Italtile Limited Group’s Privacy Policy

1.       Introduction

1.1.  Italtile Limited (“Italtile/we/us/our”) is a proudly South African manufacturer, franchisor and retailer of tiles, bathroomware and other related home-finishing  products. The Group’s retail brands are CTM, Italtile Retail and TopT represented through a network of stores, including online webstores, in Southern and East Africa. The retail operation is strategically supported by a vertically integrated supply chain comprising key manufacturers and import operations and an extensive property portfolio.

1.2.  Italtile Limited respects your ("you/your/data subject") right to privacy and is committed to the protection thereof. This Privacy Policy explains how we process the Personal Information we collect from you and also informs you of your rights in terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act, Act No.4 of 2013 (“POPIA”). Accordingly, this Privacy Policy explains amongst other things:

1.2.1.  What Personal Information Italtile collects;

1.2.2. For what purpose Italtile collects Personal Information;

1.2.3. How Italtile collects Personal Information;

1.2.4. How long Italtile retains Personal Information; and

1.2.5. Your rights as a data subject.

1.3.  By the usage of our products, services and our websites, supplying goods and/or services to Italtile, or applying for employment at Italtile and submitting any information to Italtile, you acknowledge and agree that such conduct constitutes unconditional, specific and voluntary consent to the processing of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, whether or not by automatic means.

1.4.  This Privacy Policy should be read in conjunction with the POPIA and its Regulations, where applicable.

1.5.  This Privacy Policy applies to all companies within the Italtile group which are domiciled in South Africa, which are as follows (the legal entity that collects Personal Information from you or that determined the purpose for the processing of your Personal Information will be the responsible party for your Personal Information):

2.       Principles

2.1.  Italtile has implemented the following approach concerning Personal Information:

2.1.1.  To be transparent in its standard operating procedures that govern the collection and processing of Personal Information;

2.1.2.  To comply with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements regarding the processing of Personal Information;

2.1.3.  To collect Personal Information by lawful and transparent means and to process Personal Information in a manner compatible with the purpose for which they were collected;

2.1.4.  To strive to keep personal Information accurate, complete and up-to-date and reliable for their intended use;

2.1.5.  To develop reliable, safe and sustainable means of protecting the Personal Information of individuals whether physical or digitally so as to prevent leakage, loss, alteration or misuse of said information;

2.1.6.  When consigning to outside entities for the protection of said information, Italtile will only select those with the ability to safeguard and manage the said information.

2.1.7.  This policy will be made known to Italtile’s customers, employees or prospective employees, suppliers and service provider; and

2.1.8.  Italtile will strive to continuously improve this policy and all other systems for the protection of Personal Information so as to adapt to a changing environment or according to legal needs.

3.       Personal Information Collected by Italtile

3.1.  Personal information is defined by POPIA as information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person, including, but not limited to:

3.1.1.  Information relating to the race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, national, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental health, well-being, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth of the person;

3.1.2.  Information relating to the education or the medical, financial, criminal or employment history of a person;

3.1.3.  Any identifying number, symbol, e-mail address, physical address, telephone number, location information, online identifier or other particular assignment to the person;

3.1.4.  The fingerprints or other biometric information of the person;

3.1.5.  The personal opinions, views or preferences of the person;

3.1.6.  Correspondence sent by the person that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature or further correspondence that would reveal the content of the original correspondence;

3.1.7.  The view or opinions of another individual about the person; and

3.1.8.  The name of the person if it appears with other Personal Information relating to the person or if the disclosure of the name itself would reveal information about the person.

3.2.  Depending on the type of business we conduct with you or the relationship you have with us, we may process any of the types of Personal Information as defined above, although it will only be processed in so far as it is adequate, necessary, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which it is required.

4.       Purpose for Which Personal Information is Collected by Italtile

4.1.  Primarily, we use your Personal Information to conduct business activities in order to conclude a contract or transaction with you and to carry out the obligations in terms of that contract or transaction.

4.2.  The purpose for which we use your Personal Information is ultimately dependent on our relationship with you and will include amongst others:

 4.2.1.  When you are a customer:

4.2.1.1. identify you and conduct appropriate checks, audits and procedures;

4.2.1.2. marketing and promotions (including contacting you for such purposes);

4.2.1.3. administer and manage our products and services we offer to you;

4.2.1.4. address and resolve customer complaints;

4.2.1.5. participation in promotional competitions;

4.2.1.6. provision of access to Italtile's premises; and

4.2.1.7. get a better understanding of you, your needs and how you interact with us, so we can engage in product and service research, development and business strategy including managing the delivery of our services and products via the ways we communicate with you.

4.2.2  When you are a supplier or service provider:

4.2.2.1. identify the company and conduct appropriate checks, audits, due diligence and procedures;

4.2.2.2. payment for the goods and/or services acquired and used;

4.2.2.3. communication in relation to the goods and/or services supplied;

4.2.2.4. review, compare and evaluate the goods and/or services supplied;

4.2.2.5. record keeping in accordance with the applicable legislation;

4.2.2.7. performance of the parties’ respective obligations under the applicable agreement for the supply of the goods and/or services.

4.2.3.  When you are an employee or prospective employee:

4.2.3.1. identify you and conduct appropriate checks, audits and procedures;

4.2.3.2. payment of employment benefits and related deductions;

4.2.3.3. record keeping and reporting in accordance with the applicable legislation;

4.2.3.4. contacting purposes;

4.2.3.5. provision of access to Italtile’s premises;

4.2.3.6. review and evaluate your work experience and qualifications; and

4.2.3.7. recruitment purposes.

4.3.  Further to above, we may use your Personal Information to:

4.3.1.  pursue our legitimate interests such as to compile reports and statistical analysis;

4.3.2.  comply with requests for information from any internal or external auditor, or any regulatory body;

4.3.3.  provide you with information about our products and services from time to time via email, telephone or other means (see Marketing section below);

4.3.4.  meet legal and regulatory requirements to which we may be subject;

4.3.5.  use in connection with legal proceedings; and

4.3.6.  assist with any criminal or similar investigation.

4.4.  Italtile may share your Personal Information with the following third parties:

4.4.1.  Those required in order to meet our transactional or contractual obligations to you (such as transporters for the delivery of goods purchased from us);

4.4.2.  Italtile’s external auditors; and

4.4.3.  Regulators, governments and law enforcement authorities.

4.5.  Where Italtile shares your Personal Information with the above third parties, the latter will be obliged to use that personal information for the reasons and purposes it was disclosed for. To this end, we have agreements in place with these third parties to ensure this.

4.6.  Your Personal Information may also for cloud storage purposes or through the use of any of our websites, be transferred or processed outside of the Republic of South Africa. Any disclosures of your Personal Information to third parties outside South Africa are done in line with the requirements set out in section 72 of POPIA.

4.7.  Unless you have consented, Italtile will not sell, exchange, transfer or otherwise make available any personal information about you to any other parties and you indemnify Italtile from any unintentional disclosure of such information to unauthorised persons.

4.8.  You may refuse to provide us with your Personal Information in which case it is likely that we will not be able to meet our obligations to you or would have to terminate our relationship.

5.       How Italtile Collects Personal Information

5.1.  Italtile collects Personal Information in the following manner:

5.1.1.  Directly from you: We collect most Personal Information directly from you, for example capturing of details at point of sale and on applications for employment positions.

5.1.2.  From third parties: Occasionally we will collect or process Personal Information obtained from third party sources or sources in the public domain, such as credit and fraud checks. We will inform you prior to conducting credit and fraud checks.

6.       Marketing

6.1.  If you are a past or current customer, we may contact you from time to time to inform you of products or services similar to those you have purchased from us before. We may also provide you with other material including newsletters with appropriate content as a value-add customer experience.

 6.2.  We may share your Personal Information between companies in the Italtile group, so that they may offer you their products and services.

 6.3.  You may object to the above at any point by following the steps as set out in the direct marketing you receive or by contacting the relevant customer helpdesk.

7.       Retention Period of Personal Information

7.1.  In accordance with POPIA, Italtile will keep your Personal Information on record for as long as:

7.1.1.  It is legally obliged to do so;

7.1.2.  A contract or agreement with you requires us to keep it;

7.1.3.  You have consented to us keeping it;

7.1.4.  We reasonably require it to achieve the purpose set out in the terms of transaction or contract with you;

7.1.5.  We require it for legitimate business purposes; or

7.1.6.  There is ongoing litigation, investigation or tax or other regulatory query relating to the Personal Information.

8.       Your Rights as a Data Subject

8.1.  As a data subject you have a legal right in terms of POPIA to:

8.1.1.  Request access to your Personal Information we hold;

8.1.2.  Request correct and/or deletion of your Personal Information we hold;

8.1.3.  Request the restriction of or object to the processing of your Personal Information we hold;

8.1.4.  Withdraw your consent to the processing of your Personal Information;

8.1.5.  Withdraw your consent to receiving marketing messages from us; and

8.1.6.  Complain to the Information Regulator as set out below.

8.2.  For further information on how to exercise these rights, please refer to our PAIA and POPIA manual which is available on our website at italtile.com.

8.3.  Important to note with regards to your rights is the following:

8.3.1.  We will require adequate proof of identification from you prior to responding to you (which we will do within a reasonable time);

8.3.2.  We will correct or delete information unless we are required or entitled to keep such information under applicable laws, in which case we will inform you.

8.3.3.  If we believe information does not require correction, we will provide you with credible reasoning for such.

9.     Cookies

Our websites make use of “cookies” to automatically collect information and data through the standard operation of the Internet servers. “Cookies” are small text files a website can use (and which we may use) to recognise repeat users, facilitate the user’s on-going access to and use of a website and allow a website to track usage behaviour and compile aggregate data that will allow the website operator to improve the functionality of the website and its content, and to display more focused advertising to a user by way of third party tools. The type of information collected by cookies is not used to personally identify you. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to deny or accept the cookie feature. Please note that cookies may be necessary to provide you with certain features available on our website, and thus if you disable the cookies on your browser you may not be able to use those features, and your access to our Websites will therefore be limited.

10.   Security Breaches

10.1. Italtile has implemented appropriate technical and structural security measures to protect Personal Information that is in its’ possession against accidental or illegal damage, loss, modification, unauthorised disclosure, or unauthorised access, in accordance with applicable laws. Despite these measures, you acknowledge that Personal Information may be accessed by an unauthorised third party (for e.g. as a result of criminal activity).

10.2. In the event of a data breach leading to the accidental or illegal damage, loss, modification, unauthorised disclosure or any unauthorised access to any Personal Information that has been transmitted, stored or otherwise processed by Italtile, the company has the relevant instruments and policies in place in order to cater for and assess the details relating to any such data breach in a prompt and efficient manner. Italtile will notify you of such data breach as soon as possible in accordance with POPIA.

10.3. As stated above, when we contract with third parties, we conclude agreements with them in terms of which we impose appropriate security, privacy and confidentiality obligations on them to ensure that personal information is kept secure.

10.4. Whilst we will do all things reasonably necessary to protect your rights of privacy, we cannot guarantee or accept any liability whatsoever for unauthorised or unlawful disclosures of your personal information, whilst in our possession, made by third parties who are not subject to our control, unless such disclosure is as a result of our gross negligence.

10.5. If you disclose your personal information to a third party, such as an entity that operates a website linked to our website or anyone other than the Italtile, WE SHALL 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.

11.   The Information Regulator

11.1. Should you wish to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator related to this Privacy Policy, you may do so in the prescribed manner and form.

11.2. The address of the Information Regulator is as follows:

         The Information Regulator (South Africa)

         33 Hoofd Street

         Forum III, 3rd Floor Braampark

         PO Box 31533

         Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017

         Complaints email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za

         General enquiries email: inforeg@justice.gov.za

12.   Updates to the Privacy Policy

12.1. This Privacy Policy has been reviewed and approved by Italtile’s Information Officer, and is subject to change without prior notice. The most current policy will be available at any time on one of Italtile’s websites. This Privacy Policy is dated July 2021.

13.   Contact Us

13.1. Should you have any questions, concerns or requests related to this Privacy Policy, please contact Italtile’s Information Officer at 011 510 9050.