Privacy statement

NZAPI is committed to protecting the privacy of members’ personal information and developing technology that gives users of the website and digital tools the most powerful and safest online experience.

This policy applies to the NZAPI website, registration process and digital tools and governs data collection and usage. 

Privacy obligations relating to Employees are addressed separately within NZAPI’s internal policies. 

By using the NZAPI website and tools and providing NZAPI with personal information, users consent to NZAPI using, storing, and disclosing it for the purposes described in this policy.

Personal information: Personal information is any information which tells us something about a specific individual. The information does not need to name the individual, as long as they are identifiable in other ways, such as through their home address.

The Privacy Act is concerned with the content of personal information, rather than the specific form that the content is in. This means that all sorts of things can contain personal information, including notes, emails, recordings, photos, videos and scans, whether they are in hard copy or electronic form.

Unique Identifiers: Individual numbers, references, or other forms of identification allocated to people by organisations as a way to uniquely identify the person to the organisation assigning the identifier. Examples include drivers’ licence numbers, passport numbers, IRD numbers, or National Health Index (NHI) numbers.

NZAPI collects, securely stores and uses personal information to operate the NZAPI website and deliver the services as requested. NZAPI also collects personal information so that it can inform users of other products and services available from NZAPI and approved affiliates, and to contact users via surveys to conduct research about opinions on current services and/or of potential new services that may be offered.

The information collected by NZAPI will depend on the products, services or information users ask to be provided with, and the nature of the dealings they have with NZAPI. This will include (but is not limited to) information to confirm identity and contact details such as email, names, home or work addresses and phone numbers. 

NZAPI also collects anonymous demographic information, which is not unique to users, such as postcodes, age, gender, preferences, interests and favourites (from movement around the website and tools). NZAPI keeps track of the websites and pages that users visit within its websites, in order to determine what NZAPI services are most popular. This data is used to deliver customised content and advertising within NZAPI to users whose behaviour indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.

NZAPI will collect information in a number of ways including but not limited to:

Where possible, NZAPI collects information directly from the person the information is about. However, in certain circumstances, NZAPI may collect from other sources, such as where: 

Information is automatically collected about the user’s computer hardware and software. This information can include IP addresses, browser type, domain names, access times, and referring website addresses. This information is used by NZAPI for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding the use of the NZAPI website and digital tools.

Users of the website and digital tools should keep in mind that if personal information or personally sensitive data is directly disclosed through NZAPI public message boards, this information may be collected and used by others, out of the control of NZAPI. However, NZAPI does not read any online private communications.

NZAPI encourages users of the website and digital tools to review the privacy statements of all websites they choose to connect to from the NZAPI website, to understand how those particular websites collect, use, and share user information. NZAPI is not responsible for the privacy policies of websites outside of the NZAPI family of websites. 

NZAPI will only use a user’s personal information for the purpose for which it was collected unless NZAPI reasonably believes that: 

NZAPI will only disclose a user’s personal information in the permitted limited and clearly defined circumstances set out in the Privacy Act 2020. For example, NZAPI can disclose information if it reasonably believes that: 

NZAPI may share data with trusted partners to help us perform statistical analysis, send emails or postal mail, provide support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third parties are prohibited from using personal information except to provide these services to NZAPI, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of that information.

NZAPI does not sell, rent or lease its user lists to third parties. NZAPI may, from time to time, contact users on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest. In those cases, personal information (email, name, address, telephone number) is not transferred to the third party. 

The NZAPI website uses “cookies” to help users personalise their online experience. A cookie is a data file that is placed on a hard disk by a webpage server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to the user and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie.

One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the web server that a user has returned to a specific page. For example, if a user has personalised NZAPI pages, or registers with the NZAPI site or services, a cookie helps NZAPI to recall that user’s specific information, such as postal addresses, and so on. When a user returns to the same NZAPI website page, the information previously provided can be retrieved, allowing the user to easily use the NZAPI features that were customised.

Users can accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but users can usually modify browser settings to decline cookies if preferred. If a user chooses to decline cookies, they may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the NZAPI website or other sites visited. 

NZAPI secures the personal information provided on computer services in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorised access, use or disclosure. When personal information (such as a credit card or telephone number) is transmitted to other websites, it is protected using encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

Other security safeguards include:

a) Staff education – we train and remind our staff of their obligations with regard to users’ information

b) Destruction of data when no longer required – where practical, we keep information only for as long as required (for example, to meet legal requirements or our internal needs).

In the event of a privacy breach where there has been unauthorised or accidental access to personal information, or disclosure, alteration, loss or destruction of personal information, we will take reasonable steps to immediately contain the breach.

If the privacy breach has caused serious harm to someone (or is likely to do so) we will notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner as soon as possible as per our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020.

If a notifiable privacy breach occurs, we will notify people affected by the privacy breach. This will happen as soon as possible after we become aware of the privacy breach. 

NZAPI will occasionally update this Privacy Statement to reflect company and user feedback. NZAPI encourages users to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how NZAPI is protecting personal information.

Users have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information that is held by NZAPI about them, and to ask for it to be corrected if they believe it is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate. 

NZAPI will usually provide access within 20 working days of the request. If there is any doubt as to the person’s identity, then further identification may be requested. A request can be declined in certain circumstances, such as where giving the information would involve an unwarranted breach of someone else’s privacy.  

Where a correction is requested, and NZAPI believes the correction is reasonable and is able to change the personal information, NZAPI will correct the information. If NZAPI disagrees with the requested correction, NZAPI will not correct the information but will add a note of the change requested by the user.

Users can request a copy of that information, or request a correction, by contacting NZAPI at info@applesandpears.nz. 

NZAPI will endeavour to ensure that any personal information that is lawfully used or disclosed is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

Where practical, NZAPI only keeps information for as long as required (for example, to meet legal requirements or our internal needs).

NZAPI will only disclose personal information to another organisation outside of New Zealand if disclosure is permitted under section 5 of this policy and once the following checks have been completed:

The Privacy Commissioner’s website has a decision tree to guide NZAPI in this instance.

NZAPI will only use a unique identifier for a user where it is necessary, for example, a unique membership number. NZAPI will not use the unique identifier of another organisation to identify a user within its own system. However, NZAPI can use other unique identifiers to enable communication with another organisation about a user (i.e. IRD number).

NZAPI welcomes comments regarding this Privacy Statement. If a user believes that NZAPI has not adhered to this Statement, NZAPI can be contacted at info@applesandpears.nz. NZAPI will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly determine and remedy the problem.