PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy outlines the general principles governing how Zazen Group (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and protects your personal data in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

This Privacy Policy is designed to align with common data privacy principles observed in most jurisdictions. However, specific variations may apply to reflect local legal requirements where applicable.

Scope of the Zazen Group

The Zazen Group consists of the following group of companies at present:

Zazen Worldwide Sdn Bhd (551668-D)

Zazen Design & Production Sdn Bhd (644275-H)

Society for the Teachings of Dhyan Vimal, Malaysia (1317-09-SEL)

Friends to Mankind Society of Malaysia (2022-09-SEL)

Dhyan Vimal Institute for Higher Learning, Inc Canada (BC0792263)

DV Retreat Center AB (559142-2042)

Dhyan Vimal Institute for Higher Learning Sweden AB (559379-3077)

This list may be updated from time to time to reflect changes within our corporate structure.

Websites Owned and/or Managed by Zazen Group include the following websites:

www.dhyanvimal.com

www.dhyanvimalinstitute.com

www.dvashram.com

www.friendstomankind.org

www.dvcreationprogram.com 

1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT FROM YOU

We may collect and process the following personal data about you

(a) Information that you provide by filling in forms on any of the websites indicated above or subsequent URL which may replace it and includes news, blogs, events, advertisements and any other contents (“Website”). This includes information provided at the time of registering to use the Website, subscribing to our service, posting material including queries, comments and photos, requesting further services or participate in our online programmes, or use other features of the Website. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with the Website.

(b) Communications records – If you contact us, we may retain a record of such correspondence, including emails and other communications.

(c) Call details – If you contact us by telephone, we may log call details, including metadata and transcripts where applicable.

(d) Surveys and feedback – We may request that you complete surveys or provide feedback for research purposes. Participation is voluntary.

(e) Transaction details – Information related to transactions conducted via the Website, including order fulfillment records.

(f) Website usage data – Details of your visits to the Website, including traffic data, location data, weblogs, and other communication data collected for operational, billing, or analytical purposes.

(g) Social media and mobile interactions – Information shared through our social media pages, mobile apps, or other electronic communications.

(h) Referrals – Information obtained through referrals from affiliates, business associates, or third parties, whether located within or outside Malaysia.

(i) Identity verification – Data provided for identity verification when registering for specific programs or transactions (e.g., government-issued ID, passport, driver’s license) as permitted by applicable laws.

(j) User-generated content – Any material you voluntarily distribute via our platforms, whether electronically or otherwise.

2. IP ADDRESSES AND COOKIES

2.1 We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to help diagnose problems with our server. This data is statistical and does not personally identify individuals.

2.2 For the same reason, we may obtain information about your general internet usage by using cookies. A cookie is an element of data that a website can send to your browser, which may then store it on your system. We use cookies in some of our pages to store your preferences and record session information. They help us to improve the Website and to deliver a better and more personalised service.

2.3 You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of the Website.

2.4 To maintain security, you should prevent unauthorized access to your devices and log out after using shared computers.

2.5 We use tracking software to monitor customer traffic patterns and site usage to help us develop the design and layout of the Website. This software does not enable us to capture any personal passenger information.

3. STORING AND SECURITY

3.1 The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Union. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your personal data is treated securely and in accordance with this policy.

3.2 Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to the Website; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

4. USES MADE OF THE DATA

4.1 We process your personal data for the following purposes:

(a) To enable you to access and use the Website.

(b) To provide you with information and update relating to our products, services and/or programs and other information that we think may be of interest to you.

(c) To facilitate your participation in our online or offline programs.

(d) To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.

(e) To notify you about changes to our services, products and/or programs.

(f) For financial purposes such as credit or other payment card verification, accounting, billing and audit.

(g) For business development purposes such as statistical and marketing analysis, systems testing, maintenance and development, customer surveys, customer relations or to help us in any future dealings with you, for example by identifying your requirements and preference.

(h) To comply with any legal or regulatory requirements.

(i) To enforce our terms of services and other policies and/or contract signed.

(j) For all other purposes ancillary to any of the purposes stated above.

5. DISCLOSURE OF YOUR DATA

5.1 We may disclose your data to any member of our group, which means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries or one of our affiliate companies.

5.2 We will not trade or sell your Personal Data to third parties. We may disclose your personal information to the following third parties appointed or authorised by the Company, who may be located inside or outside the European Union for the fulfilment of the purposes set out in Clause 4 above:

(a) In fulfilling our obligations of your order or facilitating your participation in our online or offline programs, in which case we may disclose your data to our staff operating in or outside European Union or by one of our service providers. Such staff or service providers maybe engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your order, the processing of your payment details, the provision of support services and the facilitation of the programs.

(b) If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our website terms and conditions of use and other agreements; or to protect our rights, property, our customers or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

(c) In order to ensure the adequate performance of our contract with you, we will need to share need to share your personal date with our third party service providers to help us provide services related to the Website. Service providers may be located inside or outside of European Union. For example, service providers may help us: (i) verify your identity or authenticate your identification documents, (ii) check information against public databases, (iii) conduct background or police checks, fraud prevention, and risk assessment, (iv) perform product development, maintenance and debugging, (v) allow the provision of the our services through third party platforms and software tools (e.g. through the integration with our APIs), or (vi) provide customer service, advertising, or payments services. These providers have limited access to your information to perform these tasks on our behalf, and are contractually bound to protect and to use it only for the purposes for which it was disclosed and consistent with this policy.

(d) In jurisdictions where the Company facilitates or requires a registration, notification, permit, or license application with a local governmental authority in accordance with local law, we may share your personal data with the relevant authority, both during the application process and, if applicable, periodically thereafter, such as the your full name and contact details, accommodation address, identification number etc.

5.3 In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.

5.4 If our assets or substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.

5.5 Information you share publicly on the Website may be indexed through third party search engines. In some cases, you may opt-out of this feature in your Account settings. If you change your settings or your public-facing content, these search engines may not update their databases. We do not control the practices of third party search engines, and they may use caches containing your outdated information.

5.6 We may also share aggregated information (information about our users that we combine together so that it no longer identifies or references an individual user) and other anonymized information for regulatory compliance, industry and market analysis, demographic profiling, marketing and advertising, and other business purposes.

6. Third Party Partners and Integrations 

The Website may contain links to third party websites or services, such as third party integrations, co-branded services, or third party-branded services (“Third Party Partners”). We do own or control these Third Party Partners and when you interact with them, you may be providing information directly to the Third Party Partner, us, or both. These Third Party Partners will have their own rules about the collection, use, and disclosure of information. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of the other websites you visit.

7. YOUR RIGHTS

You may exercise any of the rights described in this section by contacting us at legal@dvinstitute.com . To protect your privacy and security, we may require verification of your identity before processing your request.

7.1 Managing Your Information

You may access and update some of your information through your Account settings. You are responsible for keeping your personal information up-to-date.

7.2 Rectification of Inaccurate or Incomplete Information

You have the right to request correction of any inaccurate or incomplete personal information that we hold about you. Where such information cannot be updated directly via your Account, you may submit a request for rectification.

7.3 Data Access and Portability

In some jurisdictions, applicable law may entitle you to request copies of your personal information held by us. You may also be entitled to request copies of personal information that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and/or request us to transmit this information to another service provider (where technically feasible).

7.4 Data Retention and Erasure

We generally retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to:

Fulfil contractual obligations between you and us.

Comply with legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, or other obligations.

Protect our legitimate business interests, such as fraud prevention and security.

If you wish to delete your personal data and close your Account, you may submit a request. However, please note:

We may retain certain personal data where necessary for legitimate business interests, such as fraud prevention and ensuring platform security. For instance, if an Account is suspended due to fraud or security concerns, we may retain specific information to prevent further misuse.

We may retain your data to comply with legal obligations, including tax, legal reporting, and auditing requirements.

Information you have shared publicly (e.g., comments, reviews, forum postings) may remain visible even after your Account is deleted.

Due to backup and security measures, residual copies of your personal data may persist in our backup systems for a limited time, even after deletion.

7.5 Withdrawing Consent and Restriction of Processing.

Where you have provided your consent to the processing of your personal information by us you may withdraw your consent by sending a communication to support@dvcreationprogram.com specifying which consent you are withdrawing. Please note that the withdrawal of your consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing activities based on such consent before its withdrawal. Additionally, in some jurisdictions, applicable law may give you the right to limit the ways in which we use your personal information, in particular where (i) you contest the accuracy of your personal information; (ii) the processing is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of your personal information; (iii) we no longer need your personal information for the purposes of the processing, but you require the information for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or (iv) you have objected to the processing pursuant to Clause 6.6 and pending the verification whether the legitimate grounds of DV override your own.

Please note that it is obligatory for the Company to process your Personal Data for the purposes stated in Clause 4 above, without which we will not be able to keep you updated about our future, new and/or enhanced services, products and programs and/or for the performance of the contract between you and us.

7.6 Objection to Processing

In some jurisdictions, applicable law may entitle you to require us not to process your personal information for certain specific purposes (including profiling) where such processing is based on legitimate interest. If you object to such processing we will no longer process your personal information for these purposes unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for such processing or such processing is required for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Where your personal information is processed for direct marketing purposes, you may, at any time ask us to cease processing your data for these direct marketing purposes by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ button.

8. ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Please note that depending on the information requested, a nominal fee may be charged. We will endeavour to provide the information back to you as soon as practicable. However we also reserve the right to validate all requests for the authenticity of the request. We may refuse to comply with data access request in circumstances as provided by the law. If we are not able to comply with your request, we will notify you of the reasons.

9. SECURITY 

We are continuously implementing and updating administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your information against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration. Some of the safeguards we use to protect your information are firewalls and data encryption, and information access controls. If you become aware of or suspect that your Account credentials have been lost, stolen, misused, or compromised, or if you detect any unauthorized access to your Account, you must immediately notify us using the the instructions in the ‘Contact Us’ section below.

10. CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this policy at any time in accordance with this provision. If we make changes to this policy, we will post the revised policy on the website. We will also provide you with notice of the modification on the website and Continued use of the website will constitute your agreement. Your continued use of the Website following the effective date of any updates constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the changes, you may cancel your Account before the revised policy takes effect.

11. CONTACT US

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or our data handling practices, you may contact us at:

📧 Legal Inquiries: legal@dvinstitute.com

📧 General Support: support@dvcreationprogram.com

We will respond to inquiries in compliance with applicable data protection laws and strive to address your concerns in a timely manner.