Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are (Responsible Party)

For the purposes of POPIA, Balcon Webworks is the Responsible Party for the personal information collected through this Site.

Balcon Webworks is an independent, unregistered business operating as a partnership in Johannesburg, South Africa. "Balcon Webworks" is the trading name under which we operate. As we operate primarily online, we do not maintain a public physical address; you can reach us by email at any time.

• Trading name: Balcon Webworks
• Email: balconwebworks@gmail.com

2. What Personal Information We Collect

We collect only the information necessary to respond to your enquiry and provide our Services. Depending on how you interact with us, this may include:

• Contact details you provide through our quote/enquiry form, such as your name, email address, company name, and any details about your project or requirements that you choose to share.
• Communications you send to us by email or through the Site.
• Technical information that may be collected automatically, such as your browser type, device information, and general usage data, where applicable.

We do not intentionally collect special or sensitive categories of personal information through the Site. Please do not include sensitive information (such as financial account numbers, ID numbers, or health information) in your enquiry messages.

3. How We Collect Your Information

We collect personal information:

• Directly from you when you complete and submit the enquiry/quote form or contact us by email; and
• Automatically, to a limited extent, through standard web technologies when you browse the Site.

4. Why We Process Your Information (Purpose)

We process your personal information for the following purposes:

• To respond to your enquiry and prepare a quote or proposal;
• To communicate with you about your project or our Services;
• To manage and improve our Site and Services;
• To comply with legal or regulatory obligations.

We only process your personal information where we have a lawful basis to do so under POPIA — typically because you have given consent by submitting an enquiry, or because processing is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a service agreement.

5. Who We Share Your Information With

We do not sell your personal information. We may share it with trusted third-party service providers ("Operators" under POPIA) who process data on our behalf strictly to help us operate the Site and respond to enquiries. These include:

• Supabase — our database and authentication provider, which securely stores enquiry submissions.
• Vercel — our website hosting and deployment provider.

These providers are only permitted to process your information in line with our instructions and their own security and privacy obligations.

We may also disclose your information where required by law, court order, or to protect our legal rights.

6. International Transfers of Information

Some of our service providers (such as Supabase and Vercel) may store or process data on servers located outside of South Africa. Where personal information is transferred across borders, we take reasonable steps to ensure it is protected by a comparable level of security and in accordance with the requirements of Section 72 of POPIA.

7. How We Protect Your Information

We implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information against loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, or misuse. This includes:

• Restricting access to enquiry data to authorised personnel only;
• Using access controls and security policies on our database (including row-level security so that submissions cannot be read by the public); and
• Relying on reputable service providers with their own security safeguards.

However, no method of transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. How Long We Keep Your Information

We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Policy — for example, to respond to your enquiry and manage any resulting engagement — or for as long as required by law. When it is no longer needed, we will delete or de-identify it.

9. Your Rights Under POPIA

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you;
• Request correction of information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, or out of date;
• Request deletion of your personal information where there is no lawful reason for us to keep it;
• Object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
• Withdraw consent you have previously given (this will not affect processing that has already taken place); and
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (details below).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at balconwebworks@gmail.com.

10. Cookies

The Site may use cookies or similar technologies to help it function and to understand how visitors use it. You can usually control or disable cookies through your browser settings, though this may affect some functionality of the Site.

11. Children's Privacy

The Site and our Services are directed at businesses and are not intended for children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can remove it.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review it periodically.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us:

• Email: balconwebworks@gmail.com

14. The Information Regulator (South Africa)

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator if you believe your personal information has been handled unlawfully:

The Information Regulator (South Africa)

• Website: inforegulator.org.za
• Complaints email (POPIA): POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za