Introduction


  1. Miles Chennells & Associates (the Firm) recognises the importance of, and is committed to, safeguarding the privacy of visitors to the Firm’s website (the website).

  2. Please read the terms of this Privacy Policy (the Policy) to understand how your information will be treated by the Firm. Please note that in respect of certain of the terms of the Policy, your consent and agreement is accepted. Please note that the Policy may be subject to change and being updated from time to time. Please ensure that you refer to the Policy periodically, so that you are aware of the terms of the latest version of the Policy.

  3. The Firm recognise​s the importance of protecting your right to privacy and your “personal information”, as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPI), obtained and/or collected by us when you use the website.

  4. You are not required to provide or input any personal information on the public areas of this website. However, you may choose to do so by completing any application forms which may appear on various sections of our website or where provision is made for such personal information to be entered and sent to the Firm.

  5. In adopting the Policy, the Firm seeks to balance our legitimate business interests and your reasonable expectation of privacy. Accordingly, we will take appropriate and reasonable steps to safeguard your personal information, to prevent unauthorised and/or unlawful access to, or disclosure of, your personal information and to prevent loss of, or damage to, your personal information.

  6. By using the website and/or continuing to use the website, you agree to the “processing” of your personal information, as defined in POPI, which includes the collection, collation and storage of personal information, for the purposes set out in the Policy, including providing you with access to the website and the content contained on the website.

  7. Where there are reasonable grounds to believe that your personal information has been accessed or acquired by any unauthorised person, we will notify the relevant regulator and you, unless a public body responsible for detection, prevention or investigation of offences or the relevant regulator informs us that notifying you will impede a criminal investigation.
 

Personal information we may collect


  1. We will limit the types of personal information we process to only that to which you consent and/or that which is necessary for our legitimate business interests.

  2. With each visit to the website, we may automatically collect and store certain information about you. This information includes, but is not limited to, the following:

    2.1 Technical information, including your Internet Protocol (IP) address, which is used to connect your computer to the internet, operating system and browser type and platform for system administration; and

    2.2. information about your use of the website, including details of your visits such as pages viewed and the resources that you accessed. Such information includes traffic data, location data and other communication data.

  3. By using the website and/or continuing to use the website, you agree to the processing of the information set out in item 2.2 above.
 

Processing of your personal information


  1. We will only collect, use disclose or otherwise process your personal Information in accordance with the terms of the Policy.

  2. When you deliberately provide us with your personal information in terms of the Policy, we will use your information to:

    2.1 send you publications which you have subscribed to receive; and

    2.2 communicate with you regarding events;

  3. We will not retain your personal information for longer than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was processed and/or obtained, unless there is a lawful basis and/or legal requirement for us to retain your personal information for a longer period.

 

Sharing of your personal information


  1. You consent that we may disclose your personal information to third party providers approved by the Firm, as referred to below in item 4.2.1 below, where necessary.

  2. You agree that once information pertaining and relating to yourself has been de-identified, personal information may be shared in certain circumstances. De-identification refers to the deletion of any information that identifies you. The circumstances in which such sharing of de-identified information may take place are the following:

    2.1. Sharing such de-identified information with relevant agents, advisers, service providers and suppliers;

    2.2. Sharing such de-identified information to monitor web traffic. Web servers serving the website automatically collect information about pages you visit;

    2.3. Sharing such de-identified information for purposes related to statistics and the analysis thereof. The Firm may perform statistical analyses for the purpose of measuring interest in areas of the website and/or for purposes related to product development; and

    2.4. Sharing such de-identified information with government and law enforcement agencies, where the law requires the disclosure of such information and where we have reason to believe that disclosure is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against a party who may be in breach of the Policy or may be infringing our rights or property, other users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities.

 

Your rights


  1. You have the right to request that we amend for the purposes of correction, destroy or delete any of your personal information processed by us in accordance with the Policy. The personal information that you may request us to amend for the purposes of correction, destroy or delete is personal information that is or was inaccurate, outdated, irrelevant, incomplete, misleading, unlawfully obtained or that the Firm is no longer authorised to retain.

  2. Please note that you have the right to withdraw your consent for us to process your personal information at any time. The withdrawal of your consent will not affect the processing of your personal information:

    2.1. which took place before the withdrawal of your consent; 2.2. where the processing is in compliance with any legal obligation imposed on the Firm;

    2.3. where such processing is necessary for the proper performance of a duty imposed on the Firm, a related legal or juristic person or on a public body in terms of public law;

    2.4. as required to finalise the performance of a contract in which you are a party; or

    2.5. as required to protect your legitimate interests, the legitimate interests of the Firm or the legitimate interests of a third party to whom the information is supplied.

  3. Please note that you have the right to object, on reasonable grounds, to the processing of your personal information at any time, unless the processing is required by law.

  4. An objection will be valid if the processing of your personal information is not necessary for the proper performance of a public law duty by a public body, if the processing of your personal information is not necessary to pursue your legitimate interests, the legitimate interests of the Firm or the legitimate interests of a third party to which the information is supplied.

  5. Please note that you have the right to object to the processing of your personal information at any time, if the processing is for purposes of direct marketing, except in the case of direct marketing by means of unsolicited electronic communications, and you have not given your consent for that processing.

  6. Please note that you have the right not to have your personal information processed for purposes of direct marketing by means of unsolicited electronic communications by third parties unknown to you.

  7. Please note that you may not be subjected to:

    7.1. decisions that result in legal consequences for you or affect you to a substantial degree, without being for the execution of a contract in respect of which you have received performance; or

    7.2. decisions made that are not made in terms of the law or of a code of conduct that specifies what appropriate measure must be taken to protect your legitimate interests.

  8. Please note that you have the right to submit a complaint to the Information Regulator, once the office is fully operational, regarding any alleged interference with the protection of personal information processed in accordance with the Policy.

  9. Please note that you have the right to institute civil proceedings regarding any alleged interference with the protection of your personal information processed in accordance with the Policy.
 

Use of cookies


  1. Cookies are pieces of information, in the form of small text files, which are sent by a web server to store on a web browser. Cookies are transferred to a user’s hard drive for record-keeping purposes. They are used to ensure websites function properly, store user preferences when needed and collect anonymous statistics on website usage. The use of cookies is an industry standard.

  2. We may place a cookie on your browser to store and sometimes track the information referred to in item 6.1 above.

  3. You can refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of the website and certain parts of the website may not function properly. Our system will issue cookies when you access the website, unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies. If you accept a cookie or fail to de-select or decline the use of cookies, you agree that we may use your personal information collected using cookies, subject to the provisions of the Policy.

Use of IP addresses


We collect information that does not identify you personally through our internet log files, which record data such as IP addresses, browser types and other anonymous statistical data. This information may be used to analyse trends and to gather general demographic information. We do not link this information to personally identifiable information.

Links to other sites


When you use the website, you could be directed to other sites that are beyond our control. We are not responsible for the content or the privacy policies of any such third party websites.


Contact information


  1. If you have any questions regarding the Firm’s processing of your personal information in terms of the Policy, please email us at miles@chennellslaw.co.za

  2. If you currently receive information and publications from us, which you would prefer not to receive in the future, please email us miles@chennellslaw.co.za