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Privacy policy

Thank you for visiting the Office de Commerce de la Tunisie (OCT) website and reading its Privacy Policy (the Policy).

By browsing our website or using our systems or services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy and that you consent to the processing of your personal data and information in accordance with this Policy, where applicable.

This Privacy Policy consists of the following elements:

1. Purpose of the Privacy Policy

Respect for privacy and the protection of personal information is important to us, and we have adopted this policy to protect personal information in accordance with applicable laws.

To ensure this protection, OCT will only collect, process and disclose personal information with the consent of the individual, except where permitted or required by law, in which case your consent will not be required.

The purpose of this policy is to inform users of the purposes and manner in which OCT, or anyone acting on its behalf, will collect and use their personal information. It is intended to be written in plain language to ensure users' informed consent.

For the purposes of this policy, "personal information" means any information about an identifiable individual or information that allows an individual to be identified. Wherever possible, we will pseudonymize and/or aggregate such information so that it no longer identifies an individual.

2. Effective Date

This Policy is effective as of 01/11/2023. This Policy replaces the Privacy Policy.

3. Consent procedure

We are committed to obtaining consent before collecting personal information from an individual. Consent may be express or implied and may be given directly by the individual or by the individual's authorized representative.

We prefer to obtain express consent, whether oral, electronic, or written. However, implied consent may be reasonably inferred from an individual's action or inaction. For example, providing a name and address to receive a publication or a name and telephone number to receive an answer to a question is considered implied consent to the collection of information, including personal information. In determining the appropriate type of consent, we consider the sensitivity of the personal information involved, the purposes for which it is collected, and the reasonable expectations of a similarly situated individual.

If we want to use personal information for a new purpose, we will describe the intended use and ask for consent again.

It is not always possible, particularly in the context of a government request, to obtain an individual's consent to the collection, use or disclosure of his or her personal information. We agree never to disclose this type of information except in accordance with this Policy, unless required or permitted by law.

4. Data collection puposes

Information is collected and used according to the purposes and objectives stated in this privacy Policy.

Here are some of the reasons we collect your personal information:

  • To provide products and services : We collect and process the data and information necessary to fulfill our mission and contractual obligations.
  • To maintain and improve those products and services : Information collected during your interactions with our services may be used to analyze and improve the functionality of our products and services.
  • To develop new products and services, including artificial intelligence : The information collected may be used for research and development purposes to offer new products and services to our users, particularly through advertising and marketing messages. In addition, collected and aggregated data may be processed by artificial intelligence algorithms.
  • To provide personalized products and services : Collecting and analyzing the data generated by your interactions with our services allows us to develop and create products and services that are relevant to your expectations in terms of culture and entertainment, in particular to provide customization to customers who request it.
  • To evaluate the performance of our products and services : Data is collected in order to obtain information about the advantages and disadvantages of our products and services and to evaluate and, if necessary, improve them, in particular through surveys. This allows us to ensure the quality of our products and services and to promote risk management.
  • To protect the privacy of our users :The information we collect allows us to verify the identity and protect the privacy of individuals who communicate with us by telephone, electronically or otherwise.
  • To comply with legal obligations :Information is collected to comply with obligations under laws, regulations, or international treaties.

5. Purposes of data processing

OCT may collect personal information in various forms, but will do so only by lawful means and only for the necessary purposes disclosed to you, as described in this Policy, or as permitted or required by law.

The personal information we collect and its sensitivity may vary depending on the context of your interactions with OCT. Therefore, we make it a priority to inform you of the nature of the personal information we use.

We protect all personal information that we collect. Among the personal information that may be collected and used, we pay particular attention to the following :

  • Name and contact information. First and last name, e-mail address, mailing address, telephone number, and other similar information used to contact you.
  • Proof of identity. Passwords, password hint and similar security information used to identify you and access your account.
  • Demographic Information. Information about you, such as your age, gender, country, and language of communication.
  • Payment information. Information necessary to process your payments, such as your payment instrument number (e.g., your credit card number) and associated security code.
  • Subscription information. Information about your subscriptions to company newsletters.
  • Images and sounds. Audiovisual data used to ensure the safety of our users.
  • Interactions. Data related to your use of the created websites, platforms and tools. This is data that you provide in order to use the products.

In other cases, such as bug reports, this data is generated by us. Other examples of interaction data we collect include :

  • Information about the pages you visit and how you use them. For example :
    • Payment and account history. Data about the items you purchase and the activity associated with your account.
    • Problem resolution and support information. Information you provide when you contact OCT for assistance, including the products you use and other data that will help us resolve your problem.
  • Interests and Preferences. Data concerning your interests and preferences.
  • Content Consumption Data. Data regarding multimedia content (e.g., television, video, music, audio) that you access through our products.
  • Searches and Commands. Search queries and commands you employ when using our website.
  • Textual, Input, and Handwriting Data. Textual, input, and handwriting data, as well as any related information.
  • Location Data. Data, whether precise or approximate, about the location of your device. For instance, location data can be gathered from a device's IP address or from data in your account profile that indicates a less precise location, such as a city name or postal code.
  • Other Data. Additional data provided when you use our website, including data from Google Analytics

6. Les finalités de traitement des données

  • Provide our products and services. We use data to operate our products and services, as well as to provide you with rich, interactive experiences.
  • Product and/or service improvement. We use data to improve our products, in particular by adding new functionalities or capabilities (error reports when purchasing a product, etc.).
  • Personalization. Some products include personalized features, such as recommendations that optimize your experiences and satisfaction. These features use automated processes to tailor your experiences based on the data we have about you, such as inferences we make about you and your product usage, activities, location.
  • Development of products and/or services. We use data to develop new products.
  • Customer support. We use data to diagnose and resolve problems with products and/or services, restore access to your personal account, and provide other support and assistance services.
  • To help secure and resolve problems. We use data to help secure and resolve problems with our products and services. This includes using data to ensure the security of services offered to our customers, detecting malware and malicious activity, resolving performance and compatibility issues to help customers get the most out of their experience and informing them of updates to our products and services. This may include the use of automated systems to detect security problems.
  • Security. We use data to protect the security of our products and customers. Our security features range from preventing malware from running and notifying users when malware is detected on their device, to using video surveillance to ensure public safety at events.
  • Surveys and promotional communications. We use the data we collect to provide surveys and promotional communications. You can take out e-mail subscriptions, respond to surveys and choose whether or not to receive promotional communications from OCT by e-mail, SMS, post and telephone. For more information about managing your contact information, e-mail subscriptions and promotional communications, please see this policy.
  • Relevant offers. OCT uses data to provide you with relevant and important information about the products and services we offer. We analyze data from a variety of sources to predict what information will be most interesting and relevant to you and communicate it to you in a variety of ways.
  • Advertising. OCT uses data collected through interactions with you, some of our products and on third-party websites to advertise our products and services, including on third-party websites. We may sometimes use automated processes to make advertisements more relevant.
  • Business transactions. We use data to process your transactions with us.
  • Reporting and business operations. We use data to analyze our operations and improve decision-making. This enables us to make informed decisions and create reports on the performance of our activities.
  • Protection of rights and property. We use data to detect and prevent fraud, resolve disputes, enforce contracts and protect our property.
  • Legal compliance. We process data to comply with the law.
  • Research. We use data to carry out research, particularly for scientific purposes and in the public interest, where permitted by law.

7. The treatment processes used

OCT attaches the utmost importance to the security of your personal information and undertakes to treat it in accordance with applicable norms and standards and only for the purposes for which it was collected, as described in this Policy or in a specific notice. However, given the inherent security limitations of Internet transmission, it is impossible to provide absolute protection for your personal information. Therefore, any information you transmit to us is ultimately at your own risk.

8. Access to and control of personal information

OCT will ensure that all personal information in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which it is used.

You have the right to request access to your personal information for verification purposes and to request correction if your personal information is inaccurate. If you believe that your personal information is inaccurate, or if you wish to access your personal information, you may submit a request using the contact information provided at the end of this policy.

We will do our best to provide you with timely access to your personal information. However, for security reasons, we may need to verify your identity.

There may be circumstances where we are unable to provide you with access to your personal information.  For example, if access would result in the disclosure of another person's personal information and that person refuses to consent to the disclosure, or if legal restrictions apply. If such a situation arises, we will inform you of the reason why we cannot provide you with access to your personal information.

If your request concerns data appearing on third-party web pages or platforms, please contact these third parties directly.

9. Sharing personal information with third parties

We do not share your personal information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of OCT, except to our authorized suppliers and partners who need access to the information for the purposes and within the limits of this policy, and in the following cases:

  • With your consent.
  • For storage on cloud servers, in which case personal information may be transferred to third countries. Please note that we only use the services of reputable companies with privacy policies.
  • For external processing: We share personal information with other companies or trusted individuals who process it on our behalf, according to our instructions, in accordance with this Privacy Policy, with a level of data security at least equivalent to our own, and in compliance with all other appropriate security and confidentiality measures.
  • In particular, we use the services of third parties for the aggregation, cleansing and analysis of data in the cultural sector so that they can add value to this data and develop tools for the benefit of the public or sector players. For this purpose, these suppliers process the information provided in the following way:
    • The data is first prepared and then sorted so that it can be used.
    • From the prepared data, the provider creates global statistics containing general, non-personal information, sometimes combined with data from similar sources.
  • For legal reasons: We transmit personal information outside our company when access is necessary to comply with applicable laws and regulations.

OCT will not sell or rent your personal information to third parties.

10. Cookies and similar technologies

OCT may use cookies, web beacons, web files, log files or other technologies to collect certain personal information about visitors to our websites and recipients of our newsletters, invitations and other communications. Cookies are pieces of information that are sent from the server to the browser during a visit to the site to uniquely identify the current connection. This data may include information such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our site that you visit, the time and date of your visit, time spent on the site, and other statistics.

Cookies are used to retrieve search history and session-based shopping carts to facilitate the user's online browsing experience. It is important to note that, depending on the settings you choose, enabling cookies may allow other servers to install cookies on your system.  You can set your browser to notify you of the presence of cookies so that you can decide whether or not to accept them.

Please note that our website may contain links or references to third-party websites. This policy no longer applies when you leave our website, and OCT is not responsible for the collection or processing of personal information by these third parties or via these external sources.

11. Retention of personal information

The OCT keeps the collected data for different periods of time, depending on its nature and purpose. During the retention period, OCT takes physical and technical measures to ensure the security of data containing personal information.

The main places where personal information is stored are in the cities where OCT has centers or facilities and in the cities where the cloud service is hosted or in the cities where there are servers containing the data collected by OCT.

Personal information may be stored outside of your country of residence if a third-party service provider or other entity to whom we disclose personal information in accordance with this Policy is located outside of your country of residence. In such cases, personal information may be subject to the local laws of the countries or territories in which the information is collected, used, disclosed or stored, and may be accessible to government and law enforcement authorities of those countries or territories.

At the end of the retention period, personal information will be destroyed. Only statistics or reports containing identified and anonymized data may be retained for longer periods.

Other information

Changes to these rules :

We make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any reduction in your rights under this Privacy Policy will not be implemented without your express consent. We will always indicate the date on which the latest changes were made and allow you to access archived versions for review. If the changes are significant, we will publish a prominent notice on our website (including, for certain services, via e-mail notification).

Person in charge of compliance :

If you have any questions, comments or complaints about this policy, you can contact the person responsible for ensuring compliance with this privacy policy :

  • IT Unit Manager.
  • OFFICE DU COMMERCE DE LA TUNISIE.
  • 65 Rue de Syrie 1002 Tunis.
  • Telephone : 216 71 785 610.
  • Fax. : 216 71 788 974.
  • E-mail : oct@oct.gov.tn.