privacy policy

1. important info and who we are

1. Responsible party
   i) SERUM is the Responsible party when engaging with you as a user of the SERUM website ( https://www.drinkserum.com )
   and our social media sites (“Sites”), and responsible for your Personal Information.
   ii) Taking into account the nature, scope, context and purposes as well as the risks of varying likelihood and severity of the situation
   iii) We have appointed an Information Officer (IO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this Privacy
   Policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, including any requests, please contact the IO using the details
   set out below.
   
2. Contact details
   i) If you have any questions about this Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at info@drinkserum.com
   ii) You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Regulator's office (IR), the Republic of South Africa’s
   authority for data protection issues (https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the IR, so please contact us in the first instance.
   
3. Changes to the Policy and your duty to inform us of changes
   i) We keep our Policy under regular review. This version was last updated as per the date in the footer. Archived versions
   can be obtained by contacting us. Any changes made to our Policy in future will be posted on our website. The new version
   will apply the moment it is published on our website.
   ii) It is important that the Personal Information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your
   Personal Information changes during your relationship with us.
   
4. Third party links: Our Sites may include links to Third party websites, plug-ins, and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow Third parties to collect or share data about you. If you disclose your Personal Information to a Third party, such as an entity which operates a website linked to this website or our social media sites, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE, HOWSOEVER ARISING, SUFFERED BY YOU AS A RESULT OF THE DISCLOSURE OF SUCH INFORMATION TO THE THIRD PARTY. This is because we do not regulate or control how that Third party uses your Personal Information. You should always ensure that you read the privacy policy of any Third party. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
   

2. the data we collect about you

1. Personal Information means the information as per the Definitions. Personal Information does not include data where the identity of the data subject has been removed (anonymous data).
   
2. We may process different kinds of Personal Information about you when we engage with you, which we have grouped together as follows:
   i) Identity Data includes first name, last name or similar identifier, title, gender.
   ii) Contact Data includes physical address, email address and telephone numbers.
   iii) Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser
   plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this
   website.
   iv) Usage Data includes information about how you use our website and services. This information shall include the full Uniform
   Resource Locators (URL) Clickstream to, through and from our website (including the date and time) and the services you viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs) and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call us.
   
3. We may also collect, use and share aggregated data and pattern data such as (but not limited to) statistical or demographic data for any purpose (Aggregated Data). Aggregated Data could be derived from your Personal Information but is not considered Personal Information in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your Personal Information so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as Personal Information which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.
   
4. CURRENTLY WE DO NOT REQUEST ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM YOU ON OUR WEBSITE, SOCIAL MEDIA SITES OR VIA OUR SERVICES. PERSONAL INFORMATION WE MAY PROCESS ARE THE PERSONAL INFORMATION THAT YOU VOLUNTARILY MAKE AVAILABLE TO USE VIA EMAIL OR SOCIAL MEDIA SITES. WHERE WE MAY REQUEST PERSONAL INFORMATION WE WILL COLLECT SAME IN ACCORDANCE WITH POPIA AND WILL ADAPT AMEND THIS POLICY.
   
5. WE DO NOT collect any Special Personal Information about you unless we have received your consent.
   
6. WE DO NOT knowingly process any Children Information.
   
7. Submission of Personal Information on behalf of another: If you provide information on behalf of someone else, then it is your responsibility to obtain the necessary consent from the person/ user before making the Personal Information available to us. On receipt of Personal Information, we assume that the necessary consent has been obtained and will process the Personal Information as per your instructions. By submitting such Personal Information on behalf of another person/ user, you indemnify us against any Third party claim, where such Third party claim relates to Personal Information that has been processed without the necessary consent or other available exception allowed by law.
   
8. If you fail to provide Personal Information: Where we need to collect Personal Information by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with services (including services for no charge)). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
   

3. how is your personal information collected?

1. Direct interactions. You may directly provide us with your Personal Information when you: -
   i) engage with us via our social media sites or messaging platforms we may subscribe to;
   ii) apply for/acquire certain Services or products of SERUM;
   iii) engage with us via Zoom, MS Teams, Google online or any other Video conferencing facility;
   iv) attend any of our events;
   v) give us feedback; or
   vi) contact us via email.
   
2. Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment/ devices, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this Personal Information by using cookies (see clause 4 below), server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies.
   
3. Third parties or publicly available sources. We will receive Personal Information about you from various Third parties and public sources as set out below:
   i) Technical Data from the following parties:
   (1) analytics providers such as Google ("How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services", (located
   at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites);
   (2) advertising networks; and
   (3) search information providers.
   ii) Contact, financial and transaction data from providers of technical and payment services.
   iii) Identity and Contact data from publicly available sources such as CIPC.
   
4. WE DO NOT ACTIVELY COLLECT PERSONAL DATA FROM EUROPEAN UNION CITIZENS RESIDING IN A EU MEMBER STATE OR PROFILING EU RESIDENTS.
   

4. cookies

1. WE DO NOT use cookies.
   

5. How we use your personal information

1. where you have given us your consent; or
   
2. where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you; or
   
3. where it is necessary for the protection of the Data subject’s legitimate interest; or
   
4. where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a Third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not
   override those interests; or
   
5. where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
   

1. At this stage we process minimal Personal Information, however we have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your Personal Information, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
   
2. Note that we may process your Personal Information for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your Personal Information where more than one ground has been set out in the table found here.
   

1. We will only use your Personal Information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
   
2. If we need to use your Personal Information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
   
3. Please note that we may process your Personal Information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
   

6. disclosures of your personal information

1. We may share your Personal Information with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table above.
   i) Internal Third parties as set out in the Definitions. Where we share your Personal Information to our group (affiliates, collaborating companies/ partners/ agents), we ensure your Personal Information is protected by requiring all collaborating
   parties to follow this Policy when processing your Personal Information.
   ii) External Third parties as set out in the Definitions and to those external parties as per your instructions.
   (1) We may provide such information to affiliates in the SERUM organisation, to collaborating parties or other trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing Personal Information on our behalf.
   (2) We may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our organisation, then the new members may use your Personal Information in the same way as set out in this Privacy Policy.
   (3) We require all Third parties to respect the security of the Personal Information we make available to them and to treat it in accordance with the law. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
   (4) We do not allow our Third-party service providers to use your Personal Information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your Personal Information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
   

7. International transfers

1. Some of our External Third-parties may be based outside the Republic so their processing of your Personal Information could involve a transfer of data outside South Africa.
   
2. Whenever we transfer your Personal Information out of the country, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
   i) SERUM enters into written contracts with Third party service providers that contain terms substantially the same as those set
   out in this Privacy Policy, in particular, in relation to requiring appropriate technical and organisational data security measures and relating to the further transfer of Personal Information from the Third party recipient to Third parties who are in a foreign country.
   ii) Processing of Personal Information takes place in a territory which is subject to Data Protection Laws similar to our Data Protection Legislation and that the territory provides adequate protection for the privacy rights of individuals.
   
3. By adhering to the conditions set by POPIA, we ensure compliance with GDPR, which has comparable requirements for the processing of Personal Information. GDPR principles are applicable to entities that process the Personal Information of European citizens.
   
4. By submitting your Personal Information to us you consent to the transfer of your Personal Information outside the borders of South Africa (when required).
   

8. data security

1. We have put in place appropriate technological and organisational measures to prevent your Personal Information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your Personal Information to those employees, agents, contractors and other Third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your Personal Information on our instructions, are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
   
2. Where required by law we will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
   
3. Where we act as Operator, the Responsible party must ensure that it has implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures against unauthorised or unlawful processing, access, disclosure, copying, modification, storage, reproduction, display or distribution of Personal Information. Other than securing the Personal Information on collection of same from the Responsible party via the SERUM services, SERUM shall not be responsible for any other Responsible party’s security safeguard obligations.
   

9. data retention

1. We will only retain your Personal Information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal or regulatory requirements. We may retain your Personal Information for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation.
   
2. To determine the appropriate retention period for Personal Information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the Personal Information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your Personal Information, the purposes for which we process your Personal Information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory or other requirements.
   
3. In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see Your legal rights below for further information.
   
4. In some circumstances we will anonymise your Personal Information (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for
   research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
   

10. records

11. social media

1. Our website may, in certain circumstances, provide you with social plug-ins from various social media networks. If you choose to interact with a social network such as Instagram (for example by registering an account), your activity on our websites will also be made available to that social network. This is necessary for the performance of your contract with us, which allows you to interact with a social network. If you are logged in on one of these social networks during your visit to one of our websites or are interacting with one of the social plug-ins, the social network might add this information to your respective profile on this network based on your privacy settings. If you would like to prevent this type of information transfer, please log out of your social network account before you enter one of our websites, or change the necessary privacy settings, where possible.
   
2. Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media networks that we participate in are custom to the terms and conditions as well as the privacy policies held with each social media platform respectively.
   
3. You are advised to use social media networks wisely and communicate/ engage with them with due care and caution in regard to their own privacy policies (if any). PLEASE NOTE: WE WILL NEVER ASK FOR PERSONAL OR SENSITIVE INFORMATION THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS AND ENCOURAGE USERS, WISHING TO DISCUSS SENSITIVE DETAILS OR TO RESOLVE ISSUES/ CONCERNS, TO CONTACT US THROUGH PRIMARY COMMUNICATION CHANNELS SUCH AS BY TELEPHONE OR EMAIL.
   
4. Our social media network page(s) may share web links to relevant web pages. By default some social media platforms shorten lengthy URL's. You are advised to exercise caution and due care before clicking on any shortened URL's published on social media platforms by this website. Despite our best efforts to ensure that only genuine URL's are published many social media platforms are prone to spam and hacking and therefore our website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any shortened links.
   

12. your legal rights

1. Under certain circumstances, you have the following rights under data protection laws in relation to your Personal Information:
   i) Request access to Personal Information (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). There may be a fee associated with this request – see below. This enables you to receive a copy of the Personal Information we may hold about you and that you are entitled to obtain and to verify whether we are lawfully Processing it. See the SERUM Promotion of Access to Information Manual (“PAI Manual”).
   ii) Request correction of Personal Information. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we may hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provided to us.
   iii) Object to processing of your Personal Information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a Third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your Personal Information for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
   iv) Request restriction of processing of your Personal Information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your Personal Information in the following scenarios:
   (1) If you want us to establish the data's accuracy.
   (2) Where our use of the data is unlawful, but you do not want us to erase it.
   (3) Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
   (4) You have objected to our use of your data, but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
   v) Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your Personal Information. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
   
2. If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact our Information Officer at the details mentioned b) above.
   
3. Fee required: Apart from the prescribed fees under PAIA, you will not have to pay a fee to access your Personal Information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
   
4. What we may need from you: We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your Personal Information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that Personal Information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
   
5. Time limit to respond: We try to respond to all legitimate requests within 30 (thirty) days. Occasionally it could take us longer than 30 (thirty) days if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
   

13. subcontractors

1. We may authorise a Third party (subcontractor) to process the Personal Information on our behalf. Where we use sub-contractors, we will:
   i) enter into a written contract with the subcontractor that contains terms substantially the same as those set out in this Privacy Policy, in particular, in relation to requiring appropriate technical and organisational data security measures; and
   ii) maintain control over all Personal Information we entrust to the subcontractor.
   
2. We agree to select subcontractors carefully according to their suitability and reliability.
   
3. A subcontractor within the meaning of this Privacy Policy shall not exist if we commission Third parties with additional services, that are not an essential part of this Privacy Policy.
   
4. Where the subcontractor fails to fulfil its obligations under such written agreement, we remain fully liable to you for the subcontractor's performance of its agreement obligations.
   
5. The parties consider SERUM to control any Personal Information controlled by or in the possession of its subcontractors.
   
6. We undertake to ensure that all subcontractors who process Personal Information of Data subjects shall not amend, modify, merge or combine such Personal Information and process same as per our instructions.
   

14. definitions

1. Consent means any voluntary, specific and informed expression of will in terms of which permission is given for the processing of Personal Information.
   
2. Data subject means the person to whom Personal Information relates and, in this document, refers to you, as the party providing Personal Information that will be processed by SERUM or a relevant Third party.
   
3. Legitimate Interest means the interest of our organisation in conducting and managing our affairs to enable us to give you the best service and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your Personal Information for our legitimate interests. We do not use your Personal Information for activities where our interests override the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.
   
4. Operator means a person who processes Personal Information for a Responsible party in terms of a contract or mandate, without coming under the direct authority of the party.
   
5. PAIA means the Promotion of Access to Information Act, Act 2 of 2000.
   
6. Personal Information means information as defined under POPIA.
   
7. POPIA means the Protection of Personal Information Act, Act 4 of 2013.
   
8. Responsible party means a public or private body or any other person which, alone or in conjunction with others (Joint Responsible party) determines the purpose of and means for processing Personal Information.
   
9. Special Personal Information means information as defined under section 26 of POPIA (this includes details about race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and biometric information or criminal convictions and offences).
   
10. THIRD PARTIES
    i) Internal Third parties: Other division or affiliate of SERUM (if any).
    ii) External Third parties:
    (1) Joint Responsible parties based outside the borders of South Africa.
    (2) Third parties as instructed by you under the service agreement between you and SERUM, including but not limited to
    South African Revenue Service.
    (3) Service providers acting as Operators who provide IT and system administration services.
    (4) Professional advisers acting as Operators or Joint Responsible parties, including lawyers, bankers, auditors and
    insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
    (5) Regulators and other authorities acting as Operators, Joint Responsible parties who require reporting of processing
    activities in certain circumstances. These parties may be based in the Republic of South Africa or abroad.
    (6) Court of law or any other authority where we have an obligation under law to share your Personal Information.
    

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