Confidentiality Policy on the Use of ÉEQ's Website and Interactive Filing System


Thank you for visiting Éco Entreprises Québec's website (ÉEQ) and for taking the time to read this confidentiality policy.

Please note that our website will not place any permanent "cookies' on visitors' computers. Neither will confidential or personal information be collected unless authorized to do so by the Internet surfer.

Information automatically exchanged between computers does not personally identify the surfer. It is only collected to satisfy technological requirements involved in Internet surfing and used for statistical purposes.


Automatically Transmitted Information

When you access our website (http://www.ecoentreprises.qc.ca), a connection is automatically made between your computer and ÉEQ's server without your taking any particular action. The following information, which does not identify you personally, is exchanged:

• The name of the Internet domain with which you access our website (for example, "xyzcompany.com' for private enterprise, or "universityname.edu' for a university) and your IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer by your Internet service provider each time you surf the Web);
• The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
• The date and time you access our site;
• The pages you visit; and
• If you access our site through another one, the address of that site (referring site).

This exchange is necessary to gather information on the number of visitors, pages most visited, the technology used by visitors to access the site, referring sites and surfers's countries of origin.


Handling of Personal and Confidential Information

We treat seriously all confidential or personal information provided by any person, organization or company with whom we deal.

All private or personal information collected when companies or organizations register and file is kept confidential; only authorized personnel charged with handling requests for information, auditing and analyses are given access to it. The information is never made public or sold or provided to third parties without the company or organization's express authorization unless required to enforce obligations or to comply with the ruling of a Court.

These protection principles apply to all confidential information provided by ÉEQ member companies and personal information on individuals made available to us. 


Protection of Personal and Confidential Information

ÉEQ has put into place the following rules to protect your confidential and personal information:

• We do not sell any information collected on our members.
• We do not provide information on our members to persons or organizations outside our group of companies for their marketing purposes.
• No ÉEQ employee is authorized to provide information on your organization or company without first having received from the caller an adequate response to the telephone question established for that purpose by the registered contact of your company or organization.
• We require, by contract, that any person or organization providing products and services on our behalf to our members or employees will protect the confidentiality of private information provided for that purpose.
  We limit the information that we collect to that necessary for our business.
• All financial information received from members is kept confidential. Our employees who have access to the information are informed of their obligation to maintain confidentiality. In fact, all employees must certify annually that they have maintained the confidentiality of all information entrusted to them.
• It is not among ÉEQ's practices to solicit confidential information from its members by e-mail or otherwise.
• We do not communicate any private statistical or financial information obtained from one member to another member.

Éco Entreprises Québec takes every precaution to protect the information obtained from its members and employees and uses technological safeguards to ensure confidentiality, including 128-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technologies. While no safeguard can be considered 100% secure, ÉEQ has adopted stringent restrictions to safeguard its members' confidential and personal information in order to meet the highest level of security standards.


Links to Third-Party Websites

For your convenience, ÉEQ provides links to third-party sites or parts of such sites. ÉEQ has no control over the content and use of such sites, nor on their practices relating to confidentiality. Therefore, any confidential or personal information you may provide through those sites will be subject to their privacy policy. It is the surfer's responsibility to consult such policies to ensure the privacy of their information.


Secure Practices

ÉEQ has instituted a number of security measures to protect the integrity of data provided when making online payments through Moneris Solutions.

128-bit Encryption

All transactions made via Moneris Solutions are 128-bit encrypted for the transfer of data between your computer and Moneris Solutions.

Encryption is a process that uses cryptography to convert plaintext into ciphertext in order to prevent anyone except the intended recipient from reading that data.

128-bit encryption reduces to almost zero the possibility that a hacker could take control of an online payment. The confidentiality of your transactions is also protected thanks to the SSL 2 protocol, which guarantees that data being exchanged can only be decoded by authorized recipients.

Automatic Expiration of Online Payment Session

Each login automatically expires once the transaction is completed. To login again, you must return to the "File a Report" screen and click again on the "Online Payment" button.
Even with this safeguard, you should never leave an online payment session unattended. You should also make a habit of always closing your login session or report filing session before leaving your computer, even if you expect to return within a few minutes.

Application of the policy

ÉEQ's auditors conduct regular supervision of the application of this policy.