Privacy Policy
How we handle personal information we collect in our own right — website visitors, enquirers and job applicants.
Version 1.0 · Last updated August 16, 2026
Scope of this policy
This policy explains how HainanInc Advisory Group handles personal information for which we determine the purpose and means of processing — in data protection terms, where we act as the controller. In practice that means information about visitors to this website, people who contact us about our services, and candidates who apply for a role with us.
It does not cover personal information we process on a client's behalf while delivering an engagement — for example employee records handled as part of a payroll or employer-of-record service. In that situation the client determines the purpose and we act on their instructions, so a different set of obligations applies. Those are set out in our Data Protection Policy.
Where an engagement involves both, each policy applies to its own part of the relationship. Neither displaces the other.
Information we collect
We collect what you choose to give us, together with limited technical information generated when you use this website. We do not buy personal information from third parties, and we do not build profiles for advertising.
Information you provide
Our enquiry form ("Speak with an expert") collects the following. Only the message content is open-ended; everything else is a name, a selection or a business contact detail.
- First and last name
- Work email address
- Company name
- Job function and job level
- Country, and the office location you are interested in
- The service areas you indicate an interest in
- The details of your enquiry, in your own words
- Whether you have opted in to receive further material from us
Information from job applicants
Our application form collects your name, email address, an optional telephone number, optional links to a professional profile or portfolio, and a covering note. The form takes no file upload; if you send a CV it arrives by email and is handled on the same basis as the rest of your application.
Information collected automatically
Our hosting provider records standard server information, including IP address, for the purpose of serving the site securely. We apply a rate limit to our enquiry and application endpoints, which involves holding a short-lived record derived from the requesting address.
Analytics information is collected only where you have granted the corresponding cookie consent. Until you do, no request is made to our analytics provider at all. Our Cookie Policy sets out the full inventory.
Why we process it, and on what basis
We process personal information for the purposes below. Where a legal basis is required, we rely on our legitimate interest in operating and securing a professional services practice, on your consent, or on the steps necessary to enter into a contract with you.
- Responding to your enquiry and, where relevant, preparing a proposal — necessary to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract
- Sending material you have specifically asked for, such as a published briefing — performance of your request
- Assessing a job application and communicating with you about it — steps prior to a possible employment contract
- Protecting our site and forms from automated abuse, including bot verification and rate limiting — legitimate interest in the security of our systems
- Understanding aggregate site usage so we can improve what we publish — consent, withdrawable at any time
- Sending further material where you have opted in — consent, withdrawable at any time
- Meeting our own record-keeping, tax and regulatory obligations — legal obligation
International transfers
We operate from the Hainan Free Trade Port and serve clients entering it from other jurisdictions, so personal information may be accessed from, or stored in, a country other than the one you are in. Some of the service providers listed above operate infrastructure outside the People's Republic of China.
Where information is transferred across a border, we do so only where a lawful transfer mechanism is available for that route, and we require the receiving party to apply protections no weaker than those described in this policy. You may ask us which mechanism applies to a particular transfer.
How long we keep it
We keep personal information only for as long as the purpose it was collected for requires, and then for any further period we are required to retain records.
- Enquiries that do not become engagements: up to 24 months from the last contact, so we can pick up a conversation you return to
- Client engagement records: for the duration of the engagement and for the retention period our own legal, tax and professional obligations require afterwards
- Unsuccessful job applications: up to 12 months, so we can consider you for a later opening; longer only if you ask us to
- Marketing consent records: for as long as the consent stands, plus a record of its withdrawal
- Cookie consent: 12 months, after which we ask again
Your rights
Subject to the law that applies to you, you may exercise the following rights in relation to personal information we hold about you. We do not charge for this, and we will respond within one month; if a request is complex we will tell you within that month and explain the delay.
- Ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete
- Ask us to delete information where we no longer have grounds to keep it
- Ask us to restrict processing while a question about accuracy or grounds is resolved
- Object to processing carried out on the basis of our legitimate interest
- Ask us to transfer information you gave us to another provider, where technically feasible
- Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting anything done before you withdrew it
How to exercise them
Write to enquiries@hainaninc.com. We may ask you to confirm your identity before we act, which is a protection for you rather than an obstacle. If you are not satisfied with how we have handled a request, you may raise it under our Client Service and Complaints policy, and you retain the right to complain to the data protection authority in your jurisdiction.
Security
This site is served over an encrypted connection, and our forms are protected by bot verification and rate limiting. Submissions are validated on our own server before being passed to our form-handling provider, and only fields we have defined are forwarded.
No transmission over the internet is completely secure. Please do not send us sensitive documentation through the website forms; where an engagement requires it, we will agree a secure channel with you.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as our services or our processing change. The version number and date at the top of this page identify the current text. Where a change materially affects how we handle information you have already given us, we will take reasonable steps to tell you directly.
Contact
Questions about this policy, or about how we handle personal information, may be sent to enquiries@hainaninc.com, or by post to HainanInc Advisory Group, Fuxingcheng, Haikou, Hainan Free Trade Port, People's Republic of China.