Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) for East Coast Energy

At East Coast Energy, accessible at eastcoastenergy.co.za, one of our main priorities is the privacy of our visitors. This Privacy Policy document contains types of information that is collected and recorded by East Coast Energy and how we use it.

If you have additional questions or require more information about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us through email at info@eastcoastenergy.co.za.

Protection of Personal Information Act

We are a Data Controller of your information. Any information submitted by you will be stored either on a virtual or electronic database or be in the form of hard copy documents.

East Coast Energy legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described in this Privacy Policy depends on the Personal Information we collect and the specific context in which we collect the information:

• East Coast Energy needs to perform a contract with you
• You have given East Coast Energy permission to do so
• Processing your personal information is in East Coast Energy legitimate interests
• East Coast Energy needs to comply with the law

East Coast Energy will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our policies.

In certain circumstances, you have the following data protection rights:

• The right to access, update or delete the information we have on you.
• The right of rectification.
• The right to object.
• The right of restriction.
• The right to data portability
• The right to withdraw consent

East Coast Energy is liable for the immediate deletion/destruction of personal data should you request it. You will be notified once this process has been completed.

Log Files

East Coast Energy follows a standard procedure of using log files. These files log visitors when they visit websites. All hosting companies do this and a part of hosting services analytics. The information collected by log files includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date and time stamp, referring/exit pages, and possibly the number of clicks. These are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable. The purpose of the information is for analyzing trends, administering the site, tracking users’ movement on the website, and gathering demographic information.

Cookies and Web Beacons

Like any other website, East Coast Energy uses ‘cookies’. These cookies are used to store information including visitors’ preferences, and the pages on the website that the visitor accessed or visited. The information is used to optimize the users’ experience by customizing our web page content based on visitors’ browser type and/or other information.

You can choose to disable cookies through your individual browser options. To know more detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers, it can be found at the browsers’ respective websites. What Are Cookies?

DoubleClick DART Cookie

Google is one of the third-party vendors on our site. It also uses cookies, known as DART cookies, to serve ads to our site visitors based upon their visit to eastcoastenergy.co.za and other sites on the internet. However, visitors may choose to decline the use of DART cookies by visiting the Google ad and content network Privacy Policy at the following URL – https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

Some of the advertisers on our site may use cookies and web beacons. Our advertising partners are listed below. Each of our advertising partners has its own Privacy Policy for its policies on user data. For easier access, we hyperlinked to their Privacy Policies below.

• Google https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

Children’s Information

Another part of our priority is adding protection for children while using the internet. We encourage parents and guardians to observe, participate in, and/or monitor and guide their online activity.

East Coast Energy does not knowingly collect any Personal Identifiable Information from children under the age of 18. If you think that your child provided this kind of information on our website, or through any other means, we strongly encourage you to contact us immediately and we will do our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

Third Parties

East Coast Energy will not, without your express consent, disclose your personal information to any third party other than as set out below:

• to law enforcement, government officials, fraud detection agencies, or other third parties when we believe in good faith that the disclosure of personal information is necessary to prevent physical harm or financial loss, to report or support the investigation into suspected illegal activity, or to investigate violations of these Terms and Conditions
• to our service providers (under contract with us) who help with parts of our business operations (accounting, marketing, technology services, etc). However, our contracts dictate that these service providers may only use your information in connection with the services they perform for us and not for their own benefit.

We are entitled to use or disclose your personal information if such use or disclosure is required in order to comply with any applicable law, subpoena, order of a court, or legal process served on us, or to protect and defend our rights or property. In the event of fraudulent online payment, East Coast Energy is entitled to disclose relevant personal information for criminal investigation purposes or in line with any other legal obligation for disclosure of the personal information which may be required of it.

We will ensure that all of our employees, third-party service providers, divisions, affiliates, and partners (including their employees and third-party service providers) having access to your personal information are bound by appropriate and legally binding confidentiality obligations in relation to your personal information.

We will not retain your personal information longer than the period for which it was originally needed, unless we are required by law to do so, or you consent to us retaining such information for a longer period.

East Coast Energy undertakes never to sell or make your personal information available to any third party other than as provided for in this policy. Whilst we will do all things reasonably necessary to protect your rights of privacy, we cannot guarantee or accept any liability whatsoever for unauthorised or unlawful disclosures of your personal information, whilst in our possession, made by third parties who are not subject to our control, unless such disclosure is as a result of our gross negligence.

If you disclose your personal information to a third party, such as an entity that operates a website linked to this Website or anyone other than East Coast Energy, East Coast Energy SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE, HOWSOEVER ARISING, SUFFERED BY YOU AS A RESULT OF THE DISCLOSURE OF SUCH INFORMATION TO THE THIRD PARTY. This is because we do not regulate or control how that third party uses your personal information. You should always ensure that you read the privacy policy of any third party.

When you visit the website or send messages via email or through a messaging service to us, you consent to receive communications from us or any of our divisions, affiliates, or partners electronically in accordance with our privacy policy.

Should you have any further questions regarding the Privacy Policy outlined above, please feel free to contact us at info@eastcoastenergy.co.za. or call us on +27 31 493 5946.