Privacy Policy

This privacy policy describes how AVK Valves Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd, [10 Chris Street, Cnr. Chris and Garlfield, Alrode, Alberton South Africa], (hereinafter “we”, “our” or “us”) process personal data about visitors of our website, newsletter recipients, on-site visitors, contact persons from customers, other business partners, and persons we interact with (“you”).

We respect your privacy and are committed to following the data privacy obligations as set out in applicable South African regulations, including the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA), as well as international best practices where applicable. We want to make sure you are comfortable with our privacy policy and the security measures and procedures we take to protect your personal information.

We have implemented a high standard of data protection. If you provide us with personal information or if we collect personal information about you from other sources, we will act as the responsible party (data controller) for the processing of such information, and we will at all times handle your data in accordance with this policy and POPIA. We encourage you to read this privacy policy in full and to review it on a regular basis in case of changes.

Please see below for an overview of the processing activities we perform, including the legal basis and purpose of such activities. If you have any questions regarding this policy, or if you wish to exercise any of your data subject rights, please contact our Information Officer.

Categories of Personal Information, Purposes, and Legal Basis

We will collect and process your personal information in different ways when you engage with us.

Sme personal information is necessary for us to process in order to provide you with the services or products you have requested, while other information can be provided voluntarily. We will not process any special personal information (such as religious beliefs, race, trade union membership, political persuasion, health, or biometric data) unless it is specifically necessary and you have provided your explicit consent, or we are required to do so by South African law. We ask that you never provide us with unnecessary special personal information through our forms or correspondence.

Visitors of our Website

• What we process: Cookies, browser type and version, IP address, visitor history and behaviour (e.g., length of visit, pages clicked), queries sent via the website, and information submitted via forms (name, email address, province/country of residence, area of interest, company or organisation)
• Purpose: To improve your user experience, provide website functionalities, remember your preferences (such as language or region), generate statistics and user analysis, and support  marketing.
• Legal Basis: Our legitimate interest in providing an optimal website experience, alongside your consent for non-essential cookies.

Newsletter Recipients

• What we process: Your email address submitted via our newsletter sign-up form.
• Purpose: To improve your customer experience, provide customer service, and deliver marketing material and company news.
• Legal Basis: Your explicit consent. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link provided in every newsletter.

Contact Persons from Customers and Business Partners

• What we process: Name, job title, email address, telephone number, area of interest, company name, IP address, trade fair/event participation, visitor history, and correspondence records.
• Purpose: To fulfil contractual obligations, maintain and administer business relationships, offer product advice, handle invoicing, and maintain business documentation.
• Legal Basis: Legitimate interests in managing partner relationships and contractual necessity. Certain records are also retained to comply with South African financial and tax legislation (such as the Companies Act and the Tax Administration Act).

Web Shop Customers

• What we process: Name, email address, telephone number, physical delivery/workplace address, and company representation details.
• Purpose: To fulfil contractual obligations, including delivering goods, invoicing, handling orders, and providing customer support.
• Legal Basis: Performance of a contract and compliance with legal obligations (e.g., financial record-keeping under South African law).

• What we process: Name, email address, location, area of interest, company representation, and potential information disclosed in correspondence.
  
  Purpose: To handle inquiries, provide customer service, and maintain business relationships.
• Legal Basis: Our legitimate interest in delivering effective communication and support

  On-Site Visitors (Events and Trade Fairs)

• What we process: Name, position, email, telephone number, workplace address, and occasionally candid event photographs or video footage showcasing the general atmosphere.
  
  Purpose: To manage site visits, host events, promote our products, and create awareness of our activities. If you prefer not to be included in photographs or videos, please notify us on-site.
• Legal Basis:  Legitimate interest and, where applicable, consent.

 Cookies

We use cookies for statistical analysis, to improve our websites, and to provide you with the best possible user experience.
A cookie is a small text file placed on your computer by your browser. We utilize session cookies, persistent cookies, necessary cookies, preference cookies, statistics cookies, and marketing cookies.

• Necessary cookies are used to ensure our website functions properly, enable essential features like navigation and content access. Without these cookies, the website cannot operate correctly.
• Preference cookies help our website remember your settings and choices, enhancing your experience by optimizing usability and personalization, e.g. by remembering your preferred language.
• Statistics cookies help us analyse how you interact with our website, allowing us to optimize the design, usability and efficiency.
• Marketing cookies are used to see what you are interested in across websites so that we can deliver content that is relevant and tailored to you and your interests. 

Recipients

We may entrust your personal data, collected via cookies, to our partners, who process the personal data to generate statistics, support our website’s technical functions, perform targeted advertising, analyse user behaviour. For example, we use the partners Cookie Information, Sitecore etc. An updated list of the third party recipients can be accessed in our cookie banner.

• Clear the history, cache, and cookies from Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
  
  
• Clear cookies and site data in Firefox | Firefox Help (mozilla.org)
  
  
• Delete, allow and manage cookies in Chrome - Computer - Google Chrome Help
  
  
• Web preferences - Opera Help
  
  
• Adobe - Flash Player : Settings Manager - Website Storage Settings panel (macromedia.com)
  
  
• Manage cookies in Microsoft Edge: View, allow, block, delete and use - Microsoft Support

Go to dedicated page for cookie policy

You can choose to withdraw or change your consent to the placement of cookies at any time by clicking on the cookie button marked with a cookie and three arrows in the left corner of our website. If you choose to withdraw your consent, the cookies that require consent will be automatically blocked by your browser. 

If you choose to withdraw your consent, please note that the withdrawal only concerns future processing. The revocation therefore does not affect the lawfulness of the processing we have carried out prior to receipt of your revocation.

Automatic individual decisions

Your personal information is not used for any automated individual decision-making or profiling that produces legal effects concerning you.

Operators (Sub-processors)

We use external service providers who process personal information on our behalf (acting as POPIA operators), such as providers of hosting, cloud computing, IT support, marketing, and administrative services.

These operators are bound by strict contractual agreements to ensure they process your personal information solely according to our documented instructions and maintain adequate technical and organisational security measures. We also utilize productivity tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot in compliance with enterprise data security standards.

Disclosure and Cross-Border Transfer of Personal Information

We keep the disclosure of your personal information to a minimum. We may disclose your data to:

• Sub-suppliers or group companies (such as AVK Group entities) to fulfil product delivery obligations.
• Legal advisers or public authorities when necessary to establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights.
• Potential buyers in the event of a merger, asset sale, or corporate restructuring.

Cross-Border Transfers: Because AVK is a global organisation, your personal information may be transferred to servers or group entities located outside South Africa (such as within the EU/EEA or Denmark). Where personal information is transferred internationally, we ensure that the recipient is subject to a law, binding corporate rules, or a binding agreement that provides an adequate level of protection upholding principles substantially similar to POPIA.

Storage Period

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable South African laws (such as the Consumer Protection Act, Tax Administration Act, and Companies Act).

Once the retention period expires, or upon valid request for deletion, personal information is securely destroyed, anonymized, or archived in accordance with our retention schedule.

Data Security

To safeguard your personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorized disclosure, we have implemented robust technical and organisational measures. Our security controls are regularly reviewed and updated in line with technological advancements and industry standards.

Your Rights Under POPIA

As a data subject under POPIA, you have specific rights regarding your personal information:

• Right of Access: Request confirmation of whether we hold your personal data and request a copy of such data
• Right to Rectification: Request the correction or deletion of inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, outdated, or incomplete personal data.
• Right to Erasure / Destruction: Request the deletion or destruction of personal information under certain circumstances.
• Right to Object: Object on reasonable grounds to the processing of your personal information where processing is based on legitimate interests.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting prior lawful processing.
• Right to Complain: Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your privacy rights have been infringed

Complaints to the Information Regulator

If you are unsatisfied with how we handle your personal information, you are encouraged to contact our Information Officer first. However, you also have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the South African Information Regulator:

Email: POPIAComplaints.IR@justice.gov.za / enquiries@inforegulator.org.za

Website: https://inforegulator.org.za

Links to Other Websites

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such external websites. We recommend reviewing the privacy policies of any third-party site you visit.

Amendments

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, legal requirements, or business operations. The latest version will always be available on our website.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, how we process your personal information, or wish to exercise your data subject rights, please contact our designated Information Officer:

AVK Valves Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd

Attention:  Information Officer

Email: hr@avkvalves.co.za / marketing@avkvalves.co.za

Telephone: +27 11 908 3760