1. Objective & Scope of Policy

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (“CWTA”) is committed to respecting your privacy and has prepared this Policy Statement to inform you of our policy and practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information.

This Policy Statement governs Personal Information collected from and about individuals who are or may become Members of the CWTA and those other individuals outside of the CWTA with whom we work with or who may provide Personal Information to the CWTA.  This policy does not cover business contact information, corporate information or aggregated data from which the identity of an individual cannot be determined.  The CWTA retains the right to use aggregated data in any way that it determines appropriate.

In the event of questions about: (i) access to your Personal Information;  (ii) the CWTA's collection, use, management or disclosure of Personal Information; or (iii) this Policy Statement; please contact, Chief Operating Officer at the CWTA office located at 130 Albert St., Suite 1110, Ottawa, Ontario K1E 2T7 – Telephone # 613-233-4888 x 206 or by email at dfarnes@cwta.ca

2. The Collection, Use & Disclosure of Personal Information

For the purposes of this Policy:

“Member” means a corporate entity that seeks to become a member of the CWTA or has been accepted for membership in the CWTA.

"Personal Information" means any information, recorded in any form, about an identified individual, or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from such information but does not include business contact information.

Your provision of Personal Information to the CWTA means that you agree and consent that we may collect, use and disclose your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.  If you do not agree with these terms, you are requested not to provide any Personal Information to the CWTA.  Unfortunately, certain services can only be offered if you provide Personal Information to the CWTA.  Consequently, if you choose not to provide us with any required Personal Information, the CWTA may not be able to offer you those services .

The CWTA uses the Personal Information you provided verbally or in writing in order to: 

• Process membership applications;

• Process registration to courses and seminars;

• Provide subscriptions to various publications;

• Manage our relationship with Members;

• Process Short Code applications;

• Respond to requests for information;

• Create directories or lists, which are made available to other Members and other reputable organizations associated with the CWTA;

• Meet any legal or regulatory requirement; and

• Such other purposes consistent with the foregoing and general purposes of the Association.

The CWTA' use of Personal Information is limited to these purposes.  Unless permitted by law, no personal information is collected, without first obtaining the consent of the individual to the collection, use and dissemination of that information.

Personal information is collected, to the extent possible, directly from the individual concerned. 

The CWTA may disclose your Personal Information to organizations or individuals that perform services on behalf of the CWTA.  Using contractual or other arrangements, the CWTA shall ensure that agents, contractors or third party service providers, who may receive Personal Information in the course of providing services to the CWTA, agree to use and hold such information solely for the purposes indicated by the CWTA. 

In some circumstances, the organization or individual retained by CWTA may be located outside of Canada. Therefore, some personal information collected by CWTA may be retained in countries other than Canada where privacy laws may offer different levels of protection from those in Canada and personal information may be subject to access by and disclosure to law enforcement agencies in those jurisdictions.

Please note that there are circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted or where the CWTA is obliged to disclose information without consent.  Such circumstances may include:

• Where required by law or by order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or other governmental tribunal;

• Where the CWTA believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of an identifiable person or group;

• Where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;

• Where it is necessary to permit the CWTA to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that the CWTA may sustain; or

• Where the information is public.

Where obliged or permitted to disclose information without consent, the CWTA will not disclose more information than is required.

3. Accuracy

The CWTA endeavours to ensure that any Personal Information provided by its Members and in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which the CWTA uses that data.

4. Retention

The CWTA keeps personal information only as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected. The length of time we retain information varies, depending on the product or service and the nature of the information.  This period may extend beyond the end of your relationship with us but it will be only for so long as it is necessary for us to have sufficient information to respond to any issues that may arise at a later date.  When personal information is no longer required for the CWTA's purposes, we will destroy, delete, erase or convert it into an anonymous form.

5. Security

The CWTA endeavours to maintain adequate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to its offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of Personal Information.

The CWTA further protects Personal Information by restricting access to it to those employees that the management of the CWTA has determined need to know that information in order that the CWTA may provide its services. 

6. Visiting the CWTA Web Sites

With respect to its web sites ( www.cwta.ca, www.txt.ca, www.wirelessnumberportability.ca, www.recyclemycell.ca, www.wirelessamber.ca), the CWTA collects information from site visitors through the use of cookies.  “Cookies” are files or pieces of information that may be stored in your computer's hard drive when you visit our web site.  Cookies are also used to remember that you may have already provided Personal Information to us and as a result, they help speed up your future activities when accessing our web site.  "Session" cookies are temporary bits of information that are erased once you exit your Web browser window or otherwise turn your computer off. Session cookies are used to improve navigation on Web sites and to collect aggregate statistical information. The CWTA's uses session cookies. 

"Persistent" cookies are more permanent bits of information that are placed on the hard drive of your computer and stay there unless you delete the cookie. Persistent cookies store information on your computer for a number of purposes, such as retrieving certain information you have previously provided (e.g., passwords), helping to determine what areas of the Web site visitors find most valuable, and customizing the Web site based on your preferences. The CWTA's website uses persistent cookies.

The CWTA does not share Personal Information obtained through cookies with any third parties. 

Most Internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies.  If you do not wish to accept cookies, you can set yours to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent.

The CWTA has no control over the content of third party websites that individuals may access through hyperlinks at our website.  We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

7. Access to Personal information

The CWTA permits the reasonable right of access and review of personal information held by us about an individual.

If an individual believes any Personal Information concerning him or her is not correct, that person may request an update of that information by sending a request to the person indicated in Section 1 of this Policy.  The CWTA reserves the right not to change any Personal Information but will append any alternative reasonable text the individual concerned believes appropriate.  An individual may also request that the CWTA delete an individual's Personal Information from the CWTA's system and records.  However, due to technical constraints and the fact that the CWTA backs up its systems, Personal Information may continue to reside in the CWTA's systems after deletion.  Individuals, therefore, should not expect that their Personal Information would be completely removed from the CWTA systems in response to an accepted request for deletion. 

The CWTA reserves the right to decline access to Personal Information where the information requested:

a) Would disclose (i) personal information, including opinions, about another individual or about a deceased individual; or (ii) trade secrets or other business confidential information that may harm the CWTA or the competitive position of a third party or interfere with contractual or other negotiations of the CWTA or a third party;

b) Is subject to solicitor-client or litigation privilege;

c) Is not readily retrievable and the burden or cost of providing would be disproportionate to the nature or value of the information;

d) Does not exist, is not held, or cannot be found by the CWTA;

e) Could reasonably result in (i) serious harm to the treatment or recovery of the individual concerned, (ii) serious emotional harm to the individual or another individual, or (iii) serious bodily harm to another individual; 

f) May harm or interfere with law enforcement activities and other investigative or regulatory functions of a body authorized by law to perform such functions; or

g) Any other grounds under applicable legislation.

Where information will not or cannot be disclosed, the individual making the request will be provided with the reasons for non-disclosure.

Where information will be disclosed, the CWTA will endeavor to provide the information in question within a reasonable time and no later than 30 days following the request. 

The CWTA will not respond to repetitious or vexatious requests for access. In determining whether a request is repetitious or vexatious, it will consider such factors as the frequency with which information is updated, the purpose for which the information is used, and the nature of the information.

To guard against fraudulent requests for access, the CWTA will require sufficient information to allow it to confirm the identity of the person making the request before granting access or making corrections.

8. Amendment of CWTA Practices and This Policy

This statement is in effect as of January 1, 2004.  The CWTA will from time to time review and revise its privacy practices and this Policy Statement.  In the event of any amendment, an appropriate notice will be communicated to Members and others in an appropriate manner.  Policy changes will apply to the information collected from the date of the revised Policy Statement as well as to existing information held by the CWTA.