Protecting your privacy is a fundamental part of our business. Pacific Underwriting is committed to complying with the principles of the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth) concerning the collection, use and management of personal information about individuals. To ensure that your personal information is fully protected, Pacific Underwriting has become a signatory to the General Insurance Information Privacy Code. The purpose of this brochure is to outline the procedures used by Pacific Underwriting to protect the privacy of your personal information.

The General Insurance Privacy Code

The Privacy Act provides for industry groups to operate their own privacy code, tailored to the needs and features of the industry. The General Insurance Privacy Code ("the Code") was compiled by the Insurance Council of Australia and has been approved by the Federal Privacy Commissioner for operation from 17 April 2002.

The Code ensures that all the principles under the Privacy Act are incorporated into the business practice of its signatories. The Code also provides consumers with additional protection through complaints handling mechanisms, industry monitoring processes and consumer education. As a signatory to the Code, Pacific Underwriting is able to provide better privacy protection for its clients.

Privacy Policy

Pacific Underwriting's Privacy Policy sets out comprehensive information about our procedures when we collect, use and disclose personal information. The policy sets out what we expect of you if we provide you with, or receive from you, personal information about other individuals. It also provides information about accessing your personal information held by us, opting out of receiving our marketing information and how to contact us if you have a complaint. A copy of our Privacy Policy is available below.

Privacy Complaints

Pacific Underwriting has established a privacy complaints handling procedure to deal with any complaints you may have about how we have collected, used or managed your personal information. If you need to make a complaint, please contact the Privacy Manager at Pacific Underwriting, who has authority to deal with complaints, on (02) 9249 1500 or at Level 23,Tower 2 Darling Park, 201 Sussex St, Sydney 2000. We will endeavour to resolve your complaint within 15 working days.

Your complaint may be made orally or in writing. If you make your complaint orally, we will require you to put it in writing as soon as possible. Please let us know if you require assistance to put your complaint in writing. Your complaint will be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly by the Privacy Manager at Pacific Underwriting. There may be instances where the Privacy Manager will recommend that the complaint be handled by the Privacy Commissioner or another Code adjudicator.

If you are not satisfied with the investigation undertaken by Pacific Underwriting, you can make a complaint to the “Financial Ombudsman Service Limited” (FOS), GPO Box 3, Melbourne Vic, 3001. You can also reach the FOS via phone, National Toll Free: 1300 780 808 or via their website www.fos.org.au. This process is free of charge. If you are unsatisfied with the way your complaint is handled by the FOS, you are able to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on 1300 363 992, which also has a complaint review and resolution processes.

Privacy Policy

Our Commitment

Pacific Underwriting Limited ("Pacific Underwriting") is committed to complying with the principles of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) concerning the collection, use and management of personal information about individuals. Pacific Underwriting is bound by the Privacy Act and the General Insurance Information Privacy Code.

Collection of Personal Information

At Pacific Underwriting, we collect personal information that is necessary to provide and manage the products or services we offer, develop and identify products and services that may interest you and to conduct market or customer satisfaction research.

Generally, the type of personal information we collect includes names, postal and email addresses, telephone numbers and information relevant to particular insurance policies. In certain circumstances, we may collect sensitive information, such as health information about you and information about your membership of professional and trade associations.

Management of Personal Information

Once Pacific Underwriting has collected any personal information about you, we will manage it in accordance with the Privacy Act. At Pacific Underwriting, we will take steps to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. If you believe that any information we hold about you is incorrect, you should notify us so that we can correct it.

We disclose personal information to third parties who we believe are necessary to assist us and them in providing the relevant services and products. We will not do this unless it meets the privacy standards under the Privacy Act. For example, to evaluate or deliver our products and services to you, we may need to disclose your information to:

• An agent authorised by Pacific Underwriting to collect or assess information relating to the relevant product or service;
• A broker or other persons authorised by you;
• The insurer or a reinsurer of the relevant product or service;
• A person or organisation contracted by Pacific Underwriting to assess, evaluate or manage claims made under your policy;
• A person or organisation contacted by Pacific Underwriting to confirm, assess, clarify or assist in delivering a product or service to you;
• An organisation contacting Pacific Underwriting, with your consent, to obtain past policy or claims information about you;
• Commonwealth or State/territory Government authorities; and
• Courts, tribunals or other dispute resolution bodies.

We limit the use and disclosure of any personal information provided by us to them to the specific purposes for which we supplied it. We may transfer your personal information overseas where it is necessary to provide our service or product.

At Pacific Underwriting, we will take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold about you from misuse and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. If we no longer need your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify it.

What we expect of you

When you give us personal information about other individuals, we rely on you to have made or make them aware that you will or may provide their information to us and the types of third parties we may provide it to, the relevant purposes we and the third parties will use it for, and how they can access it. If it is sensitive information we rely on you to have obtained their consent on these matters. If you have not done or will not do either of these things, you must tell us before you provide the relevant information.

If we give you personal information, you and your representatives must only use it for the purposes to which we agree. Where relevant, you must meet the requirements of the Privacy Act when collecting, using, disclosing and handling personal information on our behalf. You must also ensure that your agents, employees and contractors meet the above requirements.

Accessing your Personal Information

On your request, Pacific Underwriting will provide you with access to the personal information that we hold about you, except in circumstances where access may be denied under the Privacy Act. Pacific Underwriting reserves the right to determine the manner in which the information is accessed.

If we deny you access we will provide you with a reason and, depending on the circumstances of the denial, we may provide sufficient access to information through mutually agreeable intermediaries to meet the needs of both parties. If you request access to your personal information, you may be charged a fee for costs incurred such as photocopying, administration and postage. You may also request that we provide you with further information on how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information at Pacific Underwriting.

Opting out of receiving marketing information

If you do not wish to receive certain information about our services or products, or you do not want us to disclose your personal information to another organisation (including our related companies) you can opt-out by contacting our Privacy Manager.

Privacy Complaints

Pacific Underwriting has established a privacy complaints handling procedure to deal with any complaints you may have about how we have collected, used or managed your personal information. If you would like to make a complaint, please contact the Privacy Manager, Pacific Underwriting Limited, Level 23, Tower 2 Darling Park, 201 Sussex St, Sydney 2000. A brochure providing information on privacy complaints is available. Your complaint will be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. All proposal and claim forms submitted to Pacific Underwriting must be accompanied by a signed Privacy Statement