Privacy Policy

Last Updated: May 2021

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited (NIWA, we, us or our) take your privacy very seriously and are committed to ensuring we comply with the Privacy Act 2020 and all other relevant privacy legislation and regulatory requirements (Privacy Laws).  We ensure that all our subsidiaries comply with applicable Privacy Laws.

Scope and purpose

This privacy policy sets out the basis on which we collect and process your personal information and the personal information of our clients, contractors, suppliers, business partners, job candidates and other individuals (collectively, you or your). It does not address the personal information of NIWA employees which we manage through a separate policy and procedure.  

Collection of personal information

We may collect personal information you provide to us, such as your name, email address, contact details, occupation, organisation/ industry, and other personal information generated through your interactions with us.  This information can be obtained through a variety of sources, including:

• directly from you or a third party whom you have authorised to provide us with your personal information, such as in the course of applying for a position at NIWA, when you request information or services from us or when we contract with you;
• publicly available information we may search in the course of providing services to you or conducting due diligence, and/or
• via our digital channels (such as this website, any of our other ancillary websites or related web services (Website) and NIWA applications) as explained below or, in accordance with our CCTV Policy, through camera surveillance technology or CCTV when you visit one of our buildings or sites.
  
  

Use of personal information

We do not trade in personal information and will only process your personal information for those purposes to which you have consented (consent) or where we have a lawful reason to do so, including the following common purposes where it is necessary for us to:

• perform a contract which we have with you or may enter into with you (contractual necessity);
• execute our public good duties (public interests);
• comply with our legal or regulatory requirements (legal compliance);
• carry out our legitimate business interests (or those of a third party), such as maintaining and analysing the security of our data and systems, improving and delivering our services, marketing or publicising our activities or work (which may involve sending you marketing communications by email and other electronic means, unless you have opted out of such marketing), preventing or investigating fraud, developing our products and services, responding to your inquiries, verifying your identity or for recruiting purposes, and where we have ensured that these business interests do not override your fundamental rights and interests (legitimate interests).

We will only use your personal information for the purpose for which it was collected, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason aligns to the original purpose or is otherwise required or permitted by law.

Disclosure of personal information

We will only share your personal information with another third party to the extent necessary for the purposes listed above and in accordance with law. We take all reasonable precautions to ensure that any third party contractor or service provider who may access your personal information on our behalf keeps your personal information secure and processes it lawfully and in accordance with our instructions.  

Management of personal information

We treat your personal information with respect, and maintain robust information security management processes and confidentiality protocols to help ensure that it is protected against misuse, loss and unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure. We retain the information we hold in accordance with our statutory obligations and for the period that we lawfully need to keep it: we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information that is no longer necessary for us to keep. We typically use the TLS encryption protocol for secure communication of NIWA webpages over the Internet.  If we have given you (or if you have chosen) a password to enable access to certain Website subscription services, you are responsible for keeping this password secure and confidential.

Any personal information provided to us is held by, or on behalf of, NIWA at one of NIWA’s sites in New Zealand and/or by our contracted third-party service providers.  We may use both national or overseas third-party providers to manage and store the personal and other information we collect, and we ensure that any such provider has sufficient security measures in place to protect your personal information.

Your rights and choices

You have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to request for it to be corrected if you believe it is incorrect  To request a copy of your personal information, or to have it corrected, please contact us.  You can also ask to be removed from any of NIWA’s subscription lists at any time.  Please contact us if you have any concerns relating to the handling of your personal information by us; however, you can also refer the matter to the Privacy Commissioner or, where appropriate, the Ombudsman.

Please be aware that we may need you to provide evidence of your identity should you make a request for access or correction of personal information to us.

Website and NIWA applications

We may collect personal and other information from you through your use of the Website (including when you subscribe to our Website services) and NIWA applications, and we do this by using “cookies”, log files and other technologies.  Our use of any personal information gathered through the Website or NIWA applications complies with this policy.

Cookies and web analytics

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or other device by websites you visit.  Cookies are widely used to help users navigate websites easily, improve the functionality of sites and provide site owners with information about site traffic.  We use cookies to store your preferences, record session information, analyse how the Website is used and ensure that particular features of the Website work.  Most cookies we use on the Website collect information about how visitors use the Website. You can disable cookies in your web browser settings and/or delete them from your computer’s hard drive. While you do not need to have cookies turned on to use the Website, some online services, features or functions of the Website may not function properly if the cookies are disabled. 

In addition to cookies, we use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC (Google), to analyse how visitors use the Website. This service collects and analyses specific information such as IP addresses, device and software identifiers, referring and exit sites, and site behaviour and use.  NIWA uses Google Analytics to collect and process statistical information about visits to the Website, but the data we collect through this service is aggregated and/or anonymous.  For information on Google’s use of the data collected through this service see their here.  This service respects any “do not track” settings on web browsers.  

We are also temporarily using Microsoft Clarity, a web analytics service provided by Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft), to analyse how visitors use the Website. This service collects and analyses specific information such as IP addresses, device and software identifiers, referring and exit sites, and site behaviour and use. NIWA uses Microsoft Clarity to collect and process information about visits to the Website, but the data we collect through this service is anonymous. For information on Microsoft’s use of the data collected through this service see their Privacy Statement and Terms of Use. On your first visit, you will be asked if you consent to our recording of your interactions. If you do not consent, we will not record your interactions.

We may from time to time use different web analytic tools on our Website and/or NIWA applications for the purposes of tracking use and traffic, but if so, we will ensure that any such tool respects privacy settings and has safeguards in place to protect your personal information.

Third-party websites and social media

The Website or our other communications to you may contain links to third-party websites and social media pages on various platforms.  We may also use social networking services to communicate with you and the public about our work.   If you follow any of these links or use those services, they may collect your personal information and track your web use for their own purposes.  As such, you should read their individual privacy and cookies policies.  

Changes to our privacy policy

We may make changes to this policy from time to time to ensure it aligns with how our company operates and continues to comply with all current laws and regulations.  Any such changes will be noted on this page and we encourage you to visit this page regularly to check for updates.  We may also take additional steps to bring the changes to your attention, including by notifying you directly.  We will update you of any material changes as required by law.