Privacy Policy

Last revised: September 22, 2022

The Québec Maple Syrup Producers (the “Organization”) respects the privacy of individuals and will only collect, use or disclose your personally identifiable information in accordance with its Confidentiality Policy (the “Policy”). The Organization recognizes your right to privacy and its obligation to keep your personal information confidential. The Organization takes measures to protect and maintain the confidentiality of the personal information of people with whom it does business, including users of its products and services and former and prospective clients (collectively the “Users” and individually the “User,” as applicable) and is responsible for the personal information in its possession or custody.

This Policy explains how the Organization collects, uses, discloses, retains and protects the personal information of its Users within the framework of its activities, including in connection with the use and purchase by Users of the Organization’s products, services and Websites (the “Services”).

The Services are intended solely for Users located in Canada.

By providing their personal information to the Organization, or by navigating on the Organization’s Websites, depending on the information in question, Users accept this Policy. The Organization reserves the right to update its Policy at any time and such modifications will enter into force immediately unless specified otherwise. Users of the Services are advised to regularly check for changes to this Policy. Users shall be deemed to accept the changes to this Policy if they continue to provide personal information to the Organization or to navigate on the Organization’s Websites, as applicable, following the publication of those changes.

Types of Personal Information Collected and Information Collection

For the purposes of this Policy, “Personal Information” refers to all information regarding an individual that can be used to identify the individual, such as their name, addresses, contact information, information about their identity and financial information and their communications with the Organization, in any form whatsoever.

The type of Personal Information that the Organization collects depends on various factors and on the context. The Organization collects only such Personal Information as it considers necessary for the conduct of its business and the fulfilment of identified purposes.

The Organization collects Personal Information on Users from a variety of sources, but for the most part, the information has been provided directly by the Users through their use of the Services. The Organization may also receive Personal Information from its business partners or other third parties, on the condition that those third parties confirm that they have the User’s authorization to share the information.

The Organization collects Personal Information when you consent to provide it upon registering for one of the Organization’s services, including when you decide to subscribe to a newsletter, enter a promotion, take part in a survey, make a request or make a purchase from the Organization.

The Service could include an electronic bulletin board or similar interactive functionality known as Web 2.0. You must be aware of the risks associated with posting Personal Information on a blog, electronic bulletin board or any other similar Web 2.0 tool. Information posted on tools of that nature are not covered by this Policy. You must therefore take great care if you decide to provide Personal Information through these communication tools and transmitting such information is at your own risk. This information could be collected and used by a third party without your prior consent, and the Organization shall assume no liability in that regard.

Consent

The Organization collects the Personal Information of Users for the purposes described below.

In addition to the purposes mentioned in this Policy, the Organization will identify the purposes for which Personal Information is collected when or before it is collected. If the Organization intends to use the Personal Information collected for purposes not previously identified, it will ask for your consent before doing so, unless otherwise required by law.

Subject to legal or contractual requirements, a User may at any time withdraw their consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Information by writing to the Organization at the address below, giving reasonable notice. However, the withdrawal of your consent may limit the Organization’s capacity to provide you with certain specific Services, prevent us from providing those Services or even force us to cease offering those Services. Also, even if you withdraw your consent, the Organization may be entitled or required by law to continue to retain, use or disclose your Personal Information.

Reasons for Personal Information Collection and Use

The Organization may collect and use personal information:

1. To provide personalized Services or information requested by Users;
2. To communicate with Users in the Organization’s activities, for the purposes of internal quality assurance or to manage the quality of the information provided;
3. To detect and prevent fraud;
4. For statistical and accounting purposes;
5. To inform you of news, updates, promotions, information, recipes and special offers concerning the Organization’s Services, in accordance with anti-spam legislation;
6. If the Organization has reasonable grounds to believe that it might be useful as part of the investigation of a violation of applicable federal, provincial or foreign law or to ensure the protection or defence of a legal interest;
7. To administer the account of Users of its Services, including reward programs, draws and contests, including communicating the result; and
8. As required or permitted by law.

Retention of your Personal Information

The Organization retains the Personal Information that it collects for as long as required for the conduct of its business and the fulfilment of identified purposes, as long as it is reasonable to do so for customer service, legal or commercial purposes. The duration of retention depends on the Service and the nature of the information. At the end of this period, the information is destroyed, erased or depersonalized.

Sharing Your Personal Information with Others

The Organization agrees not to make public, sell, rent out or share Users’ Personal Information with anyone, except to the extent allowed by this Policy.

The Organization will only disclose your Personal Information to third parties in the following situations:

1. The User has expressly authorized the Organization to disclose the information for a specific purpose;
2. The third parties involved are acting on the Organization’s behalf as agents or suppliers of Services, and the information will be disclosed to them only in order to assist the Organization in providing Services, it being understood that these third parties shall respect strict contractual conditions that oblige them to maintain the confidentiality of all information and use it only for purposes related to the supply of the Organization’s Services;
3. If a person is acting as your representative or if the Organization reasonably believes that the person has appropriate authorization to act (for example as tutor, holder of parental authority, etc.), or is a person who owns a product or Service jointly with you;
4. In accordance with the conditions applicable to a Service provided by the Organization, to facilitate the provision of the Service, including to satisfy legal requirements;
5. If the Organization is required to provide Personal Information in response to a legitimate court order, subpoena to submit documents or investigation by authorities or is otherwise required by law;
6. The Organization also reserves the right to report to law enforcement authorities any activity that it believes in good faith to be illegal;
7. The Organization may disclose certain Personal Information when it considers such disclosure reasonably necessary to protect its rights, property and safety, and those of third parties, or to ensure your compliance with your obligations towards the Organization;
8. If the Organization sells its business or assets, in whole or in part, or is involved in a merger, as required by such a transaction.

Protection and Accuracy of Personal Information

The Organization takes the protection of your Personal Information seriously.

Only authorized employees of the Organization have access to your Personal Information. The Organization has informed these employees of their obligation to preserve the confidentiality of your Personal Information. The employees of the Organization who have access to your Personal Information may use it only in accordance with the principles set out in this Policy and applicable legislation and regulations.

The security and protection of your Personal Information are important to the Organization. The Organization maintains reasonable technical, contractual, administrative and physical safeguards to protect your Personal Information against non-authorized use or disclosure, as well as loss of theft, including through secure encrypted exchange, where required. While it is impossible to guarantee absolute protection, the Organization employs rigorous methods that meet strict security standards in order to ensure the protection of your Personal Information.

The Organization also restricts access to Personal Information to employees, contractors and agents on a need-to-know basis.

Depending on the nature of the Personal Information, it may be stored in the Organization’s offices, or in its computer systems or storage installations, or those of its service suppliers.

The Organization will ensure that Personal Information is as accurate, complete and up-to-date as possible for the purposes for which it is used. However, it is your responsibility to update your Personal Information, such as contact information.

Children

Applicable law requires the Organization to take special steps regarding children’s privacy and advertisements that target them. Although most of the content provided by the Services targets a general audience, not children, some sites or sections may appeal to children. In the event that special games or contests for children are accessible through the Services, additional terms specific to those activities may be displayed, and the Organization shall ensure that all collection and use of the contact information and Personal Information of children is in accordance with applicable laws and with verifiable parental consent. The Organization does not seek to collect the Personal Information of children without the verifiable consent of their parents, or as is otherwise permitted by law. However, if you believe that the Organization does so, please let us know.

Access to and Modification of Personal Information

Users may access their Personal Information to view, update or correct it by writing to the Organization by email or mail using the contact information below.

Any such request must be sufficiently detailed for the Organization to be able to process it. The Organization shall respond to any such request within a reasonable period of time, and to the extent possible, within a maximum of 30 days. However, the Organization will first have to verify the identity of the person making such a request.

The Organization may refuse in writing access to or modification of Personal Information for serious reasons, such as the exorbitant cost of supplying the information, the fact that the Personal Information contains information about other persons, the existence of legal, security or proprietary commercial reasons and the fact that the information is protected by professional secrecy or in the context of a legal proceeding.

The Organization may charge reasonable fees for the transcription, copying or transmission of Personal Information and will so advise you in advance.

Information on Payments

The Organization does not collect any information relating to payment cards. Payments made via the Services are processed directly by the Organization’s service provider, which has sole access to payment card information.

Your online transactions are secured in accordance with the transmission standards used by the Organization’s service provider, so that your transactions are routed and processed securely.

Collecting Additional Personal Information through the Services

As part of the operation of its Services, the Organization may collect additional information (the “Online Information”) about you and your use of the Services, and this Policy applies to this Online Information with the appropriate adjustments.

For the purposes of this policy, Online Information means information such as the Internet protocol address (IP address), the domain, the type and version of the browser or operating system used to access the Services, the date and time of the visit, the pages visited, as well as the previous and subsequent Website accessed. Aggregate information, such as demographic statistics on Users, the number of Users and the average usage time of the Services are also considered Online Information.

The Organization collects or obtains online information as part of the operation of its Services. For example, when a User chooses to use a Service, that Service may automatically collect Online Information provided via analytical tools or digital markets. These analytical tools only collect a limit set of data, including the time and date a Service was used and the IP address. A Service can also include analytical tools placed by partner advertisers or suppliers of services in order to help the Organization evaluate the efficiency of the Services, including Google Analytics and Facebook pixels.

Google Analytics is a web analysis service provided by Google that assists in tracking and reporting Website traffic. Google uses Online Information it collects to track Service use and personalize advertisements. You may choose not to have Google Analytics use your Online Information, such as by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on available at the address https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. For more information about Google’s privacy practices, visit https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

For more information about Facebook’s pixel, visit https://www.facebook.com/business/tools/meta-pixel.

In addition to what is already provided in this Policy in regards to personal information, the Organization may use online information to track the use of its Services and improve their use, customize the experience of the Users, in particular by proposing customized advertisements and offers, make statistical analyses of all the characteristics and behaviours of Users, measure the demographic variables and interests of Users with respect to specific services, describe its services to third parties and potential business partners and determine how and where the Organization’s resources can be allocated more effectively. No Personal Information is disclosed as part of such activities.

This Online Information is needed for the Organization to collect the information needed to count the number of Users, the most used features or aspects of the Services, the technology used by Users of the Services, the referring websites and the location of Users.

The Organization may use the Online Information to use geolocation to make customized offers to Users based on their geographical location.

Cookies

The Organization may also make use of cookies. Cookies are fragments of information sent to User computers when a Website is viewed. They are saved, temporarily or permanently, on the User’s hard drive, leaving a record of their visit. The information can include information such as the date and time of the last visit. Cookies can also improve the online experience of Users by recording browsing preferences on a particular Website.

The cookie files saved on User hard drives are innocuous and may be read and deleted at any time.  In this way, Users have absolute control over them. The information allows the Organization to determine the total number of visitors to each Website and the time spent on it. Every time a User goes to a Website, a cookie is created and left on their computer, therefore allowing the Organization to “recognize” them each time they visit.

Many major Websites use cookies. Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. At their preference, Users may modify their browser settings to receive a notification when a cookie is received or to refuse all cookies. While Users are not required to accept cookies, it is possible that certain Website functionalities may not work properly if Users configure their browser to refuse cookies.

The Services may also contain electronic images that are known as invisible pixels (a “web beacon”) that allow the Organization to count the number of people that have visited a given web page. Invisible pixels are not used to access personal information. Invisible pixels only collect a limited set of data, such as cookie numbers, the date and time that a web page has been accessed and a description of the web page that the invisible pixel is found on. The Services can also include invisible pixels placed by partner advertisers or suppliers of web analytics services in order to help the Organization evaluate the efficiency of certain promotional campaigns or Internet sponsorships.

The Services can use retargeting services (such as Google Analytics) to identify the Users who have previously used the Services and reach them through online advertising to show them advertisements related to their past use of the Services, without disclosing Personal Information.

Cross-border Transfers

The Organization processes and stores Personal Information on servers located in Canada.

If you are located outside Canada, your Personal Information and other information the Organization collects may be transferred to Canada for the purposes described above. By accepting this Policy, using the Organization’s Services or supplying Personal Information to the Organization, you agree to the transfer of this information to Canada.

Hyperlinks to Third Party Websites and Third Party Social Media

The Services may contain hyperlinks to third party websites (“Third Party Sites”) that will result in the User leaving the Website they are currently viewing. The Organization provides these hyperlinks as a convenience. These Third Party Sites are not under the control of the Organization, which therefore is not responsible for the privacy and confidentiality practices of those Third Party Sites. Consequently, any Personal Information transmitted through Third Party Sites is subject to the Confidentiality Policy of those Third Party Sites. It is the Users’ responsibility to review those policies to ensure their information is protected.

In addition to operating the Services, the Organization uses social media (such as Facebook and Twitter). Social media accounts are public and are not hosted by the Organization. Users who decide to interact with the Organization through these social media services should read the conditions of service and confidentiality policies of these third party service providers and the applications they use to access them.

The Personal Information that is provided to the Organization through social media accounts are collected to capture conversations (for example, questions and answers, comments, “Likes,” shared tweets) between the User and the Organization. They may be used to respond to requests, carry out statistical analyses or create reports and for all other purposes set out in this Policy.

Questions, Comments and Suggestions

Should you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Policy or our Personal Information protection practices that have not been addressed in this Policy, you may contact the Organization in writing via email or by mail at the addresses below.

Users may communicate with us to request that we delete their Personal Information from our systems or to access or correct their Personal Information. We will attempt to accommodate these requests whenever possible. If all such information is deleted from our systems, your account may be deactivated. In all cases, we may keep an archived copy of your files in accordance with the law.

Québec Maple Syrup Producers

555 Boulevard Roland-Therrien, Suite 525

Longueuil, Quebec  J4H 4G5

Telephone: 450 679-7021 or 1 855 679-7021 (toll-free)

Email address: siropderable@upa.qc.ca

Lodge a complaint

The Organization has designated a Person in charge of the protection of personal information.

You may file a complaint with our Person in charge of the protection of personal information using the contact information below if you believe that the Organization is not complying with its obligations with regard to the protection of Personal Information. The Organization will investigate any such complaint and take appropriate measures to correct the situation if the complaint is justified. If you are dissatisfied with this internal review of your complaint, you may contact Québec’s Commission d’accès à l’information or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

How to communicate with the Person in charge of the protection of personal information:

Mtre Raphaële St-Amand-Valente

Person in charge of the protection of personal information, Québec Maple Syrup Producers

555 Boulevard Roland-Therrien, Suite 100

Longueuil, Quebec  J4H 4G5

Telephone: 438 807-0421

Email: rstamandvalente@upa.qc.ca