Privacy Policy

Aretex is committed to providing you with the highest level of service. As part of our commitment to you and your business, this policy outlines our ongoing obligations regarding how we manage your Personal Information.

We have adopted the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act). The APPs govern the way in which we collect, use, disclose, store, secure and dispose of your Personal Information.

A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.aoic.gov.au

Aretex is a Managed Services Provider, specialising in tailor-made accounting and financial management, IT and digital transformation, and business administration. Integrating highly experience and expertise with technology, process and offshore talent to deliver you all the benefits of an offshore team, without sacrificing on high-quality service.

This privacy policy applies to personal information we collect about our clients and their nominated contacts and representatives (including employees, trustees, company directors and officers, officers of co-operatives and associations, client’s spouse and dependents) and to other individuals whose personal information we collect or that our clients or their representatives provide to us in the course of our services. It also applies to applicants for positions with Aretex.

In this policy ‘we’ or ‘us’ means Aretex Pty Ltd ABN 67 165 860 159 and its related entities.

We may also provide you with separate privacy notices when we collect your personal information. These notices may outline additional uses and disclosures not detailed in this policy. If there is any inconsistency between these separate privacy notices and this privacy policy, you should rely on the information in those notices.

This policy does not apply to the personal information we collect and hold about our employees.

If you find any links to other websites on our website, this privacy policy does not apply to them. Always check the privacy policy of any website you access.

Personal Information is information or an opinion that identifies an individual. We will only ask for personal information that is relevant to our professional relationship with you and if it is reasonably necessary for us to be able to provide our ongoing services to you. We may ask you for your:

• Name, address, telephone number, email and other contact details
• Date of birth, gender and marital status
• Financial and investment information
• Government identifiers such as tax file number
• Superannuation and insurance information
• Your opinion about our services and our people
• Occupation and employment details including past employment (regarding job applicants for positions with us)
• Your sensitive information such as professional memberships, racial or ethnic origin, criminal record and health information (from job applicants or for certain services)

We collect, retain, use and disclose your personal information to enable us to provide our services, to respond to your inquiries, assess your employment application and to comply with the law.

Some of the purposes for which we use your personal information are to:

• provide professional services to you or to other clients
• communicate with you, including responding to your inquiries and feedback, keeping you informed of news and events, and sending you industry publications and other material that we think may be of interest to you
• develop and provide systems and technology solutions for you
• conduct client satisfaction feedback activities
• conduct administration activities
• manage our conflict of interest and independence obligations
• undertake recruitment activities
• to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements including under the Corporations Act, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth), and taxation and employment laws
• marketing purposes (see the section below titled ' Marketing our services to you')

You may decide not to provide us with your personal information we ask for. However if you opt not to, or if you provide us with personal information that is inaccurate or incomplete, we may not be able to respond adequately to your inquiries or provide you with the services you or our other clients require.

Sensitive information is defined in the Privacy Act to include information or opinion about such things as an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership of a trade union or other professional body, criminal record or health information.

Sensitive information will be used by us only:

• For the primary purpose for which it was obtained
• For a secondary purpose that is directly related to the primary purpose
• With your consent; or where required or authorised by law.

Where reasonable and practicable to do so, we will collect your Personal Information only from you. However, in some circumstances we may be provided with information by third parties. In such a case we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the information provided to us by the third party.

Your Personal Information may be disclosed in a number of circumstances including the following:

• Third parties where you consent to the use or disclosure; and
• Where required or authorised by law.

The external organisations to which we may disclose information include:

• mailing services;
• billing and debt-recovery functions;
• information technology services;
• marketing services;
• your representatives (e.g. authorised representatives, financial or legal advisors);
• government and regulatory authorities and other organisations, as required or authorised by law; and
• our related firms.

The entities described above to whom we may disclose your personal information may be located overseas. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that these overseas recipients maintain the same high standards of protection of your personal information that we do, and that they comply with the requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles.

We may be required to disclose your personal information by law e.g. under Court Orders or Statutory Notices, or under laws relating to sanctions, anti-money laundering or counter terrorism financing, corporations law, taxation and employment under the Corporations Act.

Occasionally, we may also use and disclose your personal information to inform you about other services and products we provide or that other companies offer that we believe may be of interest or value to you.

If at any time you do not wish to receive direct marketing communications from us, you may:

• use the unsubscribe link provided on direct marketing related material, or
• contact our Marketing team at marketing@aretex.com.au or
• contact our Head Office via the details listed at the end of this document

We may allow third parties to use cookies and other technologies in order to advertise our services on other websites and social media platforms. We allow third party cookies from Google to inform, report, optimise and serve ads based on your visits to other websites.

Our website and other communications including emails contain electronic images called pixels or tags. These allow us to count visitors who have viewed content on websites or pages or which subscribers have read our emails. We can then develop statistical information about the activities and features that most interest you and then provide more personalised content. We do not use web pixels to access your personal information without your consent.

Your Personal Information is stored in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorized access, modification or disclosure.

When your Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your Personal Information. However, most of the Personal Information is or will be stored in client files which will be kept by us for a minimum of 7 years.

You may access the Personal Information we hold about you and to update and/or correct it, subject to certain exceptions. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact us in writing.

Aretex will not charge any fee for your access request but may charge an administrative fee for providing a copy of your Personal Information.

To protect your Personal Information, we may require identification from you before releasing the requested information.

It is important to us that your Personal Information is up to date. We will take reasonable steps to make sure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you find that the information we have is not up to date or is inaccurate, please advise us as soon as practicable so we can update our records and ensure we can continue to provide quality services to you.

If you believe we have not complied with our privacy obligations, you can notify us in writing by either of the following methods:

Emailing your concerns to info@aretex.com.au

Mailing them to us at Level 11, 56 Berry Street, North Sydney NSW 2060

We will respond to your complaint as soon as reasonably practicable after receipt of your written complaint. We will need to verify your identity and we may need to ask you for further information. If you do not agree with our decision or how we have handled your complaint you can refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

We will update this policy as required to reflect changes to our privacy practices. We encourage you to check our website regularly for updates to our Privacy Policy.

This policy was updated November 2022.

You can contact us about this policy by:

Telephone – (02) 9188 4495

Email – info@aretex.com.au

Mail – Level 11, 56 Berry Street, North Sydney NSW 2060