Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 16 Aug 2023

UTH (Uni-Tech Holdings (Pty) Ltd. t/a UTH) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal information we collect from individuals who interact with our business, including visitors to our website, users of our products and services, and our clients and partners. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information in accordance with our commitment to robust information security practices and in anticipation of relevant data protection standards, including the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) in South Africa.

1. Who We Are (Responsible Party)

UTH (Uni-Tech Holdings (Pty) Ltd. t/a UTH) acts as the “Responsible Party” (as defined by POPIA) for the personal information processed in the course of our business operations, including through our website, products, and services. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal information.

2. Information We Collect

We collect various types of personal information to provide and improve our products and services, manage our business operations, and enhance your experience. This information may be collected directly from you, automatically as you interact with our business, or from third-party sources.

2.1. Information You Provide Directly: This includes information you voluntarily provide when you:

  • Purchase or use our products and services.
  • Fill out forms, contracts, or agreements.
  • Subscribe to newsletters, updates, or marketing communications.
  • Apply for a job.
  • Register for an account, product, or service.
  • Engage with our customer support, sales, or technical teams.
  • Participate in surveys, webinars, or events.

The types of personal information you may provide include:

  • Identity Data: Name, surname, company name, job title, identification numbers (where required for specific services).
  • Contact Data: Email address, telephone number, physical address, billing address.
  • Financial Data: Payment card details, bank account information (for billing and payment purposes).
  • Professional Data: Information related to your professional background, qualifications, or inquiries specific to our services.
  • Account Data: Username, password, preferences, feedback.
  • Any other information you choose to provide.

2.2. Information Collected Automatically: As you navigate and interact with our website (www.uthgroup.com), and use our products and services, we may automatically collect certain technical and usage data. This information helps us understand how our offerings are used, allows us to improve your experience, and supports the functionality of our services. This may include:

  • Technical Data: Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our website or services.
  • Usage Data: Information about how you use our website, products, and services, including pages viewed, features accessed, time spent, clickstream data, and referral sources. This may include diagnostic, crash, and performance data from our products/services.

2.3. Information from Third Parties: In some circumstances, we may receive personal information about you from third parties, such as:

  • Business partners (e.g., resellers, integrators) who provide services on our behalf or in conjunction with us.
  • Publicly available sources (e.g., professional social networks, public registries).
  • Analytics providers or advertising networks.

We only collect information from third parties where such collection is lawful and relevant to the purposes outlined in this policy.

3. Cookies and Tracking Technologies (Website Specific)

Our website, www.uthgroup.com, uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience, analyze site usage, and support our marketing efforts.

  • What are Cookies? Cookies are small text files placed on your device by websites that you visit. They are widely used to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.
  • Types of Cookies We Use:
    • Strictly Necessary Cookies: Essential for the website to function correctly (e.g. enabling navigation).
    • Performance/Analytics Cookies: Collect information about how visitors use our website (e.g. which pages are most popular) to improve site performance.
    • Functionality Cookies: Allow the website to remember choices you make (e.g. language preferences) and provide enhanced, more personal features.
    • Targeting/Advertising Cookies: Used to deliver more relevant advertisements to you and your interests.
  • Managing Cookies: You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

4. How We Use Your Information (Purposes of Processing)

We use the personal information we collect for the following specific purposes and based on the legal grounds outlined below:

  • To Provide and Manage Products and Services: To deliver our products and services to you, manage your accounts, process transactions, provide customer support, and fulfill our contractual obligations.
    • Legal Basis: Performance of a contract with you, or taking steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.
  • Business Operations and Improvement: To analyze usage patterns, improve the functionality, content, and user experience of our products, services, and website; for internal administrative and operational purposes, including data analysis, testing, research, statistical purposes, and troubleshooting.
    • Legal Basis: Our legitimate interests (e.g. to keep our products and services updated and relevant, to develop our business, for efficient administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud).
  • Marketing and Communications: To send you newsletters, updates, promotional materials, and other information about our products and services that may be of interest to you, where you have consented or where we have a legitimate interest to do so.
    • Legal Basis: Your consent, or our legitimate interests (e.g. to grow our business and inform you about relevant services). You can opt-out of marketing communications at any time.
  • Compliance with Legal Obligations: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or governmental requests (e.g. tax, audit, or regulatory requirements).
    • Legal Basis: Compliance with a legal obligation.
  • Security and Fraud Prevention: To protect the security and integrity of our systems, products, services, and information assets, and to detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, unauthorized access, or other illegal activities.
    • Legal Basis: Our legitimate interests (e.g. for our own protection and the protection of our users), compliance with a legal obligation.

5. Sharing and Disclosure of Your Information

UTH will not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. We may share your information with:

  • Third-Party Service Providers: We engage trusted third-party service providers to perform functions on our behalf, such as cloud hosting, payment processing, data analytics, IT support, email delivery, marketing services, and professional services. These providers are contractually obligated to protect your information and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them, and in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
  • Business Partners: We may share information with business partners for joint marketing activities, co-developed products/services, or to facilitate services provided through our partners, always with appropriate agreements in place.
  • Legal and Regulatory Authorities: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court order, subpoena, or government agency request). Where legally permitted, we will inform you of such requests.
  • Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your privacy rights.
  • Professional Advisors: We may share your personal information with professional advisors such as lawyers, auditors, and insurers, where necessary in the course of the professional services they provide to us.

6. Cross-Border Data Transfers

As a company that may operate globally or use global service providers, your personal information may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside of South Africa. This includes countries that may not have data protection laws equivalent to those in South Africa.

When we transfer your personal information across borders, we implement appropriate safeguards to ensure that your personal information remains protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws. These safeguards may include:

  • Transferring data to countries deemed by the Information Regulator to provide an adequate level of protection.
  • Implementing standard contractual clauses approved by relevant authorities.
  • Obtaining your explicit consent for the transfer.

7. Data Security

UTH takes the security of your personal information seriously. We have implemented and maintain a comprehensive Information Security Management System (ISMS) that conforms to the ISO/IEC 27001 international standard. This ISMS embodies a holistic approach to information security, encompassing a robust set of technical and organizational measures designed to protect your personal information from accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure, or access. Our security measures include, but are not limited to, stringent access controls, encryption, regular security audits, comprehensive staff training, and a systematic incident management system to effectively detect, respond to, and manage security incidents. We are committed to the continuous review and improvement of our ISMS to ensure its ongoing effectiveness and relevance in safeguarding your data.

8. Data Retention

We will retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

9. Your Rights (Data Subject Rights under POPIA)

As a data subject, you have certain rights regarding your personal information under POPIA. UTH is committed to facilitating the exercise of these rights:

  • Right to Access: You have the right to request confirmation as to whether or not we hold personal information about you, and if so, to request access to that information.
  • Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct or update any inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you.
  • Right to Erasure (Deletion): You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information under certain circumstances (e.g. if the information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected).
  • Right to Object to Processing: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information, including for direct marketing purposes, on reasonable grounds relating to your particular situation.
  • Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information under certain conditions (e.g. if you contest the accuracy of the data).
  • Right to Data Portability: Where applicable, you have the right to receive your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit that data to another responsible party.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided below. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

10. Information Regarding Children/Minors

Our website, products, and services are not intended for individuals under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children without appropriate parental or guardian consent. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child without such consent, we will take steps to delete that information as quickly as possible.

11. Automated Decision-Making and Profiling

UTH does not currently engage in automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you. Should this change in the future, we will update this policy and provide you with information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and envisaged consequences of such processing for you.

12. Complaint Mechanism and Regulator Details

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe that your personal information has been unlawfully processed.

The Information Regulator (South Africa)

  • Physical Address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
  • Postal Address: P.O Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017
  • Complaints Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za
  • General Enquiries Email: inforeg@justice.gov.za
  • Website: https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/

13. Third-Party Links

Our website, www.uthgroup.com, and potentially our products or services, may contain links to third-party websites, plug-ins, and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website or interact with third-party services, we encourage you to review their privacy policies.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

UTH may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy on our website, www.uthgroup.com, with a revised effective date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data protection practices, please contact us at:

Email: info@uthgroup.com
Telephone: (+27) 10 157 5440
Address: 313 Rivonia Road, Morningside, Sandton, Johannesburg, 2196