Privacy Policy (POPIA Compliance)
Effective Date: 2021-11-01
Sinofood Africa (“we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) of South Africa. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you interact with our website or services.
1. What Is Personal Information?
Under POPIA, personal information means any information that can identify you, including but not limited to:
- Name and surname
- Company name
- Email address
- Phone number
- Physical or postal address
- IP address and online identifiers
2. Information We Collect
Information You Provide
We collect personal information when you:
- Submit a contact form
- Request a quotation
- Send us an email
- Communicate with us by phone or other channels
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit our website, we may automatically collect:
- IP address
- Browser type and device information
- Pages visited and time spent on our site
- Referring website addresses
This information helps us improve website performance and user experience.
3. Purpose of Collecting Personal Information
We collect and process personal information only for legitimate business purposes, including:
- Responding to inquiries and quote requests
- Providing information about our products and services
- Supplying equipment and related services
- Improving our website and customer experience
- Internal record keeping and administration
- Complying with legal or regulatory obligations
We will not process your personal information for any purpose unrelated to these activities without your consent.
4. Lawful Basis for Processing
In terms of POPIA, we process personal information based on:
- Your consent
- The need to perform a contract or pre-contractual steps
- Compliance with legal obligations
- Our legitimate business interests, provided your rights are not overridden
5. Cookies and Online Tracking
Our website uses cookies to:
- Improve website functionality
- Analyse traffic and usage patterns
- Remember user preferences
You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect some website features.
6. Sharing of Personal Information
We do not sell or rent your personal information. We may share information only with:
- Service providers who help us operate our business or website
- Professional advisors (e.g., IT, legal, accounting)
- Regulatory or government authorities when required by law
All third parties are required to handle your information securely and in compliance with POPIA.
7. Cross-Border Transfers
If your personal information is transferred outside South Africa, we will ensure that:
- The recipient is subject to laws, binding corporate rules, or agreements that provide an adequate level of data protection, or
- You have consented to the transfer
8. Data Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include secure servers, access controls, and data protection procedures.
9. Data Retention
We retain personal information only as long as necessary to:
- Fulfil the purpose for which it was collected
- Comply with legal, tax, or accounting requirements
- Resolve disputes or enforce agreements
When information is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised.
10. Your Rights Under POPIA
You have the right to:
- Request access to your personal information
- Request correction or updating of your information
- Request deletion or destruction of your personal information
- Object to the processing of your personal information
- Withdraw consent at any time (where processing is based on consent)
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa
11. Complaints to the Information Regulator
If you believe your personal information has been processed unlawfully, you may contact:
The Information Regulator (South Africa)
Website: https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/
Email: inforeg@justice.gov.za
12. Third-Party Websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites.
13. Updates to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.
14. Contact Details (Information Officer)
POPIA requires every organisation to appoint an Information Officer.
Information Officer: Sinofood Africa Information Officer
Email: info@sinofood.africa
Phone: +27-11-4548452
Address: 5 Galaxy Avenue, Unit A2, Linbro Business Park, Sandton, South Africa, 2065