Privacy Policy

Pulse Economics Pty Ltd (ABN 57 659 854 485)

Pulse Economics is required to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), and handles the personal information that it collects and holds in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act. Pulse Economics is committed to the protection of personal information in accordance with these privacy laws in the provision of its services.

This privacy policy explains how we collect, hold, use, disclose, secure and otherwise manage the personal information of individuals who use our services. It describes the types of information we collect and hold and why, how to access and correct the information and how to make a privacy complaint.

Personal information
Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether that information or opinion is true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
Sensitive information is a type of personal information that is afforded a higher level of protection by privacy laws. It includes health, genetic and biometric information as well as information about race or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of political, professional or trade associations or trade unions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or practices and criminal record.

What personal information do we collect and hold?
Personal information which may be collected by Pulse Economics includes, but is not limited to the following:

Contact details including name, telephone number, address, email, phone number;
Qualifications, area of specialty and research interests/expertise;
Workplace information (e.g. research institute, hospital, university, specialist practice);
Financial information, including bank details, superannuation, tax file number;
Personal details such as gender, age, date of birth, next of kin, signature, photo, citizenship;
Employment information such as salaries and wages, education/employment history,
curriculum vitae;
Business details such as ABN, contact details (including phone, mobile, email);
Clinical trial data (de-identified health data);
Information provided to us via email, online portals or surveys, or submissions you may make during the public consultation process;
Other information that is needed to provide our services.

Collection of Information
In performing the company’s business activities Pulse Economics may collect personal information that relates to employees, contractors, consultants, external providers, patients, doctors, customers, clients and the wider community.

When collecting information, Pulse Economics takes reasonable steps to make an individual aware of the following:

Pulse Economics’ contact details (or details of the Privacy Officer);
The fact that the individual can access their information;
The purpose for collecting the information and to whom it would normally be disclosed;
Whether the disclosure is required by law.

The main consequences of not providing that information is that it might impact upon Pulse Economics’ capacity to deliver good service.

Method of Collection of Personal Information
Pulse Economics will only collect personal information about an individual by lawful, secure and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. We collect your personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impractical to do so.

We do this in ways including:

electronic form via email or our website;
through your access and use of our website;
surveys; or
submissions you may make during the public consultation process.

We may also collect personal information from third parties including:

third party companies such as government entities;
contractors and business partners.

Use of Personal Information
The main purposes in collecting personal information about individuals are:

To provide our services;
To respond to an individual’s request;
To maintain contact with clients;
To keep clients and other contacts informed of the services we offer and industry
developments that may be of interest to them, and to notify them of service offerings,
seminars and other events we are holding;
For general management and reporting purposes, such as invoicing and account management;
For recruitment purposes;
For purposes related to the employment of our personnel and providing internal services to our staff; and
All other purposes related to our business.

Pulse Economics may use personal information about individuals to market services, including by email. However, individuals always have the opportunity to elect not to receive further marketing information by writing to or by emailing us.

If Pulse Economics collects or uses personal information in ways other than as stated in this policy, Pulse Economics will ensure it is undertaken pursuant to the requirements of the Privacy Act.

Disclosure of personal information outside Australia
Pulse Economics and its related entities may exchange personal information. As a result, Pulse Economics may transfer personal information outside Australia to countries whose privacy laws do not provide the same level of protection as Australia’s. Pulse Economics may need to exchange information to overseas facilities or contractors to process or back-up our information or to provide certain services to us. As a result, we may transfer personal information to overseas facilities or contractors for these purposes.

However, any such transfer of information does not change any of Pulse Economics’ commitments to safeguard privacy and the information remains subject to existing confidentiality obligations.

Disclosure of Personal Information
Personal information collected and held by Pulse Economics will only be accessed and handled by personnel authorised to do so, for the purpose of carrying out their duties. Apart from the exceptions listed below, Pulse Economics will only use or disclose information for the purpose for which it was collected.

We may disclose your personal information to:

our employees, related bodies corporate, contractors or external service providers for the operation of our websites or our business, fulfilling requests by you, and otherwise provide services to you, including without limitation, web hosting providers, IT systems
administrators, mailing houses, and professional advisers such as accountants, solicitors, business advisors and consultants;
specific third parties authorised by you to receive information held by us;
the police, any relevant authority or enforcement body, or your Internet Service Provider or network administrator, for example, if we have reason to suspect that you have committed a breach of any of our terms and conditions, or have otherwise been engaged in any unlawful activity, and we reasonably believe that disclosure is necessary; or
as required or permitted by any law (including the Privacy Act).

Employees and contractors are prohibited from disclosing information about or undertaking
transactions on behalf of a customer, healthcare professional or patient, without the individual’s authorisation. This includes disclosure of information to and transactions with partners, relatives, friends or organisations.

Management and Security of Personal Information
We store personal information in electronic format only. The security of personal information is very important to us and we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Some of the ways we do this include:

Requiring our staff to maintain confidentiality;
Imposing security measures for access to our computer systems;
Providing a discreet environment for confidential discussions; and
Allowing access to personal information only where the individual seeking access to their own information has satisfied our identification requirements.

Personal information is retained for the period of time determined by applicable Australian laws after which it is de-identified or disposed of in a secure manner.

Privacy on the website
This policy also applies to any personal information Pulse Economics collects via our websites, and includes information collected via websites of related companies. In addition to personal information provided to Pulse Economics directly (such as where a customer makes a request or completes a registration form), Pulse Economics may also collect personal information from you via its websites.

Cookies are data that a website transfers to an individual’s hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies, which are industry standard and are used by most websites, including those operated by us, can facilitate a user’s ongoing access to and use of a site. They allow us to customise the website to your needs. If you do not want information collected through the use of Cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to deny or accept the Cookie feature. But you should note that Cookies may be necessary to provide you with some features of our on-line services.

We may provide links to websites outside of our websites, as well as to third party websites. These linked sites are not under our control, and we cannot accept responsibility for the conduct of companies linked to our website. Before disclosing your personal information on any other website, we advise you to examine the terms and conditions of using that website and its privacy statement.

Pulse Economics’ privacy policy can be obtained by contacting the Privacy Officer. Personal
information held by Pulse Economics may be accessed or corrected by the individual to whom the information belongs. For corrections, the Privacy Officer should be contacted in writing by email or mail. When an individual makes a request to access personal information, Pulse Economics will require them to provide some form of identification (such as a driver’s licence or passport) so that Pulse Economics can verify that they are the person to whom the information relates.

How do we keep personal information accurate and up-to-date?
We take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect is accurate, complete and up-to-date, and when we use or disclose it, that it is relevant. We will also take reasonable steps to correct the personal information we hold if we are satisfied that it is inaccurate, incomplete and out of date, irrelevant or misleading, or if an individual asks us to correct their personal information for these reasons. A request to correct personal information can be made at any time by contacting us on the details below.

However, the accuracy of that information depends largely on the quality of the information provided to us. We therefore suggest that individuals:

let us know if there are any errors in their personal information; and
keep us up-to-date with changes to their personal information (e.g. their name and address). Individuals may do this by mail or email using the information provided below.

There may be circumstances in which we may have to refuse a request for correction. If this happens, we will notify the individual in writing of our reasons for the refusal and explain how they can complain if they are not satisfied.

Complaints or Enquiries
Any complaints about Pulse Economics’ handling of personal information or enquiries about this policy are to be directed to the Privacy Officer.

The Privacy Officer
Pulse Economics
Level 9, 123 Epping Road, Macquarie Park NSW 2113, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (02) 8985 7308

Further Information
For more information about privacy issues in Australia and protecting your privacy, visit the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:
Contact number: 1300 393 992
Website: www.oaic.gov.au/about-the-OAIC/contact-us

Changes to this Policy
Pulse Economics may amend and update this Privacy Policy at any time including to reflect changes to its legal obligations, business or information handling practices. Any amendments will apply when the revised version of this Privacy Policy is posted on our website (or when the amendments are otherwise notified to you, if earlier). The continued use and/or accessing of our website, systems, services or products after the posting (or notification) of the new version of the Privacy Policy will be deemed to indicate your acceptance of it. Pulse Economics may in certain circumstances provide you with a separate privacy collection notice which may also reflect the amendments.