Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

The University of Sydney Chinese Law Students' Society (CLSS, we, us, our) is a student society at the University of Sydney Law School. This policy covers personal information we collect through this website (usyd-clss.com) and through the activities we run.

CLSS is a small not-for-profit student organisation. While we may not be an "APP entity" required to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), we have chosen to handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) as a matter of good practice.

We are a student society and are separate from the University of Sydney. The University's own privacy policy does not apply to this website.

2. What personal information we collect

We only collect personal information that we need. In practice that means:

• Membership sign-ups. When you join CLSS through our membership form, we collect your name, email address, degree and year of study, student number and similar details you provide.
• Newsletter subscriptions. When you subscribe to the Commercial Awareness Newsletter, we collect your email address and your expected graduation year.
• Committee and program applications. If you apply for a committee position, the Pro Bono Program or a similar opportunity, we collect the information in your application — typically your name, contact details, CV, cover letter and academic details.
• Published profiles. If you hold a position on our committee, we publish your name, role, degree and photograph on our "Our People" page, with your consent.
• Job and event listings. If you are an employer, sponsor or partner submitting a listing or event, we collect the contact and organisational details you give us.
• Correspondence. If you email us, we keep your message and contact details so we can respond.
• Technical information. Our hosting provider automatically logs standard technical data when you visit — your IP address, browser type, device type, the pages you requested and the time of the request. We use this only for security and to keep the site running.

We do not deliberately collect sensitive information (such as health information, racial or ethnic origin, or political opinions). Please do not send us sensitive information unless we have specifically asked for it.

3. How we collect it

We collect personal information directly from you — through forms you fill in, emails you send us, and events you attend. Some of our forms are hosted by third-party providers (see section 5), which means your information is submitted to that provider and then made available to us.

Where we collect personal information about you from someone else (for example, a sponsor passing on a contact), we will tell you at the first reasonable opportunity.

4. Why we use it

We use personal information to:

• administer CLSS membership and verify eligibility;
• send you newsletters, event invitations and updates you have signed up for;
• run our events, publications, Pro Bono Program and careers activities;
• assess applications for committee roles and programs;
• respond to your enquiries;
• maintain, secure and improve this website; and
• meet our obligations to the University of Sydney Union, our sponsors and the law.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not give your contact details to sponsors or employers for their own marketing.

5. Who we share it with

We use a small number of reputable third-party service providers to run this website and our communications. They handle your information only to provide their service to us, and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes. Those providers fall into the following categories:

• Website hosting and content delivery — the provider that serves this website and protects it from attack.
• Content and database platforms — where we store the information behind this site, such as events, publications, job listings and committee profiles.
• Email and newsletter platforms — which store subscriber email addresses and send our newsletters.
• Online form and survey providers — which collect our membership sign-ups and applications.

We may also disclose personal information where we are required or authorised to do so by law, or where it is necessary to protect the safety of a person.

Some of these providers store data on servers outside Australia, including in the United States and the European Union. By providing your information to us, you consent to it being stored and processed overseas. We take reasonable steps to choose reputable providers, but we cannot control the laws of every country in which they operate.

If you would like to know which specific providers we use, or where a particular piece of your information is stored, email us at info@usyd-clss.com and we will tell you.

6. Cookies and analytics

This website does not set advertising or tracking cookies, and we do not run analytics or tracking scripts on it. We do not use third-party advertising networks.

Pages you reach by following a link away from this site — including our newsletter signup and our membership and application forms, which are hosted by third-party providers, and any sponsor, employer or social media site — set their own cookies and are governed by their own privacy policies, not this one.

7. How we store and protect it

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Access to our systems is limited to the CLSS executive members who need it, and is removed when a committee member's term ends.

No method of transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure. While we do our best, we cannot guarantee absolute security of information you send us.

8. How long we keep it

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes described above, or as long as the law requires. Membership and application records are generally kept for the duration of the relevant academic year plus a reasonable handover period, and are then deleted or de-identified. Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe.

9. Accessing, correcting or deleting your information

You can ask us to access, correct or delete the personal information we hold about you at any time by emailing info@usyd-clss.com. We will respond within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days. There is no charge for making a request.

We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. If we refuse a request, we will tell you why in writing.

Every newsletter we send contains an unsubscribe link, so you can leave our mailing list at any time without contacting us.

10. Complaints

If you think we have mishandled your personal information, please contact us first at info@usyd-clss.com. We will acknowledge your complaint and aim to resolve it within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

11. Links to other websites

This site links to other websites — sponsors, employers, the University of Sydney, legal centres and social media. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing them with personal information.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always published on this page, with the "last updated" date at the top. Significant changes will be communicated to members through our usual channels.

13. Contact us

For any privacy question or request, email the CLSS President at info@usyd-clss.com, or write to us at: USYD Chinese Law Students' Society, Law Info Desk, New Law School Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown Campus, The University of Sydney NSW 2006.