Privacy Policy (English only)

This Privacy Policy will help you understand how we collect and use your personal data, who we share your personal data with, and how you can control the way your personal data is collected and used by us. If you access or use our website (https://thesolab.com) (which we will refer to as “Solab” in this Privacy Policy) as a visitor/guest, or register for an account in Solab (“User Account”), then this Privacy Policy is deemed to be agreed by you and will apply to you. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please stop using our Site and do not register for a User Account. Sometimes, we may send you a new notice to explain how we may use your personal data in specific situations, and will always give you the choice to opt out of such uses.

How do we collect data?

Your personal data will either be provided by you, collected by us, or captured automatically when you access or use our Site. For example, we collect your personal data when you complete your User Account application, when you purchase a product, when you send us emails or when you browse our Site.

What information do we collect about you?

It may be necessary for you to provide us with certain personal data in order for you to use Solab. We will let you know when such data is essential. All other personal data is up to you to provide or not, as you prefer.

a.Your User Account

If you register for a User Account on Solab (“Member”), some of the personal data we may collect about you includes:

your name, month of birth, email address, telephone number, shipping address, username and password;
your school name, class number, teacher’s names, age and parents;
your User Account status and activities relating to your User Account; and
your browsing preferences, including brand preferences and the types of products and services you may be interested in.

b. When you visit Solab either as a Member or visitor/guest

We may use online tracking technology such as cookies, pixel tags, web beacons and other similar technologies to automatically collect information about:

your visits to Solab, such as your browsing history, how long you stay on Solab, and how often you visit;
your location information as provided by your mobile or other device when you interact with Solab, including your IP address and general geographic location; and the device that you use to browse Solab (e.g. your device ID, operating system, type of device, browser type and version, other system activity, and third party sites you were using before interacting with our Site).

You have the right to disable any of these online tracking technologies. To learn more about how we use the above data, please see the section below on Online tracking technology.

c. Other information

We also collect some of your personal data whenever we communicate with you (e.g. email content, contact information, etc.), or when you complete any voluntary surveys and questionnaires we may send you from time to time (e.g. your demographic information and feedback).

How do we use your information?

We will only use your personal data for the purposes set out below.

a.Account administration

To help administer and maintain your User Account, including:

creating and updating your User Account;
verifying your identity;
creating a single profile about you, including combining your information with any other personal data already held by us or any members of HKCIN;
providing you with a log-in ID for your User Account to access Solab; maintaining, updating, administering and processing a record of your activities on Solab, including any purchases or orders made by you through Solab for any products or services (“Orders”) and any points or rewards in relation to any Rewards Programme;
completing transactions, including processing or facilitating payments;
sending you updates about new features and benefits relating to Solab; and enabling features that allow you to personalise your User Account on Solab, such as bookmarking your favourite products or brands.

b.Customer support

To assist you when you contact us, such as responding to and investigating any of your questions or concerns, and monitoring and improving our customer support services, and to assist you with any delivery, refunds or exchanges for any Orders.

c.Marketing

To provide you with marketing and promotional materials (“Marketing Communications”), if you choose to receive them. Please see the section on Direct Marketing below for more information.

d.Personalisation

To create personalised Marketing Communications tailored to your interests and preferences, and to provide you with the best possible customer experience in relation to Solab and your User Account. We may also use data analytics tools to determine whether our or any HKCIN members’ offers, advertisements and promotions are effective, as well as to determine whether you may be interested in new products or services, or to customise the content and types of offers, products, services and rewards that we present to you.

e.Optimisation and improvements

We may use your personal data to understand and improve Solab or our operations, or our operations, through various means, such as the use of analytics tools, research, surveys and feedback forms. This will enable us to enhance services or products, develop new features and benefits, and assess and amend social service, marketing and strategic operations and plans.

f.Legal and administration purposes

We may use your personal data to investigate or handle any incidents, claims or disputes, or as otherwise required by law or requested by any law enforcement or regulatory authorities, courts or other governmental agencies. We may also use your personal data in relation to any legal proceedings concerning you.

Who do we share your information with?

To protect your privacy, we will endeavour to only share with third parties data which has either been aggregated and anonymised or which otherwise does not contain your name or contact details. However, there may be limited circumstances where we will share data (which may include your personal data) with third parties who may or may not be located overseas, as detailed in this section. By using Solab, or applying for a User Account, you agree to allow us to share your personal data with third parties and to the cross-border transfer of your personal data in accordance with this section. Regardless of where we store or process your personal data, we are committed to protecting it and will take reasonable steps to safeguard it in accordance with this Privacy Policy and all applicable laws.

a. HKCIN
Your personal data may be transferred to HKCIN for any of the purposes we have set out above. However, we will not provide your personal data to HKCIN in order for them to send you marketing materials regarding their own products and services, unless we obtain your prior consent.
b. Service providers
Your personal data may be shared with our service providers (including agents and contractors) who process personal data on our behalf to help us administer and operate Solab, to fulfil, administer and process your requests, to conduct data analytics, to help aggregate and anonymise the personal data, or to carry out any of the purposes set out above. These may include IT vendors, back-office and front-end or ancillary service providers, marketing agencies, data management and analytics service providers, and customer contact services. Our service providers may contact you on our behalf or on behalf of HKCIN, for any of the purposes set out above. We only use trustworthy service providers, who are under a duty of confidentiality to us, and are only permitted to use your personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
c. Professional advisors and assignees
When necessary, we may share your personal data with our professional advisors, including lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and insurers. Your personal data may also be shared with third parties in connection with any merger, acquisition, consolidation, restructuring, sale of assets, financing or any other similar scenarios involving the transfer of some or all of our business assets.
d. Government and regulatory authorities
This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (“Hong Kong”). We strive to handle your personal data in accordance with any data privacy laws that we believe apply to us. Your personal data may be shared with regulatory authorities, courts and other governmental agencies to comply with any legal or regulatory requirements, orders or requests. Any dispute concerning the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Hong Kong.

Aggregated and anonymised data

Aggregated or anonymised data that does not include any personally identifiable information, may be used by us or other third parties for various purposes, including enabling them to better understand customer needs or to improve and adapt their operations, products and services, or for the purposes of industry benchmarking, machine learning, research or analytics.

Direct Marketing

If you have opted to receive offers and promotions from us, we may use your personal data to:

send you direct Marketing Communications in connection with the latest news, events, updates, contests, promotions, offers, products, services and rewards offered by us, which relate to Solab, Reward Programmes, lucky draws and contests, redemption;
analyse your preferences, online behaviour and transactional history in order to gain insights, so that we can customise the content and types of news, events, updates, contests, promotions, offers, products, services and rewards that we present to you via Solab, our direct marketing communications, social media or other communication means; and
in conjunction with any seasonal events, lucky draws and contests or other promotional activities.

We may send you direct Marketing Communications and market research invitations by email, through your User Account, when you access Solab, or through online banner advertisements, post, telephone or SMS. Before providing you with direct marketing communications, we will always ask for your consent. You can choose at any time not to receive any direct Marketing Communications from us. Please see the section on Your rights below.

How do we keep your information secure?

We take the confidentiality and security of your information seriously. We take all reasonable steps, including the implementation of technical and physical security measures, to ensure that all your personal data held by us is kept secure and safe from any loss or unauthorised disclosure, use and modification. All transactions under the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy are based on the encryption of data exchanged between you and us on Solab. How long do we keep your data for? We will keep your personal data only for so long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless the law requires us to keep it for a longer period. Once we no longer need your personal data, we will either irreversibly anonymise or securely delete it on our servers.

Your rights

a. Access and correction
You have the right to access and correct your personal data held by us, at any time, by sending an email to our Data Protection Officer at admin@hkcin.org . In order to ensure that your personal data is kept as accurate as possible, please notify us at the email address above of any changes to your personal data.

b.Opt-out of direct marketing

At any time, you can ask us to stop using your personal data to send you direct Marketing Communications, or you can customise how you would like to receive direct Marketing Communications from us. You can exercise your rights to do this by:

changing your settings on your User Account; or
following the unsubscribe instructions in the Marketing Communications we send to you.

We will stop using your personal data to send you Marketing Communications in accordance with your request. However, we may still send you non-promotional communications such as information concerning the administration of your User Account, and may use non-personally identifiable information collected via cookies and other tracking technology to display marketing information via online advertising banners on websites and apps visited by you.

We are not involved or responsible for any marketing materials sent directly by HKCIN that concern any Reward Programmes, or products or services offered or provided by them. If you would like to stop receiving any marketing materials from HKCIN, then please contact them directly in order to unsubscribe from their mailing lists.

Online tracking technology

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your browser or device by websites, applications, online media and advertisements when you visit a website.

We use cookies and other similar identification technologies such as web beacons and pixel tags on our Site, emails and online advertisements for various purposes, including verifying users; remembering user preferences and settings to enhance your experience when you return to our Site; delivering relevant content and advertisements based on your preferences, location and usage patterns; monitoring, evaluating and optimising the operation of our Site; tracking and measuring the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns; and analysing traffic on our Site and the websites of HKCIN.

You can exercise your right to choose whether or not to accept cookies by adjusting your browser settings to modify your cookie preferences. Most browsers are set to accept cookies by default, but you are free to remove or block all browser cookies. However, if you turn off your cookies, some of our services may not function properly and you will not be able to receive the most efficient and personalised experience.

Links to other sites

Solab may contain links to other third party websites and applications, including HKCIN homepage (“Third Party Sites”). We do not own or control, and are not responsible for the privacy practices of those Third Party Sites. We encourage you to remain alert if you follow any links to leave our Site, and to review the privacy policies of those Third Party Sites so that you are aware of how your personal data may be collected and used by such third parties.

How do we manage updates to this policy?

From time to time, we may update this Privacy Policy to reflect new technologies, regulatory requirements or any other changes that may be necessary. We will notify you of any updates in accordance with your preference settings and, where required by law, obtain your consent. We will inform you by emailing you at the email address you provided us, and/or by posting a notice of these changes on Solab.