Privacy Policy
Benaters ("Benaters", "we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your personal information and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, use, store, and disclose your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA") and other applicable South African law.
By using our website at www.benaters.com, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.
Information Officer
Benaters has designated an Information Officer, and a Deputy Information Officer, responsible for ensuring compliance with POPIA. Our Information Officer is registered as such with the Information Regulator. For any queries, requests, or complaints relating to your personal information, please contact:
Information Officer: Shaun Benater
Email: shaun@benaters.com
Deputy Information Officer: Roxanne Benater
Email: roxanne@benaters.com
Telephone: +27 72 059 7640
Postal and Physical Address: 21 Scott Street, Floor 0, Waverley, Johannesburg, 2090
Information We Collect
We collect personal information that you knowingly provide to us. This may include:
- Your name and email address, when you contact us or sign up to receive updates; and
- The nature of your legal enquiry, where you contact us for legal services.
Why We Collect Your Personal Information
We only collect and use your personal information where we have a lawful basis to do so under POPIA. We collect and process your personal information for the following purposes:
- To respond to your enquiries and communicate with you;
- To provide legal services to you;
- To comply with our anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing obligations under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act;
- For conflict-of-interest checks and client relationship management;
- For practice management, research, training, and general administrative purposes;
- To send you marketing and business development material that may be of interest to you, where you have not opted out of receiving such communications;
- For market research and to improve our services; and
- For audit and compliance purposes.
Your personal information will not be processed for purposes incompatible with those listed above.
Disclosure of Your Personal Information
We may disclose your personal information to third parties in the following circumstances:
- To the partners of Benaters, and to the operators and contractors we engage, for the purposes described above;
- To third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website and delivering our services, including IT providers, hosting providers, and data storage providers;
- To courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities, law enforcement, and our professional regulators, where required by law or in connection with legal proceedings;
- To our Money Laundering Compliance Officer or relevant external authorities where we are required to report under anti-money laundering legislation; and
- To any other party with your prior consent.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
International Transfers of Personal Information
Where it is necessary to transfer your personal information outside of South Africa, Benaters will only do so in compliance with section 72 of POPIA. This means we will only transfer your personal information to a foreign country if that country provides an adequate level of protection for personal information, if you have consented to the transfer, or if the transfer is otherwise lawfully permitted. We will take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information remains protected in accordance with POPIA when transferred across borders.
Security of Your Personal Information
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against loss, theft, and unauthorised access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification. While we do our best to protect your information, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. We will comply with our notification obligations under POPIA in the event of a data breach.
How Long We Keep Your Personal Information
We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable law, professional rules, or regulatory obligations - including our record-keeping obligations as attorneys. When your personal information is no longer required, we will destroy or anonymise it securely.
Children
We do not knowingly collect personal information from persons under the age of 18. If you are under 18, please do not submit any personal information to us through this website. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a person under 18, we will delete it promptly.
Your Rights Under POPIA
In terms of POPIA, you have the following rights in respect of your personal information held by Benaters:
- The right to be notified that your personal information is being collected and processed;
- The right to access the personal information that Benaters holds about you;
- The right to request the correction or deletion of your personal information where it is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading, or obtained unlawfully;
- The right to object, on reasonable grounds, to the processing of your personal information;
- The right to object to the processing of your personal information for purposes of direct marketing; and
- The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator if you believe that Benaters has interfered with the protection of your personal information.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Information Officer at shaun@benaters.com.
Information Regulator
If you are not satisfied with our response to a complaint or believe we are processing your personal information unlawfully, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:
Website: https://inforegulator.org.za
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
Telephone: 010 023 5200 | Toll-free: 0800 017 160
Physical Address: Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Links to External Websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites that are not operated by us. We have no control over the content or privacy practices of those sites and accept no responsibility or liability for them. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any external sites you visit.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our business practices, applicable law, or regulatory requirements. Any updates will be posted on this page with a revised effective date. Where required by law, we will seek your consent or give you the opportunity to opt in or opt out of any new uses of your personal information.
Contact Us
For any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal information, please contact us:
Email: info@benaters.com
Phone: +27 72 059 7640
Address: 21 Scott Street, Floor 0, Waverley, Johannesburg, 2090