Privacy Notice
Balt-Bep Shipping Express
1. Purpose of this Privacy Notice
Balt-Bep Shipping Express respects your privacy and is committed to protecting personal information processed through this website and its booking, registration, payment-verification, and staff-management features. This notice explains what information we collect, why we use it, how it is protected, how long it is kept, and the rights available to data subjects.
This notice is intended to support the principles of transparency, legitimate purpose, and proportionality under the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10173) and its implementing rules.
2. Personal Information We May Collect
- Account and contact information: full name, email address, contact number, username, address, and date of birth/age.
- Booking information: passenger details, passenger type, travel date, route, booking/reference information, seat information, and transaction details.
- Verification information: student/senior identification details and uploaded identification or verification images when required for eligibility or account approval.
- Payment-verification information: information needed to verify a payment and, where submitted, proof of payment.
- Security and technical information: login/security events, timestamps, IP address or similar technical information where recorded for security, fraud prevention, troubleshooting, and audit purposes.
We aim to collect only information that is adequate, relevant, and necessary for the stated purpose.
3. Why We Process Personal Information
- To create and manage customer accounts.
- To process bookings, passenger records, schedules, fares, and seat availability.
- To verify eligibility, identification, payment, and booking status when required.
- To send necessary account, booking, verification, and operational notifications.
- To maintain system security, prevent misuse, investigate suspicious activity, and maintain audit/security records.
- To comply with applicable legal or regulatory obligations and to establish, exercise, or defend lawful claims when applicable.
- To maintain and improve the reliability and security of the website and its services.
4. Lawful Basis for Processing
Depending on the particular processing activity, Balt-Bep may process personal information when it is necessary to provide or administer a service or booking, when required to comply with a legal obligation, when necessary for a legitimate and lawful interest that does not override data-subject rights, or when consent is required and has been validly obtained. The applicable basis depends on the specific processing activity.
5. How We Use and Protect Your Information
Access to personal information is limited to authorized personnel and system functions that need the information for their assigned duties. The system uses technical and organizational safeguards such as access controls, authentication, security logging, input validation, prepared database statements, secure file-handling controls, HTTPS/security headers, and protection of sensitive system files.
No internet-based system can guarantee absolute security. If a personal-data breach occurs that is subject to notification requirements, appropriate action will be taken in accordance with applicable law and regulatory requirements.
6. Sharing and Disclosure
Personal information is not intended to be sold. Information may be accessed or disclosed only when reasonably necessary for the stated purposes, such as to authorized Balt-Bep personnel, service providers that support the system or communications, or government/regulatory authorities when disclosure is required or permitted by law. Where third-party processing is used, appropriate safeguards and contractual or legal requirements should apply.
7. Retention and Disposal
Balt-Bep follows a purpose-based retention schedule. Personal information is not kept indefinitely. The retention period depends on the type of record, its operational purpose, applicable legal or regulatory requirements, and whether the information is needed to establish, exercise, or defend a lawful claim.
- Customer account and profile records: retained while the account is active and for up to 2 years after account closure, unless a longer period is required or reasonably necessary for a lawful purpose.
- Booking and transaction records: retained for up to 5 years from the transaction date, unless a longer period is required by law, an audit, or a pending dispute/claim.
- Student/Senior verification records and uploaded ID/face images: retained only while needed for eligibility verification, account administration, or a related lawful transaction; normally deleted or securely disposed of within 2 years after account closure, unless a longer lawful retention is required.
- Payment-verification records: retained for up to 5 years from the related transaction, subject to applicable legal and accounting requirements.
- Security and failed-login logs: retained for up to 1 year for security monitoring, investigation, and audit purposes, unless an active investigation or legal requirement requires longer retention.
- OTP and password-reset information: temporary verification data is subject to its expiry controls and should not be retained longer than necessary for the verification process.
- Pending/incomplete registration records: reviewed and securely deleted when no longer needed, normally within 90 days after the registration becomes inactive.
- Notifications and operational records: retained only for the period reasonably needed for account/service administration and audit, normally up to 1 year.
- Backup copies: retained only according to the backup schedule and business recovery need. Expired backups must be securely deleted or overwritten.
Retention periods may be extended when required by law, a lawful audit, an unresolved complaint or dispute, a security investigation, or another documented legal/business requirement. When the applicable retention period ends, Balt-Bep will securely delete, destroy, or anonymize the information, subject to technical and legal limitations. Retention periods should be reviewed periodically and updated when the actual business process or applicable requirements change.
For the implementation record, the detailed retention schedule is maintained in RETENTION_POLICY.md in the project package.
8. Data Subject Rights
Subject to the Data Privacy Act and applicable limitations, data subjects may have rights including the right to be informed, access, correct or dispute inaccurate information, object to certain processing, withdraw consent where consent is the applicable basis, request deletion or blocking when legally available, and seek remedies provided by law.
Requests should identify the account or transaction concerned and provide enough information for reasonable verification of the requester's identity. Some requests may be limited where retention or processing is required or permitted by law.
9. Cookies and Similar Technologies
The website may use session mechanisms and similar technical storage that are necessary for login, security, navigation, and system functionality. If additional cookies or technologies are introduced for analytics, marketing, or other purposes, the applicable notice and choices should be provided where required.
10. Children's and Minors' Information
Where the booking system processes information relating to a child or minor passenger, the information should be limited to what is necessary for legitimate booking, safety, operational, or legal purposes. Where consent or authorization is required by applicable law, the appropriate parent, guardian, or authorized representative process should be followed.
11. Changes to this Privacy Notice
This notice may be updated when the system, processing activities, legal requirements, or security practices change. The effective date at the top of this page will be updated when a material revision is made.
12. Contact and Privacy Requests
For questions, privacy requests, or concerns about the processing of your personal information, contact Balt-Bep Shipping Express using the contact details below. If a concern cannot be resolved, data subjects may seek the remedies available under applicable Philippine privacy law, including through the National Privacy Commission.
support@balt-bep.com
0949 883 3551
Cebu to Bohol, Philippines
Facebook: Balt-Bep Shipping Express
This website privacy notice is informational and should be reviewed against Balt-Bep's actual processing activities, contracts, retention schedule, and applicable legal requirements before being treated as a final legal compliance document.