PRIVACY POLICY
At City Fertility, our primary focus is providing you with specialty treatment and healthcare of the highest quality. This requires a relationship of trust and confidentiality – one where we treat your personal health information appropriately and respect your privacy.
As such, we will handle your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and in compliance with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).
Our fertility specialists, nurses, scientists, counsellors and administration staff work together to provide our fertility services. They may need access to your personal health information to make sure we provide the most appropriate care.
You are entitled to know what personal information is held about you, how you can access it, why it is held, to whom we may disclose it, and when we need your consent to do this. This policy explains all these details. You can discuss any issue relating to the privacy of your information with your fertility specialist or any staff member, at any time. Your personal information may also be used internally for the administrative, marketing, planning, product or service development, quality control and research purposes of City Fertility and its related bodies corporate.
This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected by us. We are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), which governs the way private sector organisations collect, use, keep secure and disclose personal information. Your personal information will be handled by CF in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under that Act as well as applicable State and Territory Legislation to protect, properly use, correct and destroy (or de-identify) records containing personal information.
If you have any concerns about the manner in which your personal information has been collected, used or disclosed by us, we have put in place an effective mechanism and procedure for you to contact us so that we can attempt to resolve the issue. We can be e-mailed within Australia at contactus@cityfertility.com.au or write to us at Suite 205, 33 Longland Street, Newstead, 4006. International enquiries can contact us at enquiries@cityfertility.com.au and our privacy officer will then attempt to resolve the issue.
In this Privacy Policy, the expressions “City Fertility”, “CF”, “we”, “us” and “our” are a reference to CHA SMG Australia Holding Pty Ltd (ACN 624 086 371) and its Related Corporate Entities / Related Bodies Corporate (as defined by s9 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)). This includes the entities: First Step Fertility, Rainbow Fertility, Chill Egg Freeze, Addam Donor Bank, Eeve Donor Bank, Sperm Donor’s Australia, Egg Donor’s Australia and City Health.
We recommend that you keep this information for future reference.
1. What is personal information?
The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) defines “personal information” to mean information or an opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, from the information or opinion.
2. Sensitive Information
What is Sensitive Information?
(a) Sensitive information is a subset of personal information. It means information or opinion about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political organisation, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record, health information about an individual, genetic information, biometric information that is to be used for the purpose of automated biometric verification or biometric identification or biometric templates.
(b) In general, we attempt to limit the collection of sensitive information we may collect from you but given the nature of the fertility and reproductive services that we offer this may not always be possible and it is likely that we will be required to collect sensitive information from you in order for us to carry out the services provided to you. However, we do not collect sensitive information from you without your consent, nor do we collect sensitive information that is not required for the services we offer.
(c) The type of sensitive information we may collect from you or record about you is dependent on the services provided to you by CF and will be limited to the purpose(s) for which it is collected. We have set out some of the instances in which we collect sensitive information from you in the table in Section 3. We do not use sensitive information to send you Direct Marketing Communications (as defined in Section 9 below) without your express consent.
2.1 Consent
The particular categories of sensitive information may be collected by us, and you consent and agree to the collection of such information:
(a) the criminal record of an individual;
(b) religion or religious beliefs;
(c) racial or ethnic information of an individual;
(d) the sexual orientation, practices or history of an individual; and
(e) the health or medical information of an individual, including but not limited to genetic information regarding an individual, but only to the extent that where you volunteer such information or if it is necessary for, or incidental to, the purposes of collection set out in Section 3.
You give us your informed consent that we may share the sensitive information we collect in accordance with this Section 2.1 with any entity listed in this Policy and any of our other Related Bodies Corporate (as defined by s9 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)).
3. The kinds of information collected, used and disclosed by City Fertility
3.1 We will only use or disclose your personal information for the primary purposes for which it was collected or as consented by you. At or around the time we collect personal information from you, we will endeavour to provide you with a notice which details how we will use and disclose that specific information. We set out some common collection, use and disclosure instances in the table below.
| Purpose | Type of Information | Uses – types of uses we will make of personal information | Disclosures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enquiries |
Contact information: Such as your name, email address, current postal and residential addresses and phone numbers. Demographic information: Such as your date of birth, gender, age, and location. Medical information: Information regarding your health (including but not limited to whether you smoke and consume alcohol), medical information or any related sensitive personal information that may be required for you to be provided the services we offer, including but not limited to the types of information outlined in section 2.1 Customer Service: Which includes:
|
Services: the provision of our services to you, including:
Marketing: using your personal information for the purposes set out in “Marketing Services” section of this table below (excluding in relation to any sensitive information you have provided to us, which we will not use for marketing purposes, unless you have provided your express consent as per Section 8). |
General administrative and security use:
|
| Marketing Services |
Contact information: Such as your name, email address, current postal and residential addresses and phone numbers. |
General marketing and consumer analytics: using your personal information:
|
General administrative and security use:
|
4. Collection and storage of your personal information
4.1 We only collect personal information that is necessary for what we do. As much as possible or unless provided otherwise under this Privacy Policy, we will collect your information directly from you. If we collect details about you from someone else, we will, whenever reasonably possible, make you aware that we have done this and why.
4.2 Before we are able to provide you with any services as a patient of CF, you must provide certain personal information so that we may allocate you with a unique identification number.
4.3 When you engage in certain activities, such as entering a promotion, filling out a survey or sending us feedback, we may ask you to provide certain information. It is completely optional for you to engage in these activities.
4.4 Depending upon the reason for requiring the information, some of the information we ask you to provide may be identified as mandatory or voluntary. If you do not provide the mandatory data or any other information we require in order for us to provide our services to you, we may be unable to effectively provide our services to you.
4.5 In the event we collect details about you from someone else, we will, whenever reasonably possible, make you aware that we have done this and why unless:
(a) information is collected from any personal referee you have listed on any application form (including any employment application) with us;
(b) information is collected from publicly available sources including, but not limited to court judgments, directorship and bankruptcy searches, social media platforms (such as Facebook Twitter, Google, Instagram etc.); or
(c) as otherwise required or authorised by law.
4.6 In the event we collect personal information from you, or a third party, in circumstances where we have not requested or solicited that information (known as unsolicited information), and it is determined by CF (in its absolute discretion) that the personal information is not required, we will destroy the information or ensure that the information is de-identified.
4.7 Once we collect your information, we will either hold it securely and store it on infrastructure owned or controlled by us or with a third-party service provider. We provide some more general information on our security measures in Section 12 (Data security and quality).
5. Using Our Website and/or App
5.1 If you use our website and/or app, we may utilise ‘cookies’ or other data collection technologies such as ‘web beacons (also calls pixel tags or clear gifs), tracking URLs or software development kits (SDKs) to enable us to monitor traffic patterns, monitor app usage and engagement and to serve you more efficiently if you revisit a CF website and or app. In most cases, a cookie or these other technologies does not identify you personally but may identify your internet service provider, computer or device. For simplicity, we will refer to the technologies listed above as ‘cookies’.
5.2 However, in some cases, cookies may collect and store personal information about you. CF extends the same privacy protection to your personal information, whether gathered via cookies or from other sources, as detailed in this Privacy Policy. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie and this will provide you with an opportunity to either accept or reject it in each instance. However, if you disable cookies, you may not be able to access certain areas of our web sites and/or app or take advantage of the improved web site and/or app experience that cookies offer.
5.3 We also use permanent cookies and/or other technologies and analytics tools to enable basic app usage and engagement analysis and/or web traffic analysis using Google Analytics which, for example, shows us which areas of our website and/or app are popular against those that are not visited often. This allows us to prioritise our enhancements to our website and/or app and increase the productivity and the engagement of our website and/or app. We also use remarketing with Facebook, Google and other advertising tools to display content specific advertisements to users that have previously interacted with our advertisements.
5.4 We undertake the following Google features on our Website and/or App: Google Analytics (including features such as Remarketing with Google Analytics, Google Display Network Impression Reporting and Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting), Google Ads (including features such as remarketing, affinity audiences, custom affinity audiences, inmarket audiences, similar audiences and demographic and location targeting), Remarketing with Google Analytics, Google Display Network Impression Reporting, Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting, Integrated services that require Google Analytics to collect data via advertising cookies and anonymous identifiers, and Double Click.
5.5 We undertake the following app store features on our Website and/or App: App Analytics, Apple Search Ads and Google Play Ads.
5.6 As a visitor to our Website and/or user of our App, you can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ads Settings and you can opt out of Google’s DoubleClick’s use of cookies by visiting the DoubleClick opt-out page. Alternatively, you can opt out of a third-party vendor’s use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page and by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance Consumer Choice opt out page.
5.7 We may gather your IP address, device ID and type, device-specific and apps settings and characteristics, app crashes, model and OS version, IP address, advertising IDs, browser type, version and language, operating system, time zones, identifiers associated with cookies or other technologies that may uniquely identify your device or browser as part of our business or marketing activities and to assist with any operational difficulties or support issues with our services. In most cases, this information does not identify you personally.
5.8 If you give us permission, we may collect your geolocation. The collection of your geolocation may occur in the background even when you aren’t using the services if the permission you gave us expressly permits such collection. If you decline permission for us to collect your geolocation, we will not collect it. Similarly, if you consent, we may collect your photos.
6. Third party chat and messaging services
6.1 When you make an enquiry with us, we may use third party chat and messaging services to communicate with you. These services such as Zoho Customer live chat may collect information about your IP address, activity and usage statistics, and other information that you share (including your current location) while using those platforms. This information is not collected by us.
6.2 The contents of your messages to us will be handled by the messaging apps as per their Privacy Policy, which currently states that information that you include in your enquiry with us will not be retained on the messaging apps servers (unless there is an issue with transmission of your message, in which case your message may be held on Zoho servers within Australia for up to 30 days).
7. Third party software services
7.1 When you make an enquiry with us, we may use third party software services to assist us in providing our products and services to you, and those services such as telehealth software, mobile applications, ZOHO customer and relationship chat and messaging services, and general online software/web services may collect information about your computer and/or device, activity and usage statistics, and other information that you share (including your current location) while using those platforms. This information is not collected by us.
7.2 The information that is collected by these third-party software providers will be handled in accordance to their Privacy Policy.
8. How we may use and disclose your personal information
8.1 We will only use or disclose your personal information for the primary purposes for which it was collected or as consented to and/or as provided in our detailed list at Section 3 of some common uses and disclosures we make regarding the personal information we collect.
8.2 We may also use or disclose your personal information and in doing so we are not required to seek your additional consent:
(a) when it is disclosed or used for a purpose related to the primary purposes of collection detailed above and you would reasonably expect your personal information to be used or disclosed for such a purpose;
(b) if we reasonably believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious or imminent threat to an individual’s life, health or safety or to lessen or prevent a threat to public health or safety;
(c) if we have reason to suspect that unlawful activity has been, or is being, engaged in; or
(d) if it is required or authorised by law.
8.3 In the event we propose to use or disclose such personal information other than for reasons in 8.1 and 8.2 above or as otherwise outlined in this Privacy Policy, we will first notify you or seek your consent before such disclosure or use.
8.4 If you have received communications from us and you no longer wish to receive those sorts of communications, you should contact us within Australia by e-mail at contactus@cityfertility.com.au or write to us at Suite 205, 33 Longland Street, Newstead, 4006. International enquiries can contact us at enquiries@cityfertility.com.au and we will ensure the relevant communication ceases. Any other use or disclosure we make of your personal information will only be as required by law or as permitted by the Privacy Act 1988 or by this Privacy Policy or otherwise with your consent.
9. The types of organisations to which we may disclose your personal information
9.1 We may disclose your personal information to organisations outside of CF. Examples of organisations and parties that your personal information may be provided to are outlined in Section 3.
9.2 Your personal information is disclosed to these organisations and parties only in relation to the goods or services we provide to you or for a purpose permitted by this Privacy Policy.
9.3 You give your express and informed consent and acknowledgement that these organisations and parties may not be aware of the provisions of this Privacy Policy in relation to your personal information.
10. Direct Marketing
10.1 You give your express and informed consent to us using your personal information set out in:
(a) the ‘Enquiries’ section of the table at Section 3 of this document above; and
(b) the Marketing Services’ section of the table at Section 3 of this document above;
to provide you with information and to tell you about our products, services or events or any other direct marketing activity (including third party products, services, and events) which we consider may be of interest to you, whether by post, email, newsletter, SMS, messaging applications and telephone (Direct Marketing Communications).
10.2 Without limitation of clause 8.1, if it is within your reasonable expectations that we send you Direct Marketing Communications given the transaction or communication you have had with us, then we may also use your personal information (but not your sensitive information) for the purpose of sending you Direct Marketing Communications which we consider may be of interest to you.
10.3 If at any time you do not wish to receive any further Direct Marketing Communications from us, you may ask us not to send you any further information about products and services. You may do this at any time by using the ‘unsubscribe’ facility included in the email or by contacting us at contactus@cityfertility.com.au or write to us at Suite 205, 33 Longland Street, Newstead, 4006. International enquiries can contact us at enquiries@cityfertility.com.au
11. Cross Border Disclosure
11.1 Any personal information provided to us may be transferred to and stored at destinations outside of Australia. Those destinations include (but are not limited to) the United States of America, European Economic Area, Korea & Singapore where we may utilise overseas data and website hosting facilities or have entered into contractual arrangements with third party service providers to assist CF with providing our goods and services to you. Personal information may also be processed by staff or by other third parties operating outside Australia who work for us or for one of our suppliers, agents, partners or related companies.
11.2 One of CF’s third-party service providers who assists with the live chat function on the CF website is required to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (including implemented Binding Corporate Rules), and the EU-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield Frameworks.
11.3 We will, to the extent operationally and technologically possible, retain effective control over any personal information which is used by any organisation located overseas. Where CF retains effective control of the personal information, there will not be any cross border disclosure within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988.
11.4 By submitting your personal information to CF, you expressly agree and consent to the disclosure, transfer, storing or processing of your personal information outside of Australia. In providing this consent, you understand and acknowledge that countries outside Australia do not always have the same privacy protection obligations as Australia in relation to personal information. However, we will take steps to ensure that your information is used by third parties securely and in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.
11.5 The Privacy Act 1988 requires us to take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that any recipients of your personal information outside of Australia do not breach the privacy principles contained within the Privacy Act 1988. By providing your consent, under the Privacy Act 1988, we are not required to take such steps as may be reasonable in the circumstances. We will also not be accountable nor will you be able to seek redress under the Privacy Act 1988 if the overseas recipient breaches any provisions of the Privacy Act 1988.
11.6 If you do not agree to the transfer of your personal information outside Australia, please contact us by email at contactus@cityfertility.com.au or write to us at Suite 205, 33 Longland Street, Newstead, 4006. International enquiries can contact us at enquiries@cityfertility.com.au
12. Anonymity and pseudo-anonymity
12.1 Due to the personal nature of the products and services that we provide, it is only practicable or reasonable for us to transact and correspond with you on a named basis and your personal information may be required in order to provide you with our products and services or to resolve any issue you may have.
12.2 However, if you are a donor we will not provide your personal details to our patients or any resulting child until such time as the child reaches the age of 18 years.
13. Data Quality and Security
13.1 We have taken steps to help ensure your personal information is safe. You will appreciate, however, that we cannot guarantee the security of all transmissions or personal information, especially where human error is involved or malicious activity by a third party.
13.2 Notwithstanding the above, we will take reasonable steps to:
(a) make sure that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up to date;
(b) protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure both physically and through computer security methods;
(c) destroy or permanently de-identify personal information if it is no longer needed for its purpose of collection; and
(d) comply with all obligations imposed on us in the event of an eligible data breach (as defined in the Privacy Act 1988).
13.3 However, the accuracy of personal information depends largely on the information you provide to us, so we recommend that you:
(a) let us know if there are any errors in your personal information; and
(b) keep us up-to-date with changes to your personal information (such as your name or address).
14. Access to and correction of your personal information
14.1 You are entitled to have access to any personal information relating to you which we possess, except in some exceptional circumstances provided by law. You are entitled to edit or delete such information unless we are required by law to retain it or permitted to retain it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. However, we may keep track of past transactions for our accounting and audit requirements. Furthermore, it may be impossible to completely delete your information because some information may remain as copies in our backups.
14.2 If you would like to access, delete, or correct any records of personal information we have about you, you are able to access, update and delete that information (subject to the above) by contacting us at contactus@cityfertility.com.au or write to us at Suite 205, 33 Longland Street, Newstead, 4006. International enquiries can contact us at enquiries@cityfertility.com.au. We reserve the right to charge a fee for searching for and providing access to your information.
15. Access to Medical Records
15.1 If you would like access to your medical records or results, you are able to do so by completing a consent form to release medical information. All requests for medical records should be made directly to your treating specialist.
15.2 We will comply with our internal Patient Privacy & Confidentiality and Release of Medical Records Procedures in relation to any access to or release of medical records.
15.3 If another person/professional body seeks access to your medical records, that person must have the legal authority to do so. Under the Privacy Act 1988, the only circumstances where your medical record or information can be provided by CF to a person other than you is if:
(a) there is a serious risk to you or another person;
(b) for reason of significant public interest;
(c) when disclosure is required under the law
16. Complaints
16.1 We have put in place an effective mechanism and procedure to resolve privacy complaints.
16.2 We will ensure that all complaints are dealt with in a reasonably appropriate timeframe so that any decision (if a decision is required to be made) is made expeditiously and in a manner that does not compromise the integrity or quality of any such decision.
16.3 If you have any concerns or complaints about the manner in which we have collected, used or disclosed and stored your personal (and sensitive) information please email us at contactus@cityfertility.com.au or write to us at Suite 205, 33 Longland Street, Newstead, 4006. International enquiries can contact us at enquiries@cityfertility.com.au. Please mark your correspondence to the attention of the privacy officer.
16.4 In order to resolve a complaint, we:
(a) will liaise with you to identify and define the nature and cause of the complaint;
(b) may request that you provide the details of the complaint in writing;
(c) will keep you informed of the likely time within which we will respond to your complaint; and
(d) will inform you of the legislative basis (if any) of our decision in resolving such complaint.
(e) will maintain a register of complaints.
16.5 If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). You can contact the OAIC at:
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 1300 363 992
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Website: www.oaic.gov.au
16.6 For health service complaints, you may also contact your State or Territory Health Complaints Commissioner:
Queensland:
Office of the Health Ombudsman
Call: 133 646
Email: complaints@oho.qld.gov.au
New South Wales:
Health Care Complaints Commission
Level 13, 323 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Locked Mail Bag 18, STRAWBERRY HILLS NSW 2012
T: (02) 9219 7444
Website: www.hccc.nsw.gov.au
Victoria:
Office of the Health Services Commissioner
Level 30 570 Bourke Street Melbourne VIC 3000
T: (03) 8601 5200
Website: www.health.vic.gov.au/hsc/
Western Australia:
Health and Disability Services Complaints Office (HaDSCO)
Website: https://www.hadsco.wa.gov.au/home/
Complaints and enquiries line: (08) 6551 7600
Free call from landlines: 1800 813 583
Phone: (08) 6551 7620 (Administration)
Email: mail@hadsco.wa.gov.au
17. Consent
17.1 By using our website, purchasing a product or service or by accepting the terms of one of our terms and conditions which refer to this Privacy Policy, you are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
17.2 We may make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time without notice to you. Our Privacy Policy is available at any time on our website. If you do not agree to our continued use of your personal information due to the changes in our Privacy Policy, please contact us at contactus@cityfertility.com.au or write to us at Suite 205, 33 Longland Street, Newstead, 4006. International enquiries can contact us at enquiries@cityfertility.com.au
17.3 This Privacy Policy is a compliance document prescribed by law rather than a legal contract between two or more persons. However, certain contracts may incorporate all, or part, of this Privacy Policy into the terms of that contract. In such instances, CF may incorporate the terms of this policy such that:
(a) certain sections or paragraphs in this policy are incorporated into that contract, but in such a way that they do not give rise to contractual obligations on to CF, but do create contractual obligations on the other party to the contract; and
(b) the consents provided in this policy become contractual terms provided by the other party to the contract.
