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Your privacy is important

This statement outlines the Hearing Care Industry Association’s policy on how it uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by it.

The Hearing Care Industry Association (HCIA) is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act and is compliant with the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012.

HCIA may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take account of new laws and technology, changes to the HCIA’s operations and practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing legal environment.

What information does HCIA collect and how?

You may visit our website/s anonymously.

We collect information from you for the purposes of:

When registering on the HCIA website, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, postal address and/or phone number.

If you apply for assistance from HCIA’s Hearing Aid Bank, we collect and hold personal information, including sensitive information, about:

Personal information you provide

We generally collect personal information from or about a person by way of online forms and website registration. You have the right to seek to deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym. However, unless you identify yourself, it will not be practicable for us to deal with you or provide services to you except for the most general responses to general enquiries.

Personal information provided by other people

In some circumstances, HCIA may be provided with personal information about an individual from a third party, for example their doctor, audiologist or audiometrist.

How will HCIA use the personal information you provide?

HCIA will use personal information it collects from you for the primary purpose of collection, and for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose of collection and reasonably expected, or to which you have consented.

For successful applicants to the Hearing Aid Bank, HCIA may use some of your personal information to help promote the Hearing Aid Bank and/or to raise awareness of hearing health and appropriate treatment. We will always obtain your consent to use personal information as the basis for program promotion or raising awareness.

Who might HCIA disclose personal information to?

HCIA does not sell, trade or otherwise transfer your personal information to outside parties. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website and conducting our business as long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential.

We may release your information to comply with the law or to anyone you authorise HCIA to disclose information.

Non-personally identifiable website visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing or other uses.

Sending information overseas

HCIA uses overseas providers of IT services including servers and cloud services. HCIA will not send personal information about an individual outside Australia without:

How does HCIA treat sensitive information?

In referring to ‘sensitive information’, HCIA means

“information relating to a person’s racial ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade union or other professional or trade association membership, sexual preferences or criminal record, that is also personal information; and health information about an individual”.

Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose, unless you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is allowed by law.

Management and security of personal information

HCIA’s employees and contractors are required to respect the confidentiality of personal information and the privacy of individuals.

HCIA has in place steps to protect the personal information it holds from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification, interference or disclosure by use of various methods including passworded access rights to digitised records.

Use of Cookies

When you use our website, having your cookies enabled will allow us to maintain the continuity of your browsing session and remember your details when you return. We may also use web beacons and JavaScript. If you adjust your browser settings to block, reject or delete these functions, the webpage may not function in an optimal manner. We may also collect information about your IP address, although this may not identify you.

Updating personal information

We endeavour to ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate, complete and up-to-date. A person may seek to update their personal information held by HCIA by contacting the Privacy Officer of HCIA at any time.

The Australian Privacy Principles and the Health Privacy Principles require HCIA not to store personal information longer than necessary. In particular, the Health Privacy Principles impose certain obligations about the length of time health records must be stored.

You have the right to check what personal information HCIA holds about you.

Under the Commonwealth Privacy Act and the Health Records Act, an individual has the right to obtain access to any personal information which HCIA holds about them and to advise HCIA of any perceived inaccuracy. There are some exceptions to this right set out in the applicable legislation. To make a request to access any information HCIA holds about you, please contact the Privacy Officer in writing.

HCIA may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require.

How long will HCIA keep my information?

Under our destruction and de-identification policies, your personal information that is no longer required will be de-identified or destroyed. In many circumstances, some of your information will be kept for the purpose of promoting the Hearing Aid Bank program or raising awareness of hearing health, as you will have consented to that in writing with us.

Enquiries and privacy complaints

If you would like further information about the way HCIA manages the personal information it holds, please contact the Privacy Officer at info@hcia.com.au. If you have any concerns, complaints or you think there has been a breach of privacy, please contact our Privacy Officer who will first deal with you, usually over the phone. If we have not dealt satisfactorily with your concerns, we will meet with you to discuss further. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint within 30 days from this meeting then you can refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner via: