Personal Data Protection Act

Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC) respects your privacy and recognises that your personal data is important to you. SFIC conducts our business in compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and has implemented additional measures to protect your personal information. SFIC encourages you to read this Privacy Policy so that you understand the purposes for which SFIC collects, uses and discloses your Personal Data.

Privacy Policy
Collection, Purposes and Disclose your Personal Data
Consent and Right to Withdraw Consent
Right of Access & Correction
Protection, Policies and Procedures
Retention of Personal Data
Cookies
Third-Party Links and Products on Our Services
Do-Not-Call Registry
Contact Us

1. Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes how SFIC manages Personal Data in compliance with the Singapore Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (No. 26 of 2012) (“Act”).

SFIC will update this Policy from time to time and we encourage you to check the latest version of this Privacy Policy regularly. Subject to your rights at law, you agree to be bound by the prevailing terms of this Privacy Policy as updated from time to time on our website.

“Personal Data” refers to data, whether true or not, about an individual who can be identified (a) from that data, or (b) from that data in combination with other information to which we have or are likely to have access, including data in our records as maybe updated from time to time.

By signing up for or using any products, services or campaigns offered by SFIC or submitting information to or otherwise communicating with SFIC, you agree and consent to SFIC and our related entities, affiliates and subsidiaries (individually and collectively, “Companies”), as well as their respective representatives and/or agents (collectively referred to herein as “SFIC”, “us”, “we” or “our”) collecting, using and disclosing your Personal Data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. “You” or “your” means any individual to whom the Act applies and includes an individual actual or prospective customer but excludes any corporate entity (including corporate customers) and any other entity that is excluded under the Act.

This Privacy Policy does not supersede or replace any other consents you may have previously or separately provided to us in respect of your Personal Data, and your consent to this Privacy Policy is in addition to any other rights which any of the Companies may have at law to collect, use or disclose your Personal Data.

This Privacy Policy and your use of this website shall be governed in all respects by the laws of Singapore.

2. Collection of Personal Data and Purpose

2.1 SFIC may collect your personal information when you:

a) Submit an application form or other forms relating to any of our Products and Services (defined below)
b) Post a feedback or interact with our employees, for example, via telephone calls, letters, face-to-face meetings and emails
c) Contact us with a question or request for assistance
d) Sign-up for eNewsletter
e) Participate in competition, lucky draw or survey

2.2 The type of Personal Data we collect will depend on the purpose of collection and information collected may be in the form of:

a) Personal particulars (Name, Date of birth, Gender, NRIC / passport, Nationality, Race)
b) Contact Information (Telephone, Mobile, Address & Email)
c) Education and employment records
d) Family records
e) Income and information on tax and CPF
f) Photograph
g) Sensitive information such as criminal record, religion, health etc
h) Such other information as may be required for specific reasons.

2.3 The Personal Data collected by SFIC from you through above sources as may be necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes at the time it was sought or collected, will be used for such for the following reasons:

a) Assessing application for membership
b) Assessing application for employment
c) Assessing application for council election
d) Communicating with its member
e) Responding to an individual’s enquiries, customer complaints and taking appropriate action relating thereto
f) Administering participation in any programme/event/activity organised by SFIC
g) Manage payment, billing, account, credit checks and debt-recovery matters
h) For finance activities – credit assessments, financial and background investigation as and when deemed necessary
i) Communicate marketing promotions, advertising and updates in relation to our goods and services and that of our group companies
j) Manage, develop and improve our business and operations to serve you better
k) Carry out market research and customer surveys
l) For the maintenance and upkeep of internal records, filing and operations
m) For meeting any legal or regulatory requirements relating to our provision of services and to make disclosure under the requirements of any applicable law, regulation, direction, court order, by-law, guideline, circular, code applicable to us or our affiliates
n) To enter into the necessary agreement and/or contract
o) For security and crime prevention purposes, risk management, safeguarding SFIC in the event of any claim, litigation, suits etc
p) For any other grounds or reasons

2.4 Through our websites or some of our services for example social media & networking sites, we will not collect any personal data about you (e.g. your name, address, telephone number or email address), unless you voluntarily choose to provide us with it, respectively, provide your consent, or unless otherwise permitted by applicable laws and regulations for the protection of your personal data.

2.5 You warrant and represent to us that (a) Personal Data which you disclose to us is accurate and complete; and (b) where you volunteer Personal Data of another person to us, that you are authorised by such other person to disclose such Personal Data to us, and that such Personal Data is accurate and complete.

2.6 You shall consult your parent or guardian before giving us your Personal Data if you are under the age of eighteen.

2.7 The Personal Data provided to us shall be kept confidential. However, we may disclose your Personal Data to the following parties:

a) Within the SFIC Family that includes SFIC’s subsidiaries, our business partners and our affiliates that provide related services in connection with our services;
b) Our auditors, consultants, lawyers, accountants or other financial or professional advisers appointed in connection with our services;
c) Our third party service providers, third party management companies, sub-contractors or other parties as may be deemed necessary by us to facilitate your dealings with us;
d) Our appointed service providers in fulfilling our services; and
e) Any persons, government agencies, statutory authorities and/or industry regulators, whom we are compelled or required to do so pursuant to any law

Third parties are legally tasked with processing your Personal Data in line with principles specified by SFIC and may not use it for any other purposes. Third parties are also held responsible for securing your Personal Data at an appropriate level of security in relation to applicable data protection laws and widely accepted industry standards.

SFIC reserves its right to use or disclose any data as needed to satisfy any law, regulation or legal request, to protect the integrity of the Online Service, to fulfil your requests, or to cooperate in any law enforcement investigation or an investigation on a matter of public safety.

2.8 SFIC is committed to ensuring that your Personal Data is secure, and in connection therewith, suitable processes and procedures have been put in place to ensure that all Personal Data collected by us shall be stored and/or filed in such manner as to ensure that the Personal Data maintains its accuracy, integrity, remains confidential, is protected against loss, misuse, modification and unauthorised or accidental access, disclosure, alteration, destruction or manipulation.

2.9 SFIC shall store and/or retain all Personal Data only for as long as required for the fulfilment of the purposes stated in 2.3 above or pursuant to any legal obligation imposed upon SFIC in its operation of the Services or by virtue of any applicable law that may from time to time be in force.

3. Consent and Right to Withdraw Consent

3.1 You shall be invited to give express consent to SFIC collecting, using and disclosing your personal data for the purposes of membership soliciting, research activities and future event notification and publicity as well as SFIC’s news dissemination.

3.2 By so indicating your acceptance of the terms of this Policy, you shall be deemed to have expressly consented to the processing of your Personal Data by SFIC or any of our authorised staff, partners and/or contractors for the Purposes outlined in 2.3 above.

3.3 You may at any time withdraw your consent to our continued use and disclosure of your Personal Data or seek access to your Personal Data (to a reasonable extent and as permitted by the Act) at any time by writing to the Office of our Data Protection Officer. You may also withdraw your consent for specific forms of communication and on specific communications via the unsubscribe options as stated on our email or other marketing messages.

3.4 In withdrawing your consent, you acknowledge that we may not be able to provide or continue providing certain goods and/or services to you and that we may cease such provision accordingly without any liability. Please note that it may take up to 30 working days for any request for consent withdrawal to be reflected in our systems. SFIC shall take all necessary measures to give effect to your withdrawal of consent, to the extent that such withdrawal does not conflict with any of SFIC’s other legal obligations.

4. Right of Access & Correction

4.1 You may at any time hereafter make written enquiries, complaints and request for access to, or correction of, your Personal Data or limit the processing of your Personal Data by submitting such written request to the Personal Data Protection Officer of SFIC via e-mail to marcom@singaporefurniture.com or post it to the address as set out below:

Singapore Furniture Industries Council
9 Jurong Town Hall Road #03-01,
Trade Association Hub,
Singapore 609431
Attn: SFIC’s Data Protection Officer

Any Personal Data retained by us shall be destroyed and/or deleted from our records and system in accordance with our retention policy in the event such data is no longer required for the said Purposes.

4.2 SFIC will, at your request, endeavour to provide you with an account of your Personal Data in our possession or control within a reasonable time. Such account shall be in respect of how your Personal Data has been or may have been generally used or disclosed within the year before the date of your request. We reserve the right to charge a reasonable administrative fee for carrying out your request.

4.3 To help us maintain the accuracy of your Personal Data, we encourage you to inform us when there are any changes to your Personal Data which you have provided us by writing to the Office of our Data Protection Officer. We will correct or complete your Personal Data as soon as reasonably practicable.

5. Protection, Policies and Procedures

5.1 SFIC shall limit the collection and use of personal information to what is necessary to administer its services and to deliver superior service to you. To serve you better, SFIC may combine the information which you have given to us through our website or other channels.

5.2 SFIC will endeavour to protect your Personal Data in our possession or control against risks of unauthorised access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification, disposal or destruction, through reasonable and appropriate security measures. We strive to ensure that our systems are secure and that they meet industry standards. To prevent unauthorised access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the Personal Data we collect. Notwithstanding our security measures for protecting your Personal Data, you acknowledge that no data transmission over the Internet is completely secure and by providing your Personal Data, you are transmitting information at your own risk.

5.3 SFIC’s corporate policies stipulate that any staff with access to confidential customer information is not permitted to use or disclose such information except for business purposes. All staff are required to safeguard such information as specified in their confidentiality agreements with SFIC. Staff of SFIC shall sign the Confidentiality Clause to undertake not to misuse or disclose personal data in their possession during their course of work and to take every precaution to ensure all personal data under their possession is being kept confidential at all times.

5.4 However SFIC shall not be liable for any purported violation, breach or non-compliance with any precepts of privacy or the protection of Personal Data in the following instances:

a) Where an act of nature or event outside the control of SFIC results in the damage or malfunction or destruction in any equipment or machinery used to secure, store or process Personal Data;
b) Where Personal Data is readily available or able to be found in the public domain; and
c) Where, despite SFIC’s best efforts, there is unauthorised access, modification, alteration, misuse, tampering or abuse of Personal Data caused by the malicious or fraudulent or criminal acts or conduct of a third party not being under the control or direction of SFIC.

6. Retention of Personal Data

SFIC will retain your Personal Data for as long as you use our products or services and it is necessarily required or relevant for business or legal purposes.

7. Cookies

7.1 Cookies are small bits of data automatically stored in the hard drive of the end user and are commonly used to track preferences in relation to the subject of such website. If you enable these cookies, then your web browser adds the text in a small file. You may wish to set your web browser to notify you of a cookie placement request or refuse to accept cookies by modifying relevant internet options or browsing preferences of your computer system, but to do so you may not be able to utilise or activate certain available functions on our website.

7.2 Like most websites, SFIC uses cookies for a variety of purposes in order to improve your online experience. For example, we gather Information on our website activity, such as data on the number of visitors, the pages they visit, the duration of their stay, etc. Such information is collected on an aggregate, anonymous basis, which means no Personal Data is associated with this data and gathered through the use of web server logs and cookies. We do not at our website automatically collect Personal Data unless you provide such information or login with your account credentials.

7.3 By accessing and using our website and services, you consent to the storage of cookies, other local storage technologies, beacons and other information on your devices. You also consent to the access of such cookies, local storage technologies, beacons and information by us or our representatives or agents.

8. Third-Party Links and Products on Our Services

Our website, social media networking sites or services may link to third-party websites and services that are outside our control. For example, we may enable you to share certain materials on the services with others through social networking services such as Facebook. We are not responsible for the security or privacy of any information collected by websites or other services. You should exercise caution, and review the privacy statements applicable to the third-party websites and services you use. To the fullest extent permitted under laws, we cannot be responsible for a third party’s acts, omissions, data policies or their use of cookies nor the content or security of any third party websites, even if linked to our website. Any such liability is expressly disclaimed and excluded.

9. Do-Not-Call (DNC) Registry

Manage your preference on how SFIC and its partners, associates or vendors contact you on marketing activities via Voice Call, SMS/MMS and Fax by selecting your preferred contact mode. Marketing Activities include invitations to SFIC’s events and activities, etc.

Register your opt-out preference for Voice Call, SMS/MMS from SFIC, please send us the list of contact numbers (mobile, fixed-line or fax number (residential/business) and email to marcom@singaporefurniture.com or mail your request to:

Singapore Furniture Industries Council
9 Jurong Town Hall Road #03-01,
Trade Association Hub,
Singapore 609431
Attn: SFIC’s Data Protection Officer

Note:
a) Changes will take 60 days to come into effect
b) Your status will remain valid until you change it again
c) Your consent on SFIC DNC will override the National DNC, regardless of which is submitted first

10. Contact us

Should you have any feedback or enquiry relating to your personal data please contact SFIC as follows:

Email to SFIC’s Data Protection Officer: marcom@singaporefurniture.com

Write in:
Singapore Furniture Industries Council
9 Jurong Town Hall Road #03-01,
Trade Association Hub,
Singapore 609431
Attn: SFIC’s Data Protection Officer

For more information about PDPA in general, please visit the Personal Data Protection Commission’s Website – http://www.pdpc.gov.sg/

Last updated 22 September 2014