1. Introduction and Scope
FOREST GENERAL TRADING LIMITED respects the privacy of every person who visits this website, sends an enquiry or does business with the order desk. This Privacy Policy describes the information we collect, the reasons we collect it, the ways we use and protect it, and the choices that remain available to you at all times. It applies to this website and to the general trading services we provide from our office in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
The developer of this website is FOREST GENERAL TRADING, a general trading house that moves hardware, packaging, machine consumables and seasonal goods between Hong Kong buyers and mainland factories. When this policy refers to we, us or our, it means FOREST GENERAL TRADING LIMITED together with the order desk team that operates under that name. When it refers to you, it means the visitor, buyer, supplier or enquirer whose information reaches us.
This policy does not cover the practices of factories, carriers, customs brokers or other organisations that we may engage to complete an order. Those parties maintain their own privacy notices, and we encourage you to read them where a transaction touches their systems. This policy also does not cover information that has been fully anonymised so that it can no longer be linked to any person.
2. Who We Are
FOREST GENERAL TRADING LIMITED is a company registered in Hong Kong. Our registered office and order desk are located at Rm 04-05 16/F THE BROADWAY, 54-62 LOCKHART RD, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy, which means we decide why and how that information is used.
Our business is the sourcing and movement of goods. We quote, we sample, we inspect and we consolidate. Because that work brings us into regular contact with buyers and suppliers, and because an order cannot be completed without a name, an address and a means of contact, we necessarily handle a modest and practical range of personal information. We do not trade in personal information and we do not treat it as a product to be sold.
If you have any question about this policy or about the way your information is handled, you may reach us at general@forestgeneral.mom or by telephone at +85269276479. We welcome the enquiry and we would rather answer a question early than let a concern grow.
3. Information We Collect
The information we collect depends on how you interact with us. We keep collection proportionate to the purpose, and we do not ask for more than the task requires. The categories below describe the kinds of information that may reach us.
- Contact details such as your name, company name, email address, telephone number and postal address.
- Enquiry details such as the goods you are interested in, target quantities, specifications, drawings, delivery windows and any message you choose to send.
- Order details such as purchase requirements, shipping instructions, delivery addresses and documents needed for customs or freighting.
- Correspondence such as emails, call notes and messages exchanged while an order is active.
- Technical information such as the browser type and device category that reach our web server when a page is requested.
- Website usage information such as the pages viewed and the general region from which a visit arrives, where such information is available to us in aggregate form.
We do not ask for sensitive personal information such as health records, religious beliefs or biometric data, and we ask that you do not send such information to the order desk.
4. How We Collect Information
Most of the information we hold arrives directly from you. You may fill in the enquiry form on the contact page, send an email to the order desk, telephone us, or write to our Wan Chai address. Each of these channels places information in our hands because you have chosen to make contact.
Some information arrives automatically when you browse this website. Our hosting environment may record basic technical data, such as the date and time of a request and the general category of the device making it. This information is used to keep the site available and to understand whether pages are reaching the people who need them.
A smaller amount of information arrives from third parties. A factory may pass us the name of your receiving contact so that a delivery can be arranged. A carrier may confirm a delivery address. A colleague at your own company may introduce you to the desk by forwarding an enquiry. Where that happens, we treat the information with the same care that we apply to information you send us yourself.
5. Why We Use Information
We use personal information for the practical purposes of running a general trading house. Each of the following purposes is tied to a real task that a buyer or supplier would recognise.
- To answer an enquiry and prepare a quotation for the goods you have asked about.
- To arrange samples and to record the approval that follows.
- To place orders with factories and to follow them through production.
- To arrange QC inspections, holds and loading at the point of shipment.
- To consolidate goods and to prepare customs and freight documents.
- To keep an accurate order ledger so that any party can be answered promptly.
- To maintain the security and availability of this website.
- To meet legal, tax and accounting duties that apply to a Hong Kong company.
- To send service messages that are necessary to complete an order.
We do not use your information for automated decision making that produces legal effects, and we do not build profiles that are sold to advertisers.
6. Lawful Basis for Processing
Where the law requires a lawful basis for processing personal information, we rely on one or more of the following. We rely on the performance of a contract when we handle information that is necessary to quote, produce, inspect or ship the goods you have ordered. We rely on legitimate interests when we keep the order ledger accurate, protect the website from misuse and maintain the records that let us answer questions long after an order has closed.
We rely on consent when you choose to receive marketing messages, and you may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the service you receive. We rely on legal obligation when we retain accounting records or respond to a lawful request from a public authority. Where we rely on legitimate interests, we balance those interests against your rights and expectations, and we do not use the basis to override a reasonable objection.
9. How Long We Keep Information
We keep personal information only for as long as it serves the purpose for which it was collected, or for as long as the law requires. Enquiries that do not become orders are normally kept for a limited period so that we can pick up a conversation if you return, and are then removed. Order records are kept for the period required by Hong Kong accounting and tax rules, because a trading house must be able to show what was bought, what was shipped and what was paid.
When information is no longer needed, we delete it or make it anonymous. Where information sits in a backup, it is removed in the ordinary course of the backup cycle. We do not keep information indefinitely simply because storage is inexpensive.
10. How We Protect Information
We protect personal information with a combination of practical and technical measures. Access to order information is limited to the people at the desk who need it to do their work. Accounts and devices are protected, and paper records in the office are kept in a controlled space. We ask our service providers to apply comparable protections and we review the arrangements when a provider changes.
No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, and we cannot promise absolute security. What we can promise is that we take the risk seriously, that we limit what we collect, and that we act promptly if a problem is discovered. If a breach occurs that is likely to affect your rights, we will notify you and the relevant authority as the law requires.
11. International Transfers
Our work naturally crosses a border. Goods are made on the mainland and shipped from South China ports, while our office and order desk sit in Hong Kong. Because of this, information may be transferred to and handled in places outside Hong Kong, including the mainland and the locations where our carriers and service providers operate.
Where information moves across a border, we take steps to keep protection consistent. We work with parties who need the information for a clear and limited purpose, we prefer providers who maintain recognised safeguards, and we keep the amount of information transferred to the minimum the task requires. If you would like to know more about a specific transfer connected to your order, the desk will explain it on request.
12. Your Rights
Subject to the law that applies to you, you have rights over the personal information we hold. These rights are not absolute, and a legal duty or a legitimate interest may limit them, but we take every request seriously and we answer it in plain terms.
- The right to be informed about how your information is used, which this policy provides.
- The right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- The right to ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- The right to ask us to delete information where there is no continuing reason to keep it.
- The right to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
- The right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time.
- The right to ask for a restriction on processing while a concern is examined.
To exercise a right, write to general@forestgeneral.mom or to our registered office at Rm 04-05 16/F THE BROADWAY, 54-62 LOCKHART RD, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. We may ask for proof of identity so that we do not release information to the wrong person, and we aim to respond within the period the applicable law allows.
13. Privacy for Children
This website and the trading services described on it are intended for businesses and for adults acting in a business capacity. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, and we do not direct any part of this site at children. If you believe that a child has sent personal information to the order desk, please contact us and we will remove it promptly.
Where an order involves a delivery to a site at which young people are present, we still collect only the business contact details that the delivery requires. We do not build profiles of minors and we do not use their information for any purpose beyond completing the delivery.
14. Marketing and Communications
We send marketing messages only where you have asked to receive them or where the law otherwise permits. A message might tell you about a seasonal sourcing window, a consolidation slot or a new line of consumables. We keep such messages short and we make it easy to stop them.
Service messages sit in a different category. If you have an active order, we will contact you about samples, inspections, loading dates and documents because the order cannot progress without that contact. You cannot opt out of service messages while an order is live, but you may opt out of marketing at any time, and doing so will never affect the standard of service you receive.
If you ask to be removed from a marketing list, we will record the request and honour it. We may keep a small suppression record so that we do not accidentally contact you again after you have asked us to stop.
15. Third Party Links and Services
This website may contain links to the sites of carriers, factories, trade bodies or other organisations. Those sites are not under our control and their privacy practices are their own. We provide the links because they may be useful, not because we endorse every practice on the far side of the link.
If you follow a link and provide information on another site, that site handles your information under its own notice. We encourage you to read the notice before you send anything sensitive. Where a third party service is embedded in a page on this site, we keep the embedding to the minimum needed for the page to work.
16. Changes to This Policy
We review this policy from time to time and we update it when our practices, our services or the law change. When we make a material change, we will update the date at the top of this page and, where the change is significant, we will draw attention to it on the website or in a service message.
The version published on this page is the version in force. We keep earlier versions on file so that we can show what applied at a particular time. We encourage you to check this page occasionally, especially before starting a new order, so that you always know how your information will be handled.
If a change reduces your rights, we will not apply it to information you provided before the change without giving you a reasonable opportunity to object.
17. How to Contact Us
If you have a question, a request or a concern about privacy, please contact the order desk. We would rather hear from you early than have a small issue become a large one.
FOREST GENERAL TRADING LIMITED
Rm 04-05 16/F THE BROADWAY, 54-62 LOCKHART RD, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Email: general@forestgeneral.mom
Phone: +85269276479
We aim to answer every privacy enquiry promptly and in plain language. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may raise the matter with the privacy authority that has jurisdiction over our office in Hong Kong.