Privacy Policy - Forensic HID Co.

privacy policy.

Forensic Human Identification Global Services Pty Ltd trading as Forensic Human Identification Co. (ABN 16 677 743 092) (we, us, our) is a social enterprise that provides forensic human identification services for law enforcement, coronial, humanitarian, historical, cultural, legal and personal purposes.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information that we collect from individuals (you, your) and maintaining the trust of the communities, agencies and individuals we interact with.

This Privacy Policy sets out the principles that we follow when handling personal information to help ensure compliance with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as may be amended from time to time and any other applicable privacy or data protection laws.

Given the global nature of our services, we may supplement this Privacy Policy with additional privacy notices or statements to explain how we handle personal information in specific contexts or jurisdictions and to comply with applicable local privacy or data protection laws.

Unless otherwise specified, this Privacy Policy only applies to personal information relating to living individuals.

What is personal information?

In this Privacy Policy, “personal information” means any information (including “sensitive personal information“) that can be used to identify you personally. This may include information or an opinion that personally identifies you either directly or indirectly, such as your name and contact details.

Sensitive personal information includes information about an individual’s health or genetic information, as well as racial or ethnic information.

When and how do we collect personal information?

We may collect personal information whenever you interact with us, such as when you:

visit our website
make an enquiry with us via our website or by email, phone, social media or personal contact
purchase a product or service from us
complete an intake form (such as a Client Engagement Agreement, Consent Form or similar)
submit a biological sample to us (such as a buccal swab or similar)

What personal information do we collect and hold?

The personal information we collect and hold will depend on how we have been engaged and the services we are providing.

The following examples illustrate common categories of forensic human identification services for which we collect and hold personal information:


Categories of services	Individuals from or about whom personal information may be collected	Types of personal information that may be collected (non-exhaustive)
When you submit enquiries or engage our services	Potential or engaged clients	Name Address, email address, phone number Photographic identification Bank account details Communication preferences
When we undertake services to identify human remains by linking unknown deceased persons to potential living biological relatives	Living biological relatives of a missing or deceased person	Name, sex, date of birth Address, email address, phone number Photographic identification Nationality and citizenship information Family relationship information, which may include: status as a biological relative name, contact details, sex, date of birth and death and place of birth and death of other biological relatives Sensitive personal information. Unless permitted or required by law, this information will only be collected with consent and may include: racial or ethnicity information genetic information, such as biological samples and DNA profiles
When we undertake services to locate missing persons by linking unknown deceased persons to known missing persons	Known missing persons (whose life/death status is unknown at the time of collection)	Name, sex, gender, date of birth Nationality and citizenship information Information about when the individual was last seen, which may include: age, date and location physical characteristics lifestyle factors Sensitive personal information. This information will only be collected where permitted or required by law and may include: racial or ethnicity information genetic information, such as biological samples and DNA profiles health information, such as medical or dental information
When we undertake services to reunify families by linking living biological relatives with each other	Living individuals seeking family reunification	Name, sex, date of birth Address, email address, phone number Nationality and citizenship information Family relationship information, which may include: status as a biological relative name, contact details, sex, date of birth and death and place of birth and death of other biological relatives Sensitive personal information. This information will only be collected with consent and may include: racial or ethnicity information genetic information, such as biological samples and DNA profiles

How do we collect your personal information?

Directly from you

We will generally collect personal information directly from you, such as through your communications with us via our website, email, phone, social media or personal contact. This may also include the collection of genetic information through the provision of a biological sample (such as a buccal swab or similar).

Indirectly from others

We may also receive personal information from third parties, such as in the following example scenarios:

when providing forensic human identification services – we may receive personal information about the individual who is the subject of the matter, including information about their living biological relatives, from clients who have engaged our services
when conducting genealogical research in connection with our services – we may collect personal information from public sources, such as genetic genealogy databases (in accordance with their terms of service), family trees, historical records (such as cemetery, military, immigration, census and births, deaths and marriages records), newspaper archives, social media platforms and search engine results

How do we use your personal information?

We use your personal information for the purposes for which you provided it and/or for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

We may use your personal information to:

contact and communicate with you
verify your identity
manage our relationship with you
process transactions, payments and refunds
assess the suitability of our services for you
perform forensic human identification services using the information you have provided in accordance with our contract or your consent
monitor, evaluate and improve our business and website
develop, optimise and expand our products and services, including for internal training, research, validation and quality purposes (we will only use deidentified personal information from individuals who have provided consent)
comply with our legal obligations, including to comply with a request from or a requirement of a court, tribunal or government or law enforcement authority

How do we disclose your personal information?

We may need to disclose some of your personal information to third parties while performing the activities described in the section ‘How do we use your personal information?’ above or in otherwise providing our products or performing our services.

We may disclose your personal information to:

external service providers and consultants contracted by us to provide forensic human identification services
our clients and their authorised representatives, which may include: government, law enforcement and coronial agencies; humanitarian, heritage and Indigenous organisations; legal practitioners; and other agencies, organisations, groups or individuals who have engaged us to provide forensic human identification services
a potential biological relative, in the event your genetic information indicates a biological relationship with another living person (we will only make this disclosure with your consent)
a relevant authority responsible for conducting a death investigation, confirming a deceased person’s identity or issuing a death certificate, in the event your genetic information indicates a biological relationship with a deceased person (we will only make this disclosure with your consent)
a relevant government or law enforcement authority, where we are legally required to disclose the personal information

We may also need to disclose personal information overseas, including when providing forensic human identification services to clients based outside Australia, or where we engage trusted third-party service providers that may store or process personal information outside Australia. Where this is necessary, we take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate privacy, security and confidentiality measures are in place to help protect your personal information.

How do we protect your personal information?

We take reasonable steps to keep your personal information safe and secure. Access to personal information is limited to authorised persons and service providers who require access for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. Where we disclose your personal information to third parties, we take reasonable steps to ensure that they comply with applicable privacy and data protection laws, including through contractual arrangements with appropriate privacy, security and confidentiality provisions.

We store your personal information as physical or electronic records either in our secure facilities and systems or with trusted third-party service providers, including those with online or cloud storage, which may be located either within Australian and/or overseas. We use physical, electronic and administrative safeguards to help protect the privacy, confidentiality and integrity of the personal information we hold or manage. Personal information is generally stored onshore in Australia, except where it is disclosed or transferred overseas as described above.

How long do we store your personal information?

We retain your personal information only for as long as it is needed to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected or as required by law. When we no longer need your personal information and are not legally required to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to delete, destroy or deidentify it. You can also ask us to delete, destroy or return your personal information at any time by contacting us at impact@forensicHID.co.

Does our website use cookies?

Function of cookies

Cookies are small text files that are downloaded to a user’s computer or mobile device when they access a website, subject to their browser settings. As users navigate our website, cookies may collect and store data about their interactions and preferences. Essential cookies are required for the website to function properly and non-essential cookies are useful for providing analytics insights and enhancing user experience.

Use of cookies

We use essential cookies to support the basic functionality of our website. We may also use non-essential cookies, as well as third-party analytics tools, to analyse website usage and optimise website performance. We do not use cookies to directly identify individual users. Cookies are used for functional and analytical purposes only.

Managing cookies preferences

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies. If you do not wish to have cookies placed on your computer or mobile device, please modify your browser settings to decline them before visiting our website. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality or performance of the website.

How can you access, correct or delete your personal information?

Please contact us at impact@forensicHID.co if you wish to access, correct or request deletion or destruction of your personal information. We will take reasonable steps to comply with such requests where permitted or required by law.

Who should you contact if you have further questions or concerns?

Please contact us at impact@forensicHID.co if you have a question or concern in relation to our handling of your personal information. If you make a privacy complaint, we will investigate the complaint and respond within a reasonable time in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at:

Website: oaic.gov.au

Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

Phone: 1300 363 992

Mail: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001

How often will our policy change?

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. You can always find the most up-to-date version on our website, located at forensicHID.co.

Last updated: 1 July 2026