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Privacy Policy

Hello, and thank you for visiting the VIA Expats Inc. website!
This document presents our privacy policy (referred to hereafter as "the Policy").

By browsing our website or using our systems or services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy and, if applicable, consent to the processing of your personal data and information in compliance with it.

The privacy policy covers the following sections: 

1. Objectives of the Privacy Policy
2. Effective Date
3. Consent Collection Methods
4. Purposes for Data Collection 5. Data Processing Purposes
6. Collected Personal Information 7. Data Processing Methods
8. Access and Control of Personal Information
9. Sharing Personal Information with Third Parties
10. Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies
11. Retention of Personal Information

 

1. Objectives of the Privacy Policy

We prioritize privacy and personal information protection. This Policy is designed to safeguard your data following current laws.

VIA Expats Inc. commits to collecting, processing, and sharing personally identifiable information only with your consent unless allowed or required by law.

This Policy informs users about why and how VIA Expats Inc., or anyone acting on its behalf, collects and uses their personal information. It is written in clear language to ensure users’ informed consent.

For the purposes of this Policy, "personal information" refers to any data that identifies an individual or could identify an individual. Where possible, we will anonymize, pseudonymize, or aggregate data to prevent individual identification.

 

2. Effective Date

This Policy has been in effect since December 19, 2023, and is updated as needed.

 

3. Consent Collection Methods

We commit to obtaining consent before collecting an individual’s personal information, either explicitly (verbally, electronically, or in writing) or implicitly (reasonably inferred from an individual's actions or inaction).

Explicit consent is preferred; however, implicit consent may be deduced, for example, from providing a name and address for a publication or contact information for a response.

If we intend to use personal information for a new purpose, we will explain the intended use and seek consent again. In specific cases, such as state requests, obtaining consent may not be possible; we commit to only disclose information in compliance with this Policy or as required by law.

 

4. Purposes for Data Collection

Information is collected according to the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. Here are some reasons why we collect your personal information:

  • To provide products and services: We collect and process data and information necessary to fulfill our mission and contractual obligations.
  • To improve our products and services: Data collected during interactions with our services may be used to analyze and improve the functionality of our products and services.
  • To develop new products and services, including AI applications: Collected data may serve research and development purposes to offer new products and services to users, including through advertising and marketing messages. Aggregated data may be processed by algorithms using artificial intelligence.
  • To offer personalized products and services: Data gathered from your interactions with our services allows us to develop products and services tailored to your cultural and entertainment expectations, including adaptive measures for specific clients.
  • To evaluate product and service performance: Data collection helps us gain insights into the benefits and drawbacks of our products and services to address any necessary improvements, including through surveys. This ensures product and service quality and supports risk management.
  • To protect user privacy: Collected data allows us to verify the identity and protect the privacy of individuals communicating with us by phone, electronically, or otherwise.
  • To fulfill legal obligations: Data is collected to comply with legal, regulatory, or international treaty obligations.

 

5. Collected Personal Information

VIA Expats Inc. may collect personal information in various forms, always through lawful means and solely for the disclosed purposes, as described in this Policy or as allowed or required by law.

The personal information collected and its sensitivity may vary depending on the context of your interactions with VIA Expats Inc. We prioritize informing you of the types of personal information we use and take measures to protect all collected personal information, including:

Name and contact details: First and last name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other similar data for communication purposes.

Demographic data: Information such as age, gender, country, and communication language.

Images and sounds: Audiovisual data to ensure user safety, especially during cultural events we host or organize.

Interactions: Data related to your use of our websites, platforms, and created tools, including data you provide to access our products or data generated in reports of errors.

Additional examples of interaction data we collect include:

  • Website visits and usage data: Information related to your interactions with our services, like troubleshooting data and assistance requests.
  • Interests and preferences: Data on your interests and preferences, such as preferred artists, music styles, types of exhibitions, or cultural events you attend.
  • Content consumption data: Data about multimedia content (e.g., television, video, music, audio, books, apps, and games) accessed through our products.
  • Searches and orders: Search queries and orders made on our website.
  • Textual, typing, and handwriting data: Textual, typing, and handwriting data, aswell as any related information.
  • Location data: Data on your device's location, which can be precise or not, such as from an IP address or a profile account indicating a general location like a city or postal code.

 

6. Data Processing Purposes

  • Providing products and services: We use data to operate our products and services and provide you with rich and interactive experiences. For example, we may work with you to develop a comprehensive international mobility plan.
  • Personalization: Some products include personalized features, such as recommendations to enhance your experience and satisfaction. These features use automated processes to tailor your experience based on the data we have about you, including insights into your usage, activities, interests, and location.
  • Product and service development: We use data to create new products. For example, anonymized or pseudonymized personal data may help us better understand our clients' needs.
  • Customer support: Data is used to diagnose and resolve issues with products or services and to provide support and assistance.
  • Security and troubleshooting: We use data to enhance the security of our products and services and to address issues. This includes using data to secure our services, detect malware and malicious activity, resolve performance and compatibility issues, and notify users of updates. Automated systems may be used to identify security issues.
  • Security: Data is used to protect our products and clients. Security features may prevent malware and notify users if it is detected on their device. Additionally, we may use video surveillance to ensure public safety during events.
  • Surveys and promotional communications: Data is used to conduct surveys and promotional communications. You may opt-in to email subscriptions, respond to surveys, and choose to receive or not receive promotional communications from VIA Expats Inc. via email, SMS, postal mail, and phone. For more details on managing your contact information, email subscriptions, and promotional communications, please see the “Access and Control of Personal Information” section of this Policy.
  • Relevant offers: VIA Expats Inc. uses data to deliver relevant information regarding our products and services. We analyze data from various sources to anticipate and communicate the information that will be most interesting and relevant to you in various formats.
  • Advertising: VIA Expats Inc. uses data collected through interactions with you, certain products, and third-party websites to advertise our products and services. Automated processes may sometimes be used to improve ad relevance.
  • Reporting and business operations: We use data to analyze our operations and support decision-making. This enables informed decisions and allows us to generate reports on business performance.
  • Protection of rights and property: Data is used to detect and prevent fraud, resolve disputes, enforce contracts, and protect our assets. For example, we use data to confirm the validity of tickets to prevent fraud. Automated systems may be used to detect and prevent activities that infringe upon our rights or those of third parties.
  • Legal compliance: We process data to comply with laws, such as using client ages to ensure compliance with privacy laws or to verify that clients meet recommended age requirements. We also process contact information and identifiers to assist clients in exercising their data protection rights.
  • Research: We use data for research purposes, including scientific and public interest studies, when permitted by law.

 

7. Data Processing Methods

VIA Expats Inc. prioritizes the security of your personal information, processing it according to industry standards and solely for the purposes described in this Policy or a specific notice. Absolute security cannot be guaranteed due to the limitations of internet transmission; information transmitted to us is ultimately at the user’s risk.

 

8. Access and Control of Personal Information

VIA Expats Inc. ensures that all personal information in our possession is as accurate, current, and complete as necessary for its intended purposes.

You have the right to request access to your personal information for verification and to request corrections if it is inaccurate. If you believe your personal information is inaccurate or if you wish to access it, you may make a request using the contact information provided at the end of this Policy.

We will make reasonable efforts to grant timely access to your personal information. However, we may need to verify your identity for security reasons.

In certain circumstances, we may not be able to grant access to your personal information, for example, when access would disclose another person’s information and they refuse to consent to the disclosure or when legal restrictions apply. If such a situation arises, we will inform you of the reason for denying access to your personal information. 

If your request concerns data displayed on third-party websites or platforms, please contact those third parties directly.

 

9. Sharing Personal Information with Third Parties

We do not share your personal information with companies, organizations, or individuals outside VIA Expats Inc. except with authorized suppliers and partners who require access to fulfill the purposes listed in this Policy and under the following conditions:

  • With your consent.
     
  • For cloud storage: In such cases, personal information may transit through third-party jurisdictions. We only work with reputable companies with privacy policies.

  • For external processing: We may share personal information with trusted companies or individuals who process it on our behalf, according to our instructions, this Policy, and with a data security level equivalent to ours.

    Additionally, we may use third-party providers to aggregate, clean, and analyze data within the cultural sector to benefit the public or industry stakeholders. These providers process data in the following ways:

    First, data is prepared and categorized for usability.

    Using this prepared data, the provider generates general and non-personal statistics, sometimes combined with similar source data. This pooled data is used to generate general statistics, including origin analyses (mainly by postal code) and seasonal or pricing analyses (e.g., shopping cart types).

    Enrichment follows two different methods: (1) enrichment with accessible third- party data, such as socio-demographic data from census information via postal code; (2) inference-based enrichment, for instance, inferring that an individual purchasing a ticket labeled "under 25" is under 25 years old.

  • For legal reasons: We share personal information outside our company if necessary to comply with current laws and regulations.

VIA Expats Inc. does not sell or rent your personal information to third parties.

 

10. Cookies and Similar Technologies

VIA Expats Inc. may use cookies, web beacons, invisible pixels, log files, or other technologies to collect certain personal information from visitors to our websites and recipients of our newsletters, invitations, and other communications. Cookies are pieces of information sent by the server to the browser when visiting the website, allowing the unique identification of the current connection. Data collected may include information such as your internet address (IP), browser type, browser version, pages visited on our site, visit date and time, duration, and other statistics.

Cookies are used to recall session-related browsing history, facilitating online navigation. Note that enabling cookies may, depending on your browser settings, allow other servers to place cookies on your system. You can adjust your browser to notify you of the presence of cookies, allowing you to accept or reject them.

Please note that our website may contain links or references to third-party websites. This Policy no longer applies upon leaving our website, and VIA Expats Inc. is not responsible for the collection or processing of personal information by these third parties or via these external sources.

 

11. Retention of Personal Information

VIA Expats Inc. retains collected data for various periods based on its nature and utility in delivering our products and services. During the retention period, VIA Expats Inc. employs physical and technical safeguards to protect data containing personal information.
The main storage locations for personal information are the city where VIA Expats Inc. has its office, using private encryption and data backup systems.

Personal information may be stored outside your country of residence if a third-party provider or another entity to whom we disclose information under this Policy is located outside the country. In such cases, personal information may be subject to local laws in countries or territories where it is collected, used, disclosed, or stored, and government and law enforcement authorities in these areas may have access to it.

Once the retention period expires, personal information is destroyed. Only statistics or reports containing de-identified and anonymized data may be retained for extended periods.

 

Additional Information

Policy Changes: 
We may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any reduction of your rights within this Policy cannot be applied without your explicit consent. We always indicate the date of the most recent changes and provide access to archived versions for review. If changes are significant, we will post a prominent notice on our website (including, for certain services, an email notification).

Compliance Officer Contact:
For questions, comments, or complaints about this Policy, please contact the individual responsible for ensuring compliance with this privacy policy:

Melissa Medeiros
VIA Expats Inc.
North Hatley, Québec CANADA 
Phone: 819-345-2077
Email: contact [at] viaexpats.com