RAND Australia Privacy Statement

The RAND Corporation (Australia) Pty Ltd (RAND Australia, we, our, us) is committed to managing Personal Information in an open and transparent manner, and in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act). The APPs govern the way in which RAND Australia collects, uses, discloses, stores, secures and disposes of Personal Information.

A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.

What Is Personal Information and Why Do We Collect It?

Personal Information is information or an opinion that identifies an individual. Examples of Personal Information we may collect include:

  • name
  • address
  • gender
  • date of birth
  • contact details
  • employment status and history
  • education status
  • citizenship and visa status

This Personal Information is obtained in many ways including directly from you via interviews, correspondence, by telephone and facsimile, by email, via video surveillance, via our website (www.rand.org/australia), from your website, from media and publications, from other publicly available sources, from cookies, managing employee records, and from third parties. We only collect Personal Information about you from third parties where it would be unreasonable or impractical to collect the Personal Information directly from you.

If you provide Personal Information about someone other than yourself, you agree that you have that person’s consent to provide the information for the purpose for which you provide it to us. You also agree that you have told the person about this Policy and where to find it.

RAND Australia collects your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing our services to you, to improve our services, providing information to our clients and marketing. We may also use your Personal Information for secondary purposes closely related to the primary purpose, in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure.

We may use and disclose your Personal Information (other than Sensitive Information) to provide you with information about our products and services that we consider may be of interest to you. You may unsubscribe from our mailing/marketing lists at any time by contacting us in writing.

We also collect Personal Information for purposes of recruitment and employment of staff. More information about our collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information for employment purposes can be found in our Collection of PI for Employment Purposes.

Personal Information about you may also be collected when you visit RAND Australia’s office for purposes of identifying you and recording the nature of your visit, and for safety and security reasons.

When we collect Personal Information we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it.

Where lawful and practicable, we will give you the option of interacting with us anonymously or using a pseudonym. However, in certain instances, we may not be able to allow you to access particular services if you don’t provide the required personal information. We will inform you at the time this happens and explain to you the reasons why the information is required.

Sensitive Information

Personal Information may include Sensitive Information which includes information or opinion about such things as:

  • racial or ethnic origin
  • political opinions
  • membership in a political association
  • religious or philosophical beliefs
  • membership in a trade union or other professional body
  • criminal record
  • health information

We do not collect Sensitive Information unless you have consented to the collection of the information (by filling in a form or otherwise disclosing that information to us) and the information is reasonably necessary for one or more of RAND Australia’s functions or activities, or the collection is required or permitted by law.

Third Parties

Where reasonable and practicable to do so, we will collect your Personal Information only from you. However, in some circumstances we may be provided with information by third parties. In such a case we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the information provided to us by the third party.

Research Activities

RAND Australia conducts research involving human participants, and in the course of this research, we may collect Personal Information about research participants. The collection of such information is usually subject to separate ethical approval requirements and will only be used for the purposes of the specific research activity, along with providing our services to you as necessary.

We may also receive Personal Information from research partners, sponsors, or clients. Information as part of our research activities. In this situation, the Personal Information will only be used for the purposes of the specific research activity.

When practical, we collect Personal Information for research activities directly from you. In other circumstances, we may collect it from other sources, such as public records, parents or guardians of children, and third parties, but only if it would be unreasonable or impractical to collect the Personal Information directly from you. We seek parental consent prior to collecting Personal Information about children and comply with other applicable laws and regulations pertaining to human subject research. In the research context, Personal Information may be collected in several ways, including:

  • online forms
  • surveys
  • over the telephone
  • through biometric technology
  • in-person in a meeting or interview
  • via email or other correspondence

Disclosure of Personal Information

Your Personal Information may be disclosed in a number of circumstances including the following:

  • to third parties where you consent to the use or disclosure, or where disclosure is necessary for us to provide our services to you;
  • to our related bodies corporate whether located in Australia or overseas;
  • to our external advisers where required; and
  • where required or authorised by law

Sensitive Information is collected only in specific circumstances and will be used only:

  • for the primary purpose for which it was obtained
  • for a secondary purpose that is directly related to the primary purpose
  • with your consent; or
  • where required or authorised by law

We may also engage service providers to provide services to RAND Australia. Where those services involve sharing of Personal Information, we will ensure that our contract obligates the service provider to comply with the same level of privacy obligations as RAND Australia.

Disclosure of Personal Information Overseas

We may sometimes disclose your Personal Information overseas, such as in the course of a research project with an overseas entity, through publishing information, with our related bodies corporate overseas or by storing information on a server located overseas. We will only disclose Personal Information overseas in accordance with the APPs and where the recipient is subject to a law or scheme substantially similar to the APPs, including mechanisms for enforcement, we have obtained your consent, or we have ensured appropriate contractual data protection safeguards are in place.

We may also disclose your Personal Information to third parties with whom we contract for services related to maintaining and managing contact and other information about our customers, such as Salesforce. Salesforce is headquartered in the United States of America.

Security of Personal Information

Your Personal Information is stored in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. These steps include:

  • storing paper records securely
  • only accessing Personal Information on a need-to-know basis and by authorised personnel
  • monitoring system access which can only be accessed by authenticated credentials
  • ensuring our building is secure
  • regularly updating and auditing our storage and data security systems
  • confidentiality obligations with staff and third parties

When your Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your Personal Information. However, most of the Personal Information is or will be stored in client files which will be kept by us for a minimum of 7 years.

If we receive Personal Information about you that we have not requested, and we determine that we could not have lawfully collected that information under the APPs had we asked for it, we will destroy or de-identify the information if it is lawful and reasonable to do so.

Government Related Identifiers

We do not adopt, use or disclose government related identifiers except as required or permitted by law.

Access to Your Personal Information

You may access the Personal Information we hold about you to update and/or correct it, subject to certain exceptions. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact us in writing and we will deal with your request within a reasonable time. Where reasonable and practicable, we will provide access to the information we hold about you in the manner you request.

RAND Australia will not charge any fee for your access request but may charge a reasonable administrative fee for providing a copy of your Personal Information.

In order to protect your Personal Information we may require identification from you before releasing the requested information.

If we deny you access to the information, we will notify you of the basis for the denial unless an exception applies.

Maintaining the Quality of Your Personal Information

It is an important to us that your Personal Information is up to date. We will take reasonable steps to make sure that your Personal Information is accurate, complete and up to date. If you find that the information we have is not up to date or is inaccurate, please advise us as soon as practicable so we can update our records and ensure we can continue to provide quality services to you. We will deal with your request within a reasonable time.

If we do not agree with the corrections you have requested (for example, because we consider that the information is already accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading), we are not required to make the corrections. However, where we refuse to do so, we will give you a written notice setting out the reasons.

Video Surveillance

RAND Australia collects Personal Information in the form of video surveillance of its office and premises for safety and security reasons. Video images of staff and visitors to our office (including business invitees, contractors, vendors, sales representatives, and other third parties) and their movements within our offices and surrounding premises (such as our parking area) will be recorded and securely maintained, and destroyed or permanently de-identified when it is no longer needed.

Policy Updates

This Policy may change from time to time and is available on our website. Your continued use of our website, products or services, requesting our assistance, or the provision of further personal information to us after this Policy has been revised, constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.

Privacy Policy Complaints and Enquiries

If you have any queries or complaints about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

RAND Australia
Suite 24, M Centre
11 Palmerston Lane
Manuka, ACT 2603
Australia

Telephone: +61 2 6232 6972

Email: RAND_Australia@rand.org