Privacy Policy

The Asia-Pacific Employee Assistance Roundtable (APEAR) respects your privacy and takes all steps to protect your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). This privacy policy outlines the personal information practices of APEAR.

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Information We Collect

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The main way APEAR collects personal information about you is when you provide it. We may collect personal information when you:

• Register for and/or participate in an APEAR event (for example, a training seminar) or conference

• Subscribe to our newsletter or communications

• Contact us such as through our website or email

• Engage with site content such as resources, articles, or downloads
   

Information collected may include your name, email address, telephone number, organisation, professional role, payment information (for event registration), information about your attendance at an event or interest in our services and functions, and other details relevant to your engagement with APEAR.
 

How We Use Your Information
 

APEAR typically uses your personal information for the purpose for which it was collected.

This ordinarily includes for APEAR to perform its business functions such as:

• Process event registrations and payments

• Communicate news, resources, and opportunities

• Maintain records of engagement for APEAR activities

We may also use your personal information for secondary purposes, such as:

• Business improvement and reporting

• Planning and conducting research

• Responding to complaints and queries

• Fraud detection and reporting

• As permitted by, and to comply with, the laws and regulations which govern us

We do not sell or rent your information to third parties but we may engage third-party providers as set out below.

How we disclose your personal information
 

APEAR may disclose personal information for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, including for the purposes set out in How We Use Your Information above. This will include disclosures made to third-party services.
 

Third-Party Services
 

There are a number of ways in which APEAR collects personal information through its website, including via its trusted third-party providers, including but not limited to:

• Wix.com, a website hosting service

• Stripe, a secure payment process for event registrations

• Google Forms, to complete event registration

When engaging with these services through APEAR’s website, their own privacy policies and terms of service may also apply.

• Wix Privacy Policy: https://www.wix.com/about/privacy

• Stripe Privacy Policy: https://stripe.com/privacy

• Google Forms Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
   

Such third parties may share with APEAR some of your personal information, including contact information required for event registration, whether a particular registered individual has made payment for an event and any special requirements for attending the event. [APEAR does not receive, collect or hold any of your financial information provided to Stripe.]

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Other third-party providers
 

From time to time, APEAR may engage additional third-party providers (for example, to support events, webinars, email communications, or analytics) with whom we share your personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy. While APEAR takes reasonable steps to ensure these providers handle personal information responsibly, we encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you interact with through our site or event platforms where the policies are made available to or are otherwise accessible by you.
 

Social Networking Services
 

APEAR uses X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to communicate with the public about its events and work. When you communicate with APEAR using these services, APEAR collects the personal information you provide to it by engaging in that communication.

X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will also handle your personal information when you communicate with APEAR using their services. Each of these platforms have their own privacy policies available on their website.
 

Data Storage and Security
 

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.
 

Overseas disclosures of personal information
 

All personal information collected digitally and directly from you by APEAR is held on servers located in Australia or, where applicable, with cloud service providers whom we seek to ensure comply with appropriate safeguards and Australian privacy laws.

Where personal information is collected through third party providers, such as Google, they may require data collected to be sent overseas and stored on Google’s servers based outside of Australia. You should consult the third party’s privacy policies if available.

When you communicate with APEAR through a social network service such as Facebook or Twitter, the social network provider and its partners may collect and hold your personal information overseas.
 

Destruction/Deletion
 

APEAR takes steps to destroy personal information in a secure manner or de-identify personal information it holds when it is no longer needed and when it is lawfully authorised or required to do so.
 

Access and Correction

Subject to certain exceptions, you have the right to request access to the personal information APEAR holds about you and to request corrections if it is inaccurate. To do so, please contact us at:  info@apear.org. Once contacted APEAR will respond to your request within 30 days and will aim to make its decision, provided it is first satisfied as to your identity, about your request as soon as practicable.
 

If you ask, APEAR must give you access to your personal information and take reasonable steps to correct it if APEAR considers it is incorrect, unless there is a law that allows, authorises or requires APEAR not to.
 

To the extent that APEAR does not hold or have control over your personal information (such as where you provide payment information to Stripe), any request for access and correction to such personal information held, or also held, by a third party must be made directly to that third party.
 

Cookies and Analytics
 

Cookies are small data files transferred onto computers or devices by websites for record-keeping purposes and to improve your website user experience. Analytics typically collect data about how you interact with the APEAR website.
 

This website may use cookies and analytics tools (provided by Wix and other services) to improve user experience and monitor traffic. You can disable cookies in your browser if preferred, however, some data may still be collected separately such tools even though you may have set your browser preferences to reject all cookies.
 

The information collected about you using cookies will not ordinarily be your personal information because you will not be identified or reasonably identifiable to APEAR from it.

How to Make a Complaint
 

If you wish to complain to APEAR about how it has handled your personal information you should first complaint to APEAR in writing at: info@apear.org
 

If APEAR receives a complaint from you about how it has handled your personal information, APEAR will determine what (if any) should be taken to resolve the complaint.
 

Contact Us
 

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or about how APEAR has handled your personal information, please email:

info@apear.org

Privacy Policy Updates
 

APEAR may update this privacy policy from time to time. Revised versions of this Privacy Policy will be posted on our website.
 

This Privacy Policy is effective as of 1st of October 2025.