Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 11 July 2023

1.Introduction, scope and general terms

This APSR Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) sets forth the privacy practices and policies of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (“APSR”, “us”, “we”, “our”).
This Privacy Policy relates to our use of any personal information we collect from you via the APSR’s website apsr.org (“Website”) on your PC, tablet, smartphone or other equipment (“device”), by phone, text message, email, form, letter and other correspondence, and in person.
The website covered by this Privacy Policy is apsr.org only. It does not cover APSR accounts with social networking services (SNS) such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, neither does it cover the APSR Congress websites, workshop websites, the websites of the publisher of Respirology and other journals, or any other third-party website.
Where there is a hyperlink from the Website to the websites of third parties, we do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third parties, and your use of their websites is at your own risk. Third parties should have their own privacy policies and you are urged to study those.
This Privacy Policy discloses how we collect, protect, use and share information gathered about you on the Website subject to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy in effect at the time of your use.

2.Information we collect

The following describes the types of personal and other information we may collect about you and the device you use, and what we do with that information.

Information collected automatically

  • Your device’s IP address, operating system and browser details

    The web servers we use collect the IP addresses of visitors to the Website. This information may be aggregated to measure the number of visits, average time spent on the Website, pages viewed, etc. We may use this information to improve the content we offer. We may also share this information with third parties on an aggregated basis for research and development, in a way that no individual users can be identified.
    IP addresses may also be used by the Website to establish the total number of visits from different countries. We do not use IP addresses to filter, control or otherwise restrict content to any country or region.
    For the benefit of other users, IP addresses of disruptive users can and will be blocked.
    The Website collects information about how the site is used, the browser used, operating system and device type. The information is used to present webpages in a format appropriate for the person visiting the Website.

  • Cookies

    See the APSR Cookie Policy

Information submitted by you to the Website

When you interact with the Website in ways including but not limited to applying for or renewing your APSR membership, applying for awards, participating in online surveys, voting, donating, registering and/or participating in meetings and activities, contributing to message boards, etc, we may receive personal information about you. This can include information such as your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, portrait photo, gender, date of birth, etc.
We will only request information relevant for the service you require. Normally we will neither need nor request information about your race, religion, financial status, etc.
We may request evidence of your age in connection with an application for a Young Investigator award; after which that information will not be retained. If at any time we become aware that we have collected any personal information about a person under the age of 18, we will promptly delete such information from our databases.
Although we do not request your race, religion, nationality, this may be incidentally implied through correspondence. Any such information implying race, religion, or nationality, will not be used to discriminate.
Although we do not request any details of your financial status, your country of residence will have a publicly-available GNI index, which we may use for applying appropriate membership dues, Congress registration fee, etc.
For your added security, financial transactions with the APSR are only conducted via the APSR Secretariat by post, fax, through a secure finance agency contracted by the APSR, or in person (for example onsite at a congress), and never via email. (CAUTION: If your financial information is requested via a webpage, SNS site, or email that appears to be from the APSR, the source is likely to be fraudulent and therefore you should NOT provide any such information.)
By providing personal information you explicitly agree to our collection and use of that information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Information submitted by you via social networking activities

The Website includes the ability for you and other users to link to SNS websites. As a result, we may receive information about you when you post or otherwise use such SNS websites.
By providing personal information via such SNS websites you explicitly agree to our collection and use of that information as described in this Privacy Policy.

3.How the APSR uses your personal information

The APSR will use your personal information for a number of purposes including the following:

  • To provide our services, activities or online content, to provide you with information about them and to deal with your requests and enquiries.
  • To administer support, such as arranging your membership of the APSR, our Assemblies, Committees, etc.
  • To provide you with notices of events that would likely be of interest to you, publications (members only), etc. If you do not want to receive these services you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the “Unsubscribe” link on the publication.
    If you have difficulty unsubscribing from any service, please contact us.
    Please note that even if you opt out from receiving emails, we may need to send you service-related communications and keep information we have collected about you for record-keeping, research and other purposes.

4.How long the APSR retains your personal information

We may keep any information that you provide to us indefinitely, or delete it when we have no further need to retain it. However, you have a right to request deletion of your personal information at any time, as explained below.

5.Who we disclose information to

We do not share, rent, sell or otherwise disclose any of the personally identifiable information that we collect about you, except in any of the following situations:

  • You request or authorize the release of your personal information.
  • We may disclose information that we collect about you to our third-party contractors and payment processors who perform services for us, or to complete or confirm a transaction or series of transactions that you conduct with us. We may also disclose information to service providers or suppliers if the disclosure will enable that party to perform business, professional or technical support for us.
  • We may disclose information about you as part of a merger, acquisition or transfer of the membership or business of the APSR. We do not guarantee that any entity receiving such information in connection with one of these transactions will comply with all terms of this Privacy Policy.
  • We may disclose information about you to comply with the law, applicable regulations, court orders or subpoenas, to enforce our Privacy Policy or other agreements, or to protect our rights, property or safety, or the rights, property or safety of our users or others (e.g., to a consumer reporting agency for fraud protection). We reserve the right to release information that we collect to law enforcement or other government officials, as we, in our sole and absolute discretion, deem necessary or appropriate.
  • We may share aggregated or anonymous information that cannot identify you with third parties. For example, we may disclose the number of visitors to the Website or the number of people who have downloaded a particular document.

6.Your rights

In accordance with the various national data protection and privacy laws of Japan, USA, Europe and elsewhere, you have rights:

  • Your right to see your personal information

    You have the right to request a copy of the personal information the APSR holds about you and how the APSR uses that information. Normally no fee is charged for providing a copy, but the APSR reserves its right to charge an administration fee for supplying a copy if your request is deemed unreasonable or excessive. See Exercising your rights, below.

  • Your right to make corrections to your personal information

    You have the right to request changes and corrections to personal information the APSR holds about you. See Exercising your rights, below.

  • Your right to be forgotten

    You have a right to ask us to erase any or all of your personal information that we hold. Requests should be made to the APSR Secretariat.
    Note that if you are an APSR member and if fundamental information is deleted (such as your name, email address, membership number), then your APSR membership and privileges of membership will automatically cease at the same time. See Exercising your rights, below.

  • Exercising your rights

    Requests for copies, changes or deletions should be made to the APSR Secretariat.
    If the APSR has your email address already, you can make your request via that email address. Otherwise, two pieces of approved identification will be required. If the identification is in a language other than Japanese or English, a certified translation in Japanese or English will be required. Such identification will be retained for as long as the Secretariat deems necessary.
    When making a request, please indicate how you would like to receive the copy of your information, or confirmation of changes or deletion.
    Contact the APSR Secretariat for further details.

7.Security

To help protect the privacy of data you transmit through the Website, we use technology designed to encrypt the information that you input before it is sent to us. In addition, we take steps to protect the user data we collect against unauthorized access.
However, you should keep in mind that the Website is run on software, hardware and networks, any component of which may, from time to time, require maintenance or experience problems or breaches of security beyond our control.
Please also be aware that despite our best intentions and measures taken, no data transmission over the internet or encryption method can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. The APSR cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us or is transmitted from the APSR to you, and therefore you use the Website at your own risk.
While we take steps to protect your personal information and keep it secure, you also play a role in protecting your information. You can help to maintain the security of your information by not sharing your userid and password with anyone.
If you have any concerns that your personal information held by the APSR could have been compromised; for example, by someone discovering your userid and password, please contact us immediately.

8.Links to other websites

Our Website contains links to other websites. However, this Privacy Policy only applies to the APSR’s use and disclosure of your information collected on the APSR website (apsr.org).
While we try to link only to websites that share our standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of any third parties or the content of linked websites. We encourage you to read the applicable privacy policies and terms and conditions of such parties or websites.

9.International transmission of personal information

Web servers used by this Website are located in Japan. Therefore, from whichever country or region you access the Website, the information we collect is transferred from your device to servers in Japan. By allowing us to collect information about you, you consent to such transfer, process and retention of your data to servers in Japan.
The information you provide to the Website may be viewed and processed by the APSR Secretariat in Japan. Therefore, from whichever country or region you access this Website, information that we collect can be transferred to servers in Japan. By allowing us to collect information about you, you consent to such transfer, process and retention of your data to servers in Japan.

10.Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to the APSR. The use of your information is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of use.
The provisions contained in this Privacy Policy supersede all previous notices or policies regarding our privacy practices with respect to the Website. Please check the Last updated date at the top of this page to see when this Privacy Policy was last revised. You are encouraged to check frequently to see the current Privacy Policy to be informed of how the APSR is committed to protecting your information.

11.Contact

If you have any questions or comments regarding our Privacy Policy or the Website, please contact us at: info@apsr.org or by letter to:
APSR Secretariat
Asian Pacific Society of Respirology
2F, UK’s Bldg.
2-29-3 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
113-0033 Japan
Phone: +81-3-5684-3370
Fax: +81-3-5684-3382
Email: info@apsr.org
Office Hours: 9:30-16:30 (Monday to Friday)

This Privacy Policy may be changed at any time without notice. By using this Website, you acknowledge your acceptance of the version of the Privacy Policy in effect at the time of use.