Privacy Policy

BMi RESEARCH PRIVACY POLICY

BMi Research (Pty) Ltd values and respects the privacy of everyone who visits bmi.co.za (“its site”) and with whom we engage during the course of our legitimate business interests as a market research company. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. We process your personal information in accordance with South African and European Union Data Protection laws, and have suitable physical, electronic, security and managerial procedures in place to safeguard your data.

This privacy policy sets out how BMi Research collects, processes and protects your personal information, and our rights and responsibilities regarding your data.

Use of this website indicates your acceptance of this privacy policy.

AFFILIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

BMi Research is a member of the following associations, and work strictly in accordance with their Code of Conduct, which includes various data protection guidelines:

Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CSGSA): www.cgcsa.co.za
The European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR): www.esomar.org
South African Market Research Association (SAMRA): www.samra.co.za

PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED

The following types of personal information is collected by BMi Research:

Personal information we receive from our subcontractors such as recruiters which will include information such as your name, occupation, age, gender and ID number
Sensitive personal information required for the performance of certain market research projects such as: race / ethnic background, religious beliefs, physical or mental health, sexual life, income information. You will be provided with information as to the reason this data is collected, and your participation is always optional
Other personal information as required to achieve the requirements of the market research project e.g. children status etc.
Information on what you view when accessing our websites, technical information about the devices you used to access our websites
The time, date, location and topic of the market research project you participated in.

HOW PERSONAL INFORMATION IS USED

Our use of your personal information will always be on a lawful basis and for our legitimate business purposes. Ways in which your personal information may be used is as follows:

For market research purposes
Improving our products and services
For internal monitoring and training purposes
For recruitment purposes where you have applied for a position with us, including to contact you to discuss the role further
Supplying our products and services to you
To advise you of any changes to our services and websites
To correspond with you regarding any comments, questions or issues you have contacted us about. We may need to share your personal information, including recordings of telephone calls, with our clients in order to address any dispute or complaint that you (or they) raise about how we conducted the research on their behalf (only applicable to specific types of research)
To ensure that we maintain administrative and statutory records about our business with regard to SARS requirements (applicable to full time staff only)
To ensure that you can safely access its websites and utilise the features of its websites optimally
To ensure you receive what is due to you in terms of incentivisation for participation in market research (where applicable)
To enter into a contract with you
To notify you about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting
To protect your and our business from potential criminal behaviour, including fraud
To provide you with its website details
To respond to social media posts or other public comments you may make, directly or indirectly to us
Where you have taken part in market research, to retain your personal information to verify that you have not exceeded attendance levels as recommended by the SAMRA and ESOMAR Codes of Conduct.

We only keep your personal information for as long as we need and in order to use it for the reason(s) it was originally collected. After this, we ensure that all personal information is deleted or securely discarded.

HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

BMi Research collects personal information through the following methods:

From our field workers and recruiters who have recruited you to take part in market research projects
Through paper forms you have completed, emails, SMSs or WhatsApp’s that you have sent us, or we have sent you
During our face to face or telephonic conversations with you
Via messages you send us directly through social media
Using information about you from other organisations where you have given consent for your information to be shared with us, or organisations like us, and where other organisations can lawfully share information about you with us.

SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will never sell or share your personal information without your prior consent.

THIRD PARTIES

Subject to certain exceptions (where your express permission will be obtained in advance) the data you provide us will not be passed on to third parties. In particular, your data will not be passed on to third parties for advertising purposes.

However, we may use service providers for the operation of its websites or for the performance of duties in relation to our business products as we do recruit individuals to participate in market research on behalf of third parties. In this case, a service provider may be provided with your personal information as it is core to our business operations to share certain personal information with them in order for us to properly perform our duties.

We carefully select our service providers who uphold the standards and principles of the Associations we are members of, with a specific emphasis on data protection and data security standards. These service providers take all measures required under the data protection laws for permissible data processing.

Additionally, your information may be shared with third parties such as:

Companies / clients who have commissioned the market research that you take part in. We may need to share your name, contact details and your responses to the market research, but only after obtaining your consent
Rewards companies in order for you to receive incentives
Professional advisors such as lawyers and consultants when they need to give professional advice
The police, local authorities or government (but only when lawful)
Other people who make a ‘subject access request’, where we are allowed to provide your personal information by law.

Note: Market Quantification volume and value information will not be shared at any time.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

BMi Research is based in South Africa, but we do from time to time, conduct research on behalf of clients locally and internationally where personal information may be collected.

BMi Research will not transfer personal information to clients without your consent, and will obtain your express permission for transfer of your data to a client who is not located in South Africa.

PERIOD OF DATA RETENTION

BMi Research only stores your personal information for as long as it is necessary to achieve our business purposes, or as stipulated by the various storage periods provided by our Associations and Law.

After the respective purpose or expiry of these periods, the corresponding data will be blocked or deleted as a matter of routine and in accordance with statutory regulations.

YOUR RIGHTS WITH REGARDS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have the following rights about the processing of your personal information:

The right to be informed about our collection, use and storage of your personal information. This information is contained within this Privacy Policy
The right to have access your data and any supplementary information. You can request details about the details of the personal information we have about you by requesting this in writing to [email protected]. Certain conditions and exclusions apply to this right
Should you consider your personal information to be incorrect, you may request for it to be corrected and rectified
You have the right to have your personal information erased if the personal information is no longer required for the purpose for which it was originally collected or processed for.
If you originally gave consent for your data to be collected and held, you can withdraw your consent
Where lawful to do so, we may not comply with certain enquiries or requests. Examples of this are if we have reason to believe the request could be harmful to others, is malicious, technically impossible, or involves a disproportionate amount of effort
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information
Under certain circumstances, you can request the restriction or suppression of processing your personal information.

BMi WEBSITES

BMi Research respects the privacy of visitors to its websites. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and protect personal information submitted through the website.

DATA WE COLLECT

BMi Research may collect information that can specifically identify you through its websites. We use cookies and similar technology such as web beacons, tags and pixels which improve your experience as you use its websites and mobile apps.

We automatically collect certain information about your device through log files, including information about your:

Cookies installed on your device
Date and Time Stamps
Internet Service Provider
IP Address
Time Zone
Web browser.

As you browse its websites, we use web beacons, tags and pixels to collect information about how you browse the site such as:

The individual web pages or products that you view
What websites or search terms referred you to our websites
Information about how you interact with our websites.

Additionally, we may also collect personal information that you submit to us such as your name, telephone number and e-mail address when contact us through its websites.

COOKIES

Cookies are small data files that allow a website to collect and store a range of data on your desktop computer, laptop or mobile device and often contain an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies do not recognise you personally and are not harmful to your device, nor do they give us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. They help analyse web traffic and allow web applications such as the website to tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes etc. by gathering and remember information about your preferences.

BMi Research’s websites use cookies that we set (“first party cookies”) as well as cookies that are set by other websites (“third party cookies”) that BMi Research has authorised. We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used in order to tailor it to our customer needs. The information is used for statistical purposes after which the data is removed from the system.

Cookies have a lifetime with some only lasting until you close your browser, or for a short time thereafter (“session cookies”). Some last longer to, for example, enable a website to recognise you when you return to the website (“persistent cookies”).

MANAGING COOKIES

By continuing to use its websites you are agreeing to the use of cookies. You can however manage cookies through your web browser settings. For more information about cookies, and how to manage them, refer to: www.allaboutcookies.org.

USE OF DEVICE INFORMATION

Unless you have specifically consented to or opted-in to another method of use of your personal information, we may use and disclose your personal information for the following reasons:

To respond to requests you make to us e.g. provision of services, participation in activities

To investigate suspected fraudulent activity related to its websites or violation of another party’s rights

To respond to government authorities where required by law upon receipt of duly authorised information requests e.g. a search warrant.

BMi Research uses Google Analytics to help us understand how our customers use our websites. To read more about how google uses your personal information, please refer to: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

You can also opt out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

DATA SECURITY

BMi Research has put reasonable physical, electronic and administrative procedures in place to safeguard the personal information we collect. Only authorised employees have access to your data in order to perform their duties. However despite all the reasonable measures in place to protect your data from unauthorised access (e.g. hackers), we cannot fully guarantee this, and your use of our services demonstrates your assumption of that risk.

AGE POLICY (MINORS)

This site is not directed at or intended for use by individuals under 18 years of age and we have no intention of collecting data from young people. If we become aware that information from a child under the age of 18 has been collected without parental or guardian consent, all reasonable efforts to delete such information will be taken.

SOCIAL MEDIA / THIRD PARTY PLUG INS

BMi Research’s websites contain links to third party websites that provide more information about BMi Research that we believe offers useful information:

Social Media Third Party Website links contained in our website include:

Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter.

The corresponding icons associated with these social media providers work as external links, so that no information is transferred to one of these providers without clicking on one of the icons.

By clicking on one of these links, you will be redirected to the website of the respective provider. The URL of the current page is passed as a parameter. BMi Research does not control these websites and we are not responsible for information you post or comments you make on these sites. BMi Research recommends that you review the privacy policies on the social media platforms you use before making remarks or observations in order to fully understand how your information will be used, what information related to you will be in the public domain, and how you can stop or prevent this from occurring.

We remind you that any comments made about BMi Research, its products or services on any online platform or community will be shared with the members of that platform or community, and may furthermore be accessible by the general public. Extra care should be taken to ensure that any comments made on these platforms are not insulting, offensive or defamatory.

COMMUNICATION BY EMAIL

If you provide us with your email address, we may communicate with you by email. We will not pass on your email address to any third parties without your consent. When sending an email to BMi Research, personal information can be transmitted automatically depending on the settings of your email programme. BMi Research will also treat this information confidentially. However, an email without encryption can potentially be read by unauthorised persons and we encourage you to ensure that confidential information is exchanged with us as an encrypted email attachment, or through BMi Research’s Client Portal.

Some of the emails BMi Research sends you may contain a web beacon pixel or tracked links which allows BMi Research to identify when you have opened the email, and to verify which links in the email you have accessed. We use this data to determine what information in our emails is of most interest to you. You are able to delete the pixel by deleting the email.

If you do not wish to download the pixel to your computer or other device, or you no longer wish to receive emails from us, you can unsubscribe at any time by emailing [email protected].

COMMUNICATION BY PHONE

If you contact us at our office by phone, or we contact you from our offices by phone, a recording of the call may be made for quality control purposes. Your telephone number will be shown on the displays of the telephone and stored in our telephone system for a maximum period of 24 months.

UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

BMi Research may need to update this policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Any changes will be posted on our website and you will be deemed to have accepted the terms of the updated Privacy Policy on your first use of the website following the changes being made.

HOW YOU CAN CONTACT US

For more information about our Privacy Policy please contact our Information Officer:

Phone: +27 11 615 7000

Email: [email protected]
Physical address: Caxton House, 368 Jan Smuts Avenue, Craighall, Randburg 2196

Postal address: PO Box 3386, Pinegowrie 2123, Gauteng, South Africa

Date: 21 September 2022