Privacy Policy

Nikkei Inc. ("Nikkei") takes the privacy of its users seriously. We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our users while providing a personalised and valuable service. This Privacy Policy statement explains the data processing practices of Nikkei with regard to your use of scoutAsia service. If you have any requests concerning your personal information or any queries with regard to these practices please contact us by e-mail at info@scout.asia.

Personal information is collected and handled by Nikkei. References in this privacy policy to "Nikkei", "we", "us", "our" or similar refer to the Nikkei Inc. operating the relevant website, and references to "scoutAsia sites" refer to any of our websites from which you have accessed this privacy policy. Please check Nikkei Inc. for more information.

Our sites contain links to third party sites which are not subject to this privacy policy. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of any such sites that you visit.

Chapter 1. Handling of Personal Information of All Users

1. What Information We Collect about You

   1. We collect personal information about you through:
      • the use of enquiry and registration forms
      • your purchase of any of our products or services
      • the provision of your details to us either online or offline
      • your access to our websites.
   2. The elements of personal information we collect may include:
      • Basic information --- such as name
      • Contact information --- such as address, phone number and email address
      • Work information --- such as job title, company name/address/phone number/fax number
      • Payment information --- such as credit card information
      • Transaction information and market research data ---such as readership patterns
      • Usage of our website and access environment--- such as usage statistics, IP address, browser and the type of device you are using to access our website. We collect these automatically when you access our websites. Please see our Cookie Policy for more details.
      • Other details about you --- to be specified when we collect. We may also collect information that we request from you regarding your use of our service.

2. How We Use Your Personal Information

   We use your personal information for purposes which may include:

   • providing our users with a personalised service
   • processing orders, registrations, service issues, feedback and enquiries
   • conducting market research surveys
   • allowing users to participate in interactive features of our service, where they choose to do so
   • providing reports to our clients containing information about usage under corporate licenses
   • running competitions, prize draws and promotions
   • providing you with information about scoutAsia products and services (if you agree to receive such information)
   • sharing your personal information with third party organisations who offer products or services which we feel may be of interest to you (if you agree to receive such information)
   • monitoring compliance with our Terms and Conditions and Copyright Policy.
     See our Cookie Policy for more details.
     If you wish to receive information about Nikkei products or services, please check and indicate your preferences using the consent boxes when providing us with your personal information.
     We also use information in aggregate form (so that no individual user is identified by name):
     • to build up marketing profiles
     • to aid strategic development
     • to audit usage of the site
       We use technology on some of the pages of our websites, which may record user behaviour, including page scrolling, mouse clicks and text entered. It will not record financial information such as credit or debit card details. The personal information we collect in this way helps us to identify usability issues, to improve the assistance and technical support we can provide to users and is also used for aggregated and statistical reporting purposes.

3. Who We Provide Your Personal Information to

   Nikkei will provide your personal information to a third party only when we have a lawful basis for doing so.
   Nikkei will provide personal information to some third parties to facilitate the running of our business or to provide specific services you have requested. Generally, Nikkei will provide personal information to:

   • Service providers --- Such as business partners and to third- party suppliers we engage to provide services which involve processing personal information on our behalf. They can only use your personal information under Nikkei's instruction.
   • Advertising partners (for online advertisements) --- Nikkei and its advertising partners serve you with online advertisements that we believe are relevant to you and your interests using cookies (and similar technologies). For further details regarding the use of cookies, see our Cookie Policy.
   • Organisation you work or study at --- If you access our services through a Corporates Subscription of the organisation you work or study at, Nikkei may provide your organisation with your personal information.
   • Social media platforms and other IT platforms --- Personal information will be shared with social media platforms and other IT platforms where you log in, sign up or subscribe to our service via social media or other IT platform account, or use components of our service provided by a social media platform or other IT platforms. We also shares your personal information with social media platforms and other IT platform partners for the following reasons:
     • to prevent existing Users from being targeted with subscription offerings on social media platforms or other IT platforms
     • for the purposes of targeted advertising on social media platforms or other IT platforms, and to create lookalike audiences for these purposes
     • to encourage Users to get the most out of their subscription
   • Nikkei group --- We share your personal information within the Nikkei group listed here to provide our services and to better understand the relationship between our products. Sometimes services are provided between legal entities in the Nikkei group, which may involve the processing of personal information by one entity on behalf of another.
     Nikkei may also provide your personal information to relevant third parties to:
     • comply with applicable laws, court orders or other valid legal processes. We reserve the right to fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requiring or requesting us to disclose the identity or other usage details of any user of our sites.
     • enforce or apply the Terms of Use, any subscription contract/agreement or any of our other rights
     • protect and defend Nikkei's rights, assets and properties, including to protect against misuse or unauthorised use of the services
     • protect the safety, asset or property of you or the public
     • success the title to our business or as otherwise required to do so by law
       The Internet is a global environment. Using the Internet to collect and process personal information necessarily involves the transmission of personal information on an international basis. Therefore, by using scoutAsia and communicating electronically with us, you acknowledge and agree to our processing of personal information in this way. By agreeing to our transfer of your personal information to third party organisations for them for the purpose of sending you details of products and services offered (as detailed above) you are deemed to provide your consent to any transfer of your personal information to and from the European Economic Area, Americas and Asia-Pacific regions.

4. Joint Use by Nikkei Group Companies

   Nikkei and Nikkei group companies listed here will jointly use your personal information.
   The range of personal information that will be jointly used will be identical to the range stipulated in the above "The elements of your personal information that we collect may include" part.
   The purpose of joint use will be the same as stipulated in the above "Use and Disclosure of Personal Information" part.
   Nikkei will be responsible for the management of joint use.

5. Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Devices

   Please refer to our Cookie Policy.

6. Security Policy

   Nikkei has appropriate measures in place to ensure that our users' personal information is protected against unauthorised access or use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction and accidental loss. User personal information may be transferred outside Nikkei to data processors but they will act only on our instructions to provide the services required.

7. User Access and Control of Personal Information

   If you wish to disclose, amend, add or delete the contents of, cease the utilisation of, erase, and cease the third-party provision of any of the personal information which we hold about you, or update your marketing preferences, please contact info@scout.asia or visit the Contact Us section of our website. We will take reasonable steps in response to your enquiries or requests.

8. Children Under 16

   We do not intentionally collect any information on children under 16 years of age. We will undertake to delete any details of such users where a parent or guardian has notified us that any such details have been obtained.

9. EU Representative

   PLANIT // LEGAL Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH
   Jungfernstieg 1, 20095 Hamburg, Germany
   mail@planit.legal

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

    From time to time we may make changes to this Privacy Policy statement to reflect any changes to our privacy practices in accordance with changes to legislation, best practice or website enhancements. Nikkei will publish the revised Privacy Policy before it becomes effective and will state its effective date. By continuing to use the service, you agree to the revised Privacy Policy.
    If you have any queries regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us by e-mail at info@scout.asia.

Chapter 2. Handling Personal Data of EEA and the U.K. Residents

This chapter applies only to the handling of personal data of users residing in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom (U.K.), in addition to the above clauses.

1. Handling of Personal Data

   We always process personal data on a lawful basis, such as:

   • Your consent
     This is when you have given us explicit permission to process your personal data for a given purpose.
   • Legitimate business purposes
     This is when we have a legitimate interest, as a business, to process personal data. For example, when we are aware of copyright infringements, it is in our legitimate interests as a business to identify those responsible. We take due care to balance our interests against your right to privacy.
   • Contractual necessity
     This is when we have to process personal data to meet our contractual obligations.
   • Legal obligation
     This is when we have to process personal data in order to comply with the law. For example, we process and retain customer invoice data to comply with financial regulations.

2. Cross Border Transfers

   Personal data may be transferred to countries or jurisdictions outside your residence area such as Japan and the U.S. Please note that such countries or jurisdictions may not have the same data protection laws as your residence area and would not afford many of the rights conferred upon you in your residence area. We will put in place reasonable safeguards to protect information that is transferred in this way.

3. Your Rights

   You have the right to access your personal data, request to delete your personal data, request to limit and/or object to the processing of your personal data, and request data portability with regards to your personal data. When Nikkei receives a request based on the rights specified above, Nikkei shall respond to such requests without undue delay.
   You also have the right to withdraw your consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before withdrawal of the consent.
   You can contact us to exercise the above rights. We will keep improving our services so that more preferences can be configured.
   You can lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority if you have a complaint regarding Nikkei's processing of your personal data.

4. Retention of Personal Data

   Nikkei will retain personal data for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

Chapter 3. Handling Personal Information of California Residents

This chapter is intended for California users and supplements the above. The terms in this clause shall be interpreted in accordance with California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (collectively, "CPRA") may provide you with additional rights regarding the use of your personal information.

1. Your Rights

   1. Right to Know About Personal Information Collected, Disclosed, Shared or Sold
      You have the right to request that Nikkei disclose what personal information about you is collected, used, disclosed, shared and sold, if any, in the preceding 12 months. Your request(s) may include a request for any or all of the following:
      • Specific pieces of personal information that we have collected about you;
      • Categories of personal information we have collected about you;
      • Categories of sources from which the personal information is collected;
      • Categories of personal information that we sold or disclosed for a business purpose about you, if any;
      • Categories of third parties to whom the personal information was sold or disclosed for a business purpose, if any; and
      • The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information, if any.
   2. Right to Request Deletion of Personal Information
      You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information collected by us.
   3. Right to Request Correction of Inaccurate Personal Information
      You have the right to request us that maintain inaccurate personal information about you to correct that inaccurate personal information, taking into account the nature of the personal information and the purposes of the processing of the personal information.
   4. Right to Opt-Out of the Sale or Sharing of Personal Information
      You have the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information by us.
      We do not knowingly sell the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age.
   5. Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information
      Nikkei will not use or disclose any sensitive personal information collected from a user for any purposes other than those listed below:
      • Performing the services reasonably expected by an average user who requests such services;
      • Helping to ensure security and integrity;
      • Conducting short-term temporary use (except those involving profiling or changes in future consumer experience);
      • Providing services on our behalf; or
      • Maintaining or improving the quality and safety of Nikkei's services and devices.
   6. Right to Non-Discrimination for the Exercise of a User's Privacy Rights.
      You have a right not to receive discriminatory treatment by the business for the exercise of the privacy rights conferred by CPRA.
   7. Methods for Submitting Your Requests and Our Responding to Your Request
      You may submit the request to know, the request to correct and/or the request to delete by yourself or through an authorised agent with the written permission signed by you. Nikkei will respond the verified request which may be verified that you are the user about whom Nikkei has collected such required information.
      Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and Nikkei may be entitled to refuse requests, wholly or partly, where exceptions under applicable law.

2. Personal Information We Collected, Sold, Shared or Disclosed in the Preceding 12 Months

   a. Categories of personal information we have collected about you; b. Categories of sources from which the personal information is collected; c. Categories of personal information that we disclosed for a business purpose about you, if any; d. Categories of third parties to whom the personal information was disclosed for a business purpose, if any, in the preceding 12 months are described in Chapter 1 Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4.Categories of access data, purposes of use, possible selling or sharing of your personal information and categories of third parties to whom the information was sold or shared in the preceding twelve (12) months are as described in the Cookie Policy. In addition, notice pages may offer cookie consent setting tools. In that case, you can use the tool to confirm the purpose of use or stop collection of your personal information.

   Cookies are used in the service as described in the Cookie Policy . If you exercise the right to opt-out of the cookies (by clicking "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information", you can do so by configuring cookie preferences as described in the Cookie Policy.

   Nikkei will retain personal data for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

   Published on 29 January 2018
   Revised on 1 January 2022
   Revised on 1 April 2022
   Revised on 19 January 2023