Privacy and collection notice

Version 2.0 · effective 23 September 2026 · replaces version 1.0 of December 2021.

1. Who we are, and who to contact

• Trio-Data Special Services (Pty) Ltd, trading as Trio-Data Special Services Cape.
• Registration number 2013/068495/07.
• Registered address: Unit 1, Canal Edge 3, Fountain Road, Tyger Waterfront, Bellville, 7530.
• Information Officer: Marius Fritz, Branch Manager.
• Email for anything in this notice: office@trio-data.co.za.
• Telephone: +27 21 949 4440.

We are the responsible party for the information described here. That means we decide why it is collected and what happens to it.

2. What we collect, and where it comes from

Directly from you, when you fill in a form, email us, phone us or apply for a position:

• your name, company, email address, telephone number and the region you are in;
• what you tell us in a message or enquiry;
• for a job application: your name, contact details, WhatsApp number, gender, age, work experience, location, skills, and the CV and supporting documents you upload;
• for a newsletter subscription: your email address.

Not from you: where a client, a referee or a public source gives us information as part of an investigation, a vetting check or a placement, we hold that too. Where the law allows us to, we will tell you what the source was if you ask.

From your device, when you use this website: your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you visit and the time you visit them. Our cookie notice explains the cookies and similar technologies that do this.

3. Why we collect it, and on what lawful ground

What we do with it	Why we may
Answer an enquiry and quote for work	To take steps at your request before entering a contract, and for our legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us
Deliver investigation, intelligence and training services to a client	To perform the contract with that client, and because the law allows processing that protects a legitimate interest
Consider a job application, place a candidate and run training	To take steps at your request before employment, and with your consent for the parts that need it
Send the newsletter	With your consent, which you may withdraw at any time
Meet our own legal duties: tax, employment, health and safety, company records	Because a law requires it
Keep our systems and premises secure	For our legitimate interest in protecting people and information

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent does not make what we did before unlawful, and it does not affect processing we must do for another reason, such as a legal duty.

4. Whether you have to give it, and what happens if you do not

Fields marked as required on a form are ones we need to do the thing you are asking for. If you leave them out we cannot answer the enquiry, send the newsletter or consider the application. Everything else is optional, and leaving it blank costs you nothing.

5. Who sees it

• Our own staff, and only those who need it for the work.
• Our clients, where you are a candidate we are placing with them or an employee working on their site, and only the information that placement needs.
• Service providers who process information on our written instruction: our website host, our email provider, our recruitment and case systems, and our accountants and payroll provider. They may use it only for us, and they are bound to keep it secure.
• Anyone the law requires us to give it to: a court, the police, a regulator, or where an Act obliges us to disclose.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not give it to anyone for their own marketing.

6. Whether it leaves South Africa

Yes, in one respect, and we state it plainly because the previous version of this notice did not. This website, and the documents you submit through it including a CV, are hosted by Hostinger on servers located in the European Union: at the date of this notice the site resolves to infrastructure in Lithuania and in Cyprus. That is a transfer of personal information outside South Africa under section 72 of the Protection of Personal Information Act. It rests on our written agreement with that provider, which requires a level of protection substantially similar to the conditions POPIA sets, and the provider is itself bound by European data protection law. Our email runs on South African infrastructure, so correspondence you send to the address in section 1 stays in the country. Any other service provider that we add and that would store your information outside South Africa will be named here before it is used.

7. How long we keep it

• An unsuccessful job application and the CV with it: six months after the decision, unless you ask us to keep it on file for future roles.
• An enquiry that does not become work: twelve months.
• Client case files and investigation records: for as long as the engagement and any legal claim arising from it may run, and then as our retention schedule requires.
• Employment records: at least three years after employment ends, because the Basic Conditions of Employment Act requires it, and longer where tax law does.
• Newsletter subscription: until you unsubscribe.

When a period ends, we delete the information or de-identify it so that it can no longer be linked to you.

8. How we protect it

Access is limited to people whose work requires it. Our systems require individual accounts and passwords, our website runs over an encrypted connection, uploaded documents are stored in access-controlled locations rather than open mailboxes or folders, and our providers are bound by contract to keep information secure. We investigate any suspected compromise, and where one occurs we notify the Information Regulator and the people affected as POPIA requires.

9. Your rights, and how to use them - all free of charge

You may:

• ask what we hold about you and get a copy. Confirmation that we hold information is free. A copy of the record is requested on the prescribed PAIA form, and a prescribed fee may apply to the copy itself. Our PAIA manual explains the process and the forms are linked from it.
• ask us to correct or delete information that is wrong, misleading, out of date, excessive or held without a lawful basis. Use Form 2 under the POPIA regulations, linked below. There is no charge.
• object to processing we do on the ground of legitimate interest or public interest. Use Form 1 under the POPIA regulations, linked below. There is no charge, and you may object at any time.
• withdraw consent where consent is what we rely on, including for the newsletter and for a job application. Email us, or use the unsubscribe link in any newsletter.
• complain to us, and if you are not satisfied, complain to the Information Regulator.

Send any of these to office@trio-data.co.za, or by post to Unit 1, Canal Edge 3, Fountain Road, Tyger Waterfront, Bellville, 7530. We will respond in writing within 30 days.

PAIA manual · Form 1 (objection) · Form 2 (correction or deletion) · PAIA Form 2 (request for access)

10. The Information Regulator

Information Regulator (South Africa)
Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Switchboard 010 023 5200 · Toll-free 0800 017 160
POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
Access to information complaints: PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
inforegulator.org.za

11. Automated decisions

We do not make decisions about you by automated means alone that have a legal effect on you or affect you substantially. Where a system ranks or shortlists candidates, a person reviews the result and makes the decision.

12. Children

We do not knowingly collect information about children under 18 through this website. If you believe we hold information about a child, tell us and we will deal with it.

13. Changes to this notice

We review this notice at least once a year and whenever what we do changes. The version number and effective date at the top tell you which version you are reading. The previous version is available on request.