Privacy, Terms of Use, and Copyright

This site www.desc.govt.nz (external link)  is managed and maintained by the Defence Employer Support Council Secretariat, a business unit of the New Zealand Defence Force, on behalf of the Defence Employer Support Council.

On this page

Terms of use

General

The information available on or through this website is intended to provide general information to the public and all reasonable measures have been taken to ensure the quality and accuracy of the information available on or through this website.

We neither endorses the information, content, presentation, or accuracy of such other websites, nor make any warranty, express or implied, regarding these other websites. The contents of this website should not be construed as legal advice. Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service whether by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the New Zealand Government, the Defence Employer Support Council, or the New Zealand Defence Force.

Each page on this website must be read in conjunction with this disclaimer and any other disclaimer that forms part of it. We may change, delete, add to, or otherwise amend information contained on this website without notice; and are not responsible for the content of other websites linked to or referenced from this website.

We make no warranty or representation, express or implied, as to continuity of service and reserves the right to suspend, terminate or otherwise alter access to some or all of the site's services at any time and without notice.

Social media terms of use

We’re happy to help in any way that we can and look forward to seeing views and feedback. We do however expect our users to offer us the same level of courtesy that we offer them, so we have a short set of house rules:

  • All users must comply with the social media platform’s terms of use as well as these terms of use.
  • We will remove, in whole or in part, posts that we feel are inappropriate.
  • We will report any social media profiles which we believe represent themselves as DESC without permission.
  • We will block and/or report social media profiles and users who direct posts at us which we believe are:
    • abusive or obscene
    • deceptive or misleading
    • in violation of any intellectual property rights
    • in violation of any law or regulation, or
    • spam (persistent negative and/or abusive tweeting in which the aim is to provoke a response).
  • You are wholly responsible for any content you post including content that you choose to share.

We'll do our best to respond to social media posts directed as us. We:

  • will do our best to respond to your enquiries within four working hours (our working hours are 8.00 - 4.30 Monday to Friday)
  • will try to help you, or direct you to people and/or departments who can, wherever possible
  • cannot respond to posts of a political nature, and
  • cannot respond to tweets of a commercial nature, as we are governed by strict procurement rules.

Anyone repeatedly engaging with us using content or language which falls into the above categories will be blocked and/or reported to the associated social media platform.

We reserve the right to modify or change these conditions at any time.

Privacy statement

Purpose

The purpose of this privacy statement is to let users of www.desc.govt.nz (external link)  know when we collect personal information and what we do with it.

We don't use, share or transfer personal information in connection with the site except as set out in this statement, or as otherwise set out somewhere on the site.

Collection, storage and use

No need to disclose personal information

You can use the site — including completing user research tasks — without disclosing any personal information.

Your disclosure of personal information

However, you may choose to disclose personal information to us when you give feedback or in submission forms. This information will be viewable by site administrators, Defence Employer Support Council (DESC) members, New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) staff and sometimes third-party contractors who administer, or work on, the site or who work on special projects with us. Please don't send us sensitive personal information or include any sensitive personal information in submission forms.

Holding of information

If you provide personal information it will be held by the Defence Employer Support Council Secretariat, a business unit of the New Zealand Defence Force, on behalf of the Defence Employer Support Council. It may be shared with third-party contractors to the extent necessary for them to administer or work on the site or to work on special projects with us. Email addresses are not made available to the public. Unless required by law, we won't publicise the names or email addresses of individuals who provide feedback to us or who provide us with submission forms without their consent.

Use of personal information

We'll only use personal information provided to us for the purpose of:

  • administering, evaluating, and improving the site,
  • administering and improving our services, and
  • communicating with you (including responding to your feedback and information provided in submission forms).

We won't use personal information for anything else without consent.

Feedback

Feedback is important and is used to evaluate and improve the site. If you provide feedback it will be sent to appropriate person within DESC, the DESC Secretarait, or wider NZDF. We may pass on relevant comments to other people within the public sector who administer or contribute content to the site. This could include your email address and other identifying information that you've provided.

Submission forms

If you provide us with a submission form, that submission form will be sent to appropriate person within DESC, the DESC Secretarait, or the wider NZDF. We may pass on relevant content from that submission form to other people within DESC, the DESC Secretarait, the wider NZDF, other government agencies or third parties who administer or are participating in the particular project that the submission form relates to. This could include your email address and other identifying information that you've provided.

Statistical information and cookies

Statistical information collected

We may collect statistical information about your visit to help us improve the site. This information is aggregated and doesn't identify you personally. It includes:

  • your IP address
  • the search terms you used
  • the pages you accessed on our site and the links you clicked on
  • the date and time you visited the site
  • the referring site (if any) through which you clicked through to this site
  • your operating system (e.g., Windows XP, Mac OS X)
  • the type of web browser you use (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox)
  • other things like your screen resolution and the language setting of your browser.

Use of statistical information

The statistical information referred to above will be viewable by site administrators and certain other staff within DESC, the DESC Secretarait, and the wider NZDF. It may also be shared with other government agencies.

Cookies

This site generates persistent session cookies for the purpose of monitoring site usage. The cookies don't collect personal information. You can disable them or clear them out of your web browser without affecting your ability to use the site.

Records and disclosure statement

Public Records, Official Information and Parliament

Your emails and contributions to the site may constitute public records and be retained to the extent required by the Public Records Act 2005. We may also be required to disclose those materials under the Official Information Act 1982 or to a Parliamentary Select Committee or Parliament in response to a Parliamentary Question.

Rights of access and correction

Your rights

Under the Privacy Act 1993, you have the right to access and to request correction of any of your personal information provided to us in connection with your use of this site. If you would like to see or change your personal information we have stored, or if you have any concerns regarding your privacy, please contact us at the address below. We may require proof of your identity before being able to provide you with any personal information.

The Privacy Officer
Defence Employer Support Council
Private Bag 39997
Wellington 5045

Email: privacy@desc.govt.nz

Privacy Commissioner

If you're not satisfied with our response to any privacy-related concern you may have, you can contact the Privacy Commissioner.

Contact the Privacy Commissioner(external link) (external link)

Copyright

Unless indicated below, or on specific items or collections of content:

  • any copyright in content on www.desc.govt.nz (external link)  is owned by the New Zealand Crown; and
  • the New Zealand Defence Force, as the Defence Employer Support Council Secretarait, on behalf of the Crown licenses you to copy, distribute and adapt that content in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

You should understand the terms of the licence, which requires that you attribute the content to the Crown and the www.desc.govt.nz (external link)  website.

Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 3.0 New Zealand Licence.(external link) (external link)

For convenience and informational purposes only, we provides links to other websites. These other sites may contain information that is the copyright of third parties and subject to restrictions on reuse. Permission to use copyrighted materials from other web sites must be obtained from the copyright owner and cannot be obtained from the Crown.

Exceptions

The New Zealand Government logo, Coat of Arms and other logos, emblems and trade marks on www.desc.govt.nz (external link)  are protected by law. You must not copy or use logo, emblem or trade mark without express permission and compliance with applicable laws.