WEST FRASER TIMBER CO. LTD.
WEBSITE PRIVACY POLICY
LAST MODIFIED: April 12, 2018
This privacy policy (this “Policy”) describes West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.’s (“we”, “us”, “our”, “WF”) practices with respect to the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information we collect from users of our website. This Policy is incorporated by reference to the Terms of Use, and forms an integral part of it. Any capitalized term used but not defined in this Policy will have the meaning defined in the Terms of Use.
We may modify this Policy from time to time. When we post changes to this Policy, we will revise the “last modified” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to be informed of how we collect, use, protect and disclose your information. By accessing and/or using any our website, you signify your understanding of, and agreement with, this Policy. If you do not agree with our policies, please do not access our website.
Introduction
We respect and uphold individual rights to privacy and the protection of personal information. We know how important it is to protect your personal information and want to make every user’s experience safe and secure. In keeping with that goal, we have developed this Policy to explain our practices for the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information.
The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada), or similar privacy legislation applicable in your Province if you live in Canada (“Applicable Privacy Legislation”) regulates the way private sector organizations operating in Canada may collect, use, keep, secure and disclose personal information. “Personal information” means information about an identifiable individual, including, for example, an individual’s name, home address, telephone number, social insurance number, sex, income and family status. Personal information does not include information that would enable an individual to be contacted at a place of business, for example an employee’s name, position or title, business telephone number, or business address. We will only collect, use or disclose personal information in accordance with Applicable Privacy Legislation.
As required by Applicable Privacy Legislation, we have appointed a Privacy Officer who is responsible for compliance with this Privacy Policy and Applicable Privacy Legislation. Information on how to contact the Privacy Officer can be found below.
Policy
1. Collection and Use of Personal Information
We collect two types of information through our website: personal information and non- personal information. The types of information we collect depend on the nature of your interaction with us.
(a) Personal information—We may collect personal information such as:
(i) your contact information – e.g., name, postal address, telephone number, and email address;
(ii) your personal preferences – e.g., language preferences; and
(iii) your IP address,
(b) Non-personal information—Non-personal information does not identify you as an individual. For example:
(i) we may collect certain non-personal data when you visit our website, such as the type of browser you are using or the referring URL; or
(ii) we may collect and summarize visitor information in a non-personal, aggregate format for statistical and research purposes.
In most cases, you may choose not to provide us with your personal information. However, if you make this choice we may not be able to provide you with the information that you requested or the website may not be fully functional. Certain types of personal information, such as your IP address, will be collected automatically when you access the website.
2. Use of Personal Information
We may use your personal information for a number of different business purposes, for example to:
(a) administer and fulfill your specific requests for information;
(b) allow us to communicate with you and authenticate your identity;
(c) provide support to assist you with your questions or complaints;
(d) conduct surveys in order to improve our services;
(e) measure and improve the effectiveness of our website or our marketing endeavours;
(f) detect and protect against fraud and error;
(g) to allow certain of our affiliates, third party service providers, partners and licensors to help us provide our services to you; and
(h) for other purposes as described in this Policy.
We limit the personal information we collect and use to that which is necessary to fulfill the purposes identified above. Except as set out in this Policy, we will not collect, sell, distribute or use personal information for any other purposes without your further consent, as required by law or as authorized by Applicable Privacy Legislation.
3. Your Consent
We will collect, use, or disclose your personal information only with your knowledge and consent, except where required or permitted by Applicable Privacy Legislation. When you choose to provide us with your personal information you consent to the use of your personal information as identified in this Policy and as may be further identified at the time of collection.
(a) Express Consent—Sometimes you will be asked to give your express consent, such as by checking a box to indicate your consent to receive marketing communications.
(b) Implied Consent—Other times, we may obtain your consent implicitly when we can reasonably conclude that you have given consent by some action you have taken or an action you have decided not to take. Generally, this occurs where the purpose for use of your personal information would be reasonably apparent to you, such as when contacting us through a form and using your personal information as a means to identify and respond to you.
(c) Withdrawal of Consent—You may notify us at any time that you wish to withdraw or change your consent to our use and disclosure or your information. We will accommodate your request subject to legal and contractual restrictions related to your transactions. If you have “opted in” or subscribed to one of our publications, newsletters, mailing lists, or similar materials, we will always provide you the opportunity to "opt out" or unsubscribe.
4. Information We may Collect Directly from You
Listed here are some further examples of the ways that we collect personal information directly from you and how we use it.
(a) Website Use — While much of our Website can be used anonymously, in most cases (for example, to engage in most features or functions of our website) you may be asked to provide certain personal information, such as your first name, last name, e-mail address, postal address. Basically, this is the information we need to offer you further service through our website. We use this information to contact and correspond with you to respond to your inquiries and monitor functions of our website that you choose to use.
(b) Sign-Up for Newsletters or Updates—We also offer you the opportunity to sign up to receive newsletters, updates or similar communications from us from time to time. Should you choose to enrol we will collect your contact information, such as name and email address. This information will only be used to send you such communications that you have requested. You may “unsubscribe” at any time as directed in such communications. We may offer you the ability to sign up for third parties’ newsletters, updates or similar communications; the privacy policies of those parties will be provided to you at such time and their use of your personal information will be subject to those terms and conditions.
(c) From time to time, we may run contests or promotions. If you participate, you may be asked for contact information as well as additional optional survey information (for example, product preferences). Personal information from contest entries will be used only to administer the contest and contact you if you win. For research and analysis purposes, we may also summarize contest survey information in a manner that no longer identifies individual participants. All contests and promotions are subject to this Policy and the rules that will be available with each particular campaign. Some contests may be conducted by third parties and will be subject to the third party’s policies.
(d) If you access any feature of our website that connects to your social media accounts (collectively, “Social Media”), WF may receive information about your Social Media site profile, including without limitation your first, last and user names, and Social Media site profile ID and icon, in accordance with the terms of such Social Media site. We may record information regarding the use of that Social Media connection, and we may collect other information that is visible on your Social Media page in accordance with the relevant terms of use associated with that social networking site.
5. Information We Collect Automatically
In some cases, we automatically collect certain information.
(a) Our Web Sites—When using our website, we may collect the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer, the IP address of your Internet Service Provider, the date and time you access our website, the Internet address of the website, if any, from which you linked directly to our website, the operating system or other system characteristics of the computing device you are using, the portions of the website you visit, read or view, and the content you download from the website. This information is used for website and system administration purposes, and to improve the website, and to provide our services to you.
(b) Cookies—The website may use “cookies”, a technology that installs a small amount of information on a user’s computer to permit the website to recognize future visits using that computer and to track your use of our website. Cookies enhance the convenience and use of the website. For example, the information provided through cookies is used to recognize you as a previous user of the website, to offer personalized content and information for your use, to track your activity at the website, to respond to your needs, and to otherwise facilitate your experience. You may choose to decline cookies from website if your browser permits, but doing so may affect your use of the website and your ability to access certain features of the website or engage in transactions through the website.
(c) Web Site Tracking Information—With respect to our websites, we may use web beacons or pixel tags to compile tracking information reports regarding user demographics, traffic patterns, and purchases. We may use a third party to conduct these functions (such as the “Google Analytics” offering). Once gathered, we use such reports internally, but may share them with contractors and other personnel for our internal business purposes. None of the tracking information in these reports can be connected to the identities or other personal information of individual users. For our own research purposes, we may link tracking information with personal information voluntarily provided by website users. Once such a link is made, all of the linked information is treated as personal information and will be used and disclosed only in accordance with this Policy.
(d) Other Information Collected Automatically—We may receive a confirmation when you open e-mail from us, if your computer supports such capabilities. The browser or client software that you use to access website may transmit certain geographic information and information regarding the capabilities or features of your computer or software to us.
(e) Supplementing Information—From time to time we may supplement information you give us with information from other sources, such as information validating your address or other available information you have provided us. This is to help us maintain the accuracy of the information we collect and to help us provide better service.
6. Storage of Your Information
WF may process and store your information in Canada, the United States and elsewhere, and therefore Canadian, United States or foreign governments, courts, or law enforcement or regulatory agencies may be able to obtain disclosure of your information through local, foreign or international laws. By consenting to the information practices set out in this Policy, you specifically consent to your information being processed and stored in Canada, the United States or elsewhere in the world. Without limiting our obligations under Section 9 below, please note that the website necessarily involves the use of the Internet and other public and private networks, all of which are outside of WF’s control. Transmissions over the Internet or such networks may be intercepted by other parties or stored, cached, routed, transmitted or received in jurisdictions outside of Canada or the United States. Data, messages, information or materials sent over the Internet or such networks may not be completely private, and your anonymity on the Internet is never guaranteed. As we ourselves will be careful with your information, we ask that you also please be careful with the information you provide through website (for example, by limiting the public display of personally identifiable information, by limiting the transmission to us of your personal information, and similar measures).
7. Disclosure and Sharing of Your Information
We do not sell or license your personal information to any other party. However, in the normal course of business we may share some of your personal information with our affiliates and partners, and with third parties acting on our behalf or as permitted or required by Applicable Privacy Legislation.
(a) Service Providers — We may use third party service providers (for example, web hosting providers and/or payment processers) to manage one of more aspects of our business operations, including the processing or handing of personal information. When we do use an outside company, we use contractual or other appropriate means to ensure that your personal information is used in a manner that is consistent with this Policy. Some of these operations may result in personal information collected by us being stored or processed in the Canada, China, and United States and, as a result, your personal information may be accessible to law enforcement and regulatory authorities in accordance with the USA PATRIOT Act and other applicable laws of the United States, as well as Canadian and Chinese laws.
(b) Information Shared Amongst Our Affiliates, Subsidiaries and Divisions — We may share personal information gathered on our website with and amongst our corporate subsidiaries, affiliates or divisions for internal business purposes in accordance with this Policy. If we do, we will ensure that your information continues to be used only in accordance with this Policy and your expressed choices.
(c) Business Transfers—As we continue to grow, we might sell or buy certain subsidiaries and/or business units. In such transactions, customer information is generally one of the transferred assets, but would remain subject to the protections described in this Policy (unless you consent otherwise). Also, in the unlikely event that we (or substantially all of our assets) are acquired by another party, customer information would in most cases be one of the transferred assets. Any such transfers will be in accordance with applicable laws.
(d) Legal Disclosure—We may disclose your information as permitted or required by law. For example, we may be compelled to release information by a court of law or other person or entity with jurisdiction to compel production of such information. If we have reasonable grounds to believe information could be useful in the investigation of improper or unlawful activity, we may disclose information to law enforcement agencies or other appropriate investigative bodies.
(e) Protection of Us or Others—We may disclose your information if there is a violation of the any agreements between us and you (such as, without limitation, any Terms of Use); if we have a good faith belief that the law requires or authorizes it; or if needed to protect the rights, property or safety of us, our customers or others. This includes exchanging information with entities for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
8. Security of Personal Information
The security of your personal information is a high priority for us. We maintain appropriate safeguards and current security standards to protect your personal information, whether recorded on paper or captured electronically, against unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse. We ensure our employees are trained on the importance of maintaining the security and confidentiality of personal information. Reasonably secure methods are used whenever we destroy personal information.
(a) Our website may operate or link to forums, message boards or chat areas where users can exchange ideas and communicate with each other. When posting to a message board or chat area, the information is being made publicly available in an online environment. Any information posted is the sole responsibility of the individual user.
(b) Links to Other websites—Our website may contain links to other websites, products, services, offerings or Internet resources which are provided solely for your convenience and information. When you follow one of those external links, you are contacting another resource. We have no responsibility or liability for, or control over, those other resources or their collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of those other offerings to learn how they collect and use your personal information.
(c) Limitations— Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or data storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Please do not send us sensitive information through email or through the forms on our website. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, you must immediately notify us of the problem by contacting us as described in this Policy. If you choose to notify us by physical mail this will delay the time it takes for us to respond to the problem.
9. Requests for Access to and Correction of Personal Information
Applicable Privacy Legislation allows any individual the right to access and/or request the correction of errors or omissions in his or her personal information that is in our custody or under our control. Our Privacy Officer will assist the individual with the access request. This includes:
(a) identification of personal information under our custody or control;
(b) information about how personal information under our control may be or has been used by us; and
(c) the names of any individuals and organizations to which the individual’s personal information has been disclosed.
We will respond to requests within the time allowed by Applicable Privacy Legislation and will make every effort to respond as accurately and completely as possible. Any corrections made to personal information will be promptly sent to any organization it was disclosed to.
In certain exceptional circumstances, we may not be able to provide access to certain personal information we holds about an individual. If access cannot be provided, we will notify the individual making the request within 30 days, in writing, of the reasons for the refusal.
10. Removal of Your Information
We keep your information only as long as we need it for legitimate business purposes and to meet any legal requirements. Personal information used to make a decision that directly affects an individual will be kept for at least one year after such a decision. We have retention standards that meet these parameters. We destroy your information when it is no longer needed or required to be kept, or we remove your personally identifiable information to render it anonymous.
11. Concerns or Questions regarding our Compliance
To update or change personal information about you in our databases or to request that we edit or delete your personal information, please contact us by email, telephone, or postal mail as listed below to the attention of WF’s Privacy Officer:
Attention : Privacy Officer
Stewart Laing
501 - 858 Beatty Street
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6B 1C1
Tel: 604-895-2700
Fax: 604-681-6061
E: [email protected]