Privacy Policy

This Privacy Notice is dated 22/04/2020

1. Introduction

TIMBERLAND SECURITIES INVESTMENT PLC (C 68856) of 171, Old Bakery Street, Valletta VLT 1455, Malta (the “Company”; “we”, “us” or “our”), its subsidiaries and its affiliated and associated entities, respect your privacy and are wholly committed to protecting your personal data.

In that regard, this Privacy Notice (the “Notice”) explains how we process personal data about those persons who apply to subscribe to any bonds or other security instrument which we may issue from time to time. We collect and process personal data about them in order to be able to receive and process their applications and give effect to their subscription.

Where the applicant or subscriber is a corporate entity, we may request and process personal data on its representatives, directors, ultimate beneficial owners (“UBOs”) and designated contact persons. Furthermore, where an applicant or subscriber is a minor, then we may request information from or about his or her legal guardians.

2. Controller

This Notice is being provided to you since you have applied to subscribe to a bond or other security instrument issued by us.

In that context, we are the controller of your personal data. We process your data in an appropriate and lawful manner, in accordance with the Data Protection Act (Chapter 586 of the Laws of Malta) (the “Act”) and the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (the “Regulation” or the “GDPR”).

This Notice aims to ensure that you are fully informed on how the Company will collect and process your personal data, and to assure you that we take the protection of your personal data very seriously. This Notice informs you about the particular items of personal data which we will collect about you and how we will handle it, and also tells you about (i) our obligations with regards to your personal data, (ii) your data protection rights as a data subject and (iii) how the law protects you.

It is important that you read this Notice, together with any other privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you, so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This Notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.

This Notice should be read in conjunction with any documentation or forms which may be provided to you by the Company the time of your application or subscription (e.g. our application form or client fact-finding form).

If you have any questions relating to this Notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights (which are outlined in Section 11), please contact us, by email or in writing, using the contact details set out below.

Contact details

Full name of legal entity: TIMBERLAND SECURITIES INVESTMENT PLC (C 68856)

Email address: info@timberland-malta.com

Postal address: Aragon House Business Centre, Dragonara Road, St Julian’s STJ 3140

Contact details: Colin Micallef

Please use the words ‘Data Protection Matter’ in the subject line.

3. Some Key Definitions

Set out below are key definitions of certain data protection terms which appear in, and apply to, this Notice.

“data subjects” means living individuals (i.e. natural persons) about whom we collect and process personal data.
“data controller” or “controller” means any entity or individual who determines the purposes for which, and the manner in which, any personal data is processed.
“data processor” or “processor” means any entity or individual that processes data on our behalf and on our instruction – we (Timberland Securities Investment PLC) being the data controller).
“legitimate interest” means our interest to conduct and manage our business affairs appropriately and responsibly, to protect the reputation of our business affairs, and to provide our applicants and subscribers with the best possible service. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us at the following email address: info@timberland-malta.com
“performance of a contract” means processing your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you or your respective entity (in case of corporate applicants or subscribers) are a party, or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.For sake of clarity, please note that your submission of an application or subscription order creates a contractual relationship between yourself and the Company.
“personal data” means data relating to a living individual (i.e. natural person) who can be identified from the data (information) which we hold or possess. This includes, but is not limited to, your name and surname (including maiden name where applicable), address, date of birth, nationality, gender, civil status, tax status, identity document number, contact details (including mobile and home phone number and personal email address). The term “personal information”, where and when used in this Notice, shall have the same meaning as personal data.
“processing” means any activity that involves use of personal data. It includes obtaining, recording or holding the data, or carrying out any operation or set of operations on the data including, organising, amending, retrieving, using, disclosing, erasing or destroying it. Processing also includes transferring personal data to third parties.
“sensitive personal data” or “sensitive data” or “special categories of personal data” includes information about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health or condition or sexual life, or about the commission of, or proceedings for, any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by that person, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings. This type of sensitive data can only be processed under strict conditions.
“comply with a legal obligation” means processing your personal data where it is necessary to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation to which we are subject.

Note that personal data does not include information relating to a legal person (such as corporate entities). Information such as a company name, its company number, registered address and VAT number does not amount to personal data under applicable data protection legislation, including the GDPR. Consequently, the processing of information that relates to a legal person does not give rise to ‘controller obligations’ at law. We will still naturally treat any and all such information in a confidential manner, in accordance with our standard practices and obligations at law.

4. The data we collect about you

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). We may collect, use, store and disclose different kinds of personal data about you and which we have grouped together as follows:

Identity Data: includes your name, surname, title, address, marital status, date of birth and age, gender, nationality, identity card and/or passport number
Contact Data: includes your personal and business contact details (both electronic and mailing), e.g. work and residential address, phone number and e-mail.
Employment Data: includes your job title and employment details (e.g. industry role, business activities and name of current employer).
Tax Data: includes your tax-related information, such as your residency and/or tax residency, tax domicile status, tax identification information and tax withholding declarations.
Transaction Data: includes your bank account details, account statements, records of your subscription orders and subscription history with the Company (including details on each individual subscription, such as subscription amounts), investment returns made to you, and generally data stemming from the performance of our contractual obligations.
Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our business partners and your communication preferences.

We also collect, process and retain copies of the forms and orders which you submit to us (including your application form).

Further, we collect, use and share Aggregate Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregate Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. However, if we combine or connect Aggregate Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this Notice.

If you fail to provide personal data

Within the scope of our business relationship, you must provide personal data which is necessary for the initiation and execution of the business relationship.

Therefore, where we need to collect personal data about you by law, or pursuant to our terms of business, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to (i) accept you or your respective entity as a subscriber to any of our bonds or other security instruments or otherwise (ii) continue the business relationship (if already commenced).

We will duly inform and notify you if this is the case at the time.

Sensitive Personal Data

We do not seek to collect or otherwise process your sensitive personal data; save for those rare instances where we receive personal data relating to your political affiliations as part of any politically-exposed-persons (PEP) and/or sanctions checks carried out by our affiliated entity Timberland Invest Ltd.

Any processing on our part of such sensitive personal data will only be carried out because it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of an applicable law that is proportionate to the aim pursued and provides for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject.

There may be other occasions where we may need to process your sensitive personal data, namely where:

the processing is necessary for the detection or prevention of crime (including the prevention of fraud) to the extent permitted by applicable law or regulation;
the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal rights.

5. How is Your Personal Data Collected?

The personal data that we process about you, as listed above, is collected and generated from a variety of sources, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, as follows:

When you provide us with your personal data in an application form, declaration form, questionnaire or in other documents that we may (from time to time) require you to complete and submit to us (as part of our application process, client on-boarding or at other times), by email, phone or otherwise.
In the course of managing and administering our business relationship with you. This might include your (or an applicant’s) subscriptions with us and changes to the information provided as part of the application process, and records of our interactions with you (including copies of communications exchanged between you and us).

6. How We Use Your Personal Data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely upon to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data pursuant to more than one lawful ground or basis, depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data.

Purpose/Activity	Type of Data	Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
(a) ‘New client onboarding’ – to onboard new business relationships and comply with our internal policies and procedures; and – to assess and take an informed decision on whether we will enter into a business relationship with you (b) To decide on your or your application / requested subscription; (c) To enter into a business relationship with you.	(a) Identity; (b) Contact; (c) Employment; (d) Tax.	(a) Performance of a contract with you. (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to determine whether we want to enter into a relationship with you, to determine whether we can take you on as a subscriber, to verify ability to meet financial commitments).
Administration of your subscription. To enable the Company to: (a) assess and process your application(s) / submission order(s); (b) administer your subscriptions; (c) issue your subscriptions and make any redemptions to you; (d) receive and make payments to you; (e) manage payments, fees and charges.	(a) Identity; (b) Contact; (c) Employment; (d) Tax; (e) Transaction.	(a) Performance of a contract with you.
To enable the Company to inform you about your subscriptions and to update and to update and maintain records your client records and to calculate and provide your returns, including any interest owed or which may apply (e.g. by deducting withholding tax)	(a) Identity; (b) Contact; (c) Transaction.	(a) Performance of a contract with you.
Records and Litigation (a) For accounting purposes; (b) To collect and recover money which is owed to us (debt recovery). (c) Internal record keeping (including files).	(a) Identity; (b) Contact; (c) Employment; (d) Tax; (e) Transaction.	(a) Performance of a contract with you. (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (accounting and other record-keeping requirements). (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us, to keep track of your subscriptions, including their status and outcome (including returns), and to be able to revisit such matters if new issues arise).
Relationship management. (a) to enable us to manage our relationship with you or your business in an efficient manner (b) to keep our records up to date; (c) to maintain records of your subscription history with us and our interactions with you; (d) to respond to any queries or complaints we may receive from you and to seek to resolve these; and (e) to notify you of any changes to our terms or policies.	(a) Identity; (b) Contact; (c) Transaction; (d) Marketing and Communications.	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation.
(a) To detect, investigate and prevent and/or report – breaches of internal and regulatory policies; and/or – fraudulent activity and/or any other criminal activity. (b) To assist and cooperate in any criminal or regulatory investigations against you, as may be required of us. (c) Risk Management: to effectively operate our audit, compliance controls and other risk management functions.	(a) Identity; (b) Contact; (c) Employment; (d) Tax; (e) Transaction.	(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security and prevention of hacks and other attacks, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation.
Business and financial management (a) To run our business in an efficient and proper manner, (b) To enable third parties to provide us (or our applicants / subscribers) with services or financial products; (c) To respond to due diligence requests; and (d) To investigate and respond to client / subscriber complaints.	(a) Identity; (b) Contact; and (c) Marketing and Communications.	(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for administering, managing and operating the affairs of our business properly, including managing our financial position, business capability, planning, communications, corporate governance, audit, insurance, sales, to prevent fraud and to maintain the confidentiality of communications, and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise). (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligatio
(a) To manage the performance and security of our equipment, IT systems and electronic platforms, including administering access rights; (b) To operate IT security audits.	(a) Identity; (b) Contact; (c) Transaction.	(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running and administering our business (including IT support), to ensure systems administration and network security).
To permit the Company to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that the Company may sustain.	(a) Identity; (b) Contact; (c) Employment; (d) Tax; (e) Transaction; (f) Marketing and Communications	(a) Performance of a contract with you. (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests.

Please contact us at info@timberland-malta.com if you need details or wish to enquire about the specific lawful basis we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one lawful basis has been set out in the table below

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose, or we are obliged to process your data by applicable laws or court or regulatory orders.

If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us at info@timberland-malta.com

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so. Please note that we may process your personal data without the need to obtain your consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

7. Marketing

You may receive marketing communications from us (which may consist of email, telephone fax and/or SMS) for advertising and marketing purposes by third parties and/or the notification of other products/services which may be for interest to you where:

you or your respective entity have entered into a business relationship with the Company; and
provided you have not opted out of receiving marketing from us (see your right to object below).

Where the above does not apply to you, we will only send you our marketing communications where you have expressly consented to receive them from us.

8. Disclosures of your personal data

We may transfer your personal data to our affiliated entity, Timberland Investment Security (C 60291) of 171 Old Bakery Street, Valletta, VLT 1455, Malta:

to facilitate and administer your business relationship with us;
as part of our regular reporting activities on company performances;
to consolidate our reporting and accounting procedures;
to ensure business efficiency (all of the above being part of our legitimate interests), and/or
where necessary to achieve or further any of the purposes in Section 5 above

In addition, we may also have to grant access to, disclose or share your personal data with the parties set out below, including your submitted applications, questionnaires and declaration forms, for the purposes in Section 5 above:

other entities with our group;
Third party service providers to the Company, including the Transfer Agent which we use for your subscriptions;
Suppliers and external agencies that we engage to process information on our or your behalf, including to provide you with the information and/or materials which you may have requested.
Third-party payment processors, such payment services providers and banks;
Our professional advisers (such as our auditors, accountants, financial advisers and legal counsel);
To regulators, government bodies and tax authorities (local and overseas) when required by applicable laws and/or regulations).
To any relevant party, claimant, law enforcement agency or court, to the extent necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims in accordance with applicable law and regulation; and
To any relevant party for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences in accordance with applicable law and regulation.
Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets (successors in title). Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this Notice.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.

Furthermore, we do not allow our third-party service providers, including any Transfer Agent, to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our documented instructions.

We may also disclose your data if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data to comply with any legal obligation, judgment or under an order from a court, tribunal or authority. This includes exchanging information with regulatory bodies in Malta or if applicable, overseas, public bodies including the Police and other organisations and may undertake credit or fraud searches with relevant agencies for the purposes of fraud detection and prevention.

We may also transfer your personal data to applicable governmental and regulatory authorities, agencies and other public bodies in order to comply with our legal obligations or any orders imposed upon us. In particular, we may transfer your personal data to the Malta Business Registry (“MBR”), the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (“FIAU”) as well as applicable tax authorities. We may also transfer your personal data when we are required to do so by any judicial body, court order or order issued by a police authority.

We may also disclose your data to enforce our contractual terms with you, or to protect our rights, property or safety, that of our partners or other applicants or subscribers This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection.

9. Data Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed (safeguard its integrity and confidentiality). We also regularly review and, where practicable, improve upon these security measures.

Additionally, we have also put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

10. Data Retention

How long will you use my personal data for?

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collected it, i.e. the performance and management of our business relationship with you (whilst ongoing), and thereafter:

for the purpose of satisfying any legal, accounting, tax or reporting obligations to which we may be subject; and/or
to the extent that we may also need to retain your personal data to be able to assert, exercise or defend possible future legal claims against or otherwise involving you.

By and large, we will maintain and retain your personal data throughout the period of your business relationship with us and for a further period of six (6) years from the date of its termination. This retention period enables us to make use of your personal data to satisfy any applicable reporting obligations to public authorities and/or for the assertion, filing or defence of possible legal claims by or against you or your respective entity (taking into account applicable prescriptive periods). In certain cases, we may need to retain personal data for a period of up to eleven (11) years to comply with applicable accounting and tax laws (this will primarily consist of your Transaction Data and records).

There may also be other instances where the need to retain certain items of personal data about you for longer periods, as dictated by the nature of the business relationship and the products and/or services provided.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data. See Request erasure below for further information.

Data Minimisation

Whenever and to the extent possible, we anonymise the data which we hold about you when it is no longer necessary to identify you from the data which we hold about you. In some circumstances, we may even anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Kindly contact us at info@timberland-malta.com for further details about the retention periods that we apply.

11. Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data.

Request access to your personal data.
Request correction (rectification) of your personal data.
Request erasure of your personal data.
Object to processing of your personal data.
Request restriction of processing your personal data.
Request transfer of your personal data.
Right to withdraw consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us at info@timberland-malta.com

No fee is usually charged

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may simply refuse to comply with your request in such circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within a period of one month from the date of receiving your request. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO

REQUEST ACCESS

You have the right to request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to request information as to whether or not your personal data is being processed by us, and to also request a copy of the information that we hold about you (to check, for instance, that we are processing it lawfully).

You may send an email info@timberland-malta.com requesting information as the personal data which we process. Generally, you shall receive one copy free of charge via email of the personal data which is undergoing processing. Any further copies of the information processed will typically incur a charge of €10.00.

This right to access your personal data is without prejudice to the integrity and confidentiality of the personal data of other persons. You are only entitled to request access to personal data that relates to you.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

You have the right to information when collecting and processing personal data about you from publicly accessible or third-party sources. When this take places, we will inform you, within a reasonable and practicable timeframe, about the third party or publicly accessible source from whom we have collected your personal data.

REQUEST CORRECTION (RECTIFICATION)

You have the right to request correction or rectification of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected and/or updated, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us. As mentioned, it is in your interest to keep us informed of any changes or updates to your personal data which may occur during the course of your business relationship with us.

REQUEST ERASURE

You have the right to request erasure of your personal data.

This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where:

there is no good reason for us continuing to process it;
you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below);
we may have processed your information unlawfully; or
we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law.

Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request. These may include instances where the retention of your personal data is necessary to:

comply with a legal or regulatory obligation to which we are subject; or
establish, exercise or defend a legal claim (including policy claims).

OBJECT TO PROCESSING

You have the right to object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest or those of a third party, and there is something about your particular situation that makes you want to object to that processing as you feel that it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. Please refer to the table set out in Section 6 to understand those situations where we rely on a legitimate interest in order to process your personal data.

In such cases, we will cease processing your personal data for the ‘objected purposes’, unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for such processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms of the data subject, or for the establishment to exercise or defend legal claims.

You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes (as, for instance, described under the ‘Marketing’ in Section 7 above).

RESTRICTION OF PROCESSING

You have the right to request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy;
where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it;
where you need us to hold onto the data even if we no longer require it, as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
where you have objected to our use of your personal data, but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

DATA PORTABILITY

You have the right to request the transfer (data portability) of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT

You may withdraw your consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. This will not however affect the lawfulness of any processing which we carried out before you withdrew your consent. Any processing activities that are not based on your consent will remain unaffected. Once we have been made aware that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your personal data for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

Kindly note that none of these data subject rights are absolute and must generally be weighed against our own legal obligations and legitimate interests. If a decision is taken to override your data subject request, you will be informed of this by our data protection team along with the reasons for our decision.

12. Complaints

You have the right to lodge a complaint at any time to a competent supervisory authority on data protection matters, such as in particular the supervisory authority in the place of your habitual residence or your place of work. In the case of Malta, this is the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner(the“IDPC”):

(https://idpc.org.mt/en/Pages/Home.aspx)

We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to deal with your concerns before you approach the supervisory authority, so please contact us in the first instance.

13. Changes / Updates to this Notice

This Notice may be updated from time to time.

The latest version of the Notice is available at tsiplc.timberland-malta.com and is also available upon request from Timberland Securities Investment plc, Aragon House Business Centre, Dragonara Road, St Julian’s STJ 3140.