PRIVACY POLICY

1. Overview

The Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (ACN 093 854 267) (AGITG) is an independent non-profit organisation which conducts research into gastro-intestinal cancer and coordinates clinical trials in collaboration with local and international research groups. The AGITG incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee in 2000 encompasses a wide range of medical specialists, scientists, nurses, allied health professionals and consumers. The GI Cancer Institute is the community division of the AGITG, working across Australia to raise funds and awareness of GI cancer and clinical trials.

The GI Cancer Institute and the Gutsy Challenges are business names used by the AGITG. The GI Cancer Institute is the charity arm of the AGITG and, together with the Gutsy Challenge, raises money for the clinical trials undertaken by the AGITG.

AGITG (“we”, “our” and “us) is committed to protecting and maintaining the privacy, accuracy and security of personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) (and the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act), the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW) and equivalent laws related to health records in other States and Territories where applicable, as well as other applicable laws and codes.

We ask that you read this Privacy Policy carefully as it contains important information on:
• who we are;
• how and why we collect, use, disclose and handle your personal information (including information we collect from you through your access to and use of our websites including www.gicancer.org.au); and
• how to contact us (and supervisory authorities) if you have a complaint.

By submitting your personal information to us, by using our websites or participating in one of the clinical trials or other research projects conducted, administered or coordinated by us, you acknowledge and consent to the collection, use, disclosure and handling of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

2. What personal information we collect

The personal information we may collect about you (including where you are an individual participant, medical specialist, health professional or researcher taking part in or making enquiries in relation to a clinical trial or other research project we are conducting, administering or coordinating) includes:

• your biographical information (e.g. names, titles, relationships and birthdates);
• your contact information (e.g. addresses, emails and telephone numbers);
• other information reasonably relevant to your participation in a clinical trial or research project, which may include:
  • your gender, nationality and heritage;
  • your medical history;
  • your current and past medications and treatments;
  • your health, medical and genetic information;
  • and where applicable, your medical or research qualifications
• other information related to your participation in our fundraising activities and programs;
• information about your interests in respect of the AGITG’s functions or research, attendance at AGITG events or donations, gifts or bequests made to AGITG (including payment details and financial information, such as credit/debit card information or other billing information);
• information about prospective employees which is collected during the recruitment process, such as employment history and educational qualifications;
• any other information you provide to us in relation to your access to our website or as a result of your contact or relationship with AGITG.

We may receive and collect other information such as results from clinical trials or other research projects we are conducting, administering or coordinating, however, unless agreed by or otherwise notified to you, AGITG will only receive and collect de-identified information from such clinical trials or research projects.

When you visit our websites, we may also collect and store:

• your IP address;
• the date and time you access our websites;
• any third party website from which you linked to our websites;
• details of the pages within our websites you visit; and
• the time spent on those pages, items, and information searched on our websites, access times, dates and other statistics.

3. How information is collected

We only collect personal information through lawful and fair means. As far as possible, we will collect personal information directly from you when we deal with you in person, by telephone, letter, facsimile, email or when you visit our website. This includes when you:

• interact with us, including participating in clinical trials or other research projects we are conducting, administering or coordinating;
• complete online forms on our website , including in order to make donations, submit enquiries or complete community forum registrations, membership or newsletter lists;
• make a donation or attend or take part in one of our events or fundraising activities;
• purchase our merchandise;
• provide feedback to us; or
• apply for a job or work experience with us.

We may also collect the personal information you submit through online fundraising platforms such as EveryDay Hero, Go Fundraise and MyCause when you register for the Gutsy Challenge or make a donation to AGITG.

We may also obtain personal information from other sources or third parties, including:

• medical specialists, health professionals or researchers, where you have consented to the disclosure of your personal information to, and for participation in, a clinical trial or other research project we are conducting, administering or coordinating; and
• publicly available sources, recruitment agencies or entities which refer work or recommend service providers to us.
• collecting your name and contact details, from a list broker for the purposes of conducting fundraising and direct marketing.

4. Cookies

Cookies are small text files placed on your computer or browsing device when you visit a website. Our website system uses cookies to help us to improve site visitor experiences and user login sessions. We may also use cookies to compile data about site traffic and site interaction. We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. Cookies may also recognise your browser and capture and remember certain information. You can manage your cookie preferences through your internet browser settings.

5. The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

We will collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the purpose of interacting with us, allowing you to access and use our website and participating in clinical trials or other research projects we are conducting, administering or coordinating. This includes:

• delivering, administering and improving our websites and the services that we offer to you;
• internal management purposes;
• to process donations and issue tax receipts;
• to process applications for membership;
• to conduct the AGITG’s programs and events, including the Gutsy Challenge and programs run by the GI Cancer Institute;
• to answer your enquiries;
• to communicate with you, including about us and our activities and events and other matters which might interest you, including sending direct marketing communications to you;
• to send you electronic monthly organisational updates on research, scientific meetings, workshops and trial updates;
• to invite you to participate in surveys or notify you about our fundraising activities, events or opportunities to support the AGITG, GI Cancer Institute or the Gutsy Challenge;
• to verify your identity, answer your questions, respond to your complaints and provide you with information or advice;
• to manage our relationship with you;
• any related, secondary or ancillary purposes; and
• as otherwise permitted or required by law (such as to comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act in relation to mandatory data breach notification).

If you do not provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to fulfil the purpose for which we have requested the information. Even where you choose to opt out of providing your personal information, we may still use or disclose that information if:

• we subsequently notify you of the intended use or disclosure and you do not object to that use or disclosure;
• we believe that the use or disclosure is reasonably necessary to assist a law enforcement agency or an agency responsible for government or public security in the performance of their functions;
• to protect our rights;
• to protect the safety of members of the public, users of our website and participants in clinical trials or research projects; or
• we are required by law to disclose the information.

As part of the AGITG’s membership application process, which requires applicants to nominate a proposer/seconder to support their application, we may display the names of our members on our website. Members may elect not to have their name published on our website for this purpose by contacting AGITG at info@gicancer.org.au.

Disclosure of your personal information to third parties

In order to provide you with our services and products, undertake our activities, or to conduct, administer or coordinating clinical trials or other research projects, we occasionally need to disclose your personal information to agents, contractors and other third parties who support our operations. This may include:

• third parties, including medical specialists, health professionals and researchers that undertake or are involved in:
  • clinical trials or other research projects conducted, administered or coordinated by us;
  • other research projects; or
  • other clinical trials;
• parties to whom you authorise us to disclose your personal information;
• government and regulatory authorities, as required or authorised by law;
• our professional advisors;
• mailing houses, data management providers, providers of marketing and communications, credit card processors and banks in Australia; or
• other third parties permitted by law.

If you make a donation to us then we may provide your contact details to other like-minded charities. These organisations may then contact you with information that may be of interest to you. You may elect not to have your information disclosed in this way by ticking the opt out box on our donation forms or contacting AGITG directly at info@gicancer.org.au

Overseas disclosure of your personal information

Third parties, including medical specialists, health professionals and researchers to whom we disclose personal information, may from time to time be located overseas.

We will generally not otherwise disclose or transfer your personal information overseas. If this does occur, we will attempt to notify you and will not transfer your personal information overseas unless we have taken reasonable steps to ensure that the information which is being transferred will not be held, used or disclosed by the recipient of the information in a manner which is inconsistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.

6. Direct Marketing

From time to time we may collect and use your personal information to provide you with direct marketing information about our business. You may elect to not receive further information from us by contacting AGITG directly at info@gicancer.org.au or using the “unsubscribe” facility included in all AGITG promotional emails.

7. Security and storage of information

We adopt a range of security procedures to prevent the misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure of your personal information.

If you have utilised our website forms to contact us or to make enquires, donations or payments, your details submitted will also be stored within the website system (with the exception of your full credit card details) and sent via email to AGITG plus a third party who works with AGITG. All donations are processed off-site using our CRM system.

Your personal information is stored in a secure CRM database which is located and maintained in a secure environment and all online information is Norton Secured with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certification. If you make a donation to the AGITG, we will only collect and store your payment card information in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

If you are an AGITG Member: For access to the Members Area, limited information, such as your username, email address and password, is stored within the back-end of the website. For our Membership Application Form details including your Title, Full Name, State, Institution and Email are stored in the backend of our website and are utilised within the public webpage within our membership application form https://gicancer.org.au/member-registration/. If you would prefer your data not be stored within the website system or displayed in the Membership Application process, please email info@gicancer.org.au with your details and relevant message.

While we take the security of your information seriously, we cannot guarantee that your personal information will always be protected from unauthorised access during storage, therefore you provide your personal information to us at your own risk. If you become aware or have reason to believe there has been any unauthorised use of your personal information via our website or in connection with AGITG, please contact us immediately via email at info@gicancer.org.au.

We typically retain data for as long as you are accessing or using our websites, engaging with us (such as participation in fundraising activities) or otherwise participating in a clinical trial or research project conducted, administered or coordinated by us. Where you have participated in clinical trials or research projects conducted, administered or coordinated by us we may be required to retain your data for at least fifteen (15) years in accordance with good clinical practice. We may otherwise retain your data for our ongoing record purposes or for use in medical or clinical research for the time required under applicable laws.

We will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information it holds once that information is no longer needed for any purpose for which the information may be used or disclosed under the APPs. In some circumstances, we may need to retain certain data for auditing, legal or risk management reasons.

8. Access to, and correction of, your personal information

Except in the circumstances set out in the Privacy Act, you have a right to request access to the personal information that we hold about you by contacting us (see section 10 for contact details).
We will do our best to keep personal information accurate, complete and up to date. You have a right to seek correction of your personal information. We encourage you to update us regularly with your personal information to ensure we hold information about you (or where you are providing information on behalf of participants, their information) that is up-to-date, accurate and complete. You may make a request for access to or correction of any personal information about you that we hold. We may request you to verify your identity before processing your request. If you think that any personal information we hold about you needs to be corrected, please contact us at info@gicancer.org.au or telephone 1300 666 769.

In some circumstances, we may refused to provide you with access to or correct your personal information. If we refuse to give you access to your personal information, or to correct it, we will notify you in writing and will provide reasons. In some circumstances where we correct a record, we may still require the retention of the original record.

9. Third Party Sites

Please be aware that our website may contain links and pointers to other websites maintained by third party providers. These links are provided for your convenience only.

These third party websites are not under our control and we are not responsible for such sites (including the suitability for your intended use of those sites). We do not endorse or recommend any third party website or any associated provider organisation or third party products or services. You are responsible for reading the privacy policies or statements of those third party websites.

10. Contact details and complaints

If you have any queries, feedback or are concerned about the way we manage personal information that we hold about you, or are concerned that we may have breached your privacy and wish to make a complaint, you may contact us using the following details:

Email: info@gicancer.org.au

Post: Locked Bag M250, Camperdown NSW 2050

Phone: 1300 666 769

We will endeavour to respond in writing to a written complaint within 30 days of receipt.

We ask that any complaint should be made first in writing to us. If, for any reason, you do not wish to complain to us initially or if your complaint remains unresolved, you have the option of notifying the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) or other competent regulator. Contact details can be found at OAIC’s website: www.oaic.gov.au.

11. Changes to our Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to amend, modify or update this Privacy Policy from time to time, without liability to you. Our updated privacy policy will be published on our website or otherwise notified to you and you will be bound by the changes immediately upon such publication or notification unless otherwise set out in this Privacy Policy or the notice.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 14 November 2022.