Privacy Statement
Paws United Charity Ltd (“PUC”) is committed to protecting the privacy of anyone who submits personal information to us, in accordance with the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance Cap. 486 (“PDPO”).
Our Privacy Policy is set out below. If you have questions or requests about privacy of personal data submitted to PUC, please e-mail privacy@pawsunited.org.hk.
This version of our Privacy Policy was published and put into effect on 17th August 2022.
1 — Purpose of Collecting Data
PUC collects information that personally identifies individuals (“Personal Data”) for several reasons. It is mandatory for individuals to provide us with their Personal Data if they wish to use our services or work with us. These are the primary purposes for which we may use your data:
- Animal Adoption: Processing your application to adopt, and determining whether the application will be approved or rejected. Information is retained so we can keep a record of who adopted which animal, and so we can cross-reference new adoption applications with previous ones.
- Animal Fostering: Processing your application to foster, and determining whether the application will be approved or rejected. Information is retained so we can keep a record of the current location of foster animals, and a history of where animals were previously fostered, in case we need to refer to that when handling medical, behavioural, or any other queries in the future.
- Volunteering: Processing your application to be a volunteer, and determining whether the application will be approved or rejected. Information is retained so we have a record of which volunteers were present in our facilities or at our events on which dates, and so we can collect statistics about how active volunteers have been.
- Surrendering an Animal: Processing your application to surrender the animal, and determining whether the application will be approved or rejected. Information is retained so we have a record of the animal’s previous owner, in case of medical, behavioural, or other queries, and when dealing with dogs, in case of future enquiries relating to statutory obligations concerning licensing and vaccinations.
- Making Donations: To keep a record of the source of donations, and to enable us to issue receipts for donations. Information is retained in case of queries about tax-deductable donations. Donations may be made anonymously on request, but it will not be possible to issue receipts in this case.
If you are entering into a contract or agreement with us (e.g. for an Animal Adoption) then we will also ask for and store your HKID Card number for inclusion in that contract or agreement, which is an approved reason for requesting and storing an HKID Card number according to the PCPD’s relevant code of practice. We will ask to see your HKID Card but we will not make or store any copies of it. If we need to process the transfer of a dog license to or from you, we may need to ask for a copy of your HKID Card to comply with a requirement set down by the regulatory body that issues dog licenses.
We may also use your Personal Data for direct marketing and fundraising communications, or for sharing with our partner organisations. You may opt-out of these uses when you give your Personal Data to us, or at any time afterwards, without any fee, by contacting our Data Privacy Officer on the e-mail address shown above. We may also use your Personal Data for other legitimate purposes.
2 — Transferring Personal Data to Others
Your Personal Data will be confidential within PUC and accessible only by specific and approved volunteers on a need-to-know basis, except that we may from time to time and when necessary share information with (1) external parties who are working for us (e.g. vets), (2) any person or organisation with which we are obliged to share information for legal reasons, and (3) our successor organsations.
Personal Data may be transferred outside of Hong Kong for processing, and may be stored in cloud computing services or data centres outside of Hong Kong. By submitting your Personal Data, we deem you to have consented to these transfers.
3 — Cookies
If you use the PUC web site, we may set “cookies” on your computer and subsequently access them. The main purpose of these cookies is for customising your experience while using the web site, and remembering your preferences. These cookies do not contain any Personal Data.
4 — Retention of Personal Data
Your Personal Data will be retained for a period of time that is appropriate for the purposes for which it was collected and stored.
5 — Security of Personal Data
Your Personal Data is stored on cloud-based services, and is protected against unauthorised access. It is only accessible to the PUC volunteers who need to use it. Security measures are periodically reviewed to ensure they are still keeping up with emerging threats.
6 — Amendments to this Policy
PUC may amend this policy from time to time. The latest version of the policy will always be present on our web site. If any amendments to the policy are significant, a prominent notice about the change will be posted on our web site for at least one month.
7 — Accuracy of Personal Data
PUC wants the data it holds to be as accurate as possible. For this reason, and in compliance with sections 18 to 21 of the PDPO, you may request access to any Personal Data that we hold about you; and in compliance with sections 22 to 25 of the PDPO, you may request corrections to any inaccuracies in that Personal Data. In compliance with section 28 of the PDPO, we may charge a reasonable processing fee for handling your requests. To request access or corrections to your Personal Data, please contact our Data Privacy Officer on the e-mail address shown above. We guarantee to act in compliance with Principle 6 of Schedule 1 of the PDPO.