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Legal

Privacy Policy

How Vanilla Rain collects, uses and protects personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act.

Last updated: 23 September 2026

This policy explains how Vanilla Rain Creative CC collects, uses, shares, stores and protects personal information, as required by the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). It applies to visitors to vanillarain.co.za, to anyone who makes an enquiry, and to clients, suppliers and freelancers.

01Responsible party

Vanilla Rain Creative CC (registration number 2007/087865/23), trading as Vanilla Rain (“Vanilla Rain”), is the responsible party for the personal information described in this policy.

Name
Vanilla Rain Creative CC, trading as Vanilla Rain
Legal status
Close corporation registered in the Republic of South Africa
Registration number
2007/087865/23
Information Officer
Alistair Graham (Member)
Address
18 Mon Tresor, 1120 Tamarisk Street, Weltevredenpark, Gauteng, 1709

02Personal information collected

  • Information you provide: your name, email address, telephone number, company name, job title and the content of any message sent through the website contact form or by email.
  • Client information: contact details of client representatives, billing details, correspondence, and any personal information contained in material a client supplies for a project, such as photographs, documents or data.
  • Supplier and freelancer information: contact details, banking details and tax information needed to engage and pay suppliers.
  • Technical information: IP address, browser and device type, pages visited and time on site, collected through cookies, analytics and website security tools.

Vanilla Rain does not intentionally collect special personal information or the personal information of children. Where such information appears in material a client supplies for a project, it is processed only on that client’s instructions and for that project.

03How personal information is used

  • To respond to enquiries and prepare quotations.
  • To deliver the services a client has engaged Vanilla Rain to provide, and to manage the working relationship.
  • To issue invoices, receive payment and keep accounting and tax records.
  • To engage and pay suppliers and freelancers.
  • To operate, secure and improve the website.
  • To meet legal and regulatory obligations.

Personal information is processed on one or more of the grounds set out in section 11 of POPIA: your consent, the conclusion or performance of a contract, compliance with a legal obligation, or the legitimate interests of Vanilla Rain or of the person to whom the information is supplied.

04Cookies, analytics and security tools

The website uses cookies and similar technologies for three purposes:

  • Essential: to make the website work and to protect it against attacks and abuse.
  • Analytics: Google Analytics, connected through Google Site Kit, records how visitors use the site so that it can be improved. The information is aggregated and is not used to identify you.
  • Spam prevention: Google reCAPTCHA checks that form submissions come from a person rather than an automated script.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies may stop parts of the website, including the contact form, from working. Information collected by Google is governed by Google’s privacy policy.

05Direct marketing

Vanilla Rain does not send unsolicited electronic marketing. Marketing messages are sent only to people who have given consent, or to existing clients about similar services, as permitted by section 69 of POPIA. Every message includes a way to opt out, and you can also opt out at any time by emailing ag@vanillarain.co.za.

06Sharing personal information

Personal information is never sold. It is shared only as follows:

  • With operators that provide services to Vanilla Rain, such as website hosting, email, cloud storage, accounting and analytics providers. Operators process information only on Vanilla Rain’s instructions and are required to keep it secure and confidential, as sections 20 and 21 of POPIA require.
  • With freelancers or specialist suppliers engaged on a project, limited to what the project needs and subject to confidentiality obligations.
  • With printers, publishers, platforms and other third parties where a client instructs this as part of a project.
  • With professional advisers, the South African Revenue Service or other authorities where the law requires it.

07Transfers outside South Africa

Some service providers, including Google, store or process information on servers outside South Africa. Personal information is transferred across borders only where the recipient is bound by law, binding corporate rules or an agreement that provides a level of protection substantially similar to POPIA, or where another condition in section 72 of POPIA applies, such as your consent or the performance of a contract with you.

08Security

Vanilla Rain applies reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, damage and unauthorised access, as section 19 of POPIA requires. These include access controls and strong authentication on all systems, encrypted connections to the website, a website firewall and security monitoring, regular backups, and restricting access to people who need it for their work.

If personal information is accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person, the Information Regulator and the affected data subjects will be notified as section 22 of POPIA requires.

09Retention

Personal information is kept only for as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected for, or for as long as the law requires. Accounting and tax records, for example, must be kept for at least five years. Enquiries that do not lead to work are deleted once they are no longer needed. When information is no longer required, it is deleted, destroyed or de-identified, as section 14 of POPIA requires.

10Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

  • ask whether Vanilla Rain holds personal information about you, and request a record or description of it;
  • ask for personal information to be corrected or deleted if it is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained;
  • object, on reasonable grounds, to the processing of your personal information, and object at any time to processing for direct marketing;
  • withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, without affecting processing that took place before you withdrew it;
  • lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

To exercise these rights, email the Information Officer at ag@vanillarain.co.za. Proof of identity may be required before a request is actioned. Requests for access to records are dealt with under the PAIA and POPIA Manual, which sets out the procedure and any prescribed fees.

11Information Regulator

If you are not satisfied with how a request or complaint has been handled, you may contact the Information Regulator:

Physical address
Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Postal address
P.O. Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017
General enquiries
enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Telephone
010 023 5200

12Changes to this policy

This policy is reviewed when practices or the law change. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last updated.

13Contact

Questions about this policy or about your personal information can be sent to the Information Officer at ag@vanillarain.co.za.

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© All images copyright of Vanilla Rain Creative, any logos or brands, and original material remains the property of their respective authors. All rights reserved.