Introduction 

Royal New Zealand Coastguard Inc. (Coastguard) is committed to handling personal information of the people it deals with, with openness and transparency and in compliance with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020.

This privacy statement explains what personal information we collect, how we will use it, who we will share it with, how people can access or correct the personal information we hold about them, and what security safeguards we have in place to protect it.  

This statement applies to all personal information Coastguard collects, uses, stores and shares about the individuals it interacts with, including members, volunteers, donors, learners and members of the public. This includes all personal information collected in person, over the phone, and on Coastguard websites and apps, including our education site, our lotteries site, our event registration sites and our Coastguard app.     

What personal information does Coastguard collect?

We will collect different types of personal information about you depending on the nature of the interaction between us e.g. whether you are a volunteer, member, learner, donor or member of the public. 

The personal information Coastguard may collect includes:

  • Your name
  • Your contact details, including address, email or phone number
  • Your date of birth, ethnicity, nationality or gender 
  • Financial and related details if you donate or purchase Coastguard products and services
  • Other personal information, including medical information or your emergency contacts, that may form part of an application to become a volunteer 
  • Information relating to any of our events you have registered for, including dietary requirements
  • Details of your vessel and emergency contact when you buy a call sign 
  • Details of your vessel (including your call sign), GPS location and emergency contact when you log a trip using our app
  • Information relating to emergency or search and rescue operations you are involved in
  • Stories, photos and video of our volunteers carrying out their work, or of participants in our events 
  • Any questions or comments submitted via Coastguard social media channels
  • Your responses to surveys or group discussions
  • Information about your use of Coastguard website(s) (see below for more detail).

How do we collect personal information? 

We collect personal information directly from you when you:

  • complete an application form online or on paper (e.g. to become a member or a volunteer)
  • register for an event or for an education course
  • subscribe to a newsletter or an emailing list
  • deal with Coastguard over the telephone
  • email Coastguard
  • donate to Coastguard, or buy one of our products 
  • enrol in a short education course or NZQA programme
  • provide Coastguard with feedback
  • are contracted to Coastguard to provide a service 
  • complete any of our online surveys, competitions, or enquiry forms
  • ask Coastguard to contact you after visiting a Coastguard website
  • contact Coastguard for any other purpose, and Coastguard provides information or services to you.

You do not have to provide Coastguard with any of the personal information we request.  However, if you choose not to share your information, we may not be able to provide you with certain services or information.

Sometimes, we may collect personal information about you from a third party.  For example;

  • we collect information about volunteers from their units so we can update our national volunteer database, or when a volunteer is nominated for an award. 
  •  We collect emergency contact information from our volunteers and via trip reports made on our app to use in the event of an emergency; and 
  • we collect relevant information from third parties such as other emergency services when we are asked to assist in an emergency response. 

What do we use personal information for? 

Coastguard will only use your personal information for the purposes we collected it for (or otherwise as required or authorised by law). This may include using your personal information for the following purposes:

  • To manage our relationship with you, including if you are a current, past or prospective member, volunteer, donor or learner
  • To enable Coastguard to provide our services, and communicate with you about them
  • To contact you and/or your shore contact if you log a trip using our app and do not close off the trip 
  • To provide an emergency (or non-emergency) response where required 
  • To recognise our volunteers and promote the work they do, including through our annual awards programme 
  • To contact you for market research or fundraising purposes or to provide you with information about our services, special offers and promotions. You can opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by contacting us on [email protected] 
  • To undertake customer service activities, such as responding to any queries, comments, or complaints you may have
  • To send you surveys e.g. about your participation in our education courses for reporting purposes 
  • To maintain and develop Coastguard IT systems, including testing and upgrading them
  • For Coastguard administrative purposes and for internal record keeping
  • To comply with relevant laws and regulations
  • For any other specific purpose which Coastguard notifies you of at the time your personal information is collected.

 

Who do we share or disclose personal information to?

Coastguard may disclose your personal information for the purposes above, including:

  • To our trusted third-party service providers who provide us with services we need for our work, such as our IT system providers (including software and data storage providers), our professional advisers (lawyers, accountants, insurers), and our printing and mailing houses.
  • If you are a volunteer, to your unit.
  • If you are a learner, to NZQA, and as required, to the Tertiary Education Commission, Immigration New Zealand, and the Ministry of Social Development. 
  • To nominated emergency contacts or emergency services where required (including Police and the Rescue Coordination Centre NZ).
  • To New Zealand Search and Rescue for research purposes.
  • For marketing purposes we may share information about you with social media platforms.

 

We will also share your information with others where you have given us permission (for example, when you have agreed to share your story on our website) or if we are required or authorised by law to do so.

Some of the service providers that Coastguard discloses personal information may be situated outside New Zealand. Our website and systems may also be based on servers located outside of New Zealand.

How long do we keep personal information?

Coastguard keeps personal information for only as long as we have a need to do so. 

If you use our app to log a trip we will keep some information indefinitely for safety and reporting purposes (namely trip report and vessel details).  This information will only be used if you need to make an emergency call in future.

How does Coastguard protect your personal information? 

Coastguard takes all reasonable measures to ensure the security of your personal information that is held by Coastguard from such risks as loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. 

This includes ensuring that online payments are made securely through payment solutions providers such as Windcave, Stripe, Flo2Cash, and PoliPay. We vet and choose payment providers based on PCI compliance and data security protections. 

How can you access and correct your personal information?

If you wish to access your personal information or if you identify any inaccuracy in your personal information and wish to correct it, please contact us on [email protected] or using the other contact information at the end of this statement. 

Cookies and Analytics

A cookie is a small data file that a website sends to your browser, which may then store it on your system for later retrieval by the site.  Coastguard uses cookies and other similar tools on our websites to:

  • Allow you to navigate and use key website features
  • Understand how people use our websites and inform improvements, and 
  • Determine the effectiveness of our marketing and fundraising campaigns.

The following specific information is collected about your use of Coastguard websites:

  • Your IP address
  • The search terms you used
  • The pages you accessed on Coastguard websites and the links you clicked on
  • The date and time you visited the site
  • The referring site or social media platform (if any) through which you clicked to the Coastguard website
  • Your operating system (such as Windows)
  • The device via which you accessed the site (such as mobile, tablet, PC); and
  • Your web browser (such as Chrome or Safari).

In addition, we use other technologies, including Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, Spotify Pixel, Snapchat Pixel, TikTok Pixel, Optin Monster and other similar tools primarily to measure the effectiveness of our campaigns, understand how our websites are used, and provide more relevant advertising. 

These technologies collect information about your use of our websites, such as the pages you visit, actions you take and technical information about your device and browser. In some cases, this information may be shared with the providers of these services for them to use in accordance with their own privacy policies. 

You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings.

Links to other sites 

This site, any newsletters, or any other communications Coastguard provides to you may contain links to third-party websites. Unless expressly stated otherwise, these websites have not been developed by, nor are controlled by Coastguard. Coastguard encourages you to be aware when you leave a Coastguard website and to read the privacy policies of each website you visit.

Links to social network platforms

Coastguard uses social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram to communicate with the public about Coastguard work, to raise awareness of events, and for fundraising campaign purposes. When you communicate with Coastguard via these services, the social networking service concerned may collect your personal information for its own purposes, and we encourage you to read the privacy policies of those platforms.

 

Changes to this Privacy Statement

Coastguard may modify this Statement from time to time and if Coastguard does so Coastguard will post any updated Statement on the website. Coastguard encourages you to check the website periodically to ensure that you are aware of the terms of Coastguard’s current Statement.

Questions or Comments

If you have any questions or comments about this Statement or how Coastguard has handled your personal information please contact the Privacy Officer of Coastguard New Zealand:

Phone: 0800 262 784

Email: [email protected]

Post: The Privacy Officer, Royal New Zealand Coastguard Inc., PO Box 2195, Shortland Street, Auckland, 1140