Avancier Legal Limited ("Avancier") upholds the highest standards of information privacy and operates from its office in Auckland.
This Privacy Notice applies to individuals and entities engaging in business with Avancier offices worldwide.
Our Privacy Notice outlines the information we collect, why we collect it, with whom we share it, and the security measures we employ. It also explains individuals' rights regarding their information and how to contact us about privacy matters.
Definitions and Interpretations
"Data Protection legislation" encompasses all applicable privacy or data protection laws, including but not limited to the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 ("GDPR"), the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") the data protection legislation in jurisdictions deemed by the European Commission to provide adequate protection ("Adequate Jurisdictions") and those where we operate.
Where we use the terms "personal data" (or "personal information" in the U.S.), "data subject", "controller", "processor" and "process" (and its derivatives), such terms shall have the meanings given to them in Data Protection Legislation.
Our Privacy Principles
We may collect and process information related to you or anyone connected to you, such as employees, officers, directors, consultants, or advisors, to deliver our services.
All information collected is processed by Avancier in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation and the terms of this Privacy Notice.
The information we collect includes personal data, including the following:
contact information, such as an individual's home or work address and contact details (including mobile telephone number);
date of birth, marital/civil partnership status, details of dependents and next of kin, family, lifestyle and social circumstances;
employment status;
information about an individual's occupation, education, professional qualifications, and business activities;
bank account details (including routing details), national insurance number, and tax information;
source of wealth and beneficial ownership of assets;
information we obtain from third parties, such as information that we obtain when verifying details supplied by you including information from your representative or intermediary, employers, clients, crime and fraud prevention agencies, government and public bodies or other similar organisations; and
information we obtain from screening activities including screening services providers, and research from publicly available sources.
If you refuse to provide us with your information, or you object to us processing such information (see section 7 of this Privacy Notice for more information about your rights in relation to your information) the consequences may include that:
we may be prevented from conducting business with you and we may be unable to provide our services to you or and/or an entity to which we provide services connected to you;
it may result in an entity, in relation to which we provide services and to which you are connected, being in breach of applicable law or regulation with any attendant penalties;
the failure to provide certain personal data in certain circumstances may trigger a requirement for us or any of our employees or agents to consider whether to make a disclosure under applicable anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism legislation.
Our Use of Your Information
We collect, record, and utilise information about you and your business activities in compliance with Data Protection Legislation and this Privacy Notice, including sharing and international transfer practices.
We may process any information we hold about you for a number of business purposes. The business purposes for which personal information may be collected and processed include the following:
to administer and provide any services to you and/or entities to which we provide services with which you are connected, or which receive goods and services from you;
to confirm your or an individual's identity and carry out background checks, including as part of our checks in relation to any applicable anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism regulations, compliance screening and to prevent fraud and other crimes;
to comply with any requirement of applicable law and regulations; from time to time to fulfil our obligations or the obligations of any entity to which we provide services under any applicable reporting agreement with any tax authority or revenue service(s);
to confirm your instructions to us; and
if instructed to do so by you or another individual or where you or they give us your consent to the use and/or processing involved.
Lawful Grounds for Using Your Information
We process information based on lawful grounds i.e. the processing is necessary to perform the agreement we have with you or another individual, or with an entity to which we provide services with which you are connected, or to take steps to enter into such an agreement; the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation; the processing is necessary for the purposes of a legitimate interest pursued by us, which may include the following:
to fulfil our fiduciary duties and responsibilities (whether of ourselves or our employees) in relation to the entities to which we provide services;
the prevention of fraud and other crimes;
the protection of our business interests;
to ensure compliance with any court, tribunal or other judicial orders, including but not limited to production orders and discovery of disclosure orders;
the defence of any legal proceedings; and
for any specific reason where you have explicitly agreed to us processing information for such a reason.
Sharing Your Information with Others
We maintain confidentiality but may share information to serve clients and comply with relevant laws and regulations, ensuring compliance with Data Protection Legislation.
Information may be shared with third parties as necessary for service provision, ensuring legal compliance.
Certain jurisdictions may have differing confidentiality laws, potentially leading to disclosure including to governmental and/or regulatory bodies, private persons, third parties under lawful processes.
We may also transfer your information in situations where you have consented to the transfer.
The recipients, or categories of recipients, of your information may include:
any revenue service or tax authority, if obliged to do so under applicable law and regulations, and international reporting obligations;
our advisors (including, but not limited to, Avancier’s accountants, lawyers, tax advisors, or other professional advisors) and financial services providers (including, but not limited to, banks and investment brokers);
your professional advisors (including, but not limited to accountants, lawyers, tax advisors, other professional advisors or Avancier’s accountants), where authorised to do so by you;
professional and financial advisors and service providers (including, but not limited to, Avancier accountants, lawyers, tax advisors, or other professional advisors, banks and investment brokers) appointed by the entities to which we provide services;
Governmental and quasi-governmental bodies, and officially appointed persons worldwide, to whom we have a legal obligation to provide information in relation to the entities to which we provide services, such as company registries, registered offices and registered agents, which may also include other such registries, appointed persons or repositories of information;
Courts, tribunals and other judicial bodies worldwide;
Regulators and authorities worldwide, including law enforcement authorities in connection with their duties;
fraud prevention agencies, crime enforcement agencies and terrorism prevention agencies that will use it to detect, investigate and prevent fraud, money-laundering, terrorism and other crimes; and
anyone to whom we may transfer our rights and/or obligations.
Your General Rights in Relation to Your Information
Depending on your jurisdiction of residence, you may have a number of rights concerning the way that we use your information. At any time, you shall have the right:
to be informed about the processing of your personal data (i.e., for what purposes, what types, to what recipients it is disclosed, storage periods and any third-party sources from which it was obtained);
to request Avancier to, or a copy of, any personal data we hold about you;
to request the rectification of your personal data, if you consider that it is inaccurate, and to be notified once it is corrected or completed;
to request the erasure of your personal data, if you consider that we do not have the right to hold it, and to be notified once it has been erased;
to object to any of your personal data being processed or used for any purpose, or to request that we stop using your information;
to ask us to transfer a copy of your personal data to yourself or themselves or to another service provider or third party, where technically feasible and otherwise required by applicable regulations;
to restrict us from processing your information whilst your objections or requests are being dealt with, including not erasing your information whilst you require it in relation to a legal claim;
to withdraw, at any time, any consent that you have previously given to us for our use of your personal data; and
you may also have the right to make a complaint to the relevant supervisory authority including making a GDPR complaint.
Please contact us to limit the use or disclosure of your information using the contact details in section 11 of this Privacy Notice. Note your rights may be subject to applicable local law requirements or place of residence.
Your Information
Depending on your country of residence you, may have a right of access to some, or all, of the information we hold about you, or to have any inaccurate information corrected, under the Data Protection Legislation. For example, individuals whose information is collected, have a right to access to the information we hold about them, subject to certain statutory exceptions. Any request for access to or a copy of your personal data must be in writing, and we will endeavour to respond within a reasonable period, in compliance with Data Protection Legislation. We will comply with our legal obligations as regards any individual's rights as a data subject. We aim to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate at all times. To assist us in ensuring that such information is up to date, please let us know if the personal details regarding you change, by contacting us using the contact details in section 11. We will correct any incorrect or incomplete information. These rights may be limited by applicable local law requirements or place of residence.
Retaining Your Information
We retain information only as long as necessary for specified purposes or legal obligations, regularly reviewing data accuracy and relevance.
Data may be retained beyond service cessation for legitimate business purposes or legal requirements.
Contacting Us/Concerns
For inquiries, exercising rights, or questions, comments and/or complaints about data protection, contact us via email or postal mail.
You have the right to lodge complaints with relevant supervisory authorities.
Changes to This Notice
We reserve the right to update this Privacy Notice, with any changes posted on our website.
We will advise you if we think there has been unauthorised access to your information and we will provide details about what has happened. Depending on the nature of any unauthorised access you may be required to assess whether the unauthorised access must be reported to any relevant authority.
In addition, some jurisdictions may require us to report any such unauthorised access to the relevant authority.
