Privacy Policy

1. About this policy

The Charter Society Pty Ltd ("we", "us", "our") arranges and coordinates vessel and event charters. We are committed to handling personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in that Act.

This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, who we disclose it to, how we keep it secure, and how you can access it, correct it or complain about how we have handled it. It applies to this website and to enquiries, bookings and charters we manage.

2. The personal information we collect

We collect only the information we need to prepare, confirm and run a charter. Depending on your dealings with us, that may include:

• Contact details — name, email address, and the organisation you represent.
• Charter details — requested dates, guest numbers, boarding points, duration, itinerary preferences and budget.
• Guest and event information — where you provide it, guest lists, boarding arrangements, accessibility requirements and dietary requirements needed by the operator or caterer.
• Transaction information — invoicing and payment records relating to a charter. We do not store full payment card numbers.
• Correspondence — emails and notes of discussions about your charter.

Dietary and accessibility requirements may include health information, which is sensitive information under the Privacy Act. We collect it only with your consent, only where it is reasonably necessary to run the charter safely, and we disclose it only to the operator or caterer who needs it.

3. How we collect it

We collect personal information directly from you wherever possible — through the enquiry form on this website, by email, or in the course of planning a charter. Where you arrange a charter on behalf of others, we may receive their details from you; if so, please make sure they know their information has been given to us and can read this policy.

4. Why we collect, hold and use it

We use personal information to:

• respond to enquiries and prepare quotes and shortlists;
• book, confirm, coordinate and run charters, including catering and ground transfers;
• communicate with you about a charter before, during and after the day;
• issue invoices, take payments and keep financial records;
• handle complaints, incidents and insurance matters; and
• meet our legal, tax and record-keeping obligations.

If you choose not to provide the information we ask for, we may not be able to quote for or arrange your charter.

5. Who we disclose it to

Arranging a charter necessarily involves passing some details to third parties. We disclose personal information only as far as is needed for the charter, and to:

• Vessel operators and crew — the booking name, guest numbers, boarding time and any safety-relevant requirements.
• Caterers and beverage suppliers — guest numbers and dietary requirements.
• Transfer providers — pick-up points, times and passenger counts, where transfers are arranged.
• Professional and business service providers — our accountants, insurers, legal advisers and IT or email service providers, in the ordinary course of running the organisation.
• Regulators, courts or law enforcement — where disclosure is required or authorised by Australian law.

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we do not disclose it for anyone else's marketing purposes.

6. Overseas disclosure

We hold personal information in Australia wherever practical. Some of the email and business software we use may store or back up data on servers outside Australia. Where that occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient handles the information in a way consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.

7. This website, cookies and analytics

Our hosting provider may record standard server logs, such as IP addresses and requested pages, for security and reliability purposes. We do not use those logs to build profiles of visitors.

8. Data quality and security

We take reasonable steps to keep personal information accurate, up to date and complete, and to protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Those steps include access-controlled accounts, encrypted transmission of email in transit where supported, and limiting access to the coordinator handling your charter.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will respond in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

9. How long we keep it

We keep charter records for as long as needed for the purpose they were collected, and afterwards for as long as we are required to retain them under Australian tax, corporations and limitation-period laws. Enquiries that do not proceed to a booking are deleted once they are no longer of any use to you or to us. When information is no longer needed and we are not required to keep it, we destroy or de-identify it.

10. Access and correction

Under APP 12 and APP 13 you may request access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. Email [email protected] and we will respond within a reasonable period, normally 30 days. We may need to verify your identity first. If we refuse access or correction, we will tell you why in writing.

11. Direct marketing

We do not run bulk marketing campaigns. If we ever send you information about our charter services, every message will include a simple way to opt out, and we will stop on request. You can ask us at any time not to use your details for any marketing purpose.

12. Anonymity

You may make a general enquiry anonymously or under a pseudonym. We cannot confirm or run a charter on that basis, because operators require a named responsible person for the booking.

13. Complaints

If you believe we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles or mishandled your personal information, email [email protected] with the details. We will acknowledge your complaint, investigate it and give you a written response, normally within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may refer the complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), which oversees compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in how we operate or in the law. The current version is always the one published on this page, with the last-updated date shown above.

15. Contact us

Privacy enquiries, access and correction requests and complaints should be sent to [email protected], addressed to The Charter Society Pty Ltd, Docklands, Melbourne VIC 3008, Australia.