Witzer Group- Privacy Policy 

This Privacy Policy has been prepared on behalf of the following Witzer Group of entities:

• Witzer Pty Ltd (ACN 661 719 526)
• Witzer Holdings Pty Ltd (ACN 661 718 761)
• Witzer Labs Pty Ltd (ACN 661 720 154)
• The Trustee for Witzer Trust (ABN 28 650 854 882)
• Witzer Ops Pty Ltd (ABN 81 661 719 553) (we, our, us, Witzer)

Witzer is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information that we hold. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and hold personal information and how to contact us if you have any queries about personal information that we hold about you.

What is personal information?

'Personal information' is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. Examples include an individual’s name, address, contact number and email address. 

‘Sensitive information’ is a special category of personal information. Sensitive information includes health information and information about an individual’s race or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, religious or philosophical beliefs. 

The kinds of personal information we collect and hold

Witzer operates an escrow and payment service designed for any contract where payment is made on completion or delivery of a product or service, particularly where payment is made via milestone payments or instalments. We collect and hold a range of personal information in carrying out our business and functions. The kinds of personal information we collect and hold about you will depend upon the nature of our relationship with you and the circumstances of a collection, including whether we collect the information from you as an employee or user of our services, or some other capacity. 

For example

• for users of our platform, we may collect your name, address, date of birth, contact phone number, email, bank account information, user generated content through the message function within the platform and any other information you provide to us when you sign up to use our platform, set up a project, manage project payments, make an inquiry, provide feedback or correspond with us; and 
• if you deal with us in some other capacity, we may collect your name and contact details and any other information you choose to provide to us. 

We may also collect details of the interactions you have with us. 

We may also collect sensitive information about you. For example, if you are involved in a project, we may collect information about whether you are a member of Master Builders or the Housing Industry Association (HIA).  We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent (unless we are otherwise required or authorised by or under law to do so). 

From time to time, you may provide us, and we may collect from you, personal information of or about a third party (for example, when a user of the platform invites another prospective user to register for an account via our website). If you provide us with personal information about another person, please make sure that you tell them about this Privacy Policy. 

If you are or become an employee of Witzer, the handling of your personal information may be exempt from the APPs if it is directly related to your current or former employment relationship with us.

How we collect personal information

We collect personal information in a variety of ways, including 

• from you directly when you register to use our Witzer platform and establish an account with us;
• when you provide us information through the Witzer platform; 
• when you interact with us in writing, electronically or by telephone; 
• when you communicate with us through our website; and
• if you are a customer of a service provider, we may collect information about you from third parties such as our service providers.  

The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information 

The primary purpose for which we collect Personal Information about you is to enable us to perform our business activities and provide our services to you. 

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for a range of purposes including to:

• provide our services to you through the Witzer platform in accordance with the Witzer platform terms and conditions; 

• respond to your enquiries about our services;
• undertake any identity or fraud checks in accordance with our legal requirements or internal processes;
• for our administrative purposes and internal record keeping; 
• provide you with customer service or technical support and deal with any complaints or feedback you have;
• perform research and analysis and improve or develop our products or services; 
• manage our relationships with our customers, suppliers, and our contracted service providers; 
• consider job applications for current and future employment; 
• conduct marketing and promotional activities; 
• manage our insurance and risks; and
• comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. 

We may use and disclose your personal information for other purposes required or authorised by or under law (including purposes for which you have provided your consent). 

If we are unable to collect personal information from or about you, we may not be able to respond to your requests or enquiries and facilitate any requests you make to use our services.

Direct marketing

We may use your personal information so we can contact you with information about our products and services, special offers, promotions and events that may be of interest to you. 

We may contact you by email, telephone or social media. You can let us know at any time if you no longer wish to receive these communications, by contacting us (using the contact details at the end of this policy) or using the unsubscribe facility in our platform or communications. 

Disclosure of personal information to third parties 

We may share your personal information within the Witzer Group for the purposes described in this Policy. 

In conducting our business, we may disclose your personal information to third parties for the purposes outlined above.  These third parties may include, where appropriate:

• financial institutions for payment processing
• our contracted service providers, including; 
  1. IT and software service providers 
  2. marketing, promotional and market research agencies; and 
  3. external business advisers (such as auditors and lawyers); and 
• in the case of a sale of our business (in whole or in part) to the purchaser (as an asset of the business) 
• for job applicants, referees whose details you provide to us.

We may also disclose your personal information to other third parties and for other purposes where we are required or authorised by or under law to do so (including where you have provided your consent). 

Witzer will not disclose your personal information to overseas recipients. 

How we hold personal information

We generally hold personal information in computer systems, including computer systems operated for us by our service providers.  We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes taking appropriate security measures to protect electronic materials and requiring our service providers to do so. 

We store electronic records within our own secure network and through third party data storage providers. Personal information within our network is encrypted  and access is appropriately limited and monitored.

Our third party data storage providers are required to protect personal information in accordance with applicable laws and take appropriate technical and organisation measures against unauthorised or unlawful use of personal information or its accidental loss, destruction or damage.

We will keep all your personal information for as long as your account remains open and until it is no longer needed, unless we are required by law to retain it.

Access to and correction of your personal information

You have a right to request access to personal information that we hold about you and request its correction if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. You may do so by contacting our Privacy Officer at the details below. 

We will respond to all requests for access to or correction of personal information within a reasonable period.

We will generally provide you with access to your personal information (subject to some exceptions permitted by law) but may charge an access fee to cover the cost of retrieving the information and supplying it to you.

Complaints

Please contact us (using the contact details at the end of this policy) if you have any concerns or complaints about the manner in which we have collected or handled your personal information. We will inquire into your complaint and respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact us to discuss your concerns or lodge a complaint with the Australian Information Commissioner by visiting www.oaic.gov.au, calling 1300 363 992 or by emailing enquiries@oaic.gov.au.

Contact details 

If you would like more information about the way we manage personal information, would like to request access to or correction of personal information that we hold about you, or wish to make a complaint, please contact us by either:

Email – privacy@witzer.com.au

Attention – Privacy Officer

Post – PO Box 12468, George Street, Qld 4003

Telephone – 07 2112 8470

Changes to our privacy policy

From time to time, it may be necessary for us to review and revise our Privacy Policy. We may notify you about changes to this Privacy Policy by posting an updated version on our website . We encourage you to check our website from time to time to ensure you are familiar with our latest Privacy Policy.

Our Privacy Policy was last updated in March 2024.