Privacy Policy

OUR COMMITMENT TO PRIVACY

Ballard Power Systems Inc. (“Ballard”) and its affiliated corporations (each, a “Ballard Company”) are committed to controlling the collection, use and disclosure of the personal information provided by its customers and employees (including full and part time employees, contractors, volunteers, and prospective employees who provide personal information in the course of applying for a position at Ballard). This Privacy Statement is a simplified version of the Ballard Privacy Policy, which adopts the ten principles of fair information practices suggested by the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information.

A SINGLE POLICY

Any time you do business with a Ballard Company, or with anyone acting as an agent on our behalf, you are protected by the rights and safeguards contained in the Ballard Privacy Policy. Click here to download the full Ballard Privacy Policy.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Personal Information – means information about an identifiable Individual recorded in any form and includes, but is not limited to, such things as race, ethnic origin, nationality, colour, age, gender, marital status, religion, education, medical information, criminal information, performance reviews, trade union membership, employment and financial history, income, address and telephone number, e-mail address, numerical identifiers such as Social Insurance Number, and views and personal opinions. Personal Information also includes information about a Customer’s product and service subscriptions and usage, credit information, billing records, service and any recorded complaints and, in the case of an Employee, includes information found in employment files, performance appraisals and medical and benefits information.

COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

The Ballard Companies collect and use your personal information primarily for the purpose of providing you with any products and services you have requested from us or, where applicable, for evaluating your application for employment by a Ballard Company. The Ballard Companies may also contact you from time to time to continually improve our product and service offerings. Unless you specifically authorize us to release your personal information, or release is required or permitted by law, the Ballard Companies will not sell, lease or trade your personal information to other third parties. Anonymous or “non-personal” information gathered by the Ballard Companies through the Ballard websites may be used for technical, research and analytical purposes. Ballard Companies will only ask for information about you that we need and will only ask for it when we need it. When we ask you for the information, we will explain to you why we need it and what we are going to do with it. We will seek your prior consent to the collection, use and disclosure of the information as required by applicable privacy legislation. Subject to legal and contractual requirements, you can refuse to consent to our collection, use or disclosure of information about you. You may also withdraw your consent to any further collection, use or disclosure of information about you at any time by giving us reasonable notice. If our intended disclosures or uses of information change, we will notify you accordingly. Your personal information will not be used for any other purpose without your consent.

DISCLOSURE

To enable us to more efficiently provide the products and services you have requested from us or, where applicable, to evaluate your application for employment by a Ballard Company, the Ballard Companies may share your personal information with other Ballard Companies and with selected third parties who are acting on our behalf as our agents, suppliers or service providers. Such third party service providers are provided only with such information as is necessary in the circumstances. Information provided to third parties may be used only for the purpose stipulated and is subject to strict terms of confidentiality.

BALLARD WEBSITE

The only personal information which Ballard collects about you when you use the Ballard website is what you tell Ballard about yourself, for example: by completing an online form when you request receipt of information from Ballard; information you provide to Ballard through the “Contact Us” section; when you send Ballard an e-mail; or when you apply for a position of employment by Ballard. Ballard’s server does not currently set any cookies on your computer when you visit the Ballard website. As most websites do, however, Ballard may track usage patterns on its website on an anonymous basis. Your identity cannot reasonably be ascertained from this information. Each time you visit Ballard’s website, the Ballard server records your Internet Service Provider, the date and time of your visit, the pages you visit and the documents downloaded, the searches you performed, and the referring URL’s you came from. Ballard uses this non-personal information to optimize its website service. For your convenience, Ballard may offer links from its website to other websites. However, Ballard is not responsible for, nor does it accept any liability for, the personal information collection, use and disclosure practices of other entities to which Ballard’s website may link. You should consult the privacy policies of these other entities before providing any personal information on their websites.

SECURITY

The Ballard Companies are committed to protecting your privacy. Security measures, such as locked cabinets, restricted access and the use of passwords and encryption have been adopted to protect your personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. Our employees have been trained to respect your privacy at all times and those employees with access to your personal information shall use your personal information strictly in accordance with the Ballard Privacy Policy and the laws applicable to each specific business.

QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS

If you have any questions or concerns about the collection, use or disclosure of any of your personal information held by a Ballard Company, or about the compliance by a Ballard Company with the Ballard Privacy Policy, please contact Ballard’s Privacy Officer, K. Hillier at privacyofficer@ballard.com. Each Ballard Company has procedures in place to receive and respond to complaints or inquiries about its handling of personal information. They will describe the complaint procedures to anyone who makes inquiries or lodges complaints. If you are not satisfied with the response from the Ballard Privacy Officer after making a complaint, you may have recourse to additional remedies under applicable privacy legislation.