Personal Data Protection & Privacy Policy

 

A: POLICY STATEMENT

Research Communication International Pte Ltd. ("RCI") is fully committed to safekeeping your privacy online and we take our responsibility to protect the information you provide us very seriously. This Personal Data Protection and Privacy Policy provides a summary of the type of personal information that we collect from our customers and how such information is collected, used, transferred, disclosed and maintained. The policy does not cover any external third party websites that may be accessed through links provided on our website.

This Policy is based on the Singapore Personal Data Protection Act 2012 ("PDPA") and all the associated regulations and guidelines as may from time to time be issued by the Personal Data Protection Commission ("PDPC") of Singapore.

By visiting or using the RCI website, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. Please review this Privacy Policy carefully before visiting or using our website, or otherwise providing us with any of your personal data.

Unless you opt-out and instruct us otherwise, RCI does and will continue to share the personal data that it collects from you with our RCI subsidiaries or authorised licensed PEAKS franchises and institutions that have sponsored your assessment. Personal data that we collect or store in jurisdictions outside of Singapore may, subject to applicable law and the PDPA, be transferred to and used by RCI or other jurisdictions. Similarly, personal data that RCI collects or stores may, subject to applicable law and the PDPA, be transferred to and used by us outside of Singapore. When personal data is collected by RCI or transferred to RCI, it will be treated according to the privacy practices set forth in this Privacy Policy.

 

B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

Personal Data

We may collect certain types of personal data. As used in this Policy, "personal data" means data, whether true or not, about an individual who can be identified: (a) from that data; or (b) from that data and other information to which the organisation (in this case RCI, all RCI's subsidiaries and all authorised & licensed PEAKS franchisees and third parties of relevance that may have sponsored your use of RCI’s products and services) has or is likely to have access. Personal data includes, among other things, your: name; street or mailing address; telephone number(s)/ Fax number(s); email addresses; date of birth/ age; gender; nationality; ID/ NRIC number as well as numeric pyschometric data based on your responses to the online PEAKS assessment and corressponding personality pdf profiles and raw scores generated as a result of your online PEAKS assessment submission.

We may collect additional personal data about you that you knowingly and voluntarily provide in connection with certain activities at or transactions with RCI or our website, such as participation in certain meetings and events, participation in social media offerings (such as signing up through our Facebook pages), use of RCI’s mobile applications and applications for employment.

In addition to personal data that you provide to us, we may collect certain information about you that is not generally or uniformly considered personal data and which we consider to be non-personal data. We collect this information to create a better user experience and to identify areas of improvement on our websites and for our services. Such data is collected, and may include information such as the type of Internet browser you are using, your IP address, the pages you visited on our websites, how you arrived at our websites (i.e., through a search engine or a referring website), and other types of information.

Cookies and Other Technologies

When you visit our website, we may assign your computer one or more "cookies." By accessing our website, you agree that we can place cookies on your device.

A cookie is a small text file that contains information that can later be read by us to facilitate your access to our website, gather statistical data, personalize your online experience and ensure that your online assessment experience is smooth. We currently use cookies on our website for purposes including, but not limited to, detecting your web browser's multimedia capabilities, tracking promotional advertisements that we have displayed to you, maintaining current login and purchase information on secure portions of the website and providing a unique identifier to your computer so that we can generate statistics regarding website usage.

Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can modify your browser setting to decline cookies. Generally, you can remove these cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser's "help" file. If you choose not to allow us to place a cookie on your computer, you may be restricted from some services and some of the interactive features offered on our websites may be similarly restricted or rendered inoperable.

In addition to cookies, we may also use other Internet technologies, such as web beacons or pixel tags, and other similar technologies, to deliver or communicate with cookies and track your use of our website. We also may include web beacons in e-mail messages or newsletters to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon, and how. The information we obtain in this manner enables us to customize the services we offer and measure the overall effectiveness of our online content, advertising campaigns, and the products and services we offer through our website. By accessing our website and agreeing to receive our e-mail messages or newsletters, you agree to that we can use other Internet technologies such as those mentioned above on your device.

Our website may allow third parties to download cookies to your device. Third parties, such as analytics firms and business partners, may use cookies and other technologies to collect non-personal data about your online activities while you are on our website. This information may be used to measure usage of our website and personalize advertising content on our website. We do not have access to or control over cookies or other features these third parties may use, and the information practices of these third parties are not covered by this Privacy Policy. Please refer to the privacy policies of those third parties to better understand their activities and practices.

Combining Information We Collect with Information from Other Sources

We may obtain personal and non-personal data about you from other sources and combine it with information you provide to us. In situations in which a third party under contract with RCI collects personal data about you, we will require the third party to exercise reasonable care in protecting your information so that it is in compliance with the PDPA.

 

C. HOW RCI USES CUSTOMER PERSONAL INFORMATION

RCI may use your Personal Information for any of the following purposes:

  • To notify you of special events, promotions and offers;
  • To provide you with personalized content on our website;
  • To improve the content and the navigability of our website;
  • To verify your identity;
  • To process and respond to inquiries;
  • To analyze online questionnaire submissions and generate psychometric profiles/ personality scores for those who have completed the online PEAKS psychometric test;
  • To process purchase or credit transactions;
  • For the purposes for which you provided the information (e.g., to register for a course, purchase a personality profile etc.);
  • For the purpose of compiling data and conducting statistical or demographic analysis;
  • To protect and defend the rights or property of RCI or any of its subsidiaries or authorised & licensed PEAKS franchisees;
  • To comply with a court order or other legal process or other legal requirements of any governmental authorities.

RCI will not use or disclose or sell, rent or lease any Personal Information about its customers or former customers to any third parties except as stated in this Policy. Personal Information may be transferred across national and state borders for the purposes of data consolidation, storage and customer data management, including sharing your information with relevant RCI entities/ subsidiaries or authorised & licensed PEAKS franchisees.


Sale of Information
In the future, we may sell some or all of our assets. In such transactions, customer information is generally one of the transferred business assets. In the event of a sale of any of RCI’s assets including client information, we will require the buyers to honor our Privacy Policy or provide you with notice and an option to limit sharing of your information.

 

D. DISCLOSURE OF CUSTOMER PERSONAL INFORMATION

Please note that RCI may disclose Personal Information of current and former clients to affiliated and non-affiliated third party entities in the following cases:

  • to RCI’s PEAKS franchisees that perform services on RCI’s behalf under written agreements which restrict use of Personal Information to the limited purposes for which it is provided to them and to refrain from further use or disclosure except as permitted by law;
  • to RCI’s affiliates & subsidairies, who are permitted to disclose and use the information only to the extent that RCI may disclose and use the information under this Policy;
  • in the ordinary course of business to RCI’s attorneys, accountants and auditors;
  • to government, regulatory or law enforcement agencies to the extent permitted or required by law, or to comply with applicable legal requirements; or
  • to comply with civil, criminal or regulatory investigations or judicial process, subpoena, summons or warrant by relevant authorities.

 

E. DO-NOT-CALL REGISTRY

From time to time, RCI and our partners may contact you via call or SMS to inform you about our latest products, services, benefits and promotions.

If you have previously consented to receiving such calls and messages, you will continue to be updated on our promotions and marketing campaigns. However, if you no longer wish to continue to receive marketing calls or messages, you may withdraw your consent by contacting our Data Protection officer at +65 62362760 or email us at support@researchcommunication.com

For potential customers, we will only contact you via the telephone for marketing and promotional messages/calls after ascertaining that you have not registered with the national Do Not Call (DNC) Registry administered by the Personal Data Protection Commission of Singapore. However, as we may rely on the one-month validity period of our search results, you may inadvertently still receive marketing or promotional messages/calls.

If you have received a telemarketing call from someone representing RCI although you have registered with the DNC Registry or withdrawn your consent, please inform us at support@researchcommunication.com, or contact us by calling +65 62362760.

 

F. PERMISSION TO DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION

Please note that except as stated in this Privacy Policy, RCI will not share Personal Information about any present or former client with any non-affiliated third party without the clients’ prior written consent or providing the client with a clear notice, an opportunity to "opt out" of that disclosure and information on how to opt out.

 

G. TRANSFER OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OVERSEAS

In certain circumstances, we may need to transfer your personal information outside of Singapore. Any such transfer of your personal information outside of Singapore will be carried out in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act (“PDAP”) requirements.

 

H. CONSENT

Generally, when we request for personal information in the course of providing you a service and / or product and you provide us with such personal information, there is implied consent that you agree to provide us with personal information in order for us to provide you with the requested service and / or product.

In some circumstances and as required by applicable laws, we will seek your express consent when collecting your personal information. For example, where there are new purposes for the use of your personal information, we will seek your fresh consent.

 

I. SITUATIONS NOT REQUIRING CONSENT

We may share non-personal, non-individual information in aggregate form with third parties for research purposes but your personal information will remain anonymous.

 

J. PROCEDURES TO SAFEGUARD PERSONAL INFORMATION

RCI uses reasonable precautions to protect your personal data and store it securely. You should be aware, however, that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While security cannot be guaranteed, we strive to protect the security of your information and are constantly reviewing and enhancing our information security measures. RCI’s website has security measures in place that strive to protect against the accidental loss, misuse, and unauthorized access to your personally identifiable information while under our control. Such security measures include, but are not limited to, password controls, firewalls, and other industry standard security measures.

We will use all reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal information. However, you should be aware that the use of the Internet is not entirely secure and for this reason we cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any personal information which is received from you or sent to you via the Internet.

 

K. RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

RCI only keeps Personal Information on file for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected, or as required or permitted by applicable laws. We shall cease to retain personal information, or remove the means by which the personal information can be associated with particular individuals, as soon as it is reasonable to assume that the purpose for which that personal information was collected is no longer being served by retention of the personal information and retention is no longer necessary for legal or business purposes. Destruction of customer’s personal data will be done in a secure manner.

 

L. ACCURACY

RCI attempts to ensure the accuracy of the Personal Information collected. RCI records the dates when Personal Information was obtained from customers and will periodically ask customers to review the Personal Information RCI has on file and to update any Personal Information that may have changed.

We endeavour to ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate and up-to-date. We realise that certain data that we hold about individuals may change more frequently, for example, residential address, phone number and email address, income, savings and net-worth, etc. In order to ensure that your personal information is current, complete and accurate, please update us by contacting us in person through live chat, email, phone or in person at our office. We can generally update your personal information over the phone or at our discretion, may require relevant and reliable documents to verify the amendment(s) that you requested for.

 

M. CUSTOMER RECOURSE

Any concerns a customer may have regarding RCI’s privacy practices or specific complaints about how client’s Personal Information has been collected, used or disclosed should be forwarded to our Data Protection Officer at the following email address: support@researchcommunication.com

RCI will thoroughly investigate the complaint and will take whatever actions are warranted and notify the client once this has been done. Under the Act, you have the right to obtain a copy of any personal information which we hold about you and to advise us of any inaccuracy that requires a correction. In addition, you are entitled to know how your personal information has been used or disclosed in the past one year. The PDAP does set out some exceptions to this. For instance, where the amount of effort and resources needed to provide access would be unreasonable or disproportionate to your interests or if we have satisfied ourselves on reasonable grounds that the correction should not be made.

To make a request, you will need to contact our Data Protection Officer at support@researchcommunication.com and specifying what data you require correcting. We may charge a reasonable administrative fee for this service to cover the cost of verifying the application and locating, retrieving, reviewing and amending any material requested. If the personal information sought is extensive, we will advise the likely cost in advance and can help to refine your request if required.

We will acknowledge your request within 30-days and respond promptly to it. In exceptional circumstances, we reserve the right to deny you access to your personal information and may provide an explanation as required by applicable laws

 

N. NOTIFICATION OF PRIVACY POLICY AND POLICY CHANGES

RCI provides an initial notice of its Privacy Policy to customers at the time it establishes a customer relationship, and at least annually thereafter, and the Privacy Policy is posted on its website. Updates will be posted on the RCI website, so our customers will always know what information we collect, how we use it, and what choices they have.

 

O. GOVERNING LAW

Note that as we are a Singapore registered company, this Privacy Policy has been drafted to be in accordance with the laws of Singapore. We do not represent or warrant that this Privacy Policy complies with the privacy laws of any other jurisdiction and accordingly, you shall not construe this Privacy Policy as such.

 

P. CHANGES TO POLICY

We reserve the right to modify or change this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make material changes to the Privacy Policy, we will post any changes on this page. We encourage you to review this page periodically to understand our policy regarding the collection and use of your personal data.

Your continued use of our website and acceptance of our services at RCI after any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes your consent to any such changes, to the extent such consent is not otherwise provided.

 

Q. CONTACT US

RCI values its clients' opinions. For questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact our Data Protection Officer by email at: support@researchcommunication.com or,

Address: Research Communication International Pte Ltd 20 Cecil Street, Equity Plaza, #15-01, Singapore 049705