Privacy Policy


PRIVACY POLICY

This website is brought to you by East West Tea Company, LLC, a limited liability company with its principal place of business at East West Tea Company, LLC, P.O. Box 21124, Eugene, OR 97402 (hereinafter “EWTC”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

EWTC is committed to respecting the privacy rights of all visitors to our website. We understand that privacy is important to our users (“user,” “you” or “your”). This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes how we collect, use, share, protect and otherwise process your personal information in connection with your use of this website, https://choiceorganicsproducts.com (“Site”).

Your use of our website is at all times subject to this Privacy Policy and the website Terms and Conditions of Use (“Terms”) (Terms of Use). By using our website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and the Terms, and consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as described below.

By using this website and submitting personal information to EWTC, you consent to our collection, use and processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, our use of your information, or if you would like to change how we communicate with you, please email us.

Please note that the products and services offered on this Site are intended for users who reside in the United States. If you visit our Site from a country outside the United States, please note that the data protection laws in the country in which you reside may be different from the data protection requirements in the United States. Information that we may collect from you in connection with your use of this Site will be processed in accordance with federal and state laws of the United States.

If you reside or are located in a country within the European Union (EU) and use an EU IP address when you access this Site, you may select the pop-up link to be redirected to one of our Choice EU websites, https://www.choice-organic.de/ or https://www.choice-organic.fr/, operated by our affiliate YOGI TEA GmbH.  If you access our EU websites, information that is collected from you will be processed in accordance with the requirements set forth in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), effective May 25, 2018, as detailed in the Privacy Policy posted on the respective site.

1. What information does EWTC collect and how do we use it?

EWTC collects several types of information on our Site. When you access this Site, we track geographical location data for the limited purpose of determining whether you are located in the EU so that we may provide a pop-up link through which you may access our EU websites, if you choose to do so. We do not track user geographical location data for any other purpose.

We collect personal information based on information that you provide to us when you request to receive email, newsletters or other products or services from EWTC. “Personal Information” includes information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular individual consumer or household, such as, your name, address, email address, phone number, or any other identifier that permits the physical or online contacting of a specific individual. Personal Information is information concerning a user that a Site or online service collects online from the user and maintains in personally identifiable form and does not include publicly available, de-identified or aggregated consumer information.

We obtain personal information from you under the following circumstances, and in the following categories as further explained below. We use personal information collected from you via our Site for the business purposes described below. EWTC processes your personal information for these purposes based on our legitimate business interests, and in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, and for compliance with our legal obligations.

We collect personal information directly from you, when you register with EWTC for any product or service or otherwise share your information with us, such as when you send us an email with a question about a EWTC product, or otherwise share your views with us.

You may choose not to provide EWTC with your personal information. If you choose not to provide your personal information to us, you may still use certain areas of the Site, but may not be able to access all portions of the Site or obtain full access to services offered on this Site. If you register with EWTC, you have the option to sign up for our mailing list and to receive communications from us. You may elect to opt-out of correspondence from EWTC at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or by contacting us directly.

The personal information we collect from you is used to provide you with our products and services in a timely manner. We may use the personal information we collect for other purposes, such as:

  • providing you with information, content, products or services that you request from us;
  • providing you with information about our Site or required notices;
  • providing you with customer support;
  • communicating with you in response to questions you may have about EWTC’s products or services;
  • delivering marketing communications and other materials to you that we believe may be of interest to you, such as the opportunity to participate in a consumer survey group;
  • improving and further developing the products and services we offer on this Site and through our retail distribution channels,
  • protecting and maintaining the security and integrity of our Site and its infrastructure;
  • authenticating information you provide to us;
  • protecting the rights and property of EWTC or the rights and property of others;
  • detecting, preventing and responding to fraud, intellectual property infringement, violations of our Terms of Use, violations of law and any misuse of the Site or EWTC’s products or services;
  • complying with any legal obligations imposed on us; and
  • pursuing legal remedies available to us, limiting our damages, and complying with judicial proceedings, court orders, or lawful requests from governmental authorities and for other legal purposes.

We may also share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger or sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company.

We do not sell or trade any of your information to outside parties. However, we may occasionally share the information you provide during the registration process with trusted partners to communicate on our behalf or to assist EWTC in offering support to users of the Site. Such communications may include, but are not limited to, requests for your participation in EWTC consumer information surveys and in-home use testing programs.

We may also use the information we collect during the registration process to occasionally notify you about important functionality changes to the website, new products and services and special offers we think you’d enjoy. If you prefer to not receive this information, or would like to opt-out of any other communication, simply use the unsubscribe link provided in the email or contact us directly.

We may also use your information for other business purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Site, products, services, marketing, and your experience of our company. We may use and store this information in aggregated and anonymized form so that it is not associated with any individual end user and does not constitute personal information.

2. How does EWTC protect visitor information?

We implement a variety of security measures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction, which includes holding your personal information on a secured network with limited access. This information is required by EWTC to be kept confidential. Although we use our best efforts to ensure the security and confidentiality of your personal information, unfortunately, no data transmission can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Thus, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us and you do so at your own risk. You should only access our Site within a secure environment and you remain solely responsible for the security of your computer at all times.

3. What are “cookies”? Does EWTC use “cookies”?

EWTC uses “cookies” which are small text files that are stored on your computer by a Web server based on permissions set in your browser software. Cookies do not read any information on your personal computer, rather, they’re used as identifiers by our Site to customize, monitor, or control the use of the Site based on information stored on the host server. The use of cookies is commonplace and standard Internet practice.

Although most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, you may be able customize your browser options to prevent and/or notify you when you are sent a cookie. The notification option allows you to decide whether or not you would like to accept the cookie. Not accepting cookies from our Site still enables you to access and use Site features.

4. How long do we keep your information?

We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless otherwise required by law.

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as for tax, accounting or other legal requirements).

When we have no legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

5. Controls for Do-Not-Track Features

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. No uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals across the internet is available, and we cannot control the DNT handling of third parties that may interact with our Site. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online.

6. A Note to Parents Regarding the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act:

Our Site is a general audience Site that is neither designed nor intended to collect personal information from children. EWTC cares about the safety and privacy of children online and complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). COPPA and its accompanying FTC regulation establish United States federal law that protects the privacy of children using the Internet. Children under the age of 13 should not send us any personal data, including email addresses. If you are under the age of 13 and would like to contact us, please ask your parent or legal guardian to contact EWTC on your behalf. We ask that parents supervise their children while online.

In the case that EWTC becomes aware we have received personal information pertaining to persons under 13, we will promptly attempt to obtain parental consent or delete the personal information from our servers. If you want to notify us of our potential receipt of information by a child or children under 13, please email us at digital@choiceorganicsproducts.com

7. Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We will change, amend and update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our privacy practices, technology, products and services, general business operations and industry. In the event of any such change, we will post a revised policy on this Web site and revise the “Last revised” date of such policy. We reserve the right to change, amend and update this Privacy Policy at any time in our sole and absolute discretion, and such changes will be effective upon posting of the revised policy. You should check this Privacy Policy on a regular basis to ensure you have reviewed and are familiar with the most current policy.

8. Contacting Us

For any questions or concerns you may have regarding this Privacy Policy and our information and data collection and use practices, please contact us at:

VIA MAIL: East West Tea Company, LLC, P.O. Box 21124, Eugene, OR 97402

VIA EMAIL: digital@choiceorganicsproducts.com

You may also request, at any time, that we review, change or delete your personal information or your preferences to receive any emails, products or services from us. To do so, please send us a written request as set forth above.

9. California Residents

Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), California residents have certain additional rights regarding our collection and use of their Personal Information (as this capitalized term is defined below and as used in this Section). This section sets out and explains the rights of California residents under the CCPA.

Contents

(i) Key Definitions

(a) “Aggregate consumer information” means information that relates to a group or category of consumers, from which individual consumer identities have been removed, that is not linked or reasonably linkable to any consumer or household, including via a device. “Aggregate consumer information” does not mean one or more individual consumer records that have been de¬identified.

(b) “Biometric information” means an individual’s physiological, biological, or behavioral characteristics, including an individual’s deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA),that can be used, singly or in combination with each other or with other identifying data, to establish individual identity. Biometric information includes, but is not limited to, imagery of the iris, retina, fingerprint, face, hand, palm, vein patterns, and voice recordings, from which an identifier template, such as a faceprint, a minutiae template, or a voiceprint, can be extracted, and keystroke patterns or rhythms, gait patterns or rhythms, and sleep, health, or exercise data that contain identifying information.

(c) Business purpose” means the use of Personal Information for the business’s or a service provider’s operational purposes, or other notified purposes, provided that the use of Personal Information shall be reasonably necessary and proportionate to achieve the operational purpose for which the Personal Information was collected or processed or for another operational purpose that is compatible with the context in which the Personal Information was collected

(d) (1) “Personal Information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Personal Information includes, but is not limited to the following, if it identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could be reasonably linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household:

(A) Identifiers such as a real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, internet protocol address, email address, account name, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers.

(B) Any categories of Personal Information described in subdivision (e) of Section 1798.80.

(C) Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law.

(D) Commercial information, including records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.

(E) Biometric information.

(F) Internet or other electronic network activity information, including, but not limited to, browsing history, search history, and information regarding a consumer’s interaction with an internet website, application, or advertisement.

(G) Geolocation data.

(H) Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information.

(I) Professional or employment-related information.

(J) Education information, defined as information that is not publicly available personally identifiable information as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g; 34 C.F.R. Part 99).

(K) Inferences drawn from any of the information identified in this subdivision to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.

(2) “Personal Information” does not include publicly available information. For purposes of this paragraph, “publicly available” means information that is lawfully made available from federal, state, or local government records. “Publicly available” does not mean biometric information collected by a business about a consumer without the consumer’s knowledge.

(3) “Personal Information” does not include consumer information that is deidentified or aggregate consumer information.

(d) “Verifiable consumer request” means a request that is made by a consumer, by a consumer on behalf of the consumer’s minor child, or by a natural person or a person registered with the Secretary of State, authorized by the consumer to act on the consumer’s behalf, and that the business can reasonably verify, pursuant to regulations adopted by the California Attorney General.

(ii) Right to know about Personal Information we collect or share, and your data portability rights:

You have the right to request that we disclose the specific Personal Information we have collected over the past twelve months by submitting a verifiable consumer request. Once we receive, review and confirm your request, we will disclose to you the following information (where applicable):

(1) The categories of Personal Information we collected about you.

(2) The categories of sources from which we collected your Personal Information.

(3) The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling your Personal Information.

(4) The categories of third parties with whom we share Personal Information.

(5) The specific pieces of your Personal Information we collected.
If we disclosed your Personal Information for a business purpose, we will also disclose:

  • The categories of your Personal Information that we disclosed; and
  • The categories of third parties with whom we shared your Personal Information, by category or categories of Personal Information for each third party to whom the Personal Information was disclosed.

(iii) What Personal Information do we collect, and how do we share it?

The following table includes categories of Personal Information as defined under the CCPA, and discloses how we have collected or shared that information during the past 12 months.

Category Examples Sources of Information Collected How we Share the Information
A. Identifiers. Name, address, email address, phone number, etc. We collect this information from our users, consumers, and business partners. YES We may share this information with trusted partners to communicate on our behalf, such as when you agree to participate in a consumer experience survey, and for the purposes outlined in Paragraph 1. of this Privacy Policy.
B. Personal Information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code ¤ 1798.80(e)). Name, signature, social security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information. Some personal information included in this category may overlap with over categories. We collect this information from our users, consumers, and business partners. YES We only collect name, address, email and phone number when you provide it directly to us. We may share this information with trusted partners to communicate on our behalf, and for the purposes outlined in Paragraph 1. of this Privacy Policy.
C. Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law. Age (40 years or older), race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information). We may collect this information, but only when you provide it directly to us, such as when you send EWTC an email and provide it to us, share your experience with our products, or participate in a consumer survey. YES We may share this information with trusted partners to communicate on our behalf, and for the purposes outlined in Paragraph 1. of this Privacy Policy.
D. Commercial information. See definition above. NO None
E. Biometric information. See definition above. NO None
F. Internet or other similar network activity. See definition above. NO None
G. Geolocation data. Physical location or movements. NO None
H. Sensory data. Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information. NO None
I. Professional or Employment Information Job status, current employer, etc. NO None
J. Education information See definition above. NO None
K. Inferences drawn from other Personal Information. See definition above. We generate these internally. YES We may share this information with trusted partners to communicate on our behalf, and for the purposes outlined in Paragraph 1. of this Privacy Policy.

(iv) Right to request deletion of Personal Information

You have the right to request via verifiable consumer request that we delete your Personal Information that we collected and retained, subject to exceptions listed below. Once we receive and confirm your request to delete Personal Information, we will delete, and will direct our trusted partners to delete, your Personal Information from our records, unless an exception applies.

We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:

  • Complete the transaction for which the Personal Information was collected, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, provide a good or service requested by the consumer, or reasonably anticipated within the context of a business’ ongoing business relationship with the consumer, or otherwise perform a contract between the business and the consumer.
  • Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or prosecute those responsible for that activity.
  • Debug identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
  • Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another Consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law.
  • Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act pursuant to Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 1546) of Title 12 of Part 2 of the Penal Code.
  • Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the business’ deletion of the information is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of such research, if the consumer has provided informed consent.
  • Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with the expectations of the consumer based on the consumer’s relationship with the business.
  • Comply with a legal obligation.
  • Otherwise use your Personal Information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which you provided the information.

(v) Exercising your rights to access, data portability, and deletion:

To exercise the rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by completing the form on our Site or sending us an email to digital@choiceorganicsproducts.com. Only you or an authorized agent may make a verifiable consumer request related to your Personal Information. An authorized agent must have your written permission to submit the request on your behalf and must directly verify his or her own identity with us. We may deny the agent’s request if the agent does not submit proof of direct authorization.

The following information must be provided by you or your authorized agent in order for us to process your request:

  • Your first and last name
  • Your mailing address
  • Your email address
    This information may be submitted via the form or by email.
    The verifiable consumer request must:
  • Provide sufficient information in order for us to reasonably verify the consumer about whom we collected Personal Information.
  • Describe the request with sufficient detail such that we can properly understand and respond to it.
    If we cannot verify your identity or your authorized agent’s authority to make a request, or confirm that the Personal Information belongs to you, we will not be able to respond to your request. We will not use any Personal Information that you provide within a verifiable consumer request for anything beyond verifying your identity and responding to the request.

(vi) How we respond to verifiable consumer requests

When we receive a verifiable consumer request, we will confirm receipt within 10 business days and provide information about how we will process the request. Typically, we will respond to your request within 45 days of receipt. However, if additional time to evaluate and fulfill your request is reasonably necessary, we will notify you of the extension (up to an additional 90 days taking into account the complexity and number of requests) within the initial 45-day period. If we provide a disclosure of your Personal Information, it will cover the 12-month period preceding our receipt of your verifiable consumer request and shall be made in writing and delivered through your user account, if you maintain an account with our business, or by mail or electronically at the your option if you do not. The disclosure will be provided in a readily useable format that will allow you to transmit this information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.

We will not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. If you submit unfounded requests, or an excessive number of requests, we may either charge a reasonable fee, taking into account the administrative costs of providing the information or communication or taking the action requested, or refuse to act on the request and notify you of the reason for refusal. We are not required to provide you with your Personal Information more than twice in a 12-month period.

(vii) Your right to non-discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any rights set forth in this Privacy Policy. Unless permitted by law, we will not:

  • Deny you goods or services.
  • Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through the use of discounts or other benefits, or by imposing penalties.
  • Provide a different level or quality of goods or services to you.
  • Suggest that you will receive a different price or rate for goods or services, or a different level or quality of goods or services.

However, we may offer you certain legally permitted financial incentives that can result in different prices, rates, or quality levels. These incentives will reasonably relate to your Personal Information’s value, and any incentive program will contain written terms describing that program’s material aspects. Any such financial incentive program requires your opt-in consent; such consent may be revoked at any time.

(viii) Your Consent:

By using the EWTC Web site, you consent to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to EWTC’s Privacy Policy, do not use the Site.

(ix) Changes to Our Privacy Policy:

We will change, amend and update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our privacy practices, technology, products and services, general business operations and industry. In the event of any such change, we will post a revised policy on this Web site and revise the “Last revised” date of such policy. We reserve the right to change, amend and update this Privacy Policy at any time in our sole and absolute discretion, and such changes will be effective upon posting of the revised policy. You should check this Privacy Policy on a regular basis to ensure you have reviewed and are familiar with the most current policy.

(x) Contacting Us

For any questions or concerns you may have regarding this Privacy Policy and our information and data collection and use practices, please contact us at:

VIA MAIL: East West Tea Company, LLC, P.O. Box 21124, Eugene, OR 97402

VIA EMAIL: digital@choiceorganicsproducts.com

Last revised: July 31st, 2023

©2023 East West Tea Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved