Community Law Otago – Free Legal Advice

Our Privacy Statement

Community Law Otago may collect your personal information. We handle all personal information with care and respect, and in compliance with the Privacy Act 2020 and any other applicable law. If there has been a privacy breach that poses a risk of serious harm we are required by law to notify the Privacy Commissioner and affected parties. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us.

What personal information do we collect?

We only collect what we need in order to carry out a lawful function. Personal information includes your name, address, contacts, documents, personal statements, complaints, and personal records. It also includes information created in carrying out our job for example letters, emails, meeting notes, and file notes. We ensure all personal information is accurate and not misleading. You choose to volunteer your personal information to us. You may refuse to do so, but, we may not be able to help you in that case.

How to we collect personal information?

We collect personal information only in a manner permitted by law. Most of the personal information we collect is provided directly by you, or collected from another source with your written
consent.

How do we use personal information?

We only use and share your personal information for the purpose we collected it for, or as permitted or required by law. We use anonymised statistics for reporting (statistics does not identify individuals). It helps us collect funding and supports submissions where we believe laws require change. Please be aware that we may share personal information with the Police or another agency if the law requires us. For example where there is a serious threat to health or safety of anyone including yourself.

How do we store personal information?

We use external providers (who we are confident meets New Zealand privacy requirements) to store and process our data. We store most of the personal information we collect and generate electronically on a local and cloud based server as well as Microsoft Office 365 for our email. Some paper records are stored at an approved secure off-site facility. We take all reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we collect is protected against loss, unauthorised access and disclosure or any other misuse. We keep any personal information only as long as necessary or as required by law.

How can you request access to your personal information?

You have a right to request access / correction of personal information. You can make request to us in any form as long as we can establish your identity. We will process your request within 20 working days. Be aware there are some laws that prevent us from disclosing certain information. Where a correction of personal information has been refused, you have a right to ask for your records to show that you asked for a correction.

Please contact us if you have any questions