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Privacy Statement

Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association Privacy Policy

Scope

The Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association (OMSPA) is committed to protecting your privacy. We make the website, www.ontariomaple.com (the “Website”) available to you as your source for information concerning the Ontario maple industry and for products which we sell (the “Services”). This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, store, use and distribute information about our users through the Website and/or Services.

Consent

By using the Website you consent to the use of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy. Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy, your Personal Information will not be used for any other purpose without your consent. We don’t sell customer lists. You may withdraw your consent to our processing of your Personal Information at any time. However, withdrawing consent may result in your inability to continue using the Website and/or the Services.

Please note that your use of the Website and any services are also governed by our Terms of Service which can be read at any time by clicking here.

Collection of Information

We aim to collect, use and disclose only such information as is required to enable us to manage your account (if you create one), to provide the Services, to maintain our customer/visitor lists, to respond to your inquiries or provide feedback, for identification and authentication purposes, for service improvement and to address issues like malicious use of the Services. We will maintain the confidentiality of any contact information you provide to us on registering with the Website and will use it only for the purposes for which we have collected it (subject to the exclusions and disclosures we have listed below), unless you agree that we may disclose it to other third parties.

Two types of information may be collected on the Website: Personal Information and Non-Personal Information. This Privacy Policy does not extend to the collection, use or disclosure of information which is currently not limited by applicable privacy laws which includes information that is publicly available, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers and electronic address when listed in a directory or made available through directory assistance; or (b) Non-Personal Information (as defined further below).

"Personal Information" is personally identifiable information, such as your name, address, e-mail address, credit card information, birth date and gender. At the time of collection, we will clearly identify the information being collected and the purposes for which it will be used. It is always your choice whether or not to provide Personal Information but if you choose not to provide certain requested Personal Information, in some instances you may not be able to register to use the Website or be able to access and use the Website at all. In other instances, your choice not to provide certain other Personal Information may mean that you will not be able to use certain features of the Website.

We may collect Personal Information in respect of the Website during the registration process for membership with the OMSPA.

"Non-Personal Information" is information of an anonymous nature, such as an Internet Protocol Address (IP Address), the domain used to access the Website, and the type and version of browser or operating system being used by visitors to the website. Aggregate information, such as demographic statistics of our users (e.g. average age or geographical allocation of our users), number of visitors, what pages users access or visit, and average time spent on the Website.

Although the use of certain Non-Personal Information collected, used or disclosed through the Internet as described herein is not restricted (and to the extent that such is the case, the obligations under this Privacy Policy do not apply to such information), we provide information in this Privacy Policy about the collection of such information for the sake of transparency with respect to the operation of the Website. Such Non-Personal Information is collected or derived by us in the course of operating this Website. For example, our web servers may automatically collect Non-Personal Information that is provided through your browser or stored in a cookie when you choose to visit the Website.

Use of Information

We collect information for the following purposes

  • Registration: In order to access the Membership portions of the Website, you must create an account for the Website. To create an account you are required to provide certain information, such as your name and email address. You will also be asked to choose a user name and password. During the registration process, you will be given an opportunity to provide certain contact information. This information will be used in and may be displayed as part of the Website. Unless you elect otherwise, your account information will be shared on the Website. Registration information being kept in a database and in paper format, include:

      • Each member's mailing address and other information supplied by the member;

      • Records of if the member subscribes to the Maple Digest;

      • Records of the member's financial payment to the OMSPA Office; and

      • Records of any purchases and the method of payment made.

  • Membership: By becoming a member of the OMSPA, you give the OMSPA consent to:

      • List your contact information on the website;

      • Share your information with the individual Local that you are affiliated with; and

      • Issue to the public your personal contact information within the Summer Tour booklet.

 

  • Transactional Notifications: We also provide notifications for the activities you engage in on the Website such as unsubscribing, registration confirmations, notifications of new private messages, confirmation of account setting changes and notification of new contacts. Despite your indicated e-mail preferences, we may send you notices of any updates to our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy.

  • Statistics: we also collect statistics about goods and services that are purchased through the Website. This information will be kept confidential, however, aggregate statistics that do not personally identify an individual will be kept by us and such aggregate statistics may be made available to other members or third parties.

  • System Logs & Cookies: Cookies are used by us to track content usage and traffic on the Website. A cookie is a feature of your web browser that consists of a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web server. The Website uses cookies to help it compile aggregate statistics about usage of this website, such as how many users visit the Website, how long users spend viewing the Website, and what pages are viewed most often. This information is used to improve the content of the Website. You can set your browser to notify you when you are sent a cookie. This gives you the chance to decide whether or not to accept it. If you disable cookies, you may not be able to take advantage of all the features of the Website. We do not link any of the information we use in cookies to any personally identifiable information submitted by you when you are on the Website.

Your IP address is reported by your web browser whenever you visit a page on the Website. This information is recorded together with your registration information on our databases. We may use this to:

  • Diagnose problems and any issues reported by other users that are related to the IP addresses controlled by specific parties

  • Gauge how many users are visiting the Website from different geographical regions and using the Services.

  • Trace back the source of any malicious or illegal use of the Services so that we can more easily track and disable such usage as it arises.

  • Advertisements: Advertisements appearing on this Website may be delivered to visitors or members by us or one or more third-party web advertisers. These third party web advertisers may set cookies. These cookies allow the advertisement server operated by that third party to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement. Accordingly, advertisement servers may compile information about where or whether you viewed their advertisements and which advertisements you clicked on. This information allows web advertisers to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. The Privacy Policy applies to cookies placed on your computer by Us, but does not cover the use of cookies by any third-party web advertisers. For the privacy practices of such third-party web advertisers, you should consult the applicable privacy policy for the relevant third-party web advertiser(s).

  • Content: We may distribute your reviews and other content posted on the Website to third parties, as permitted pursuant to our Terms of Service. You understand that your comments may identify you and/or link back to your account on the Website.

If we plan to use your Personal Information in future for any other purposes not identified above, we will only do so after informing you by updating this Privacy Policy. See further the section of this Privacy Policy entitled ‘Amendment of this Policy’.

Disclosures & Transfers

We have put in place contractual and other organizational safeguards with our agents (see further below) to ensure a proper level of protection of your Personal Information (see further Security below). In addition to those measures, we will not disclose or transfer your Personal Information to third parties without your permission, except as specified in this Privacy Policy (see further Important Exceptions below).

We share Personal Information about you in respect of the Website with our web host, with our payment service provider and our servers are located in Canada.

Our business partners may include:

  • Software developers;

  • Hardware vendors;

  • System integrators;

  • Payment processors; and

  • Other websites that cater to the Maple Industry

From time to time we may employ third parties to help us improve the Website and/or the Services. These third parties may have limited access to databases of Website user information or registered member information solely for the purpose of helping us to improve the Website and/or the Services and they will be subject to contractual restrictions prohibiting them from using the information about our members for any other purpose.

If you participate in membership features such as the Billboard, your username will be visible to the public. In addition, our Billboard allows you to communicate with members of the online community. Whenever you give out information in public areas, that information can be collected and used by people you do not know so you should not give out personal information.

Important Exceptions

We may disclose your Personal Information to third parties without your consent to comply with regulatory requirements and/or if we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property, other Website members, other users of the Services, or anyone else (including the rights or property of anyone else) that could be harmed by such activities. We may disclose Personal Information when we believe in good faith that such disclosure is required by and in accordance with the law.

External Parties and Sites

Through the Website, you may be introduced to a variety of third party vendors and websites. The privacy policies of these third parties are not under our control and may differ from ours. The use of any information that you may provide to any third party, or the use of cookie or web beacon technology by any third party, will be governed by the privacy policy of the operator of the website you are visiting. If you have any doubts about the privacy of the information you are providing on another website, we recommend that you contact that website directly for more information and review its privacy policy.

Security

The security of your Personal Information is important to us. We use commercially reasonable efforts to store and maintain your Personal Information in a secure environment. We take technical, contractual, administrative, and physical security steps designed to protect Personal Information that you provide to us. We have implemented procedures designed to limit the dissemination of your Personal Information to only such designated staff as are reasonably necessary to carry out the stated purposes we have communicated to you.

In certain areas, such as when you provide credit card or other payment information to us, the Website works to help protect the security of your credit card and other payment information during transmission by using industry standard Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology.

You are also responsible for helping to protect the security of your Personal Information. For instance, never give out your password, and remember to log out of your account and close your browser window when you have finished using the Website, so that other people using the same computer will not have access to your Personal Information.

Retention

We will keep your Personal Information for as long as it remains necessary for the identified purpose or as required by law, which may extend beyond the termination of our relationship with you. We may retain certain data as necessary to prevent fraud or future abuse, or for legitimate business purposes, such as analysis of aggregated, non-personally-identifiable data, account recovery, or if required by law. All retained personal information will remain subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you request that your name be removed from our databases, it may not be possible to completely delete all your Personal Information due to technological and legal constraints.

Amendment of this Policy

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. If we decide to change this Privacy Policy in the future, we will post an appropriate notice on the home page at www.ontariomaple.com. Any non-material change (such as clarifications) to this Privacy Policy will become effective on the date the change is posted and any material changes will become effective 30 days from their posting on the Website. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all Personal Information that we have about you and your account. The date on which the latest update was made is indicated at the bottom of this document. We recommend that you print a copy of this Privacy Policy for your reference and revisit this policy from time to time to ensure you are aware of any changes. Your continued use of the Website signifies your acceptance of any changes.

Access and Accuracy

You have the right to access the Personal Information we hold about you in order to verify the Personal Information we have collected in respect to you and to have a general account of our uses of that information. Upon receipt of your written request, we will provide you with a copy of your Personal Information although in certain limited circumstances, we may not be able to make all relevant information available to you such as where that information also pertains to another user. In such circumstances we will provide reasons for the denial to you upon request. We will endeavor to deal with all requests for access and modifications in a timely manner.

We will make every reasonable effort to keep your Personal Information accurate and up-to-date, and we will provide you with mechanisms to update, correct, delete or add to your Personal Information as appropriate. As appropriate, this amended Personal Information will be transmitted to those parties to which we are permitted to disclose your information. Having accurate Personal Information about you enables us to give you the best possible service.

Contact Us

You can help by keeping us informed of any changes such as a change of address or telephone number. If you would like to access your information, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions of if you find any errors in our information about you, please contact us at:

Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association
275 Cty Rd 44
RR 4
Kemptville, Ontario, K0G 1J0
Phone: 1-866-566-2753
Email: admin@ontariomaple.com

Date: August 1, 2011