Privacy policy

1 Who we are

ICA Translations Singapore (“we”, “us”, “our”) is a translation company registered and operating in Singapore, with its office at 7 Temasek Boulevard, #12-07, Suntec Tower One, Singapore 038987.

For the purposes of the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (“PDPA”), we are the organisation responsible for personal data collected through this website, through our messaging and email channels, and in the course of providing translation, certification, notarisation and legalisation services.

2 Data protection officer

Questions, access requests, correction requests, withdrawals of consent and complaints about personal data should be directed to our Data Protection Officer.

We aim to acknowledge every request within three working days and to respond substantively within thirty days. Where a request is complex and will take longer, we will tell you and give you a revised timeframe.

3 What personal data we collect

3.1 Information you give us directly

• Contact details — name, phone number, WhatsApp number, email address, and a postal address where you ask for physical delivery.
• Enquiry details — the language pair, document type, purpose of the application, deadline and any notes you add to a form or message.
• Document contents — the personal data contained in the documents you send us for translation. Depending on the document, this may include your identity number, date and place of birth, parents’ names, marital status, family relationships, educational history, employment and income details, criminal record information, and health information.
• Payment information — billing name, and the reference or transaction details our payment provider returns to us.

3.2 Information we collect automatically

• Technical data — IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, and referring page.
• Usage data — pages viewed, time on page, and the links you follow, collected in aggregate through analytics.

3.3 Information from third parties

Where a company, law firm, relocation consultancy or family member instructs us on your behalf, we receive your personal data from them. We rely on that party having your consent to share it, and we will tell you what we hold if you ask.

4 Why we collect and use it

We collect, use and disclose personal data for these purposes and no others:

1. To prepare a quotation and respond to your enquiry.
2. To translate, review, certify and where instructed notarise or legalise your documents.
3. To verify that names, dates and identifiers in a translation match your other documents, where you have provided them for that purpose.
4. To deliver the completed work, including arranging courier delivery.
5. To invoice you, process payment and keep accounting records required by law.
6. To respond to questions, corrections, complaints and requests for reissue.
7. To send you service messages relating to an order you have placed.
8. To maintain security, prevent fraud, and comply with legal or regulatory obligations.

We do not use your documents or their contents for marketing, for research, or to develop or train machine translation or artificial intelligence systems.

5 Consent and withdrawing it

By sending us a document, submitting a form or messaging us, you consent to our collecting and using your personal data for the purposes set out in section 4. In some cases we collect or use data without consent where the PDPA permits it, such as where it is necessary for a legal obligation or for our legitimate interests in operating the business.

You may withdraw consent at any time by writing to our Data Protection Officer. We will act on the withdrawal within a reasonable period and tell you the likely consequences — in most cases, that we can no longer continue or complete your order. Withdrawal does not affect anything lawfully done before we received it, and does not override records we are separately required to keep.

6 Who we share it with

We disclose personal data only where it is necessary to deliver the service you asked for. Recipients fall into these categories:

• Translators and reviewers on our panel, limited to the two linguists assigned to your job, each bound by a written confidentiality undertaking.
• Notaries Public in Singapore, where you have ordered notarisation. The notary sees the document, the translation and the translator’s declaration.
• The Singapore Academy of Law, where authentication or an apostille is ordered.
• Courier companies, which receive delivery name, address and contact number only.
• Payment processors and our bank, which handle transaction data. We do not store full card numbers.
• Professional advisers and auditors, where required and under a duty of confidence.
• Government authorities or courts, where we are legally compelled to disclose.

We do not sell, rent, trade or otherwise make personal data available to advertisers, data brokers or unrelated third parties.

7 Transfers outside Singapore

Some translators on our panel are located outside Singapore, most often in the country that issued your document, because familiarity with local registry formats produces a better translation. Cloud infrastructure used for file storage and email may also be located overseas.

Where personal data is transferred out of Singapore, we take steps required by section 26 of the PDPA to ensure the recipient is bound to a standard of protection comparable to the PDPA, through written contractual undertakings. If you would prefer your document not to leave Singapore, tell us before you confirm your order and we will assign it to an in-house linguist where the language pair allows.

8 How long we keep it

Deletion is permanent and includes backups on their next rotation cycle. If you need a reissue after deletion, the document will have to be translated again as a new order.

9 How we protect it

• Files are transmitted over encrypted connections and stored on access-controlled systems.
• Access is granted per job, not per person: a translator can see the file they are working on and no others.
• Every translator and reviewer signs a confidentiality undertaking before joining the panel.
• Staff accounts use multi-factor authentication and are revoked immediately on departure.
• Physical documents held at our office are stored in locked storage and returned or shredded.
• Access logs are reviewed periodically.

No system is completely secure. If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in significant harm or is of a significant scale, we will notify the Personal Data Protection Commission and affected individuals as required by law.

10 Your rights

Under the PDPA you may ask us to:

Send requests to our Data Protection Officer. We may need to verify your identity first, and a reasonable fee may apply to access requests that require substantial effort, in which case we will give you a written estimate before proceeding. A small number of exceptions apply under the PDPA, and we will tell you if one applies to your request.

11 Cookies and analytics

This website uses a small number of cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies, which keep the site working and cannot be switched off.
• Analytics cookies, which tell us in aggregate which pages are read and where visitors arrive from.

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking analytics cookies does not affect your ability to use the site or place an order. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

12 Marketing and the Do Not Call registry

We send marketing messages only to people who have asked for them. Every marketing email carries an unsubscribe link that we act on immediately. Messages about an order you have placed are service messages, not marketing, and continue until the order is complete.

Before sending marketing messages to a Singapore telephone number we check the national Do Not Call registry as required, unless you have given us clear and unambiguous consent in writing.

13 Children

Our services are directed at adults. We frequently translate documents belonging to children — birth certificates, school records, immunisation records — and that data is provided by a parent or guardian, who is responsible for consenting on the child’s behalf. We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from a child.

14 Third-party links

This website links to external sites, including government pages and messaging platforms. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites, and we encourage you to read their policies before providing personal data to them.

15 Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in our practices or in the law. The version in force is always the one published here, with the effective date shown at the top of the page. Where a change materially affects how we handle your personal data, we will notify active clients by email before it takes effect.

16 Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please raise it with our Data Protection Officer first — most concerns are resolved quickly at that stage. If you remain dissatisfied, you may lodge a complaint with the Personal Data Protection Commission of Singapore, which is the regulator for the PDPA.

This policy is provided for transparency and does not form legal advice. It should be read together with our terms and conditions, which govern the services we provide.