Terms & Privacy

BroadGrain Commodities Inc. and BroadGrain affiliated companies (BroadGrain Holdings Inc., BroadGrain Argentina S.A., BroadGrain Africa Ltd., BG Commodities DMCC, Bogu (Tianjin) International Trading Ltd., Everdere Logistics (Barbados) Ltd.) (collectively, “BroadGrain”) are committed to respecting the privacy of individuals and providing security for personal data. BroadGrain recognizes your need for the appropriate management and protection of any personal data that you provide us. This privacy policy complies with the requirements of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) and the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and is consistent with common law rules governing duties of confidentiality.

This privacy policy includes guidelines regarding the collection, use, storage, retention and disclosure of your personal data. BroadGrain is responsible for all personal data under its control and compliance with the principles described in this Privacy Policy.

By accessing or using this Site, you are consenting to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal data related to the website as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

1. For which purposes and on which legal basis is data being collected and processed?

BroadGrain will not use personal data for any purpose incompatible with the purpose for which it was initially collected unless you provided your prior consent for further use. The purpose for which personal data is collected and used are as follows:

1.1  To fulfill contractual obligations

BroadGrain collects personal data to fulfill contractual obligations by providing products or services to clients (e.g. to purchase grain from a producer, or sell grain to a customer). This can be for pre-contractual measures order fulfillment, payment and invoicing for goods and services, contacting customers and contacting vendors/suppliers. BroadGrain will also collect personal data through telephone recordings, credit agencies, financial institutions, reference sources, clearinghouse services and other third parties.

Telephonic recordings and monitoring are required for quality control and training purposes as well as to evidence business transactions. A pre-recorded message informs callers that their call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes. After hearing this message, a caller’s decision to continue with the call is considered their implied consent to record the call. Outbound calls to clients may also be recorded for similar purposes.

Personal data collected will be limited to that which is necessary for valid business purposes.

1.2  To fulfill legal obligations

BroadGrain processes personal data to meet legal and regulatory requirements (e.g. to respond to a court order). BroadGrain may be required to process data due to regulatory requirements which BroadGrain is subject to as a commodity trader, grain elevator operator and customer of financial services. This may also be due to litigation or arbitration, including employment tribunal proceedings, and protecting BroadGrain against liability.

Where permitted or required by law, BroadGrain employees may collect, use or disclose personal data without your knowledge or express consent, for issues including without limitation debt collections, dispute resolution, or insurance obligations.

1.3  As part of your consent

BroadGrain will process data taken for a specific purpose and only within the scope set out in the consent form or as implied based on the reasonable expectations of the client. Use of BroadGrain products and services constitutes implied consent for BroadGrain to collect, retain and use customer personal data for the purposes identified in this policy. Moreover, if you apply to a BroadGrain position by submitting your personal data, you are also providing your consent.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, which will then be effective for the future. Withdrawing or withholding consent may impact the products and services BroadGrain is able to provide you.

Examples of such cases where consent is obtained are the evaluation of your data (such as name, account turnover data and the like) and the query of external credit databases, in order to anticipate your credit rating for credit applications. In recruitment, your submission of a cover letter, resume or references will be considered as personal data obtained through your consent.

1.4 To safeguard legitimate interests in general

Data processing may be carried out to protect the legitimate interests of BroadGrain or third parties. Examples of such cases are:

  • To establish and maintain a responsible commercial relationship with a customer and provide the customer with ongoing service (e.g. to confirm the identity of a customer or to determine creditworthiness);
  • To manage and develop BroadGrain’s business and operations (e.g. to guide new project development and resource allocation);
  • Phone records (for quality assurance or complaint cases);
  • To evaluate risk and protect against default through the exchange of data with credit bureaus for the determination of creditworthiness or default risks;
  • Video surveillance of workplace areas, including facilities, corridors, interior/exterior entrance areas to collect evidence in case of crime or accident especially to protect visitors and employees;
  • Measures to protect customers and employees as well as to secure the property of BroadGrain and to prevent, contain and investigate criminally relevant conduct;
  • Measures for sanctions checks and compliance checks, control evaluations and audits.
  • For security, credit or fraud prevention purposes;
  • Asserting legal claims and positions in legal disputes, including land titles registries searches;
  • Ensuring the IT security and IT operations of the BroadGrain;
  • Managing health and safety incidents;
  • In the event of a change of ownership or business combination such as a merger or joint venture. Confidentiality agreements shall be in place to use personal data in a manner consistent with this policy;
  • For BroadGrain employees, BroadGrain may process information for the administration of its workforce, including without limitation information to pay its employees, provide benefits, or make accommodations.
  • Disclosure of personal data may occur without knowledge or consent if seeking consent defeats the purpose of the disclosure (eg. investigating the breach of the agreement, contravention of law, compliance with a court order).

1.5  To safeguard legitimate interests in the marketing of our services

BroadGrain processes data to serve our interest in marketing our services. This includes

  • To understand, develop markets, promote operations and meet customer needs and preferences and/or determine eligibility for products, and services (e.g. to provide customer service, create and maintain customer databases or facilitate market analysis based on records of purchases, to tailor BroadGrain products/services to customer needs), which may include analysis of executed transactions.
  • To develop services and products that are tailored to your interest, as well as further improving the usability of our services;
  • To send general newsletters on service, products and related market information;
  • To contact you with special offers and other information BroadGrain believes will be of interest to you.

2. What data is being processed?

The following data, which either BroadGrain itself has collected itself or which a client has transmitted to BroadGrain, may be collected and evaluated:

Name, gender, age, address, date and place of birth, phone number, email address, nationality, social identification number, occupation/title, name of organization, relevant experience and/or academic and professional qualifications, department, industry, date of agreement, business postal address, business telephone number, business facsimile number, business email address, VAT numbers, tax identification numbers, bank details, bank ownership certificate, language preference, license plate number, driver’s license, passports, identification cards;

BroadGrain shall also collect information regarding its products and services offered in relation to clients:

  • Item of transactions, terms, interest, charges, debits, credits and arrears, and the means of payment used by you, such as cheque or bank transfer;
  • Financial statements, personal guarantees and other financial and security documents;
  • Credit history, credit ratings;
  • Payment transactions, payment history, any overdue payments and arrears, recipients and senders, payment orders transmitting intermediaries, amount, purpose and payment references, payer references, payment behaviour, payment service providers, amounts, purpose, originator references, frequency and types of money movement, cashless payment, data on dealers or service providers and information on closed deals;

The following are other web-based and phone-based personal data that BroadGrain may collect.

  • Telephone service data: Frequency, dates and locations of use of telephone services of BroadGrain, and audio recordings of phone calls.
  • Data from services, website and communication: Data relating to the use of electronic services and websites, functions of the websites, e-mail messages between you and BroadGrain, and information on the use and subscriptions of newsletters of BroadGrain. If you communicate with us using the “Contact Us” feature, BroadGrain collects the information you provide when you complete the “Contact Us” form.
  • Technical data of end-user-devices: Information about devices and systems used for accessing websites, such as internet protocol (IP) addresses or types and versions of operating systems and web browsers, or location information and other comparable data on devices and systems.

For BroadGrain employees, BroadGrain may also obtain and process information about an employee’s family status, the names and contact information of family members, banking information and medical information.

3. Who receives my data?

BroadGrain may need to from time to time disclose or make available personal data to other companies of the BroadGrain group, relevant third party service providers (including professional advisors, for customer/vendor relationship management service providers, recruitment services and IT providers and back-office service providers and credit bureaus), business partners, regulatory authorities, financial institutions and potential purchasers of BroadGrain or a BroadGrain business.

BroadGrain will only grant access to personal data on a need-to-know basis, and such access will be limited to the personal data that is necessary to perform the function for which such access is granted.

3.1  Is there a data transfer to a third country or to an international organization?

A transfer of data to countries other than the country where the office you are doing business with will only take place if this will be necessary for the execution of your orders (eg payment orders), or if so required by law or if you have given us your explicit consent. For BroadGrain employees outside of Canada, BroadGrain may be required to provide certain information to local in-country benefit providers, and employee information may be provided to them.

In addition, data may be transferred to BroadGrain’s subsidiaries or processors in third countries. Information about this can be obtained from us.

4. How long will my data be stored?

BroadGrain processes your personal data, as far as necessary, for the whole duration of the entire business relationship (beginning with the pre-contractual stages and through its execution and ending with its termination), for the time when you provide us with contact information until you inform us you do not want to be contacted, and in accordance with the mandatory storage and documentation obligation as required by law.

Moreover, the data storage is also subject to the statutory limitation periods. For example, the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure may have a limitation period of up to 15 years (the most relevant limitation period in practice is 2 years).

BroadGrain will store personal data using hard copy and/or electronic means in such a way as to prevent loss, theft, unauthorized collection, access, modification, use, disclosure or disposal of the personal data. The physical, organizational and technological safeguards in place to protect personal data will be appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. BroadGrain protects personal data by:

  • Using written confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements and clauses with third-party service providers for certain disclosures;
  • Restricting access only to those employees who need to know that information in order to provide products or services; and
  • Maintaining physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with the relevant laws, regulations and industry practices.

5. Which data protection rights do I have?

You may exercise any of these rights:

  • The right to request access to your personal data, which includes the right to obtain confirmation from us as to whether or not personal data concerning you is being processed, and where that is the case, access to the personal data and information related to how it is processed.
  • The right to rectification of your personal data, which includes the right to have incomplete personal data completed, including by means of providing a supplementary statement. BroadGrain will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the personal data it collects and uses is accurate, up-to-date and complete. Individuals providing personal data will have the opportunity to review and correct their personal data upon written request. BroadGrain will modify the information as required.
  • The right to erasure of your personal data, including certain rights to request us to erase your personal data without undue delay.
  • The right to restrict processing concerning your personal data, which includes restricting us from continuing to process your personal data under certain circumstances (e.g., where you contest the accuracy of your personal data, processing is unlawful, or your personal data is no longer needed for the purposes of processing).
  • The right to object to processing concerning your personal data, where your personal data is processed for direct marketing purposes, where processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, or where processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by BroadGrain or a third party, unless BroadGrain demonstrates compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override such interests.
  • The right to data portability, which includes certain rights to have your personal data transmitted from us to another controller.
  • Where data processing is based on your consent, the right to withdraw consent at any time.
  • The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. Complaints can be addressed to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, or for European residents, the Data Protection Authority.

Notwithstanding the above, BroadGrain reserves the right to withhold information where another individual’s personal data would be improperly disclosed or where information would reveal BroadGrain’s confidential commercial information.

BroadGrain will grant access to personal data upon written request. Access will be provided according to established procedures. BroadGrain will inform an individual of the existence, use, and disclosure of his or her personal data and will provide access to that information, except where the law requires or permits BroadGrain to deny access.

6. Am I obliged to provide data?

As part of the business relationship, you must provide us with all personal data that is necessary to enter into and to maintain the business relationship with you, and also those data that we are required by law to collect. If you do not provide us with these data, we will generally decline either to conclude or to complete the contract, we will be unable to execute an existing contract or we would be forced to terminate such contract. However, you are not obliged to give your consent to the processing of data if such data is not necessary for the performance of a contract or is not required by law or regulation.

7. Is there automated decision-making?

We do not use fully automated decision-making within the meaning of Article 22 GDPR in order to establish and/or to conduct a business relationship. If we should use such procedures on a case-by-case basis, we will inform you accordingly by separate notice as so provided for by law.

8. Cookies

Our website uses Cookies. Cookies are text files, which are saved during the visit to your terminal.

Any use of Cookies is for anonymized analysis about the use of the website, or to interact easier with the website and to ensure an error-free use (e.g. to facilitate navigation on a website or to save your preferences and settings for your next visit). This is on the basis of legitimate interest.

Some cookies are saved on your terminal until you delete them. Most of the cookies we use are deleted after your visit on our website (so-called Session-Cookies).

Cookies can be blocked, deactivated, or deleted. You can find information hereto in the “help area” of the web browser you use. If all Cookies are deactivated, upon others the display of the website may be limited.

9. JavaScript and tracking pixels

Our website uses market-based web controls to control and improve our internet presence (JavaScript and tracking pixels). The entire data are recorded anonymously. By using so-called tracking pixels we are able to collect information to check for which screen sizes, browsers and operating systems our internet presence should be optimized. JavaScript is a programming language for evaluating user interactions, modifying, reloading, or generating content.

10. Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service from Google LLC., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies, which are saved on your computer. We process your data based on our legitimate interest in setting up website access statistics. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website (including your anonymized IP address and pseudonymized ID as well as the URLs of the websites accessed) is transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the USA. This website uses the given opportunity for IP-anonymization by Google Analytics. Your IP address will be shortened by Google within the member states of the European Union or in other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

On our behalf Google will use this information, to evaluate the use of the website, to create reports about the website activities and to provide us with other services related to the use of the website and the internet.

You can prevent the general storage of cookies by adjusting your browser software accordingly. However, we point out that in this case, you may not be able to use all functions of this website to their full extent.

You can also prevent Google from collecting your data in connection with Google Analytics by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link:

https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en

For more information on Google’s Terms of Use and Google’s Privacy Policy, please visit https://policies.google.com/?hl=at&gl=at

11. More information

The data controller for the purposes of this website is BroadGrain Commodities Inc., headquartered at 900-18 King St E., Toronto, ON, M5C 1C4, CANADA.

If you have questions on this policy, please contact Diana Naguib at HRGroup@broadgrain.com.