Privacy Policy

GTI generally determines why and how personal information is processed for the operation of the Platform and therefore acts as the personal information processor, controller or equivalent responsible organization under applicable law.

In some cases, a company using the Platform may separately determine why it provides or uses personal information about its employees, representatives or contacts. That company is responsible for ensuring it has authority and a lawful basis to provide such information to GTI.

Depending on how you interact with the Platform, we may collect the following categories of personal information.

Account and identity information

• first name and last name;
• business email address;
• account identifier and authentication records;
• job title and decision-making level;
• mobile telephone number;
• WhatsApp, WeChat or other contact identifiers;
• preferred language; and
• account, membership and approval status.

Company and professional information

• company name, brand name and organization type;
• country, region, city and business address;
• website and company contact details;
• company description and business activities;
• products, product categories and product types;
• markets served and areas of interest;
• company administrator status and company membership role;
• supporting documents submitted for company verification; and
• other professional information supplied by you or your organization.

Buyer and supplier activity

• buyer sourcing requests;
• product requirements and preferred markets;
• supplier interests and responses;
• business introduction requests;
• matching and recommendation activity;
• saved opportunities or visit lists;
• review status and administrative notes; and
• communications associated with requests, interests or introductions.

Exhibition and event information

• buyer, supplier, visitor or exhibitor registration data;
• event edition and attendance details;
• company, booth and exhibition information;
• badge, pass, QR code and registration identifiers;
• check-in and scan records;
• visit lists and booth-finder activity;
• uploaded registration or verification documents; and
• event-related support communications.

Communications and support information

• contact form submissions;
• emails and messages sent to GTI;
• customer support requests;
• complaints, enquiries and feedback;
• communication history; and
• records necessary to resolve an issue.

Technical and usage information

• IP address;
• browser type and operating system;
• device and network information;
• login date, time and authentication events;
• pages, routes and features accessed;
• error logs and diagnostic data;
• security, fraud and abuse signals;
• referring pages or links; and
• cookie or similar technology identifiers.

AI and automated feature information

• questions or instructions submitted to AI features;
• AI conversation content;
• search terms and requested product categories;
• generated summaries, matches and recommendations;
• feedback on automated outputs; and
• system records used to monitor reliability, safety and performance.

We may collect personal information:

• directly from you;
• from your employer or organization;
• from a company administrator;
• through buyer or supplier registration forms;
• through exhibition registration and on-site systems;
• when you submit a buyer request, supplier interest or introduction request;
• when you use the AI Advisor or search tools;
• when you contact GTI by email, form, telephone, WeChat or WhatsApp;
• from publicly available company websites, exhibition catalogues or business directories;
• from authorized GTI employees, contractors, partners or event organizers; and
• automatically when you access or use the Platform.

We may use personal information to:

• create, authenticate and maintain accounts;
• verify email addresses and account access;
• connect individuals to their company or organization;
• manage Primary Administrator, Secondary Administrator and member permissions;
• review and approve company membership requests;
• maintain personal and company profiles;
• operate company and supplier directories;
• display approved public company information;
• process buyer and supplier registrations;
• process exhibition and event registrations;
• issue QR codes, badges, passes or admission records;
• provide booth-finder, map and visit-list functions;
• receive and manage buyer sourcing requests;
• receive and manage supplier interests;
• provide matching and introduction services;
• generate AI-assisted results, summaries and recommendations;
• communicate about accounts, requests and events;
• respond to enquiries and support requests;
• improve data quality and category consistency;
• operate, maintain and improve the Platform;
• protect Platform security and prevent misuse;
• investigate fraud, abuse or unauthorized access;
• maintain internal records and audit trails;
• comply with legal and regulatory obligations; and
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Depending on the applicable law and the circumstances, GTI may process personal information on one or more of the following grounds:

• your consent;
• processing necessary to enter into or perform an agreement with you;
• processing necessary for human-resources or organization management carried out under lawful rules;
• compliance with legal obligations;
• protection of life, health, safety or property in an emergency;
• reasonable processing of information lawfully made public;
• our legitimate interests or those of another party, where permitted and not overridden by your rights; or
• another basis permitted by applicable law.

Where consent is required, you may withdraw consent, although withdrawal will not affect processing already lawfully completed before withdrawal.

The Platform connects individual users to company accounts. Approved company administrators may view company membership information and take permitted administrative actions, including approving, rejecting or removing members and assigning authorized administrator roles.

Company administrators may see limited professional information about company members, such as name, business email, job title, decision level, membership status and company role.

Each user manages their own Personal Account information. Company administrator permissions do not authorize an administrator to impersonate another person or change another person’s private login credentials.

Your employer or organization may have its own privacy obligations and policies concerning the information it submits or accesses through the Platform.

Certain approved company, product, brand, exhibition and business information may be made publicly accessible through company profiles, directories, exhibition listings and search results.

Public information may include company name, brand name, country, city, company description, website, business contact information, product categories, product types, booth details and other approved business information.

Personal contact information will not be made public unless the relevant feature, submission process, account setting or authorization indicates that it is intended for public display.

Search engines and third parties may independently index or retain information that has been made publicly available.

Buyer request information may be shared with suitable suppliers or reviewed by GTI staff for matching and introduction purposes.

GTI may limit the disclosure of buyer identity or contact information until an introduction is approved or another authorized communication stage is reached.

Supplier interest information may be shared with the relevant buyer, GTI reviewers or authorized company administrators as necessary to evaluate or facilitate the opportunity.

Users must not use information received through an introduction for unrelated marketing, data harvesting, harassment or unauthorized disclosure.

GTI may use automated systems to classify information, identify product categories, rank search results, suggest suppliers, generate summaries, support matching or assist users through conversational tools.

Automated outputs may be based on information supplied by users, public business information, GTI-managed data, structured categories, platform activity and system rules.

AI outputs may be inaccurate or incomplete and should not be treated as a guarantee, certification or final decision.

GTI does not intend to use fully automated processing to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects on an individual without appropriate review or another lawful basis.

You should not submit unnecessary sensitive personal information, confidential information or trade secrets to AI features.

GTI does not generally require sensitive personal information for ordinary Platform membership.

Certain event, identity-verification, security or legal processes may involve information treated as sensitive under applicable law. Where required, GTI will provide specific notice and obtain separate consent or another valid legal basis before processing such information.

Users should not upload identity documents, financial account information, health information, biometric information or other sensitive personal information unless the relevant feature specifically requests it and the submission is necessary.

The Platform may use cookies, local storage, session storage and similar technologies to:

• maintain login sessions;
• remember language or interface preferences;
• protect account and Platform security;
• prevent fraud and unauthorized access;
• support essential technical operations;
• measure service performance; and
• diagnose errors.

Essential technologies may be required for the Platform to function. Where required by law, non-essential cookies or analytics technologies will be used only after appropriate notice or consent.

Browser settings may allow you to block or delete cookies, but doing so may affect login, preferences or other Platform functions.

GTI does not sell personal information to advertisers.

We may share personal information only as reasonably necessary with:

• your company and authorized company administrators;
• buyers, suppliers or business contacts involved in an authorized request, interest or introduction;
• exhibitors, event organizers, venues or event-service partners;
• cloud-hosting, database, storage and authentication providers;
• email and communication providers;
• security, fraud-prevention and technical providers;
• analytics and diagnostic providers;
• professional advisers and auditors;
• regulators, courts, law-enforcement or government authorities where legally required;
• a successor, purchaser or restructuring party in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization or transfer of Platform operations; and
• another party where you have authorized or requested the disclosure.

Service providers are expected to process personal information only for authorized purposes and subject to appropriate confidentiality, security and data-protection obligations.

GTI uses third-party infrastructure and service providers to operate the Platform. Depending on the deployed service and region, these providers may support:

• cloud application hosting;
• database hosting and storage;
• account authentication;
• email delivery;
• document and image storage;
• logging and error monitoring;
• security and abuse prevention;
• AI or language-processing functions; and
• event and communication services.

As at the effective date, the principal providers are:

• Supabase — database, authentication and file storage; project hosted in Australia (Sydney);
• Vercel — website and application hosting; content is served from a global edge network and application code runs in Australia (Sydney);
• Sentry — error and performance monitoring; data region United States. Error reports are configured to exclude request bodies, cookies, authorization headers and user identifiers;
• OpenAI — language model used by the AI Advisor; United States. Only the content you submit to the AI Advisor, after removal of detectable contact details, is sent to this provider; and
• email delivery providers — for account, registration and support messages.

The providers actually used may change as the Platform develops. GTI will assess providers and contractual protections according to the nature of the service and applicable law, and will update this section when a principal provider or storage location changes.

GTI serves an international industry. Personal information may therefore be accessed, stored or processed in jurisdictions outside the country or region where it was collected.

In particular, because the Platform’s primary infrastructure is located in Australia and certain monitoring and AI providers are located in the United States (see section 13), personal information collected from users in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan or elsewhere is transferred to and stored in those locations. GTI EXPO staff in Guangzhou, China access this information to operate the Platform and events.

This may occur where GTI personnel, users, event participants, service providers, infrastructure or business contacts are located in different countries or regions.

Where applicable law requires a specific cross-border transfer mechanism, separate consent, contractual protection, security assessment, certification, filing or other safeguard, GTI will take the required steps before conducting the relevant transfer.

Laws and enforcement practices in another jurisdiction may differ from those in your place of residence.

GTI retains personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, including to:

• maintain an active account or company membership;
• provide requested services;
• support exhibitions and business introductions;
• maintain security and prevent fraud;
• resolve complaints or disputes;
• maintain appropriate business and audit records;
• comply with legal obligations; and
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Retention periods may differ according to the type of information. For example:

• account information may be retained while the account is active and for a reasonable period afterward;
• company and exhibition records may be retained to preserve event, directory and business history;
• transaction, consent, security and legal records may be retained for the applicable limitation or statutory period;
• unsuccessful or incomplete registrations may be deleted or anonymized after an appropriate administrative period;
• raw on-site behavioural events (section 22) are retained for up to 180 days after the relevant exhibition edition, which is the window used to compute demand indicators, and are then deleted or reduced to aggregated form; and
• backup copies may remain temporarily until overwritten under normal backup cycles.

When information is no longer required, GTI will delete, anonymize or otherwise securely dispose of it, subject to technical and legal limitations.

GTI uses reasonable administrative, technical and organizational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure or destruction.

These measures may include:

• authenticated access controls;
• role-based permissions;
• database security policies;
• encrypted network transmission;
• restricted administrative access;
• logging and monitoring;
• software updates and vulnerability management;
• backups and service-recovery procedures;
• service-provider review; and
• staff confidentiality obligations.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Users are responsible for protecting their passwords, authentication links and account devices.

Where required by law, GTI will assess and respond to personal information security incidents and provide notifications to affected individuals or competent authorities.

Subject to applicable law and relevant exceptions, you may have the right to:

• know how your personal information is processed;
• request access to your personal information;
• request a copy of your personal information;
• request correction or completion of inaccurate information;
• request deletion of personal information;
• withdraw consent;
• object to or restrict certain processing;
• request transfer of information where legally applicable;
• request an explanation of personal information processing rules;
• object to certain automated decision-making or request human review;
• close your account;
• submit a complaint; and
• authorize another person to exercise rights where permitted by law.

Some information can be updated directly through Personal Account or Company Information features.

For other requests, contact GTI using the details below. We may need to verify your identity, authority or account relationship before completing a request.

A request may be limited or refused where permitted by law, including where disclosure would adversely affect another person, compromise security, reveal confidential information or conflict with a legal retention obligation. GTI will provide an explanation where required.

You may request account closure by contacting GTI. Account closure may result in loss of access to company records, requests, interests, introductions, saved lists and other Platform functions.

Closing an individual account does not necessarily require deletion of:

• company information independently controlled by the company;
• approved public exhibition or company records;
• records necessary to protect other users or Platform security;
• communications or records required for legal compliance;
• information needed to resolve disputes or enforce agreements; or
• anonymized information that no longer identifies you.

GTI may send service-related communications concerning account security, registration status, company membership, buyer requests, supplier interests, exhibitions, support or material changes to Platform terms.

Where legally permitted, GTI may also send information about relevant exhibitions, products, services, industry updates or business opportunities.

You may opt out of non-essential marketing communications by using an unsubscribe method provided in the message or by contacting GTI. Opting out will not stop essential service-related communications.

The Platform is intended for business and professional users and is not directed to children.

Users must normally be at least 18 years old or have the legal capacity required in their jurisdiction.

GTI does not knowingly collect personal information from children through ordinary Platform membership. Where an event or lawful service involves a minor, GTI will apply appropriate age, guardian-consent and sensitive-information safeguards as required by law.

The Platform may contain links to third-party websites, maps, communication platforms, social networks, event providers or other services.

GTI does not control the privacy practices of independent third parties. Their collection and use of personal information are governed by their own privacy notices and terms.

During GTI EXPO editions, the Platform offers on-site tools — the Exhibitors & Booth Finder, the floor map, the visit list, exhibitor detail pages and the “Tell GTI what you are sourcing” form — that can be used without an account, typically by scanning a QR code printed at the venue.

To measure which product categories, exhibitors and halls draw attention, the Platform records the following behavioural events when these tools are used: search terms and selected filters; product categories matched to a search; exhibitors added to or removed from a visit list; exhibitor detail pages opened; and sourcing requests submitted through the form. Each event carries the edition, the time, and the product categories involved.

Events from visitors who are not signed in are associated with a random identifier generated by the Platform and stored in the browser’s local storage. This identifier contains no personal details and is not linked to a name, telephone number or email address unless you later sign in or submit a form containing that information. It exists so that repeated actions by one visitor are not counted as many visitors. Clearing browser site data removes it.

The visit list itself is stored only in your browser and is not uploaded to GTI; only the act of adding or removing an exhibitor is recorded as an event.

GTI uses these events to produce aggregated, anonymised demand indicators — for example, how many distinct visitors searched for a product category during an edition — for internal planning, exhibitor recruitment, market reports and products offered to suppliers. Indicators are published only above minimum sample thresholds, and no single visitor’s activity is identifiable in them. GTI does not disclose an individual buyer’s identity, searches, visit list or sourcing requests to exhibitors or other suppliers, consistent with section 8.

Raw behavioural events are retained for the period stated in section 15 and may be deleted or further anonymised after the aggregated indicators have been produced. You may object to this processing, or ask for events associated with your identifier to be deleted, by contacting us under section 17; please include the identifier shown in your browser’s site data if you wish us to locate the events.

GTI may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in the Platform, processing activities, service providers, legal requirements or business operations.

Updated versions will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.

Where a change materially affects the way personal information is processed or affects individual rights, GTI may provide additional notice through the Platform, email or another appropriate method and obtain consent where required.

Questions, privacy requests or complaints may be submitted to:

Please describe your request clearly and include enough information for GTI to identify the relevant account, registration or processing activity.

GTI will review and respond within the period required by applicable law. You may also have the right to complain to a competent data-protection, cybersecurity or other regulatory authority.