent regulator responsible for privacy in Australia. The OAIC can be contacted at oaic.gov.au, by telephone on 1300 363 992, or by post at GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or in the law. The current version is always the one published on this page, and the effective date is shown at the top. We encourage you to review it when you deal with us.

12. Contact

Privacy enquiries, access requests and complaints should be addressed to:

• Oatcor Group Pty Ltd
• ABN 99 701 374 398 · ACN 701 374 398
• Victoria 3166, Australia
• [email protected]