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Office Policy Regarding P.I.P.E.D.A
1. The Privacy
Code of the Canadian Real Estate Association
This office is a
member of The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)
and adheres to and abides by the principles set
out in the CREA Privacy Code. All Employees and
Sales Representatives associated with this office
must sign and acknowledgement that they will comply
with the requirements of the Code.
2. The Policy Statement
This office only
collects personal information necessary to effectively
market and sell the property of sellers, to locate,
assess and qualify properties for buyers and to
otherwise provide professional and competent real
estate service to clients and customers.
3. The Person in
Charge
Leslie Bowling, is
the privacy compliance office responsible for privacy
compliance in this office. Her name shall be made
available to consumers. The responsibilities of
the privacy compliance officer shall include:
(a) establish and
update information protection policies;
(b) ensure policies
are implemented by other organizations to which
data-processing functions are outsourced
(c) establish criteria
for classification of information;
(d) evaluate the
accessibility of sensitive information and take
corrective action where necessary;
(e) provide education
to employees on the importance of information protection;
(f) attempt to resolve
consumer privacy complaints to the satisfaction
of the consumer.
4. Collection,
Use and Disclosure of Personal Information
(a) Only the information
necessary to facilitate the real estate transaction
or otherwise provide professional and competent
service to clients and customers will be collected;
(b) No personal
information shall be collected from an individual
without first obtaining the consent of the individual
to the collection, use and dissemination of that
information;
(c) Express consent
(whether oral or written) must always be obtained
except in the following situation. Consent may be
implied where the information is not sensitive and
where it can be reasonably assumed that the individual
would expect the information to be disclosed in
this fashion;
(d) Once information
is collected, it will be used and disclosed only
for the purpose disclosed to the Individual;
(e) All representation
agreements must include the approved privacy clauses.
(f) All sales representative
must orally advise sellers about Privacy.
5. Disclosure for
New Purpose
(a) Anyone using
personal information for some new purpose that extends
beyond the consent already provided must obtain
the express consent of the person for that use;
(b) Requests for
information by law enforcement officials, lawyers,
private investigation or other agents or subpoenas
for documents issued by the court must be referred
to the privacy officer/office manager or /broker/agent
as appropriate.
6. Protecting Information
Information must
be protected in a manner commensurate with it’s
sensitivity, value and criticality. This policy
applies regardless of the media on which information
is stored, the locations where the information is
stored, the systems used to process the information,
or the processes by which information is handled.
(a) Collection and
Disclosure
(i) Meetings with
customers and clients on these premises must take
place in a place and Manner to ensure confidentiality;
(ii) Mail and faxes
must be routed directly to the intended recipient;
(iii) Information
should be available to other personas in the office
only on a need-to-know basis;
(b) Storage
(i) Filing cabinets
designated by the office manage to contain personal,
including sensitive information are to be kept secured
at all times;
(ii) All personnel
have computer passwords. These passwords are confidential
and are not to be shared with any unauthorized persons.
(c) Destruction
(i) This office has
in place a record retention and destruction policy.
Refer to that portion of the policy manual for details.
7. Accuracy of
Personal Information
To ensure
the quality of the information collected:
(a) insofar as possible,
personal information should be collected directly
form the consumer;
(b) public property
information (taxes, assessment date etc.) should
be verified;
(c) disclaimers of
accuracy in the form approved by the office should
always be attached to any disclosure of information.
8. Access to Personal
Information
(a) Copies of
any privacy brochure approved by this office should
always be available to the public in the reception
area of the office;
(b) The individual
set out in Section 3 as being responsible for privacy
compliance is the person responsible for responding
to access requests and all such requests will be
referred to him or her. All staff and salespersons
will co-operate fully with the privacy compliance
officer in responding to requests;
(c) On written request
and appropriate identification satisfactory to the
organization, an individual will be advised of personal
information about him/her retained in the firm’s
records;
(d) Where information
cannot be disclosed ( for example the information
contains reference to other individuals or is subject
to solicitor-client privilege) the individual will
be given reasons for non-disclosure;
(e) An individual
may have appended to a record, any alternative information
where the office is of the view that the appended
information is, in fact, correct;
(f) A minimal administrative
fee may be charged to supply the information./
9. Compliance
(a) Any complaints
from an individual concerning the collection, sue
or disclosure of their personal information or concerning
the individual’s ability to access their personal
information must be referred to the privacy compliance
officer, who will attempt to resolve the complaint
to the individual’s satisfaction;
(b) In the event
the complaint cannot be resolved internally to the
individual’s satisfaction, her or she will
be advised of where to direct the complaint.
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