Personal information In general, you can visit ABPVI on the Internet without telling us who you are and without giving any personal information about yourself. There are times, however, when we or our partners may need information from you.

You may choose to give us personal information in a variety of situations. For example, you may want to give us information, such as your name and address or e-mail id, to correspond with you, to process an order, or to provide you with a subscription. You may give us your credit card details to buy something from us or a description of your education and work experience in connection with a job opening at ABPVI that you wish to be considered for. We intend to let you know how we will use such information before we collect it from you; if you tell us that you do not want us to use this information to make further contact with you beyond fulfilling your requests, we will respect your wishes. If you give us personal information about somebody else, such as a spouse or work colleague, we will assume that you have their permission to do so.

Using and Sharing Personal Information

The following paragraphs describe in more detail how ABPVI may use your personal information and with whom we may share it. Depending on the type of ABPVI Web site you are visiting, one or more of the paragraphs may apply. For example, if you order a product from an ABPVI Web site, your information will be handled as described in such paragraphs as Fulfilling Your Transaction Request and Marketing Use.

Fulfilling your transaction request

If you request something from an ABPVI Web site, for example, a product or service, a callback, or specific marketing materials, we will use the information you provide to fulfill your request. To help us do this, we may share information, with others, for instance, other parts of ABPVI, ABPVI's Business Partners, financial institutions, shipping companies, postal or government authorities (for example, Customs authorities) involved in fulfillment. In connection with a transaction we may also contact you as part of our customer satisfaction surveys or for market research purposes.

Marketing Use

The information you provide to ABPVI on certain ABPVI Web sites may also be used by ABPVI and selected third parties for marketing purposes. Before we use it, however, we will offer you the opportunity to choose whether or not to have your information used in this way.

ABPVI Human Resources Web Sites (including Recruitment)

In connection with a job application or inquiry, whether advertised on an ABPVI Website or otherwise, you may provide us with information about yourself, such as a resume or curriculum vitae. We may use this information throughout ABPVI and its related entities for the purpose of employment consideration or your inquiry. Except where you tell us not to, we will keep the information for future consideration.

Information for Business Partners

If you represent an ABPVI Business Partner, you may visit an ABPVI Web site intended specifically for ABPVI Business Partners. We may use information provided on that site to administer and develop our business relationship with you, the Business Partner you represent, and ABPVI Business Partners generally. For instance, this may involve using your information to send you details of ABPVI Business Partner programs. It may also include sharing certain information with other Business Partners (subject to any confidentiality obligations that may exist), or ABPVI customers or prospects. In connection with a particular transaction or program, we may also contact you as part of customer satisfaction surveys or for market research purposes.

ABPVI Supplier Administration

If you represent an ABPVI supplier, you may visit an ABPVI Web site intended specifically for use by ABPVI suppliers. We may use the information provided on that site in connection with entering into or performing a transaction with you. For example, this may include sharing information with other parts of ABPVI, ABPVI's Business Partners, customers, shipping companies, financial institutions, postal or government authorities involved in fulfillment. It may also be used to administer and develop our relationship with you, the supplier you represent and/or other ABPVI suppliers generally.

Other ABPVI Web Site Notices

In some cases, specific ABPVI Web sites may contain other notices about their use and the information practices applicable to those sites.

Our Worldwide Practices

ABPVI is a global organization, with legal entities, business processes, management structures, and technical systems that cross borders.

Our privacy practices are designed to provide protection for your personal information, all over the world. We may share your personal information within ABPVI and transfer it to countries in the world where we do business.

Some countries may provide less legal protection for your information. In such countries ABPVI will still handle information in the manner we describe here.

Information Security and Quality

We intend to protect your personal information and to maintain its quality. We implement appropriate measures and processes, such as using encryption when transmitting certain sensitive information, to help us to keep your information secure and to maintain its quality.

Supplementing Information

From time to time we may supplement information you give us via an ABPVI Website with information from other sources, such as information validating your address or other available information about businesses. This is to help us maintain the accuracy of the information we collect and to help us provide a better service.

Use of Suppliers

In some cases ABPVI uses suppliers to collect, use, analyze and otherwise process information on its behalf. It is ABPVI's practice to require such suppliers to handle information in a manner consistent with ABPVI's policies.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Circumstances may arise where, whether for strategic or other business reasons, ABPVI decides to sell, buy, merge or otherwise reorganise businesses in some countries. Such a transaction may involve the disclosure of personal information to prospective or actual purchasers, or receiving it from sellers. It is ABPVI’s practice to seek appropriate protection for information in these types of transactions.

Cookies, Web Logs and Other Technologies

We sometimes collect non-identifiable information from visits to our Web sites to help us provide better customer service. For example, we keep track of the domains from which people visit, and we also measure visitor activity on ABPVI Web sites, but we do so in ways that keep the information non-identifiable. This information is sometimes known as "clickstream data." ABPVI or others on ABPVI's behalf may use this data to analyze trends and statistics and to help us provide better customer service.

Also, when we collect personal data from you in a transaction, we may extract some information about that transaction in an non-identifiable format and combine it with other non-identifiable information such as clickstream data. This information is used and analyzed only at an aggregate level to help us understand trends and patterns. This information is not reviewed at an individual level. If you do not want your transaction details used in this manner you can disable your cookies.

We collect the information we mentioned in the previous paragraphs through the use of various technologies, including one called "cookies". A cookie is a piece of data that a Web site can send to your browser, which may then be stored on your computer as an anonymous tag that identifies your computer but not you. Some ABPVI pages use cookies, sent by ABPVI or its third party vendors, or other technologies to better serve you when you return to the Web site. You can set your browser to notify you before you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether to accept it. You can also set your browser to turn off cookies. If you do so, however, some Web sites may not work properly.

Some ABPVI Web sites also use technologies to better tailor those sites to provide better customer service. These technologies may be in use on a number of pages across ABPVI's Web sites. When a visitor accesses these pages, a non-identifiable notice of that visit is generated which may be processed by us or by our suppliers. These Web beacons usually work in conjunction with cookies. If you don't want your cookie information to be associated with your visits to these pages, you can set your browser to turn off cookies.

If you turn off cookies, web logs and other technologies will still detect visits to these pages, but the notices they generate cannot be associated with other non- identifiable cookie information and are disregarded.

Service Quality Monitoring

Certain Web transactions may also involve you calling us or our calling you. Please be aware that it is ABPVI's general practice to monitor and in some cases record such calls for staff training or quality assurance purposes.

Disclosures Required By Law

Please be aware that in certain circumstances, it is possible that personal information may be subject to disclosure pursuant to judicial or other government subpoenas, warrants, or orders.

Links to non-ABPVI Web sites

ABPVI Web sites may contain links to other Web sites. ABPVI is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those other Web sites.

Notification of Changes

This privacy statement was last updated on November 7, 2002. A notice will be posted on our Web site home page for 30 days whenever this privacy statement is changed in a material way.

Privacy Questions and Access

If you have a question about this statement, you can send an email to the ABPVI Web site coordinator. The address for this is jjqm@akasyabpv.com. You can also contact us at this address if you have a question about ABPVI's handling of your information.

If you wish to obtain a copy of particular information you provided to ABPVI, or if you become aware the information is incorrect and you would like us to correct it contact us at info@akasyabpv.com.

Before ABPVI is able to provide you with any information or correct any inaccuracies, however, we may ask you to verify your identity and to provide other details to help us to respond to your request. We will endeavor to respond within an appropriate timeframe.