Introduction
The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) respects your right to privacy and is committed to protecting your privacy in line with the business and legal requirements of the Data Protection Act, 2020. The PIOJ wants to ensure that you fully understand the terms and conditions under which you use the site, and information is captured and used. PIOJ shall use this Privacy Notice to inform you, the data subjects on details surrounding the processing of your information such as:
- The types of personal data collected.
- How your personal data is collected, used, shared, stored and otherwise processed.
- The security procedures implemented to protect your personal data against unauthorised access or disclosure.
- The different rights you have as data subjects and how to exercise these rights.
This notice applies to data collected through the PIOJ’s website, https://www.pioj.gov.jm/ or through visits to the corporate office.
Who We Are
The PIOJ, established as a corporate body under the Planning Institute of Jamaica Act, 1984, is the foremost planning agency under the ambit of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service (MOFPS). The PIOJ seeks to initiate and coordinate the development of policies, plans and programmes for the sustainable development of Jamaica. Hence, PIOJ as the data controller, processes data for the sole purpose of understanding the needs of our citizens, to enable the development of programmes for sustainable development. We collect information through surveys, focus groups and other methods of collection.
For this notice’s purposes, we determine the purposes and way your personal data is processed. We have appointed a Data Protection Officer can help with questions, requests, and complaints. For details on how to contact us, see the Contact Information section at the end of this notice or the relevant section on our website.
Types of Personal information Collected
The PIOJ has access to any data that you voluntarily provide via email, survey, telephone, online forms, and the other means by which we may engage you. Through these means, we collect the following types of personal data:
- Personal Identifiers: such as full name, TRN, NIS, Signature
- Contact Details: such as phone number, address
- Demographic Details: such as gender, sex, date of birth, marital status
- Biographic information: such as signatures, photos, videos
- Education History: such as credentials/qualifications, certifications
- Employment Information: such as employment history, reference letters, salary information, retirement information/refund benefit information
- Relationship to other persons: such as next of kin, biological relations, trustee information
- Financial Information: such as bank account details
- Online Details: such as email address, user account name, IP address
- Health Information: such as physical/mental conditions, medical report
- Other Information: such as criminal records, background check details and information directly related to the conduction of a survey
The PIOJ uses a contractual fulfillment vendor for credit card processing services to bill users for goods they purchase. This financial institution does not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes. This party is not allowed to use your personal data except to provide these services.
When Is Your Information Collected?
There are several touch points from which the PIOJ collects your information, these include:
- Submission of general, media enquiries (via email, writing or via the website (www.pioj.gov.jm) and direct questions to the PIOJ’s Librarian via the helpdesk
- PIOJ’s Social media platforms
- When you opt to partner with the PIOJ or be a vendor
- Submission of an employment application.
- When you visit the Wesley Hugh’s Documentation Centre to request information services.
- During research projects, completing and submitting digital or physical forms
- During reporting sessions to update on the status of development performance
- In other engagements directly related to the operations and duties of the PIOJ.
How is Your Data Protected?
The PIOJ is committed to ensuring that your data is adequately protected from unauthorised access or disclosure in compliance with the standards within the DPA. The PIOJ employs measures which include but are not limited to encryption and anonymisation of specific information and processes and established policies, procedures and documentation for addressing potential breaches of your information.
Legal Basis for Processing
The DPA stipulates 7 different lawful bases by which a data controller may process personal data. The PIOJ engages in the following:
- Contract The processing is necessary for the performance of a contract, for example procurement services
- Legal Obligation The processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation for example to record and respond to access to information requests.
- Consent, the data subject consents to the processing of their personal data in cases of conducting routine and ad-hoc social sector studies.
- Public Interest, the processing is necessary for any function exercised in the public interest in instances which research is necessary for policy development
- Legitimate Interest, the processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the PIOJ, or any third party directly related example to
- report on status of achievement of Vision 2030 Jamaica.
The additional bases defined by the DPA are:
- Vital Interest – The processing is necessary to protect the interest of the data subject.
- Published by the data subject – The information concerned has been published by the data subject.
The PIOJ, however, does not currently engage in these types of processing.
PIOJ’s Business Purpose of Collection
The PIOJ collects your data for the following purposes:
- To assist stakeholder alignment with the government’s medium-term policy priorities
- To help communicate information on Vision 2030 Jamaica National Development Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals
- To strengthen the capacity for evidence-based national development planning
- To formulate policies and technical advice to guide national development programme
- To enable the procurement of goods and services
- To disseminate information to the public
- To facilitate the employee hiring process, entering into and execution of a contract
All personal data shall only be processed for the specific purposes for which it was collected. If there is an intention to alter the purpose for which data is processed, then this will be communicated to you and the proper consent gathered or lawful basis agreed upon before it is done. It should be noted that the PIOJ does not engage in automated decision making.
Sharing of Your Information
There are instances where the PIOJ may share personal data relevant to specific processes with recipients outside of Jamaica. This will be aligned with legal and business purposes of processing. If information is being transferred, then the PIOJ shall take necessary and adequate measures to ensure that your information is sufficiently protecting your data from unauthorised access and disclosure.
How Long do We retain your Data?
Personal data will ordinarily only be retained for the duration necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, after which digital files are erased from all systems and physical files are destroyed according to the PIOJ Retention & Disposal Policy.
Your Rights as Data Subjects
Under the DPA, you are entitled to certain rights as data subjects, which the PIOJ commits to respecting. In respect of any personal information we hold about you, you have the following rights which you may choose to exercise: the right to be informed/access, rectification, consent to processing, deletion of your personal information
- The Right to be Informed/the Right to Access: You can request in writing to be informed of a description of any processing activity that involves your personal data within PIOJ. There may be instances of requesting where you will have to pay a defined fee.
- The Right to Rectification: Data subjects have the right to request that the PIOJ rectify any inaccuracies in the personal.
- The Right to Prevent Processing: Data subjects are entitled to, at any time, inform the PIOJ (in writing) to cease or not begin processing of any information for which they are the subject – subject to the limitations of the lawful basis behind the processing activity.
- The Right to Consent to Processing: Data subjects have the right to be informed of any proposed processing of their information by the PIOJ, so that they may make an enlightened decision as to whether or not they want the processing to occur.
- The Right to Prevent Automated Decision-Taking: Data Subjects are entitled to, at any point in time, convey to the PIOJ (in writing) a requirement to ensure that no decision on the processing of your data to evaluate matters that would significantly impact them be solely based on automated means.
To exercise these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided in the ‘Contact Information’ section below or the relevant section of our website for appropriate guidance. It should be noted that there are exemptions that may hinder the ability of the data subject to exercise their rights which are outlined in The Data Protection Act.
Withdrawal of Consent
If consent is the lawful basis obtained for the performance of a process, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by the same means in which it was given. It should be noted that the cessation of the processing will depend on if there is no other lawful basis behind the processing.
Cookies and Tracking
The PIOJ does not employ cookies for direct tracking purposes. There are only instances where non-personal, statistical information is captured within the website, utilized to better understand user preferences and improve the site itself as well as the PIOJ’s services. This information cannot be traced back to a particular individual.
External Links
You may encounter links to other websites on the PIOJ’s website, but please take note that the PIOJ is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of these sites. The PIOJ assumes no liability for any loss which may result from the use of any of the hyperlinks provided to access these sites. The PIOJ encourages all users to read the privacy notices of any other site which may collect your personal data.
Contact Information
The PIOJ is committed to protecting the data and privacy of our data subjects that participate in established programmes. If you have any questions or require more details about how we use your personal information, you should contact us using the information below:
Data Protection Officer
Symptai Consulting Limited
58 Half Way Tree Road,
Kingston
Jamaica
Telephone: (876) 968-6189
Email: dpo@symptai.com
Information Commissioner’s Office-Jamaica
The Masonic Building (2nd Floor)
45-47 Barbados Avenue
Kingston 5
Jamaica
Telephone: (876) 920-4390
Updates to the Privacy Notice
The PIOJ reserves the right to reasonably amend this Privacy Notice from time to time to ensure that it accurately reflects the way that we collect and utilise your personal data and the overall privacy management at the PIOJ.
This Privacy Notice was updated on November 11, 2024.
Your Acceptance of our Policy
By using this website, you signify your acceptance of our Privacy Statement, and you adhere to any terms and conditions posted on the website. The Planning Institute of Jamaica reserves the right to change, modify or amend this policy at any time. You are responsible for revisiting this page from time to time to review our privacy policy updates.
If you have any concerns about the PIOJ’s Privacy Policy, you may email us at info@pioj.gov.jm or by letter sent to:-
Deputy Director General, Corporate Governance and Management
Planning Institute of Jamaica
16 Oxford Road
Kingston 5, Jamaica