BCREA Privacy Policy
Last updated: June 1, 2004

Additional policies apply to BCREA employees.

Privacy Considerations
BCREA is bound by the provisions of the provincial Personal Information Protection Act, and the Association and its employees must comply with the requirements of the Act. In addition, BCREA is a member of The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and adheres to and abides by the principles set out in the CREA Privacy Code.

If you wish to file a request or complaint regarding your personal information, which is being or has been held or processed by BCREA, please complete and submit the personal information form.

Policy
BCREA and its employees only collect information necessary to effectively carry out the mission of the Association and to provide professional and competent services to the member boards. Employees should be aware that their personal contact lists and email messages stored electronically are owned by BCREA and subject to review at any time. The results of all research and analysis are presented as anonymous or aggregated information and do not reveal any personal facts about individuals.

Person in Charge
The Executive Officer is responsible for privacy compliance. The Executive Officer’s name will be made available to members of the public. The Privacy Compliance Officer ensures that:

• information protection policies are established and updated;
• sensitive information is protected and accessibility properly controlled;
• employees are educated as to the importance of information protection;
• privacy complaints are resolved efficiently with the goal of satisfying all individuals involved.

All information requests will be directed to the Executive Officer, who will:

• meet informal requests with an invitation to view the relevant records in the BCREA office;
• meet formal requests with an offer of printouts and photocopies of the appropriate BCREA records;
• charge a minimum administration fee to supply the information;
• direct the individual to the appropriate authorities if their concerns or complaint cannot be resolved internally.

Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information
General rules:

• no personal information will be collected from an individual without first obtaining the consent of the individual to the collection, use and dissemination of that information;
• express consent (whether oral or written) will be obtained unless the information is not sensitive and where the individual can be reasonably assumed to have expected the information to be disclosed in this fashion;
• once information is collected, it will be used and disclosed only for the purposes disclosed to the individual;
• to use personal information for some new purpose that extends beyond the consent already provided requires the express consent of the person;
• misuse of personal information is considered a serious matter and will be dealt with as such.

Education
With respect to education programs:

• Applied Real Estate Course students are advised that the information contained in their application form will be used by BCREA to report to the Real Estate Council of British Columbia and that a transcript will be permanently retained by the Association;
• Continuing Professional Education students are advised by the member boards that a class list will be supplied to BCREA, and that seminar attendance records are only released upon the express request by the individual;
• personal information about individuals undertaking the Real Estate Sales Aptitude Test is confidential and those who take it are advised that BCREA uses anonymous results for ongoing statistical purposes;
• the files for instructors, course and seminar writers and consultants are centralized and kept in a locked filing cabinet;
• agreements for instructors and consultants contain a statement noting that their files are retained for five years following the expiration of the agreement, after which time they are shredded, and that evaluations are completed by students, and are retained by BCREA for a maximum of five years;
• contracts for course and seminar writers contain a statement noting that their files are retained indefinitely by BCREA.

Member Services
Affinity program contracts contain a statement noting that BCREA is subject to the provisions of the Personal Information Protection Act and, as suppliers, these companies must also comply with the Act.

Communications
With respect to Communications Department actions:

• BCREA does not sell its subscription lists;
• personal information from conference registration is used for administration and marketing purposes, but attendees are given the opportunity to opt out of inclusion on a delegate list distributed to attendees, exhibitors and sponsors;
• BCREA assumes the implicit consent of individuals in photographs taken at BCREA events to use the photographs in Association communications. However, photographs cannot be distributed to outside organizations without the express consent of the subjects.