This privacy notice (the “Notice”) was last updated: 1 April 2023 and is effective from 1 April 2023.

Introduction

1. KOS International Holdings Limited is a total human resources (“HR") service provider operating internationally, particularly, Hong Kong and Singapore. Through our global group of companies (“we”, “us”, or “our”) and third party suppliers and business partners, we provide:

( a ) recruitment and placement services, pursuant to which we identify, screen, assess, procure and place jobseekers and potential jobseekers to and for our clients and potential clients;

( b ) HR outsourcing services, payroll and administration services and staff training; and

( c ) HR transformation consulting.

2. This Notice sets out the basis upon which we may collect, use, disclose or process in any way, Personal Data (as defined herein).

3. This Notice applies to Personal Data in our possession or under our control, including Personal Data in the possession of organisations which we have engaged to collect, use, disclose or process Personal Data for our purposes.

4. By engaging us or with us, or using our services or websites (including www. https://www.kos-intl.com/) (the “Website”) and sending us any Personal Data further thereto, you are deemed to have read and accepted this Notice. Your privacy is important to us, as is our compliance with applicable laws, and consequently, you should only engage us or with us, use our services or Website, or send us Personal Data if you are agreeable to the terms and conditions herein.

Personal Data

5. As used in this Notice, “Personal Data” means data, whether true or not, about a person who can be identified: (a) from that date; or (b) from that data and other information to which we have or are likely to have access.

6. Depending on the nature of your interaction with us, some examples of Personal Data which we may collect include:

• name or alias, gender, last 4 characters of your identity card number or passport number, date of birth, nationality, and country and city of birth;
• evidence of your right to work and immigration status;
• mailing address, telephone numbers, email address and other contact details;
• resume, educational qualifications, professional qualifications and certifications and employment references;
• employment and training history;
• salary information and bank account details;
• details of your next-of-kin, spouse and other family members;
• work-related health issues and disabilities;
• photographs;
• other information that you provide to us, including via your resume or which you choose to provide to us (whether through the Website, surveys or otherwise); and
• technical data including internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access the Website. We may also receive technical data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. Please see the ‘Cookie’ section below for further details.

 
7. In addition to the foregoing, you should note that we may, to the extent permitted by applicable laws, obtain Personal Data about you from third parties, including:

• background checks for the purposes of ascertaining good standing and to obtain details of unspent criminal convictions, or confirmation that there are none;
• credit reference agencies for the purposes of checking your financial standing;
• publicly available sources such as social media websites to enhance the data we hold about you; and
• information that your referees or our clients provide to us, including personal feedback and notes of interactions with you and/or others.

 

Collection, Use and Disclosure

8. We generally do not collect Personal Data unless:

( a ) it is provided to us voluntarily by you directly or via a third party who has been duly authorised by you to disclose your Personal Data to us (your “authorised representative”) after:

( i ) you (or your authorised representative) have been notified of the purposes for which the data is collected; and

( i ) you (or your authorised representative) have been notified of the purposes for which the data is collected; and

( b ) Collection and use of Personal Data without consent is permitted or required by applicable laws. We shall seek your consent before collecting any additional Personal Data and before using your Personal Data for a purpose which has not been notified to you (except where permitted or authorised by applicable laws).

9. Purposes, for which your Personal Data will be collected and used by us, and may be disclosed to third parties (such as clients and potential clients), include the following:

( a ) performing obligations for or in connection with our or your provision of services;

( b ) verifying your identity and the accuracy of information provided;

( c ) responding to, handling, and processing queries, requests, applications, complaints, and feedback from you, and managing your relationship with us;

( d ) processing payment or credit transactions;

( e ) facilitating any proposed or confirmed merger, acquisition or business asset transaction, or corporate restructuring process;

( f ) facilitating our compliance with any applicable laws, customs and regulations, including assisting with law enforcement and investigations conducted by any governmental and/or regulatory authority;

( g ) any other purposes for which you have provided the information;

( h ) purposes permitted under law, such as Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act 2012; and

( i ) any other incidental business purposes related to or in connection with the above.

10. Jobseekers and Candidates (Including for Employment with Us, Our Clients and Potential Clients), should additionally note that your Personal Data will be collected and used by us, and may be disclosed to third parties (such as clients and potential clients), for the following purposes:

( a ) assessing and evaluating your suitability for employment and placement (including continued employment and placement);

( b ) employing or placing you (with our clients and potential clients);

( c ) performing obligations under or in connection with your employment or placement, including payment of fees, disbursements, remuneration and tax;

( d ) all administrative and HR-related matters, including administering payroll, granting access to premises and computer systems, processing HR-related applications, administering insurance and benefits, processing claims and expenses, investigating any acts or defaults (or suspected acts or defaults) and developing policies;

( e ) managing and terminating the employment, recruitment and placement relationship, investigating potential contraventions of internal or external policies and regulations, and resolving any grievances; and

( f ) business continuity planning in the event of termination of employment or placement.

11. Referees’ Personal Data should not be provided to us unless the consent of the relevant Referee has been obtained. By providing the same to us, you hereby represent and warrant that you have disclosed the purposes above for which we may collect, use and disclose the same, and that the Referee has consented.

12. Referees should note that your Personal Data, along with your opinions about a jobseeker or candidate, will be collected and used by us, and may be disclosed to third parties (such as clients and potential clients), for the purposes stated above in paragraphs 9(b), 10(a) and 10(b).

13. Visitors of Our Websites and Users of Our Resume Upload Function, should additionally note we gather information and statistics (particularly, through cookies) about all visitors to our Website and the other websites which we operate, with a view to continually improving our services and delivery of content via the same. Examples of such information include Personal Data (where applicable), session information and searches. Visitors may turn off cookies resulting in limited functionality of our Website and the other websites which we operate, but should note that certain Personal Data, and information and statistics may still be lawfully collected by us, particularly where our resume upload function is used, and which may only be used if you agree to the terms of this Notice. For the avoidance of doubt, where you consent to the terms of this Notice and upload your resume to us, this Notice will apply in its entirety (including the foregoing paragraphs).

14. Visitors of our Websites Who Subscribe to Our Mailing Lists and Other Alerts, should additionally note that by subscribing for the same, you consent to us using the Personal Data which you share for the purposes of sending you the relevant information and keeping you informed of the same, by such methods and mediums as you consent to.

15. The purposes listed in the above paragraphs may continue to apply even in situations where your relationship with us (for example, pursuant to your placement with a client) has been terminated or altered in any way, for a reasonable period thereafter (including where applicable, a period to enable us to enforce our rights). Please refer also to the paragraphs below on our retention of Personal Data.

Deemed Consent by Notification

16. We may collect or use your Personal Data, or disclose existing Personal Data for secondary purposes that differ from the primary purpose which it had been originally collected. If we intend to rely on deemed consent by notification for such secondary purposes, we will notify you of the proposed collection, use or disclosure through appropriate mode(s) of communication.

17. Before relying on deemed consent by notification, we will assess and determine that the collection, use and disclosure of the Personal Data will not likely have an adverse effect on you.

18. You will be given a reasonable period to inform us if you wish to opt-out of the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Data for such purposes.

19. After the lapse of the opt-out period, you may notify us that you no longer wish to consent to the purposes for which your consent was deemed by notification by withdrawing your consent for the collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Data in relation to those purposes.

Withdrawing Your Consent

20. The consent that you provide for the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Data will remain valid until such time it is being withdrawn by you in writing. You may withdraw consent and request us to stop collecting, using and/or disclosing your Personal Data for any or all of the purposes listed above by submitting your request in writing or via email to our Data Protection Officer at the contact details provided below.

21. Upon receipt of your written request to withdraw your consent, we may require reasonable time (depending on the complexity of the request and its impact on our relationship with you) for your request to be processed and for us to notify you of the consequences of us acceding to the same, including any legal consequences which may affect your rights and liabilities to us. In general, we shall seek to process and effect your request within ten (10) business days of receiving it.

22. While we respect your decision to withdraw your consent, please note that depending on the nature and scope of your request, we may not be in a position to continue providing our services to you and we shall, in such circumstances, notify you before completing the processing of your request. Should you decide to cancel your withdrawal of consent, please inform us in writing in the manner described above.

23. Please note that withdrawing consent does not affect our right to continue to collect, use and disclose Personal Data where such collection, use and disclose without consent is permitted or required under applicable laws.

Access to and Correction of Personal Data

24. If you wish to make:

( a ) an access request for access to a copy of the Personal Data which we hold about you or information about the ways in which we use or disclose your Personal Data; or

( b ) a correction request to correct or update any of your Personal Data which we hold, you may submit your request in writing or via email to our Data Protection Officer at the contact details provided below.

25. Please note that a reasonable fee may be charged for an access request. If so, we will inform you of the fee before processing your request.

26. We will respond to your request as soon as reasonably possible. In general, our response will be within twenty (20) business days. Should we not be able to respond to your access request within thirty (30) days after receiving your access request, we will inform you in writing within thirty (30) days of the time by which we will be able to respond to your request. If we are unable to provide you with any Personal Data or to make a correction requested by you, we shall generally inform you of the reasons why we are unable to do so (except where we are not required to do so under applicable laws).

27. Please note that depending on the request that is being made, we will only need to provide you with access to the Personal Data contained in the documents requested, and not to the entire documents themselves. In those cases, it may be appropriate for us to simply provide you with confirmation of the Personal Data that we have on record, if the record of your Personal Data forms a negligible part of the document. Particularly, it should be noted that references obtained by us from your referees will never be disclosed to you, and will remain confidential.

Protection of Personal Data

28. To safeguard your Personal Data from unauthorised access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification, disposal or similar risks, we have introduced appropriate administrative, physical and technical measures such as minimised collection of Personal Data, authentication and access controls (such as good password practices, need-to-basis for data disclosure, etc.), up-to-date antivirus protection, regular patching of operating system and other software, and security review and testing performed regularly.

29. You should be aware, however, that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. While security cannot be guaranteed, we strive to protect the security of your information and are constantly reviewing and enhancing our information security measures.

Accuracy of Personal Data

30. We generally rely on Personal Data provided by you (or your authorised representative). In order to ensure that your Personal Data is current, complete and accurate, please update us if there are changes to your Personal Data by informing our Data Protection Officer in writing or via email at the contact details provided below.

Retention of Personal Data

31. We may retain your Personal Data for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which they were collected, or as required or permitted by applicable laws.

32. We will cease to retain your Personal Data, or remove the means by which the data can be associated with you, as soon as it is reasonable to assume that such retention no longer serves the purposes for which the Personal Data were collected, and are no longer necessary for legal or business purposes.

33. Jobseekers and candidates should particularly note that we may retain a copy of your historical resume and Personal Data that had been collected by us, and which has since been amended (whether or not pursuant to your request). This is done with a view to evidencing that the recruitment process had been done in a fair and transparent way, no unlawful discrimination had occurred and there had not been any fraud.

Transfers of Personal Data

34. As a total HR service provider operating internationally, you should note that we may, for the purposes of providing our services, transfer your Personal Data across borders, within our global group of companies and to clients and potential clients located in other parts of the world. Your Personal Data may also be transferred to such third parties who provide services to us in connection with our provision of services to you. We will take steps to ensure that your Personal Data continues to receive a standard of protection that is at least comparable to that provided under applicable laws, including Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act 2012.

Data Protection Officer

35. You may contact our Data Protection Officer if you have any enquiries or feedback on our Personal Data protection policies and procedures, or if you wish to make any request, at:

Name of Data Protection Officer: Xu Hongshun Kevin

Contact No.: +65 9817 0701

Email Address: kevin.xu@kos-intl.com

Address: JustCo UIC Building 5 Shenton Way, UIC Building #10/11-01, Singapore 068808

Effect of Notice and Changes to Notice

36. This Notice applies in conjunction with any other policies, notices, contractual clauses and consent clauses that apply in relation to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Data by us.

37. We may revise this Notice from time to time without any prior notice. You may determine if any such revision has taken place by referring to the date on which this Notice was last updated. Your continued engagement of us or with us, and use of our services, constitutes your acknowledgement and acceptance of such changes.