Privacy Statement
The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC), as a crown corporation, has a legal duty to protect your personal information, in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPOP), the Personal Information International Disclosure Protection Act (PIIDPA) and other applicable legislation. This privacy statement summarizes the privacy aspects for the NSLC’s retail and online activities and describes how the NSLC protects the privacy of its customers and visitors to this website.
You can view the full Privacy Policy.
Your Information, Your Choice
You have choices about how you interact with the NSLC. By using this website and our online services, you accept this privacy statement and the Terms and Conditions of Use. You also accept the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation’s use of Google Analytics as described in this statement.
If you do not wish to provide the personal information required to purchase products online, you may purchase NSLC products at any of our retail stores.
Personal Information We Collect
Personal information means recorded information about an identifiable individual. It includes information such as your name, contact information (personal address, telephone number, email address), credit card data, purchase history, personal image, Air Miles Collector Number and other information that identifies you.
General information such as the type of web browser version used when you visit our website and aggregated statistical information regarding visit traffic on certain areas of the site is not considered to be personal information.
The NSLC only collects personal information about you if it relates directly to and is necessary to operate a service, program or activity of the NSLC, or if a law authorizes or requires us to collect it. Specifically, we collect and use your personal information for the following purposes:
Purchasing Products at an NSLC Retail Store
When you visit an NSLC store we may collect your personal information for the following purposes:
To verify that you are 19 years of age or older and legally permitted to purchase NSLC products, we may require you to show a valid government-issued photo identification document as part of the NSLC’s ‘We ID’ program. However, this information is never recorded by the NSLC.
If you use a credit card to make a purchase in our stores, your signature may be required to process the payment.
We operate video surveillance cameras in our retail stores for the security and protection of all NSLC employees, visitors and customers and for the prevention and detection of criminal activity. When visiting an NSLC store, your image may be recorded by video surveillance cameras.
Agency Stores
Agency stores are stand-alone retail stores that are permitted by the NSLC to sell products normally available only at the NSLC retail stores. The NSLC does not require agency stores to provide personal information about customers who purchase NSLC products in these stores to the NSLC’s systems.
Online Transactions
Shopping Online
When you visit our website, you must confirm that you are 19 years of age or older and therefore legally allowed to purchase NSLC products.
We collect personal information, including your name, email address, phone number, billing and shipping or delivery address and payment information when you make a purchase online in order to process, fulfill and deliver your order. For beverage alcohol purchases you may also provide your Air Miles Number to earn reward miles, if applicable.
The name, credit card information, billing and shipping address, email and telephone number you provide is collected and processed by TD, a third-party payment processing service provider, on behalf of the NSLC. Your credit card information is never stored by the NSLC. The NSLC is compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards to ensure your personal information is maintained in a secure environment.
For information regarding how credit card companies protect your information, please refer to their respective card holder policies and privacy policies.
Delivery of Cannabis Products
Upon delivery, you, or whomever is accepting the order on your behalf, may be asked to show a valid government-issued photo identification document (which is never collected or recorded) to verify that the recipient is in fact age 19 or over, and provide a name and signature to confirm delivery. If you are picking up your cannabis order from a postal outlet, ID is always required and you must demonstrate you live in the same household as the individual that placed the order.
Product Returns
Beverage Alcohol Returns
You can return defective or broken beverage alcohol products to any NSLC store for a full exchange or refund, and you don’t need to provide a receipt. However, you will have to provide your name, address and telephone number to the NSLC store employee. We collect that information so that we can verify for our suppliers that the problem was discovered by one of our customers.
Cannabis Product & Accessory Returns
You can return cannabis products purchased from a retail store to any NSLC store that sells cannabis, provided it is unopened, in its original condition and accompanied by the sales receipt within 30 days of purchase.
Products purchased online can be returned by mail by calling 1-800-567-5874. Once the return is processed, a refund will be paid to the credit card used for the purchase and the customer will receive an email notification from TD, the third-party payment processor.
Other Online Services
Online Panel
If you volunteer to be part of the Online Panel of customers who participate in customer surveys your personal information, including your age, name and contact information, and personal views will be collected on behalf of the NSLC by Corporate Research Associates to confirm your eligibility, contact you and conduct consumer feedback surveys.
Events at the Port by the NSLC
When ordering tickets to special events at The Port by the NSLC, you will be transferred to the Eventbrite site to complete your transaction. Eventbrite collects your name, email address, billing address and credit card information on the NSLC’s behalf to register you for the event, to send you an email confirmation with printable eTickets, and to process your payment.
The NSLC collects your name and email address from Eventbrite to manage hosted events at The Port by the NSLC. This includes sending you information regarding the event (i.e. event reminders, event cancellations or other event updates). We may also send you information about future events and marketing communications about products, services or promotions if you explicitly consent to this by checking the box next to each type of email communication you wish to receive from the NSLC. If you leave any boxes unchecked, you won't receive those types of emails.
At any time, you may opt out of receiving electronic communications from the NSLC by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails sent by Eventbrite on the NSLC’s behalf.
Eventbrite and its Payment Processing Partners, on the NSLC’s behalf, use credit card information you provide to process credit card transactions for the purchase (and/or refund) of event tickets through The Port by the NSLC. Eventbrite may also use your personal information (i.e. name, email address, automatic data like browser history and preferences) for other purposes outlined in its Privacy Policy.
Eventbrite is a company based in the United States whose servers and systems are maintained outside of Canada. Information on Eventbrite’s systems are subject to privacy and other laws that may differ significantly from those in Nova Scotia.
The NSLC and its service providers, including Eventbrite, must adhere to the requirements of the Personal Information International Disclosure Protection Act that regulates the storage and processing of personal information outside of Canada. The NSLC has determined that the storage and processing of personal information outside Canada is necessary for ticketing and managing the distribution of tickets related to carrying out events, such as those at The Port by the NSLC throughout the year, as a necessary requirement of the NSLC’s operations, as Canadian alternatives did not meet all the NSLC’s business needs.
The NSLC may allow the storage and processing of your information outside Canada by a service provider if you consent to this. The NSLC obtains your consent to this storage and processing each time you purchase tickets to an event at The Port by the NSLC. By purchasing tickets via Eventbrite, you consent to the storage and processing of your personal information in the US by Eventbrite. If you do not consent to this, please do not purchase ticket(s) to events at The Port by the NSLC using Eventbrite. Instead, you may purchase tickets directly at the retail store.
Permits
The NSLC is responsible for issuing beverage alcohol permits. When you apply for a permit as an individual, we collect personal information including your name, age and contact information to process your application and issue your permit.
If you do not wish to provide the personal information online required to submit a permits application please contact permits@myNSLC.com.
NSLC ConfidenceLine
The NSLC operates an anonymous complaint site for all potential violations of the NSLC Code of Business Conduct. This site is operated through a third party Xpera and their affiliate SCM Insurance Services. Read their Privacy Policy.
All information submitted through the NSLC Confidence Line will be handled in accordance with this statement, the NSLC Privacy Policy and the corresponding ConfidenceLine Policy. The ConfidenceLine policy is available upon request, please reach out directly to contactus@myNSLC.com for further information.
Wholesale Customers Account Management
To establish and manage a business account with the NSLC as a wholesale customer, you must provide business name, contact name and contact information. You will also have the option to provide credit card and/or bank account information to the NSLC to speed up transaction processing and an Air Miles Number for rewards. In some contexts, this information may identify you as an individual (e.g. if you use a personal phone number or address for product delivery, or your personal Air Miles Number) and may therefore be considered personal information. Notwithstanding this, please be assured that he NSLC applies the same level of protection to the confidential information provided by wholesale customers as it does to the personal information provided to us by individual customers.
Communicating With Us / Service Excellence Centre
If you contact us with a comment, question, or complaint, either by phone (1-800-567-5874), email (ContactUs@myNSLC.com), or using online chat support on myNSLC.com/cannabis, you may be asked to provide your name, address, phone number email address, or order number and information needed to help us answer any questions or deal with comments and complaints.
When you contact our Service Excellence Centre, your call may be recorded or monitored for quality improvement and training purposes.
Email Communication
From time to time, we may ask for your consent to email you about our products or services. The NSLC obtains consent for all email communication. If you provide your consent to this use of your email address, you may withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing to email communication.
Except for transaction confirmation emails, we do not send email communications for cannabis products.
You cannot unsubscribe to transaction confirmation emails because they are necessary to ensure successful purchase, processing and delivery of your order.
Promotions
General
When you enter a contest or participate in a promotion, we may collect and use your personal information to administer the contest or promotion including contacting, announcing and promoting prize winners. At the time you enter the contest, competition or promotion, we may also obtain your consent to send you future promotional communications.
AIR MILES® Program
The NSLC is part of the AIR MILES® program. We may collect your Air Miles number for NSLC beverage alcohol purchases, in-store or online if you decide to use it. Air Miles cannot be used for cannabis purchases.
All information produced by AIR MILES Loyalty Inc., operator of the AIR MILES® program, for the NSLC is in aggregate form and cannot be used by the NSLC to identify individuals. Your participation in the AIR MILES® program is also subject to the privacy policies and practices of AIR MILES Loyalty Inc.
The AIR MILES® program also delivers contests on behalf of the NSLC. Air Miles collectors can opt-in or opt-out anytime to receiving email and SMS marketing and promotional messages.
Social Media
The NSLC uses various third-party social networking sites, communications services, pages, and accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others to encourage interaction, to promote our products and services and to communicate with our customers. Customers may consent to participate in a contest offered by the NSLC via social media. If you choose to interact with NSLC using a social media account, the NSLC may collect and use your personal information to respond to your questions or to contact you if you are a contest winner. The NSLC does not retain a record of personal information voluntarily provided by the public on its social media sites.
Hiring
Your personal information, such as your name, email address, and employment history, is collected when you apply for a job with the NSLC to identify you, contact you, assess your suitability for employment and process your application. You will also be asked on the application form to disclose if you have any convictions under the Liquor Control Act or the Criminal Code.
How We Use and Disclose Your Personal Information
We will only use or disclose your personal information for the same purpose or purposes for which we collected it, or for a compatible purpose, unless FOIPOP or another law specifically authorizes the use of your personal information for a different purpose, or unless we obtain your express consent to use your personal information for another purpose that we have identified to you.
Use
The NSLC uses the information it collects from its clients for conducting its retail and wholesale business activities and operating programs, including selling NSLC products; conducting surveys; hosting events; marketing and promotional activities; hiring; providing customer service; for ensuring the safety and security of our operations, employees and customers; for administering personnel; and for other purposes for which you have consented or which are permitted or required by law.
Disclosure
If you provide your Air Miles Number when purchasing beverage alcohol products online or show your Air Miles card in our retail stores, your Air Miles Number and details of your purchase transaction are sent to AIR MILES Loyalty Inc., Operator of the AIR MILES® program, so that the correct number of Air Miles can be assigned for your purchase, and for conducting data analytics activities. Air Miles makes the results of these data analysis activities available to the NSLC for its marketing programs only in aggregated form.
We may disclose the personal information of our customers, the public or our employees (including video surveillance recordings), to a third party, such as a law enforcement agency or a court, to the Federal Minister responsible for the Cannabis Act to address an issue of public health or public safety or to verify compliance or prevent non-compliance with the provisions of the Act or regulations, if it is required to comply with a subpoena, warrant, or court order or as part of a law enforcement investigation or court proceeding. We may disclose your personal information for other purposes only if the disclosure is specifically required or permitted by law or if we obtain your express consent to disclose your personal information for another purpose that we have identified to you. In all cases, we disclose only the minimum amount of personal information for the legally permitted or required purpose.
Improving Your Experience on Our Website
Personal information, such as your name, phone number or email address, is not automatically gathered from you when visiting our website. The NSLC only collects this type of information if you supply it to us voluntarily.
The information we gather from you automatically is described in this part of our privacy statement.
Cookies
Cookies are small data files that are sent to your browser. This website uses ‘session cookies’, which help you navigate between pages efficiently and generally improve your browsing experience. Session cookies disappear at the end of your session. This website also uses ‘persistent cookies’ which are stored on your computer’s hard drive for some length of time – they identify unique users across browsing sessions (i.e. when you close and re-open your browser), but are only used for website analytics, as described below.
Cookies do not allow us to identify individuals. You may adjust your browser settings to reject cookies, if you choose. Some browsers can be set to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when you receive cookies. If you choose to modify your browser, some pages of the Website may not function properly.
Web Server Logs
When you access the website, our servers collect certain information about your internet connection and your browsing experience in their logs. This includes the IP address of your internet connection and information about what you access on the website. IP addresses are unique numbers assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to all devices used to access the Internet. The IP address, on its own, does not identify an individual. However, in certain circumstances, such as with the co-operation of an ISP for example, it could be used to identify an individual using the site. In this context, it could be considered personal information, particularly when combined with other data automatically collected when a visitor requests a webpage such as the page or pages visited, date and time of the visit.
We use this information only to manage our websites. We do not attempt to use this information to identify individuals visiting the website, unless we detect an attempt to damage or violate the site, or if a law enforcement investigation requires it. We protect and restrict access to this information.
Website Analytics
The NSLC uses Google Analytics, a service provided by Google Inc. to help us understand visitor activity in order to improve our website. The Google Analytics service uses cookies to generate statistical information about visits to our website. This information is sent to Google in the United States from your computer when you visit certain NSLC web pages. Google collects this information on behalf of NSLC and compiles statistical reports for our use. The NSLC uses this non-personal data to determine opportunities for improvement (for example, understanding webpages visited provides the NSLC with valuable information for improving the content and functionality on certain pages). The use of Google Analytics does not allow the NSLC to identify specific individuals.
The information sent to Google includes:
- the originating Internet Protocol (IP) Address;
- the country, province and city associated with the IP Address;
- the date and time of the request;
- the type of browser and device used;
- the page(s) visited; and
- websites that referred you to the digital service
You can opt-out of Google Analytics activity if you choose by setting your browser to notify you when a Cookie is sent, and block analytics Cookies. Please consult your browser’s Help Menu for instructions. Google currently offers a free Google Analytics opt-out tool for Chrome, Internet Explorer 8-11, Safari, Firefox and Opera that will automatically set up your browser to block analytics Cookies. Visiting our website with Google Analytics Cookies disabled will have no significant impact on your browsing experience.
For more information on Google’s privacy policy, refer to the Google Analytics Privacy Overview.
Links to Other Websites
This website may include links to websites operated by other public and/or private sector organizations. The NSLC is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these external websites.
Third Parties Acting on Our Behalf
The NSLC uses certain third parties external to our organization to provide services on our behalf (e.g., credit card processing, order fulfillment, delivery, customer service support, event ticket sales, conducting online surveys, etc.). These service providers access your personal information only to the extent that it is needed to provide the services on the NSLC’s behalf. Each of our service providers must comply with this privacy statement and the NSLC’s privacy and security standards, to perform services for the NSLC.
Protection of Personal Information
The NSLC is obligated by law to protect your personal information by making reasonable security arrangements against such risks as unauthorized access, use, disclosure or disposal. We protect the confidentiality, security and integrity of your personal information using a combination of administrative, physical and technical safeguards that are appropriate given the nature of the information collected and handled by and on behalf of the NSLC. Personal information you provide to the NSLC is securely stored and transported and only accessed by those employees or agents who need to know the information to fulfill their duties. We use industry standard web browser certificate and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt the information contained within electronic transactions completed using the NSLC’s online services.
The NSLC cannot guarantee the privacy and security of email messages sent from your computer to the NSLC’s. This is because this information travels across the open internet and may not be secure in transit. For your protection, carefully consider the type and the amount of personal information you send to the NSLC by email.
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
The NSLC, as a crown corporation, is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act which governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal information (information about you as an identifiable individual including your name, an identifying number such as your driver's license number, your birth date, your email address, or your credit card information) and access to your personal information.
This legislation ensures all public bodies are accountable to the public for their business operations and handling of personal information. If you have any questions concerning this legislation and how it is managed by the NSLC, please contact our Access to Information Administrator at contactus@myNSLC.comor call 1-800-567-5874.
Learn more about Information Access & Privacy (FOIPOP) and for application forms.
Personal Information International Disclosure Protection Act
The NSLC complies with the Personal Information International Disclosure Protection Act. This Act requires the NSLC and its service providers to store and access your personal information within Canada, unless the law provides an exception. We are not permitted to send your personal information to any location outside of Canada unless we have your consent or unless the law requires or permits us to do so.
The NSLC may, if permitted by the CEO, store personal information outside of Canada or permit it to be accessed outside of Canada if certain conditions are met. Decisions in this regard are communicated to the Minister of Justice of Nova Scotia and are included in the annual report published on the Department of Justice website.
Inquiring About These Practices
For questions about this privacy statement, to obtain access to or to request correction of your personal information, or to inquire about how the NSLC manages compliance with this and other legislation governing its collection, use and disclosure of personal information, you may contact our Privacy Officer at contactus@mynslc.com or 1-800-567-5874.
Changes to this Statement
Changes to this Privacy Statement may occur if we make corresponding changes to our management of this website, to the services we offer, to the personal information we collect, or to our practices for handling your personal information. We will inform you of significant changes via this website.