Privacy Policy

Muster Vibrant Rural Communities Limited (“Shepherdess”) respects privacy and is committed to protecting personal information in compliance with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020.

This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information collected by us, or submitted to us, whether offline or online, including personal information collected or submitted through our website.

How may this policy be changed?

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy at any time, and will notify you of any changes by posting an updated version on our website. Your continued use of our services following notification of any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes acceptance of those changes.

This Policy was last updated on 16 November 2022.

What information may we collect?

If you access our services we may need to collect some or all of the following personal information:

• Your name and contact details.
• Age, gender ethnicity and any other demographic information you provide to us.
• Survey results and responses, when you participate in any of our surveys.
• Website activity.
• Transaction history.
• Any other information you choose to provide us.

Collectively this is known as your personal information.

How may we use your personal information?

When you provide us with personal information, we are obliged to comply with the provisions of the Privacy Act 2020 (Act).  We will collect, hold, use and disclose that information in accordance with the principles set out in the Act.  This means we will:

• use personal information only for the purpose we collect it for;
• retain that information only for so long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which we have collected it; and
• disclose or release it to a third party only where we are required to or we are permitted by law to do so, where you have authorised the release or disclosure, or where it is the purpose (or a directly related purpose) for which the information was collected.

People and organisations we may disclose personal information with include:

• Agencies of the New Zealand government;
• Service providers;
• Social media and advertisers providing customised advertisements;
• Organisations and individuals involved in hosting live or virtual events; and
• Our insurers, professionals advisers and auditors.

If you think we have breached the Act or you would like to find out more about our obligations, information is available on the Privacy Commissioner's website at www.privacy.org.nz.

Use of Cookies

Shepherdess also acknowledges its obligations under the OECD Guidelines and any statutory requirements where relevant. In an European Economic Area “EEA” this means the EU Data Privacy Laws (including the General Data Protection Regulation “GDPR”) (collectively, “EU Data Privacy Laws”).

Privacy limitations will extend to Shepherdess in respect of Cookies where transactions for purchases/orders transpire directly from Shepherdess’s website. Shepherdess agrees to display reference to such Cookies and/or similar tracking technologies that allows the collection of personal information such as your:

• IP address, browser, email client type and other similar details; and
• website usage and traffic.

You are able to enable or disable the collection of personal information by way of Cookies by selecting the option to enable or disable, provided on the website prior to proceeding with a purchase or order via Shepherdess’s website.

You are also able to request copies of your personal information, request your personal information be removed from our systems, object to certain process activities by us, and make a complaint to a supervisory authority.

How will your information be protected?

We are committed to protecting the security of your personal information and we take all reasonable precautions to protect it from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Access to personal information is restricted and those who have access to the data are required to maintain confidentiality of the information.

How can you change or update your information?

You have the right to request access to and correct any personal information we hold about you at any time. Contact our Privacy Officer at hello@shepherdess.co.nz for any requests or questions you have. We will need to verify your identity before providing you with personal information.