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Our Privacy Code
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company’s Privacy Code is based on the
following ten principles adopted by the Personal Information
Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA).
Principle #1: Our Accountability for the
Collection, Use or Disclosure of Personal Information.
As a customer of the Fundy Mutual Insurance Company, you have a
right to expect that your insurer is accountable for the personal
information it collects and uses. "Customer” means a current
and former insured, an applicant for insurance, a claimant under one
of our policies as well as an individual insured as part of a group
or corporate policy.
We are responsible for maintaining and protecting your personal
information while it is under our control. This includes any
personal information that may need to be disclosed to third parties
for processing or other administrative functions.
To help ensure the confidentiality of your personal information, we
have established policies and procedures to ensure that we comply
with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document
Act. We have designated a privacy officer who is responsible for our
company’s compliance with the ten privacy principles by the Canadian
Standards Association.
If you have any questions or inquiries about how your personal
information is stored, or when it may need to be disclosed to
others, our privacy officer is there to assist and explain out
policies to you.
Principle #2: Identifying Our Purpose for
the Collection, Use or Disclosure of Personal Information.
Before or when we collect information about you, we will explain how
we intend to use it. The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company collects
personal information only for the following purposes:
a) to provide ongoing service to our customer;
b) to help us understand our customers needs better;
c) to develop, enhance, market or provide insurance products and
services;
d) to enable us to underwrite your policy of insurance and set a
fair premium;
e) to provide us with the information that we need to adjust a claim
in a fair and expeditious way;
f) to meet our legal and regulatory requirements under the Insurance
Act and other statutes
Unless we are required by law, the Fundy Mutual Insurance Company
will not use or disclose any personal information that has been
collected without documenting the new purpose and obtaining your
consent. If you have any questions about these purposes, our privacy
officer will be pleased to explain them to you.
Principle #3: Obtaining Your Consent for
the Collection, Use or Disclosure of Personal Information.
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company will make a reasonable effort to
make sure that our customers understand and consent to how their
personal information will be used by the Company.
We will obtain your consent if we need to use your information for
any other purpose and before collecting information from third
parties such as other insurers and insurance service companies.
In certain circumstances, however, personal information may need to
be collected, used or disclosed without the knowledge and consent of
the individual. For example, legal, medical, or security reasons may
make it impossible or impractical to seek consent.
The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act
recognizes that when information is being collected for the
detection and prevention of fraud or for law enforcement, seeking
the consent of an individual may defeat the purpose of collecting
the information. Seeking consent may also be impossible or
inappropriate when the individual is a minor, seriously ill, or
mentally incapacitated.
In obtaining your consent, we will always use reasonable efforts to
ensure that you are advised of the identified purposes for which any
personal information collected will be used or disclosed.
Principle #4: Limiting Our Collection of
Personal Information.
We will always limit the collection of personal information to that
which is necessary for the identified purposes. Typically, this is
information that is required to enable us to underwrite your policy
of insurance and charge a fair premium. We may need to collect
personal information from other sources including credit bureaus.
Under certain circumstances we need to collect information to assist
us in adjusting or investigating a claim. This may involve the use
of licensed and regulated independent insurance adjusters or
investigators. We will always collect personal information by fair
and lawful means.
Principle #5: Limiting the Use, Disclosure
and Retention of Personal Information.
Personal information will not he used or disclosed for purposes
other than for which it was collected, except with your consent or
as permitted or required by law. Your personal information will he
retained only as long as it is necessary to fulfill those purposes.
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company may disclose a customer’s
personal information to the following organizations:
a) Another insurance company for the reasonable provision of
insurance services.. This may include another insurance company that
is subscribing to the risk insured under our policy.
b) Another person or corporation as part of conducting business.
This may include a reinsurance company, subject to that corporation
agreeing to manage personal information in accordance with these
privacy principles;
c) A person or corporation that is involved in supplying us with
claims support services. This may include a licensed independent
insurance claims adjuster or investigator, or a fire or forensic
expert or engineer.
d) A medical or rehabilitation specialist or assessment clinic that
is providing an opinion to us pursuant to out rights and obligations
tinder the Insurance Act.
e) A company or an individual employed by the Fundy Mutual Insurance
Company to perform data processing, accounting, actuarial or
statistical functions on our behalf;
f) A person or corporation involved in the development, enhancement,
marketing or provision of out insurance products and services. This
may include an insurance broker or agent.
g) An agent used by the Fundy Mutual Insurance Company to evaluate
your creditworthiness or to collect an outstanding account. This may
include credit grantors and reporting agencies;
h) A public authority or agent of a public authority, if the
information is required to comply with a provincial or federal
statute or regulation.
i) A law enforcement agency, where out customer consents to such
disclosure or disclosure is required by law or emergency.
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company does not provide or sell its
customer lists to any outside company for use in marketing or
solicitation. Only employees with a business ‘need to know”, or
those whose duties require it, are granted access to personal
information about our customers.
We keep personal information only as long as it remains necessary or
relevant for the identified purposes or as required by law. Personal
information that is no longer necessary or relevant for the
identified purposes or required to be retained by law is destroyed,
erased or made anonymous.
Principle #6: Keeping your Personal
Information Accurate.
The Fundy Mutual insurance Company makes every effort to ensure that
personal information about its customers is as accurate, complete,
and up-to-date as is necessary for the purposes for which it was
collected.
This may require contact with your insurance broker to confirm or
update personal information required for underwriting purposes. In
addition, the Insurance Act and the terms and conditions of your
policy of insurance may require you to notify us of material changes
to your personal information.
If you have any questions about the accuracy and completeness of the
personal information that we have collected or obtained, please do
not hesitate to contact our privacy officer. If you need to update
some aspect of your personal information, please contact your
insurance broker or agent directly.
Principle #7: Safeguarding Your Personal
Information.
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company takes steps its protect personal
information with security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity
of the information.
Specifically, we have stringent security measures in place to
protect personal information against such risks as loss or theft,
computer hackers, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use,
modification or destruction.
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company protects your personal
information regardless of the format in which it is held. We also
protect personal information we disclose to third parties by
contractual agreements stipulating the confidentiality of the
information and the purposes for which it is to he used.
All our employees with access to personal information are required
as a condition of their employment to respect the confidentiality of
personal information.
Principle #8: Openness Concerning our
Privacy Practices.
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company pursues a policy, of
openness about the procedures it uses to manage personal
information. We will make specific information about our policies
and practices relating to the management of their personal
information available to customers upon request.
We ensure openness by providing you with the following information.
a) the title and address of the privacy officer accountable for our
compliance with the policy.
b) the name of the individual to whom inquiries or complaints can he
forwarded;
c) the means of gaining access to personal information held by our
company; and
d) a description of the type of personal information held by the
Fundy Mutual Insurance Company, including a general account of its
use.
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company makes personal information
available to help our policy holders exercise informed choices
regarding the use of their personal information.
Principle #9: Customer Access to personal
Information.
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company informs its customers
of the existence, use, and disclosure of their personal information
upon request and provides access to that information. Our customers
are able to challenge or correct the accuracy and completeness of
their personal information and have it amended when appropriate.
When a request is made in writing, we will inform you in a timely
fashion, of the existence, use, and disclosure of your personal
information and you will he given access to that information. In
order to safeguard your personal information, we may require you to
provide sufficient identification information to permit us to
authorize access to your file.
In certain exceptional situations, we may not be able to provide you
with access to all of the personal information we hold. Exceptions
may include information that is prohibitively costly to provide,
information that contains references to other individuals,
information that cannot he disclosed for legal, security or
commercial proprietary reasons, information that is subject to
solicitor-client or litigation privilege, or, in certain
circumstances, information of a medical nature. If this is the case,
the Fundy Mutual Insurance Company will provide the reasons for
denying access upon request.
Customers can obtain information or seek access to their individual
files by contacting our designated privacy officer at the address
described below.
Principle #10: Challenging Compliance.
A customer has the right to challenge the Fundy Mutual Insurance
Company’s compliance with the above principles by contacting the
privacy officer accountable for our compliance with the policy.
The Fundy Mutual Insurance Company maintains strict procedures for
addressing and responding to all inquiries or complaints from its
customers about its handling of personal information. We inform our
customers about our privacy practices as well as availability of
complaint procedures, if necessary.
Our privacy officer will investigate all complaints concerning
compliance with the privacy policy. If a complaint is found to be
justified, we will take appropriate measures to resolve the
complaint including the amendment of our policies and procedures.
In exceptional circumstances, the privacy officer accountable for
compliance with our privacy policy may seek external legal advice
where appropriate before providing a final response to individual
complaints.
For more information, please contact our privacy officer directly
through our website or by calling the Company Head Office.
Fundy Mutual Insurance Company
Telephone: (506) 432-1535
Copyright 2004, Canadian Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (CAMIC)
Association Canadienne des compagnies d`assurance mutuelles
(ACCAM) |
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