Reasons for Policy

The corporate information of CoinPort Pty Ltd is important to how it conducts business and manages employees.

Federal law requires CoinPort Pty Ltd Ltd to retain certain records, usually for a specific amount of time. The accidental or intentional destruction of these records during their specified retention periods could result in the following consequences for CoinPort Pty Ltd and/or its employees:

  • Fines and penalties.
  • Loss of rights.
  • Obstruction of justice charges.
  • Inference of spoliation of evidence and spoliation tort claims.
  • Contempt of court charges.
  • Serious disadvantages in litigation.

CoinPort Pty Ltd must retain certain records because they contain information that:

  • Serves as CoinPort Pty Ltd’s corporate memory.
  • Has enduring business value (for example, it provides a record of a business transaction, evidences CoinPort Pty Ltd’s rights or obligations, protects CoinPort Pty Ltd’s legal interests or ensures operational continuity).
  • Must be kept to satisfy legal, accounting or other regulatory requirements.

CoinPort Pty Ltd prohibits the inappropriate destruction of any records, files, documents, samples and other forms of information. This policy is in accordance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, under which it is a crime to change, conceal, falsify or destroy any record with the intent to impede or obstruct any official or government proceeding. Therefore, this policy is part of a company-wide system for the review, retention and destruction of records CoinPort Pty Ltd creates or receives in connection with the business it conducts.

Types of Documents

This policy explains the differences among records, disposable information and confidential information belonging to others.

Records.

A record is any type of information created, received or transmitted in the transaction of CoinPort Pty Ltd’s business, regardless of physical format. Examples of where the various types of information are located are:

  • Appointment books and calendars.
  • Audio and video recordings.
  • Computer programs.
  • Contracts.
  • Electronic files.
  • E-mails.
  • Handwritten notes.
  • Invoices.
  • Letters and other correspondence.
  • Magnetic tape.
  • Memory in cell phones and PDAs.
  • Online postings, such as on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine and other sites.
  • Performance reviews.
  • Test samples.
  • Voicemails.

Therefore, any paper records and electronic files, including any records of donations made online, that are part of any of the categories listed in the Records Retention Schedule contained in the Appendix to this policy, must be retained for the amount of time indicated in the Records Retention Schedule. A record must not be retained beyond the period indicated in the Record Retention Schedule, unless a valid business reason (or a litigation hold or other special situation) calls for its continued retention. If you are unsure whether to retain a certain record, contact the Records Management Officer or the Legal Department.

Disposable Information.

Disposable information consists of data that may be discarded or deleted at the discretion of the user once it has served its temporary useful purpose and/or data that may be safely destroyed because it is not a record as defined by this policy. Examples may include:

  • Duplicates of originals that have not been annotated.
  • Preliminary drafts of letters, memoranda, reports, worksheets and informal notes that do not represent significant steps or decisions in the preparation of an official record.
  • Books, periodicals, manuals, training binders and other printed materials obtained from sources outside of CoinPort Pty Ltd and retained primarily for reference purposes.
  • Spam and junk mail.

Confidential Information Belonging to Others.

Any confidential information that an employee may have obtained from a source outside of CoinPort Pty Ltd, such as a previous employer, must not, so long as such information remains confidential, be disclosed to or used by CoinPort Pty Ltd. Unsolicited confidential information submitted to CoinPort Pty Ltd should be refused, returned to the sender where possible and deleted, if received via the internet.

Mandatory Compliance

Responsibility of All Employees. CoinPort Pty Ltd strives to comply with the laws, rules and regulations by which it is governed and with recognized compliance practices. All company employees must comply with this policy, the Records Retention Schedule and any litigation hold communications. Failure to do so may subject CoinPort Pty Ltd, its employees and contract staff to serious civil and/or criminal liability. An employee’s failure to comply with this policy may result in disciplinary sanctions, including suspension or termination.

Reporting Policy Violations. CoinPort Pty Ltd is committed to enforcing this policy as it applies to all forms of records. The effectiveness of CoinPort Pty Ltd’s efforts, however, depends largely on employees. If you feel that you or someone else may have violated this policy, you should report the incident immediately to your supervisor. If you are not comfortable bringing the matter up with your immediate supervisor, or do not believe the supervisor has dealt with the matter properly, you should raise the matter with the Compliance Manager. If employees do not report inappropriate conduct, CoinPort Pty Ltd may not become aware of a possible violation of this policy and may not be able to take appropriate corrective action. No one will be subject to and CoinPort Pty Ltd prohibits, any form of discipline, reprisal, intimidation or retaliation for reporting incidents of inappropriate conduct of any kind, pursuing any record destruction claim or cooperating in related investigations.

Records Management Department and Records Management Officer

The Records Management Department is responsible for identifying the documents that CoinPort Pty Ltd must or should retain, and determining, in collaboration with the Legal Department, the proper period of retention. It also arranges for the proper storage and retrieval of records, coordinating with outside vendors where appropriate. Additionally, the Records Management Department handles the destruction of records whose retention period has expired. CoinPort Pty Ltd has designated Compliance Manager as the Records Management Officer. The Records Management Officer is head of the Records Management Department and is responsible for:

  • Administering the document management program and helping department heads implement it and related best practices
  • Planning, developing and prescribing document disposal policies, systems, standards and procedures
  • Writing straightforward document management procedures to instruct employees on how to comply with this policy
  • Monitoring departmental compliance so that employees know how to follow the document management procedures and the Legal Department has confidence that CoinPort Pty Ltd’s records are controlled
  • Ensuring that senior management is aware of their departments’ document management responsibilities
  • Developing and implementing measures to ensure that the Legal Department knows what information CoinPort Pty Ltd has and where it is stored, that only authorized users have access to the information, and that CoinPort Pty Ltd keeps only the information it needs, thereby efficiently using space
  • Establishing standards for filing and storage equipment and recordkeeping supplies
  • In cooperation with department heads, identifying essential records and establishing a disaster plan for each office and department to ensure maximum availability of CoinPort Pty Ltd’s records in order to reestablish operations quickly and with minimal interruption and expense
  • Developing procedures to ensure the permanent preservation of CoinPort Pty Ltd’s historically valuable records
  • Providing document management advice and assistance to all departments by preparing manuals of procedure and policy and by on-site consultation
  • Determining the practicability of and, if appropriate, establishing a uniform filing system and a forms design and control system
  • Periodically reviewing the records retention schedules and administrative rules issued by the governments of relevant countries to determine if CoinPort Pty Ltd’s document management program and its Records Retention Schedule is in compliance with state [and foreign] regulations
  • Distributing to the various department heads information concerning state laws and administrative rules relating to corporate records
  • Explaining to employees their duties relating to the document management program
  • Ensuring that the maintenance, preservation, microfilming, computer disk storage, destruction or other disposition of CoinPort Pty Ltd’s records is carried out in accordance with this policy, the procedures of the document management program and the requirements of federal and state law
  • Planning the timetable for the annual records destruction exercise and the annual records audit, including setting deadlines for responses from departmental staff
  • Maintaining records on the volume of records destroyed under the Records Retention Schedule and the records stored electronically
  • Evaluating the overall effectiveness of the document management program
  • Reporting annually to the Board on the implementation of the document management program in each of CoinPort Pty Ltd’s departments
  • Bringing to the attention of the Legal Department any noncompliance by department heads or other employees with this policy and CoinPort Pty Ltd’s document management program.

How to Store and Destroy Records

Storage. CoinPort Pty Ltd’s records must be stored in a safe, secure and accessible manner. Any document and financial files that are essential to CoinPort Pty Ltd’s business operations during an emergency must be duplicated and/or backed up at least once per week and maintained off site.

Destruction. CoinPort Pty Ltd’s [Records Management Officer/OTHER OFFICER/MANAGER] is responsible for the continuing process of identifying the records that have met their required retention period and supervising their destruction. The destruction of confidential, financial and personnel-related records must be conducted by shredding if possible. Non-confidential records may be destroyed by recycling. The destruction of electronic records must be coordinated with the IT Department.

The destruction of records must stop immediately upon notification from [the Legal Department] that a litigation hold is to begin because CoinPort Pty Ltd may be involved in a lawsuit or an official investigation (see next paragraph). Destruction may begin again once the Legal Department lifts the relevant litigation hold.

Litigation Holds and Other Special Situations

CoinPort Pty Ltd requires all employees to fully comply with its published records retention schedule and procedures as provided in this policy. All employees should note the following general exception to any stated destruction schedule: If you believe, or [the Legal Department] informs you, that CoinPort Pty Ltd records are relevant to current litigation, potential litigation (that is, a dispute that could result in litigation), government investigation, audit or other event, you must preserve and not delete, dispose, destroy or change those records, including e-mails, until [the Legal Department] determines those records are no longer needed. This exception is referred to as a litigation hold or legal hold, replaces any previously or subsequently established destruction schedule for those records. If you believe this exception may apply, or have any questions regarding whether it may possibly apply, please contact [the Legal Department].

In addition, you may be asked to suspend any routine document disposal procedures in connection with certain other types of events, such as the merger of CoinPort Pty Ltd with another organization or the replacement of CoinPort Pty Ltd’s information technology systems.

Audits and Employee Questions

Internal Review and Policy Audits. The chief financial officer and chief legal officer of CoinPort Pty Ltd [and the Records Management Officer] will periodically review this policy and its procedures with legal counsel [and/or] CoinPort Pty Ltd’s certified public accountant to ensure CoinPort Pty Ltd is in full compliance with relevant new or amended regulations. Additionally, CoinPort Pty Ltd will regularly audit employee files and computer hard drives to ensure compliance with this policy.

Questions About the Policy. Any questions about this policy should be referred to the Compliance Manager email: [email protected], who is in charge of administering, enforcing and updating this policy.