Tip-offs Anonymous - Terms and Conditions of Use

How these Terms become binding on you?
These Terms and Conditions of Use (“Terms”) form an agreement between you and Tip-offs Anonymous (“Tip-offs”, “us”, “our” or “we”) and become binding on you every time you access or use the Tip-offs Anonymous service (“Tip-offs Service”) via any of the communication channels (i.e. this website (“the Website”), the Tip-offs Anonymous contact centre (“the Contact Centre”), the fax service, via e-mail, via telephone or the postal service). We will collectively refer to these communication channels as “the Access Channels”).

Definitions
In these Terms, the following words and expressions shall have the meanings ascribed to them below:

•  “tip-off” means a disclosure of information made to Tip-offs Anonymous;
•  “anonymous” means the identity of the person making the tip-off is protected by removing any identifying information from the tip-off;
•  “organisation” means your company or the company about which a tip-off relates;
•  “organisation representative” means the person that the organisation has chosen to receive all tip-off reports from Tip-offs Anonymous;
•  “identifying information” consists of information or facts that may reveal your identity or unique characteristics (i.e. who you are) such as your name, your position, your age, your race, any disabilities you have, your gender, your preferred language, IP (internet protocol) addresses, e-mail addresses, postal addresses or your telephone numbers.

How we use the information you give us when you make a tip-off?
If you make a tip-off via any of the Access Channels, we will, subject to these Terms:

• only use the information that you give us to prepare a tip-off report;
• remove from such tip-off report any identifying information, unless you tell us that your identifying information may accompany the tip-off report; and
• send the tip-off report to the organisation’s chosen representative(s);

We will not, subject to these terms:

• voluntarily disclose (make known) or release any identifying information about you without your consent; or
• release a tip-off to anyone other than the organisation’s representative(s) unless we have a statutory duty to report information such as money laundering activities to the Financial Intelligence Centre, or may need to disclose the information to a relevant third party in the case of a life or death situation or in a critical emergency

Provided a tip-off contains a substantive allegation or other relevant evidence, we will send a tip-off report containing the information that you have provided to the organisation’s representative as soon as possible after you have made the tip-off. We will assess and classify information received in terms of its relative importance and urgency.  The most important and urgent tip-offs, according to our assessment, will be prioritised and sent first to the organisation’s representative. 

Please note we do not get involved in investigating or following up on any tip-off received by us. Tip-offs Anonymous acts as an independent intermediary to ensure tip-offs are forwarded to the chosen organisation representative(s) in the correct form and with the requested level of anonymity. The organisation is solely responsible for deciding whether or not and how to take action. This follow up process or investigation can take weeks, months, or sometimes even years.

How to remain anonymous and protect your identity as well as the confidentiality of your information
When you make a tip-off, you have the choice of:

• remaining anonymous to Tip-offs Anonymous and therefore your organisation; or
• revealing your identifying information to Tip-offs Anonymous on condition that Tip-offs Anonymous does not reveal it to your organisation; or
• revealing your identifying information to Tip-offs Anonymous and agreeing that it also be revealed to your organisation.

However, if you do not provide us with your contact details, we will not be able to contact you to obtain further information (if required) or provide you with feedback from the organisation on the results of or action taken by the organisation as a result of your tip-off. If you choose to make an anonymous tip-off, we will endeavour to remove all identifying information from the tip-off report.It is possible that some of the information you give us will be of such a nature that even if we remove all identifying information, your identity may still become known or be obvious to the organisation.

Possible protection that the Protected Disclosures Act may afford you?
Employees who make disclosures in good faith are protected by law from being victimised through an Act of Parliament called the Protected Disclosures Act 26 of 2000.

Information you need to disclose when making a tip-off
Please read our general guidelines and a generic checklist of information required before making a tip-off by clicking here.

What if you made an error or wish to add information to a previous tip-off?
You can contact us via any of the Access Channels if you want to provide additional information or amend any factual inaccuracies or errors in any tip-off you may have made to Tip-offs Anonymous. Remember that you will need to quote the reference or tracking number of your original tip-off which would have been given to you by the Contact Centre if your tip-off had been made by telephone.

Protection of your security on the Website

• This Website is located on a secure server.
• All information that you submit to us is encrypted.
• Information collected by us via this Website is stored in a secure operating environment that is not available to any member of the public, including your organisation.
• Only the company’s chosen representative can access to the Website to view tip-off reports.

No Promise of or offer of reward
Nothing whatsoever should be regarded as a promise or offer of a reward of any kind by Tip-offs Anonymous.

The risks of transmitting information when making a tip-off
Some organisations monitor Internet, e-mail, fax and telephone traffic and may in certain circumstances even listen to or record conversations. Therefore, to keep your identity a secret, we recommend that you make use of confidential public communication facilities or your own communication equipment to make a tip-off, and not use the computer network, fax or telephones at your organisation or any communication facility provided to you by or over which your employer exercises control (such as a cell phone provided to you for work and private purposes where your employer receives a detailed monthly statement of numbers dialled). Information transmitted over the Internet or via any other public communication channel may also be susceptible to unlawful access and monitoring by other parties. We will not be liable for any loss or damage that you suffer if your name or identifying information is revealed through communications with us which are monitored or intercepted by a party other than Tip-offs Anonymous.

What happens if you make a false or a malicious tip-off?
Should we and/or the organisation reasonably suspect that you are making a tip-off that you know is false, malicious, slanderous or abusive, we and/or the organisation reserve the right to take the appropriate legal action against you. Furthermore, your organisation shall have no obligation to follow up and/or investigate the tip-off.

Our intellectual property
We own all the intellectual property rights in the content of the Website and any other products and services made available via any of the Access Channels (“material”). Unless expressly authorised by us, you may not use or reproduce such material other than to:

• use the Website or other Access Channels to make a tip-off;
• consider using the products or services that are offered by Tip-offs Anonymous.

Under no other circumstances may any material be used, directly or indirectly, for commercial purposes unless expressly authorised by us. You indemnify us for any loss or damage that we suffer if you infringe our intellectual property rights or breach the provisions of this term. You may not insert a hyperlink to any part of this Website or frame any content on this Website without our prior written permission. You may not use our registered or unregistered trade marks (names and logos) without our permission. This prohibition includes and is not limited to using any of our trade marks as metatags.

Links to third party websites
For your convenience, we may provide hyperlinks to the websites of other parties from time to time. However, we do not control or endorse such websites or the parties that own or administer them and we take no responsibility for the policies adopted by these websites. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for any loss or damage you suffer, directly or indirectly, as a result of using and accessing a third party website.

WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY
WHILE WE WILL DO EVERYTHING REASONABLY POSSIBLE TO PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY (IF YOU CHOOSE TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS) AND IN THE SENDING OF TIP-OFFS REPORTS TO THE ORGANISATION’S CHOSEN REPRESENTATIVE(S), WE PROVIDE NO WARRANTIES IN RELATION TO THE WEBSITE, OR OTHER ACCESS CHANNELS, THE INFORMATION, PRODUCTS OR THE TIP-OFFS ANONYMOUS SERVICE PROVIDED ON OR VIA THE WEBSITE OR OTHER ACCESS CHANNELS OR THAT MAKING A TIP-OFF WILL HAVE THE OUTCOME YOU EXPECT.

 WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE (DIRECT OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL), WHICH YOU SUFFER AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE, THE OTHER ACCESS CHANNELS OR THE TIP-OFFS ANONYMOUS SERVICE.

Dispute resolution
Any disputes between you and us or you and the organisation related to your use of this Website, the other Access Channels or our privacy and security practices shall be resolved by private and confidential arbitration. This shall not detract from our right to seek urgent and immediate relief in a court of law. 

Amendments to these Terms and Conditions of Use
We reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions of Use at any time. You will be bound to the most current version of the Terms that are published on the Website. A certificate signed by the administrator responsible for maintaining this Website will be prima facie proof of the date of publication and content of the current version and all previous versions of the Terms and Conditions of Use. Without detracting from the rest of this clause, for ease of reference only, the publication date of the Terms and Conditions of Use appears below their document headings.

Our address for service of legal notices
Legal notices must be delivered by hand to the following address marked as follows:

For Urgent Attention: 
The Chief Executive Officer of Tip-offs Anonymous
c/o Deloitte Place 
2 Pencarrow Crescent, Pencarrow Park 
La Lucia Ridge Office Estate 
La Lucia 
4051

General

• The headings of clauses in these Terms and Conditions of Use are not to be used in the interpretation of any provision in the Terms and Conditions.
• We will only be deemed to receive electronic communications from you when we acknowledge receipt. Auto response messages (messages generated automatically with no human intervention) shall not be deemed to constitute an acknowledgement of receipt.
• No failure or delay on our part to exercise any rights in terms of these Terms and Conditions of Use or in law may be interpreted as a waiver by us of such rights.
• If you have any questions about these Terms and Conditions of Use, please contact: mail@tip-offs.com
• The laws of the Republic of South Africa govern these Terms and Conditions of Use.

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