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Personal
Information Protection Act (PIPA) – Our Agency’s Commitment
to your Privacy
Tony Lau Insurance
Agencies Ltd. is committed to providing our clients with excellent
service. Doing business with a multi-line insurance broker involves
providing information about yourself, so protection of your personal
information is one of our highest priorities.
Our
brokerage and the insurance industry have a solid track record of
respecting your personal information. As a result of federal and provincial
legislations, we have further strengthened our privacy commitment
by informing you of why and how we collect, use and disclose your
personal information. You can be assured that we will only handle
your personal information in a manner that a reasonable person would
consider appropriate in the circumstances.
What is PIPA?
Why do we collect personal information?
What personal information do we collect?
Who do we disclose your personal information to?
How do we protect your personal
information?
What
is PIPA?
PIPA
or Personal Information Protection Act came into effect on January
1st, 2004. PIPA has been implemented to regulate the way that the
private sector organizations collect, use, keep secure and disclose
personal information. With the legislation in place, it ensures that
organizations manage personal information responsibly. This essentially
means that individuals have been given more control over the way their
personal information is handled and has a right to request access
to and/or correction of that particular information.
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Why
do we collect personal information?
When you first
become a client or whenever you acquire or renew a product from us,
we need to collect some of your personal information.
Common purposes include:
 
Enable us to acquire or renew an insurance policy for you.
Assist you and assess your ongoing needs for insurance.
Assess your need for other products, such as financial products, and
offer them to you.
Ensure your information is accurate and up-to-date.
Protect us both against error or fraud.
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What
personal information do we collect?
Personal information
is information that identifies you as an individual client and relates
specifically to you. Depending on the purpose(s) for which we need
to collect it, we may ask for the following personal information about
you including:
Basic information such as your name, address, telephone, fax number,
e-mail address, birthdate
and marital status.
Claims history.
Credit and past payment records.
Driver’s record.
Details about your property such as the value of your home and its contents.
Medical information.
Smoking habits.
Employment information.
We may obtain
this information from:
You.
Insurance companies.
Other insurance brokers or agents.
Credit organizations.
Motor vehicle and driver licensing authorities.
Financial institutions.
Medical professionals.
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Who
do we disclose your personal information to?
For many of the
purposes identified above, we will need to share your personal information
with others in order to serve your needs. These other parties commonly
include:
Insurance Companies.
Other insurance brokers or agents.
Credit organizations.
Professionals working with us such as adjusters or lawyers.
Financial institutions.
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How
do we protect your personal information?
In order to protect
your personal information and right to privacy we will:
Not collect, use or disclose your personal information for any purpose
other than those that we identify to you.
Keep your personal information only for as long as we need it to fulfill
the stated purpose or as required by law.
Maintain your personal information in as accurate, complete and up-to-date
a form as possible.
Safeguard your personal information to the best of our ability.
Respond to any request you may make to access or correct the personal
information we hold about you.
Obtain the appropriate consent from you for the collection, use or
disclosure of your personal information.
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Consent
We may obtain
your express consent or we may determine that consent has been implied
by the circumstances.
We might ask you for your express consent in writing.
We may ask for your express consent in person or over the telephone.
We may determine
that by seeking insurance through our organization, your consent has
been implied for us to deal with your personal information in a reasonable
manner.
There are also
legal exceptions in which we will not need to obtain your consent
or explain the purposes for the collection, use or disclosure of your
personal information. This could apply when there is an emergency
situation, or if it is necessary for your protection or ours.
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Our
Safeguards
Our organization
will use the appropriate safeguards such as:
Make reasonable security arrangements to protect personal information
in our custody including physical measures, technical tools and organizational
controls.
Safeguard personal
information from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure,
copying, modification or disposal.
Protect personal
information regardless of the format in which it is held.
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Our
Agency’s goals in protecting your personal information and providing
you with Choices
It is our Agency’s
goal to strengthen our privacy commitments. We want our clients to
be informed about our privacy policies and aware that they have choices.
You have the right to refuse to allow us to obtain your personal information
as well as withdraw a previously given consent at any given time.
However, this may limit or even prevent our ability to provide you
with the products or service you desire.
For example, if you do not allow us to obtain information about the
claims history of your home, it is unlikely that we will be able to
provide you with home insurance.
If you have any
concerns towards the privacy of your personal information, we would
gladly discuss your concerns and assist you in making your decisions.
Contacts
We are committed
to treating you with respect and courtesy, and to providing the highest
level of service.
Please contact
our Privacy Officer or Deputy Privacy Officer at 4045 Main Street,
Vancouver V5V 3P5 and they will promptly respond to your concerns
relating to:
If you wish to access
your personal information.
If you wish to change
your consent to the ways in which we may collect, use or disclose
your personal information.
If you have a complaint
about our privacy policies or the manner in which we have handled
your personal information.
If you have any
other questions about our privacy policies.
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Other contacts:
Our website at www.tonylauinsurance.com.
The office of the
Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia at (250)
387-5629 or their website at www.oipc.bc.ca
Enquiry BC at (604)
660-2421(in Vancouver) or 1-800-663-7867 (elsewhere in BC).
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Privacy
| © 2004 Tony Lau Insurance
Agencies Ltd. |
