Privacy Policy

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For the purposes of this Privacy & Data Protection Policy, both Grove South Africa Pty Ltd and Grove Information Systems Ltd are collectively referred to as "Grove", and the entity for the relevant jurisdiction refers.

Welcome to our privacy policy. We are Grove (Registration number 0017860/2023-2024-IRRT/PR) and this is our plan of action when it comes to protecting your privacy. We respect your privacy and take the protection of personal information very seriously. The purpose of this policy is to describe the way that we collect, store, use, and protect information that can be associated with you or another specific natural or juristic person and can be used to identify you or that person (personal information).

Grove is committed to protect and respect your privacy in compliance with EU- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016/679, dated April 27th 2016. This policy and any other documents referred to set out the basis on which any personal data Grove collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following privacy policy to understand how we collect and use your personal data, for example when you contact us, visit our website (www.groveis.com), or use our products and services.

Whenever you give us personal data, you are consenting to its collection and use in accordance with this privacy policy.

Grove may amend this policy from time to time, should it become necessary or advisable to do so.

The purpose of this policy is to describe the way that we handle your personal information.

This policy applies to you if you are:

• a visitor to our website; or
• a customer who has ordered or requested the goods or services that we provide.

This policy applies to you under certain circumstances.

Personal information includes:

• certain information that we collect automatically when you visit our website;
• certain information collected on registration (see below);
• certain information collected on submission; and
• optional information that you provide to us voluntarily (see below);
• but excludes:
• information that has been made anonymous so that it does not identify a specific person;
• permanently de-identified information that does not relate or cannot be traced back to you specifically;
• non-personal statistical information collected and compiled by us; and
• information that you have provided voluntarily in an open, public environment or forum including any blog, chat room, community, classifieds, or discussion board (because the information has been disclosed in a public forum, it is no longer confidential and does not constitute personal information subject to protection under this policy).

Personal information includes information we collect (i) automatically when you visit our website, (ii) on registration, (iii) on submission, and (iv) from you voluntarily. It excludes (i) anonymous, (ii) de-identified, (iii) non-personal statistical, and (iv) public information.

Common examples of the types of personal information which we may collect and process include your:

• identifying information – such as your name, date of birth, or identification number of any kind;
• contact information – such as your phone number or email address;
• address information – such as your physical or postal address; or
• demographic information – such as your gender or marital status.

Grove does not collect or process any special categories of personal data, such as public unique identifiers or sensitive personal data including your:

• financial information – such as your bank account details;
• sensitive demographic information – such as your race or ethnicity;
• medical information – such as information about your physical or mental health;
• sexual information – such as information about your sex life or sexual orientation;
• criminal information – such as information about your commission or alleged commission of any offence or about any related legal proceedings;
• employment information – including your membership of a trade union; and
• beliefs – including your political or religious beliefs.

Collecting personal data based on consents

The collection of personal data based on consent from the data subject will be done by using “Consent Forms” that will store documentation related to the consent given by the individual. Individual consents will always be stored and documented in our systems.

Collecting personal data based on contracts

We use personal information for fulfilling our obligations related to contracts and agreements with customers, partners and suppliers.

Collecting personal data based on legitimate interest

We may use personal data if it is considered to be of legitimate interest, and if the privacy interests of the data subjects do not override this interest. Normally, to establish the legal basis for data collection, an assessment has been made during which a mutual interest between Grove and the individual person has been identified. This legal basis is primarily related to our sales and marketing purposes. We will always inform individuals about their privacy rights and the purpose for collecting personal data.

By accepting this policy, you are deemed to have read, understood, accepted, and agreed to be bound by all of its terms.

You may only send us your own personal information or the information of another data subject where you have their permission to do so.

We may change the terms of this policy at any time by updating this web page. We will notify you of any changes by placing a notice in a prominent place on the website or by sending you an email detailing the changes that we have made and indicating the date that they were last updated. If you do not agree with the changes, then you must stop using the website and our goods or services. If you continue to use the website or our goods or services following notification of a change to the terms, the changed terms will apply to you and you will be deemed to have accepted those updated terms.

We collect certain information from your web browser, including your Internet usage information when you visit our website.

We use cookies and web beacons (‘Website Navigational Information’) to collect information as you navigate the company’s websites. Website Navigational Information includes standard information from your web browser, such as browser type and browser language; your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address; and the actions you take on the company’s websites, such as the web pages viewed and the links clicked.

This information is used to make websites work more efficiently, as well as to provide business and marketing information to the owners of the site, and to gather such personal data as browser type and operating system, referring page, path through site, domain of ISP, etc. for the purposes of understanding how visitors use a website. Cookies and similar technologies help us tailor our website to your personal needs, as well as to detect and prevent security threats and abuse. If used alone, cookies and web beacons do not personally identify you.

We collect certain information from web beacons on our website to compile anonymous information about our website.

You may also provide additional information to us on a voluntary basis (optional information). This includes content or products that you decide to upload or download from our website or when you enter competitions, take advantage of promotions, respond to surveys, order certain additional goods or services, or otherwise use the optional features and functionality of our website.

We collect certain optional information, that you provide when you upload or download content from our website or when you enter competitions, take advantage of promotions, respond to surveys or register and subscribe for certain additional goods or services.

We may monitor and record any telephone calls that you make to us, unless you specifically request us not to.

We may use or process any goods or services information, or optional information that you provide to us for the purposes that you indicated when you agreed to provide it to us. Processing includes gathering your personal information, disclosing it, and combining it with other personal information. 

We generally collect and process your personal information for various purposes, including:

•  goods or services purposes – such as collecting orders or requests for and providing our goods or services;

•  marketing purposes – such as pursuing lawful related marketing activities;

•  business purposes – such as internal audit, accounting, business planning, and joint ventures, disposals of business, or other proposed and actual transactions; and

•  legal purposes – such as handling claims, complying with regulations, or pursuing good governance.

We may use your usage information for the purposes described above and to:

•  remember your information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you access the website;

•  monitor website usage metrics such as total number of visitors and pages accessed; and

•  track your entries, submissions, and status in any promotions or other activities in connection with your usage of the website.

We may use any of your personal information that you provide to us for the purposes that you indicated when you agreed to provide it to us.

We will obtain your consent to collect personal information:

•  in accordance with applicable law;

•  when you provide us with any registration information or optional information.

We will get your consent to collect your personal information in accordance with applicable law when you provide us with it.

We may use your personal information to fulfil our obligations to you.

We may send administrative messages and email updates to you about the website. In some cases, we may also send you primarily promotional messages. You can choose to opt-out of promotional messages. OR We may send administrative messages and email updates to you about the website. We may wish to provide you with information about new goods or services in which we think you may be interested. This means that in some cases, we may also send you primarily promotional messages. We will not send you promotional messages unless you have chosen to opt-into them. But, we may send you one message asking you to opt-into promotional messages without you having opted-into promotional messages.

We may use your information to send you administrative messages and email updates to you regarding the website and for marketing purposes where lawful.

While you are logged into the website, we may display targeted adverts and other relevant information based on your personal information. In a completely automated process, computers process the personal information and match it to adverts or related information. We never share personal information with any advertiser, unless you specifically provide us with your consent to do so. Advertisers receive a record of the total number of impressions and clicks for each advert. They do not receive any personal information. If you click on an advert, we may send a referring URL to the advertiser’s website identifying that a customer is visiting from the website. We do not send personal information to advertisers with the referring URL. Once you are on the advertiser’s website however, the advertiser is able to collect your personal information.

We may use your information for targeted content in certain, specified instances.

We do not share your personal information.

OR

We may share your personal information with:

• other divisions or companies within the group of companies to which we belong so as to provide joint content and services like registration, for transactions and customer support, to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts and violations of our policies, and to guide decisions about our products, services, and communications (they will only use this information to send you marketing communications if you have requested their goods or services);
• an affiliate, in which case we will seek to require the affiliates to honour this privacy policy;
• our goods or services providers under contract who help provide certain goods or services or help with parts of our business operations, including fraud prevention, bill collection, marketing, technology services (our contracts dictate that these goods or services providers only use your information in connection with the goods or services they supply or services they perform for us and not for their own benefit);
• credit bureaus to report account information, as permitted by law;
• banking partners as required by credit card association rules for inclusion on their list of terminated merchants (in the event that you utilise the services to receive payments and you meet their criteria); and
• other third parties who provide us with relevant services where appropriate.

We may share your personal information with third parties for the purposes of fulfilling our obligations to you among other purposes.

We may disclose your personal information as required by law or governmental audit.

We may disclose personal information if required:

• by a subpoena or court order;
• to comply with any law;
• to protect the safety of any individual or the general public; and
• to prevent violation of our customer relationship terms.

We may disclose personal information to third parties if required for legal reasons.

We will not sell personal information. No personal information will be disclosed to anyone except as provided in this privacy policy.

We may disclose aggregate statistics (information about the customer population in general terms) about the personal information to advertisers or business partners.

We may need to disclose personal information to our employees that require the personal information to do their jobs. These include our responsible management, human resources, accounting, audit, compliance, information technology, or other personnel.

If we undergo a change in ownership, or a merger with, acquisition by, or sale of assets to, another entity, we may assign our rights to the personal information we process to a successor, purchaser, or separate entity. We will disclose the transfer on the website. If you are concerned about your personal information migrating to a new owner, you may request us to delete your personal information.

We take the security of personal information very seriously and always do our best to comply with applicable data protection laws. Our hosting company will host our website in a secure server environment that uses a firewall and other advanced security measures to prevent interference or access from outside intruders. We authorize access to personal information only for those employees who require it to fulfil their job responsibilities. We implement disaster recover procedures where appropriate.

Our website is hosted on a secure server and uses security measures to prevent interference by intruders.

We will try to keep the personal information we collect as accurate, complete and up to date as is necessary for the purposes defined in this policy. From time to time we may request you to update your personal information on the website. You are able to review or update any personal information that we hold on you by accessing your account online, emailing us, or phoning us. Please note that in order to better protect you and safeguard your personal information, we take steps to verify your identity before granting you access to your account or making any corrections to your personal information.

Please keep your personal information accurate and up to date by accessing your account online, emailing us, by phoning us.

We will only retain your personal information for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purposes explicitly set out in this policy, unless:

• retention of the record is required or authorised by law; or
• you have consented to the retention of the record.

During the period of retention, we will continue to abide by our non-disclosure obligations and will not share or sell your personal information.

We may retain your personal information in physical or electronic records at our discretion.

We will only retain your personal information for as long as is necessary.

We will not transfer any personal information across a country border without your prior written consent. OR We may transmit or transfer personal information outside of the country in which it was collected to a foreign country and process it in that country. Personal information may be stored on servers located outside the country in which it was collected in a foreign country whose laws protecting personal information may not be as stringent as the laws in the country in which it was collected. You consent to us processing your personal information in a foreign country whose laws regarding processing of personal information may be less stringent.

We may not transfer your personal information outside the country in which it was collected to a foreign country without your permission. OR We may transfer your personal information outside the country in which it was collected to a foreign country.

You may choose to correct or update the personal information you have submitted to us, by clicking the relevant menu in any of the pages on our website or contacting us by phone or email.

You may choose to update or remove the personal information you have submitted to us.

We are not responsible for, give no warranties, nor make any representations in respect of the privacy policies or practices of linked or any third party websites.

If you have any questions or concerns arising from this privacy policy or the way in which we handle personal information, please contact us.

• Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person’s liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.
• Grove has a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery, and we are committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or in any of our supply chains.
• We are also committed to ensuring there is transparency in our own business and in our approach to tackling modern slavery throughout our supply chains, consistent with our disclosure obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
• We expect the same high standards from all of our contractors, suppliers and other business partners, and as part of our contracting processes, in the coming year we will include specific prohibitions against the use of forced, compulsory or trafficked labour, or anyone held in slavery or servitude, whether adults or children, and we expect that our suppliers will hold their own suppliers to the same high standards.
• This policy applies to all persons working for us or on our behalf in any capacity, including employees at all levels, directors, officers, agency workers, seconded workers, volunteers, interns, agents, contractors, external consultants, third-party representatives and business partners.
• This policy does not form part of any employee’s contract of employment and we may amend it at any time.

Responsibility for the policy

• Grove has overall responsibility for ensuring this policy complies with our legal and ethical obligations, and that all those under our control comply with it.
• Grove has primary and day-to-day responsibility for implementing this policy, monitoring its use and effectiveness, dealing with any queries about it, and auditing internal control systems and procedures to ensure they are effective in countering modern slavery.
• Management at all levels are responsible for ensuring those reporting to them understand and comply with this policy and are given adequate and regular training on it and the issue of modern slavery in supply chains.
• You are invited to comment on this policy and suggest ways in which it might be improved. Comments, suggestions and queries are encouraged and should be addressed to the CEO.

Compliance With The Policy

• You must ensure that you read, understand and comply with this policy.
• The prevention, detection and reporting of modern slavery in any part of our business or supply chains is the responsibility of all those working for us or under our control.
• You are required to avoid any activity that might lead to, or suggest, a breach of this policy.
• You must notify your line manager OR a company Director as soon as possible if you believe or suspect that a conflict with this policy has occurred or may occur in the future.
• You are encouraged to raise concerns about any issue or suspicion of modern slavery in any parts of our business or supply chains of any supplier tier at the earliest possible stage.
• If you believe or suspect a breach of this policy has occurred or that it may occur, you must notify your line manager or company Director OR report it in accordance with our Whistleblowing Policy as soon as possible.
• You should note that where appropriate, and with the welfare and safety of local workers as a priority, we will give support and guidance to our suppliers to help them address coercive, abusive and exploitative work practices in their own business and supply chains.
• If you are unsure about whether a particular act, the treatment of workers more generally, or their working conditions within any tier of our supply chains constitutes any of the various forms of modern slavery, raise it with your line manager or company Director.
• We aim to encourage openness and will support anyone who raises genuine concerns in good faith under this policy, even if they turn out to be mistaken. We are committed to ensuring no one suffers any detrimental treatment as a result of reporting in good faith their suspicion that modern slavery of whatever form is or may be taking place in any part of our own business or in any of our supply chains.
• Detrimental treatment includes dismissal, disciplinary action, threats or other unfavourable treatment connected with raising a concern.
• If you believe that you have suffered any such treatment, you should inform your line manager immediately. If the matter is not remedied, and you are an employee, you should raise it formally using our Grievance Procedure, which can be found in the current employee handbook.
• This Modern (Anti) Slavery Policy and Statement is intended for businesses in all countries, especially the United Kingdom.

Communication & Awareness Of This Policy

Training on this policy, and on the risk our business faces from modern slavery in its supply chains, forms part of the induction process for all individuals who work for us, and updates will be provided using established methods of communication between the business and you.Our zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery must be communicated to all suppliers, contractors and business partners at the outset of our business relationship with them and reinforced as appropriate thereafter.

Breaches Of This Policy

Any employee who breaches this policy will face disciplinary action, which could result in dismissal for misconduct or gross misconduct. We may terminate our relationship with other individuals and organisations working on our behalf if they breach this policy.