Privacy Policy
Privacy policy
This policy explains how and why we collect, use, hold and disclose your personal information.
"We", "us" and "our" means CVS Vets (Australia) Pty Ltd ACN 667 654 686 and our related bodies
corporate, registered office c/- BDO Services, Level 18, 360 Queen Street, Brisbane QLD 4000.
You consent to us collecting, holding, using and disclosing your personal information in accordance
with this policy.
What is personal information?
Personal information is any information or an opinion about an identified individual or an
individual who can be reasonably identified from the information or opinion. Information or an
opinion may be personal information regardless of whether it is true.
What personal information do we collect and hold?
We collect information about you and your interactions with us, for example, when you visit a
clinic, purchase any products from us, call us, apply for a job or otherwise visit our websites.
The information we collect from you may include your name, date of birth, address, email address,
phone number, pet details, pet insurance information, credit card details, details and history of
visiting the clinic and purchases of products and details of enquiries or complaints you make. If
you are a job applicant or potential candidate, additional information we collect may include your
work history, references and professional registration details.
We may also collect your image, voice or vehicle registration number from video and voice
surveillance and other recording systems used in our clinics.
We may collect information about how you access, use and interact with our websites. This
information may include:
(a) the location from which you have come to the site and the pages you have visited; and
(b) technical data, which may include IP address, the types of devices you are using to access the
website, device attributes, browser type, language and operating system.
We use cookies on the website. A cookie is a small text file that the website may place on your
device to store information. We may use persistent cookies (which remain on your computer even
after you close your browser) to store information that may speed up your use of our website for
any of your future visits to the website. We may also use session cookies (which no longer remain
after you end your browsing session) to help manage the display and presentation of information on
the website. You may refuse to use cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser.
However, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of the
website.
Why do we collect, hold and use your personal information?
We collect, hold and use your personal information so that we can:
(a) provide you with veterinary services, and manage our relationship with you, including for the
purpose of improving our services and support;
(b) contact you, for example,to respond to your queries or complaints, or if we need to tell you
something important;
(c) comply with our professional standards, legal obligations and assist government and law
enforcement agencies or regulators;
(d) identify and tell you about other products or services that we think may be of interest to
you, including by sending you direct marketing communications;
(e) ensure health, safety and security on our premises;
(f) if you are a job applicant or potential candidate, to consider you for employment;
(g) if you are a practice owner or potential vendor, to identify, evaluate and pursue potential
acquisition, investment, partnership and other business development opportunities, including
communications with you and your representatives.
If you do not provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with our
services, communicate with you or respond to your enquiries.
How do we collect your personal information?
We will collect your personal information directly from you whenever you interact with us,
including when you:
(a) make a booking, including online or via the telephone;
(b) complete website forms;
(c) subscribe to newsletters;
(d) register interest in employment or acquisition opportunities;
(e) interact with digital platforms used us.
Additionally, we may automatically obtain information about you such as your voice, image and your
vehicle registration number via our video surveillance systems operating at our clinics. We operate
surveillance systems for legitimate security, safety, incident management and business protection
purposes.
We may record telephone calls for training, quality assurance and monitoring purposes.
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist our staff in recording, summarising and
managing information collected during your pet's consultation.
We may collect information from third parties in the following circumstances:
(a) When you are referred to one of our clinics, we may collect information from the referrer
(which may be part of our group of companies or a third party).
(b) We may collect your information from national, local and privately operated pet registries to
confirm the ownership of your pet or to contact you if your pet is lost and has been brought to one
of our clinics.
(c) We may collect information about you from recruitment service providers or referees, if you
apply or are considered for a job with us.
(d) We may collect information about potential candidates from publicly available platforms such
as LinkedIn and Seek for recruitment purposes.
(e) From time to time, we acquire other businesses. Such transactions generally involve the
disclosure of personal information from the vendor organisation to us, either as part of the due diligence process or as a result of a transfer of assets or company ownership. In such
cases, we collect the personal information already held by the newly acquired business.
How do we store and hold personal information?
We store most information about you in computer systems and databases operated by either us or our
external service providers. Some information about you is recorded in paper files that we store
securely.
We implement and maintain processes and security measures to protect personal information which we
hold from misuse, interference or loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
These processes and systems may include:
(a) the use of identity and access management technologies to control access to systems on which
information is processed and stored;
(b) requiring all employees to comply with internal information security policies and keep
information secure;
(c) monitoring and regularly reviewing our practise against our own policies and against industry
best practice.
We will also take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information once we no longer
require it for the purposes for which it was collected or for any secondary purpose permitted under
the Australian Privacy Principles (“APP”).
Who do we disclose your personal information to, and why?
We may transfer or disclose your personal information to our related companies.
We may disclose personal information to external service providers and professional advisers so
that they may perform services for us or on our behalf. Examples include solicitors, accountants,
brokers, insurers, banks, payment processors, data entry service providers, marketing agencies,
cloud service providers, software providers, AI technology providers, market researchers, mailing
houses, network administrators, labour hire, virtual and online veterinary medicine consultation
providers, and debt collectors, each of which may have their own privacy policies outlining how
they handle personal information.
It is our policy to consider the extent to which our service providers comply with privacy
principles under applicable laws and to seek supporting contractual commitments from them.
We may also disclose your personal information to others outside our group of companies where:
(a) we are required or authorised by law to do so;
(b) you may have expressly consented to the disclosure or the consent may be reasonably inferred
from the circumstances; or
(c) we are otherwise permitted to disclose the information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Examples include:
(a) The relevant State veterinary regulator and our insurer, when responding to an investigation
or complaint.
(b) Third party referral clinics so that they can arrange appointments, tests, treatments and
services if your pet needs to be referred to a hospital or specialist.
(c) Laboratories and Animal Crematoria, so that we can arrange tests, treatments and services and
obtain results on your behalf.
(d) Your insurer, so that we can obtain permission to perform certain investigations and
treatments at their expense. Also, to arrange payment for investigations and treatments provided.
(e) Banks and payment service providers so that we can deal with payments and refunds where
necessary.
(f) Debt collection agencies, should you fall behind with payments for the services we provide.
(g) Email providers, printers and mailing houses, so we can send you reminders, administrative
information relating to the way we provide services to you, information about animal health issues
relevant to you and marketing communications if you agree.
(h) Law enforcement, government and other agencies should we receive a request from them to assist
with any investigations, or we deem it necessary.
(i) Other clinics, if you decide to move to a new clinic and want to transfer your information.
(j) Charities, in the unfortunate event that your pets find themselves with a charity for the
facilitation of rehoming or other means, we may provide them with any necessary details for the
continuation of animal welfare or other relevant matters.
(k) Third parties such as the police, RSPCA or other authorities where we are unable to reach you
for consent and unlikely to be able to for some time, we may disclose necessary information to
third parties for the facilitation of continuity of pet care.
(l) Third party software providers, where we implement and you make use of our third party
provided apps, your data will be shared to facilitate a more convenient, streamlined and more
accessible process.
(m) If the ownership or control of all or part of our business changes, we may transfer your
personal information to the new owner.
(n) Third parties in connection with a proposed or actual merger, acquisition, restructuring,
business sale, asset sale or other corporate transaction.
Use of AI and Technology Tools
We may use AI and other technology tools to assist our personnel with administrative, operational,
analytical, customer service, recruitment, legal, compliance and business functions.
These tools may process personal information on our behalf to assist with tasks such as drafting
documents and communications, summarising information, analysing data, conducting research and
improving business efficiency.
CVS implements reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal
information and only permits the use of approved technology platforms in accordance with our
internal policies, procedures and security requirements.
Do we disclose personal information to overseas recipients?
We may disclose your personal information to recipients which are located outside Australia.
Our reasons are generally:
(a) in connection with services from a provider who is located, or uses locations outside of
Australia;
(b) for disclosures between ourselves and our other related companies within the CVS Group,
including CVS Group Plc which is located in the United Kingdom;
(c) in connection with insurance arrangements, for example public liability issues involving an
overseas insurer.
Do we use your personal information for marketing?
We may use your personal information to provide information about our services, employment
opportunities, industry insights, events and other information that may be of interest to you. You
may opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time.
Access to and correction of your personal information
You may access or request correction of the personal information that we hold about you by
contacting us. Our contact details are set out below. There are some circumstances in which we are
not required to give you access to your personal information.
There is no charge for requesting access to your personal information, but we may require you to
meet our reasonable costs in providing you with access (such as photocopying costs or costs for
time spent on collating large amounts of material).
We will respond to your requests to access or correct personal information in a reasonable time and
will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold about you remains
accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.
Your rights under the EU GDPR
Under the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as a data subject you have
the right to:
(a) access your data;
(b) have your data deleted or corrected where it is inaccurate;
(c) object to your data being processed and to restrict processing;
(d) withdraw consent to having your data processed;
(e) have your data provided in a standard format so that it can be transferred elsewhere; and
(f) not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing.
(Data Subject Rights)
We have processes in place to deal with Data Subject Rights requests. Our actions and
responsibilities will depend on whether we are the controller or processer of the personal data at
issue. Depending on our role as either a controller or processor, the process for enabling Data
Subject Rights may differ, and are always subject to applicable law. Please refer to the Contact
Details section of this policy if you would like to make a Data Subject Rights request.
Complaints
If you have a complaint about the way in which we have handled any privacy issue, including your
request for access or correction of your personal information, you should contact us. Our contact
details are set out below.
We will consider your complaint and determine whether it requires further investigation. We will
notify you of the outcome of this investigation and any subsequent internal investigation.
If you remain unsatisfied with the way in which we have handled a privacy issue, you may approach
an independent advisor or contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
(www.oaic.gov.au) for guidance on alternative courses of action which may be available.
Contact details
If you have any questions, comments, requests or concerns, please contact us at:
Dataprotection@cvsvets.com.au
Changes to this policy
From time to time, we may change our policy on how we handle personal information or the types of
personal information which we hold. Any changes to our policy will be published on our website.
You may obtain a copy of our current policy from our website or by contacting us at the contact
details above.
This privacy policy was last updated on 11 September 2026.
PRIVACY COLLECTION NOTICE
1. About this privacy collection notice
This privacy collection notice is provided by CVS Vets (Australia) Pty Ltd ACN 667 654 686 and its
related bodies corporate c/- BDO Services c/- BDO Services, Level 18, 360 Queen Street, Brisbane
QLD 4000 (CVS, we, us, our).
This notice should be read together with our Privacy Policy, available on our website.
Your personal information is protected by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy
Principles.
If you have any questions about this notice, please contact us at dataprotection@cvsvets.com.au
2. How we collect your information
We collect personal information directly from you when you:
• make a booking;
• create or update a client profile;
• attend our veterinary clinics;
• purchase products or services from us;
• communicate with us by phone, email, SMS or online;
• complete forms or provide information about your pet.
We may also collect information from:
• referring veterinarians and referral clinics;
• pet insurance providers;
• pet registries and microchip databases;
• our websites through cookies and similar technologies; and
• video surveillance, call recording and AI note taking systems operating at our clinics.
If you provide information about another person, please ensure they are aware of this notice.
3. Why we collect your personal information and the consequences if we do not
We collect, use and disclose your personal information so that we can:
• book, manage and provide veterinary services;
• identify you and your pet;
• maintain accurate clinical and treatment records;
• contact you regarding appointments, treatment updates, reminders and follow-up care;
• process payments, refunds and insurance claims;
• arrange referrals, laboratory testing and specialist treatment;
• administer our business and improve our services;
• comply with legal, regulatory and professional obligations;
• maintain the safety and security of our clinics; and
• where permitted, send information about products and services that may be relevant to
you.
If we cannot collect your personal information, we may not be able to:
• make or manage bookings;
• provide veterinary services or treatment;
• contact you about your pet's care;
• process insurance claims or payments; or
• respond effectively to your enquiries or complaints.
4. Who we disclose your personal information to
We may disclose your personal information where reasonably necessary to:
• other CVS group companies;
• veterinary specialists, referral hospitals and referral clinics;
• laboratories and diagnostic providers;
• animal cremation providers;
• pet insurers;
• payment processors, banks and financial institutions;
• professional advisers, including lawyers, accountants and insurers;
• IT, cloud hosting and software providers;
• debt collection agencies where payment remains outstanding;
• government agencies, regulators and law enforcement bodies where required or authorised by law;
and
• any purchaser of all or part of our business.
5. More information
Our Privacy Policy explains:
• how you can access and correct your personal information;
• how you can make a privacy complaint; and
• how we will deal with any complaint.
6. Likely cross-border disclosures
We may disclose personal information to recipients located outside Australia, including in the
United Kingdom, where our parent company and certain service providers are located.
We take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients appropriately protect your personal
information.
SMALL ANIMAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Please read the following important terms and conditions before you instruct us to provide any
services to you.
1. THESE TERMS
This document sets out the terms and conditions that apply when you ask us to provide small animal
veterinary services to you. This includes all professional advice in practice services, which may
also include us providing you with certain medicines and treatments. We suggest that you keep a
copy of these terms and conditions for future reference.
Any reference to we, us or our in these terms is to CVS Vets (Australia) Proprietary Limited ACN
667 654 686 and its wholly owned subsidiaries. Any reference to you or your is to the person
agreeing to these terms and conditions and purchasing any small animal veterinary services from us.
Any reference to writing includes emails. When we use the words writing or written in these terms,
this includes emails.
In these terms, to make them easier to understand, certain defined terms are used. Whenever you see
one of the words or phrases set out below used in the terms, it will have the exact meaning given
to it here.
Practice: means the CVS practice which provides you with the Services;
Practitioner: means one of our specialist vets or other practitioners;
Services: means those small animal veterinary services which we will provide to you, or otherwise confirmed
to you by a Practitioner.
The following terms also apply and are available on our website and at each Practice:
• Privacy Policy (how we collect and use your personal data); and
• Zero Tolerance Policy (our policy of zero tolerance for any threatening, abusive or violent
behaviour against any of our staff).
2. INFORMATION ABOUT US
We are CVS Vets (Australia) Proprietary Limited ACN 667 654 686 and our registered office is at
Level 18, 360 Queen Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000. Our ABN is 35 667 654 686.
You can contact us by telephoning or emailing the Practice.
If we have to contact you, we will do so by telephone or by writing to you from the email address
or postal address provided, as set out on the Practice website.
3. MAKING AN APPOINTMENT
You can request an appointment with a Practice using the contact details on our website.
Your appointment will be at the Practice or at another location (such as a specialist facility)
agreed with you at the time of making the appointment. This is because we may need to ask you to
attend specialist facilities or other locations, depending on the animal in question and the nature
of the care they may require. We will let you know this at the time you request your appointment, before you decide whether to proceed with the appointment.
WHEN THE CONTRACT IS FORMED
Please note that no legally binding contract in relation to the supply of the Services will be
formed at the time we agree an appointment with you. A contract will be formed at the point that
you are attended by a Practitioner at the Practice. We will not commence the supply of Services
until a contract is formed between you and us. Until that contract is formed, you can decide to not
proceed with your appointment and we can decide not to proceed with providing the Services. Each
party must provide as much notice as possible to the other party where they decide not to proceed.
5. WHEN WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO TREAT YOUR ANIMAL
We cannot guarantee that appointments or care will always be available to you. This is because
there may be times, even where you have an appointment, where we are unable to provide Services (or
continue to provide Services) to treat your animal due to circumstances beyond our reasonable
control. This may include circumstances such as:
unexpected staff absences (including due to illness) where a replacement Practitioner is
unavailable;
where, upon the Practitioner reviewing your animal, it becoming apparent the Practice may not have
the relevant experience or expertise to provide the required treatment for the animal's needs, or
because the necessary equipment or medication is unavailable within the timescales applicable to
your animal’s needs.
Where we are unable to treat your animal, we will let you know as soon as possible, and will seek
to make alternative arrangements with you where possible (for example, an appointment on another
day).
6. ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY
We take the safety and wellbeing of our staff and all animals in our care extremely seriously.
Therefore, in entering into a contract with us, you are agreeing to comply with our Zero Tolerance
Policy, which can be found on our website or which you can request a copy from the Practice. We
will not tolerate any person engaging in any threatening, abusive or violent behaviour against any
of our staff.
If you do not comply with, or have previously not complied with, our Zero Tolerance Policy, we may
refuse to provide you with an appointment and / or refuse to provide Services to you. Where this is
the case, we will let you know as soon as possible.
7. HOW WE WILL PROVIDE THE SERVICES TO YOU
We will carry out the Services:
using suitably qualified and trained staff with reasonable care and skill taking into account the
nature of the care and/or treatment needed in the circumstances (and you understand that in some
cases, we will use staff who are undertaking learning and development activities, but these
individuals will always be suitably supervised);
in accordance with the requirements of the relevant legislation and regulation governing the
practice of veterinary medicine in the State or Territory in which the Practice is situated (the
Legislation); and
at the time and location as agreed when you booked your appointment.
If any part of these Terms and Conditions is inconsistent with the Legislation as amended
from time to time, the relevant part the Legislation will prevail over that inconsistency.
You agree that we have the legal right to provide your animal without your consent, where your
consent cannot be easily obtained, emergency treatment which is essential for its welfare.
We can accept instructions from third parties who bring your animal into our Practice on your
behalf (such as family members, pet kennel owners or pet sitters), although we may refuse to accept
instructions if they are under the age of 18 or we believe (acting reasonably) that they are not
authorised to represent you or otherwise seek services for your animal on your behalf. You can
contact the Practice to let us know who is authorised or not authorised to represent you and seek
services in respect of your animal at our Practice at any time.
8. DELAYS FOR EVENTS BEYOND OUR REASONABLE CONTROL
Sometimes the supply of the Services may be delayed by an event outside our reasonable control,
such as:
you change the Services requested and this means we have to do extra work or wait for extra
veterinary medicines, resources, materials and/or consumables used to provide relevant Services;
veterinary medicines, resources, materials and/or consumables are not delivered at the time agreed
with the supplier of the veterinary medicines, resources, materials and/or consumables required to
provide the agreed Services (and we cannot obtain a replacement within a reasonable time or the
price charged by a supplier is much higher than the original charge);
we cannot access the premises where your animal is at the times we agreed with you;
unexpected staff absences where a replacement Practitioner is unavailable; and
adverse weather conditions preventing us from providing the Services.
Where this occurs, we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know and do what we can
reasonably do to reduce the delay, or seek to agree alternative arrangements with you (for example,
an appointment on a different day or time or at a different Practice). Except in relation to any
Non-Excludable Obligations (as defined below), we won’t compensate you for such a delay, but if the
delay is likely to be substantial or if you need Services on an urgent basis, you can decide to end
the contract. Where this occurs, we will provide you with a refund for any Services you have paid
for in advance, but not received, less reasonable costs (if any) we have already incurred in
respect of the Services provided up to that point.
9. ENDING THE CONTRACT
We may (acting reasonably) end your contract (and cease providing Services) at any time. We will
write to you to let you know that we are going to stop providing all or any part of our Services.
We will let you know as soon as reasonably possible and will refund any fees you have paid in
advance for Services which will not be provided. Some circumstances in which we may end your
contract immediately include:
if the information that you provided to us on registration of your animal with the Practice is
inaccurate, incomplete or misleading;
if you do not comply with our Zero Tolerance Policy;
if we consider (acting reasonably) that you have engaged in fraudulent, unlawful or unethical
behaviour in connection with the Practice or our supply of Services
or products to you;
if you do not make any payment to us when it is due and you still do not make payment within 7 days
of us reminding you that payment is due;
if you sell veterinary medicines which have been dispensed to you for your animal; or
you do not, within a reasonable time of us asking for it, provide us with information that is
reasonably necessary for us to provide the Services.
Subject to clause 9.1, we may end our contract with you (and cease providing Services) if you
breach any of the material terms contained within these terms and conditions and fail to remedy the
breach within 7 days of us notifying you of the breach.
You may end the contract with us if we breach any of the material terms contained within these
terms and conditions and fail to remedy the breach within 7 days of you notifying us of the breach.
If this contract is ended it will not affect either party's right to receive any money which they
owe to the other party under this contract.
10. FEES & CHARGES
(Registration fee) A registration fee may be charged to register your animal at the Practice prior
to the first provision of Services. You will be advised if this fee is payable before you proceed
with registering your animal at the Practice.
(Service charges) As far as is reasonably possible, we will provide you with an estimate of charges
before providing the Services. This estimate is based on our standard price and rates at that time
and our understanding of the condition of your animal at the time of providing the estimate. All
prices are in Australian dollars ($AUD) and are inclusive of GST.
When we provide an estimate, this is an estimate only, as our charges will reflect the Services
that are provided to your animal. If, once we start providing the Services, we are of the view that
our original estimate will be exceeded, we will do our best (taking the particular circumstances
into account) to agree a revised estimate with you before continuing to provide the Services.
However, there may be circumstances where, acting in the best interest of your animal, we provide
the Services without first agreeing an estimate of charges with you (for example in an emergency).
In these situations, you will still be required to pay for the Services, but we will ensure that
the charges are reasonable. We will only pursue a course of treatment where we consider it to be in
the best interests of your animal.
(Products you purchase from us) We may recommend that you purchase certain products from us (for
example medicines) that your animal needs in response to treatment and/or care provided. In some
cases, you will be able to purchase these directly from the Practice and we will provide you with
details of the cost of such products. If you decide to purchase these products from the Practice,
the products will be included on the invoice for the Services provided. If the products are not
available for purchase, or you do not wish to purchase these products from the Practice, you may
choose to collect and pay for these products independently (e.g., medicines dispensed from a
pharmacy).
(Sample / order charges) Separate charges will also apply for the costs of posting or delivering
clinical samples relating to your animal for analysis and sending out orders for veterinary
medicines and/or other goods if requested. These are usually sent by recorded or special delivery
post or delivered by courier. We will inform you of these charges before proceeding with posting,
delivering or sending samples or orders.
Payment of fees
You must pay for the Services and any products you are acquiring from us (including food,
accessories and veterinary medicines) at the end of your appointment, or on the discharge of your
animal. In some cases, we may (acting reasonably) require full or part payment for
the Services in advance, before the Services are provided. We will provide as much notice as
reasonably possible where this is the case. If you have a valid pet insurance policy, we may (at
your request) make a claim directly to your insurance company, as set out in clauses 10.11 to 10.13
below.
We accept payment by cash and most major credit or debit cards (excluding American Express). We do
not accept cheque payments.
Pet Insurance
We strongly support the principle of insuring your animal against unexpected illness or accidents.
Where you do not hold an insurance policy in respect of your animal, or where your insurer
reimburses you directly for any of the Services we provide, we require payment from you in
accordance with these terms and conditions.
The Practice may (subject to the Practice’s policy regarding client insurance claims), at the
client’s request (in accordance with clause 10.10), submit a claim directly to an insurer. In such
cases, the client must pay the excess and any excluded amounts at the end of the consultation or
upon demand and, if a claim is refused by the insurers, will remain liable for our fees. If an
insurer fails to acknowledge our claim or respond to communications from us within 30 days’ we will
treat this as a refused claim and seek to recover the full cost of the Services owed from you, less
any amounts you have paid us as the excess and
/ or excluded amounts. You may, of course, seek to recover the costs directly from your insurer
should this occur.
You must advise us prior to the provision of any Services if you wish us to submit a claim to your
insurer in respect of our fees and complete an Insurance Claim Declaration. If you do not advise us
in advance that you would like us to submit a claim directly to your insurer you will be liable to
pay our fees as they become due, and you will need to recoup the cost from your insurer yourself.
(Administration fee) The Practice reserves the right to charge clients a reasonable administration
fee (inclusive of GST) for assisting with the preparation, submission and administration of client
insurance claims. We will inform you of this fee at the time of making an appointment.
Late payment of fees
If your payment is not received by us in accordance with clause 10.6, we may charge interest on any
balance outstanding at the relevant cash rate published by the Reserve Bank of Australia on its
website (www.rba.gov.au) from time to time. This interest accrues on a daily basis from the due
date until the date of actual payment of the overdue amount. You will be required to pay us the
interest together with any overdue amount. We may refuse to supply the Services to you until you
have paid the overdue amount.
We may take such action as we consider reasonable to recover overdue amounts from you, which may
include engaging third-party debt collection agencies and/or instigating proceedings against you.
In such cases, any reasonable costs levied by the debt collection agency and associated legal
expenses will be added to the overdue amount owed by you. Please note that the use of debt
collection agencies and court proceedings in which there is a finding or liability imposed against
you could affect your future credit rating.
If you cannot pay for the Services provided, our obligations will be limited to fulfilling our
minimum legal responsibilities and professional regulatory obligations to the animal under our
care.
11. QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS
If you think there is something wrong with the Services provided or you have any concerns
in connection with the Services, please let us know by contacting the Practice.
OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Prescriptions
In these Terms and Conditions, ‘veterinary medicine’ means a substance or mixture of substances
that is supplied or used for administration to an animal, by any means, as a way of:
preventing, diagnosing, curing or alleviating a disease or condition in the animal or an
infestation of the animal by a pest;
curing or alleviating an injury suffered by the animal;
modifying the physiology of the animal so as to alter its natural development, productivity,
quality or reproductive capacity; or to make it more manageable; or
modifying the effect of another veterinary medicine.
Prescriptions of veterinary medicines are regulated, amongst other things, by State and Federal
laws and by the Australian Veterinary Association Guidelines for Prescribing, Authorising and
Dispensing Veterinary Medicines (Guidelines). You can find information about the Guidelines here:
Guidelines and reports - Australian Veterinary Association, and the Legislation here:
https://www.ava.com.au/library-journals-and-resources/ava-other-resources/legislation-for-veterinary
-professionals/.
Under relevant laws and Guidelines, our veterinarians can only prescribe, supply or authorise the
supply of a veterinary medicine to a person who is a bona fide client, and the veterinarian must
have current knowledge of the management, health status and drug
status of the animal concerned.
outstanding sums before doing so. We will inform you of the fee at the time you request us
to provide a copy of the records to another provider.
13. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU
To the extent that you acquire the Services from the Practice as a consumer within the meaning of
the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)), you have
certain rights and remedies (including without limitation, consumer guarantee rights under the
Australian Consumer Law) that cannot be excluded, restricted or modified by agreement. Nothing in
this agreement operates to exclude, restrict or modify the application of any implied condition or
warranty, provision, the exercise of any right or remedy, or the imposition of any liability,
implied or conferred under the Australian Consumer Law or any other statute, the exclusion,
restriction or modification of which would contravene that statute or cause any term of this
agreement to be void (each a Non-Excludable Obligation).
Without limiting any Non-Excludable Obligation, we are responsible for losses you suffer or incur
which are caused by us breaking this contract, except to the extent that the loss is:
unforeseeable, i.e., it was not obvious that it would happen and nothing you said to us before we
commenced supplying the Services should have expected it;
caused by a delaying event outside our reasonable control, as long as we have taken the steps set
out in clause 8; or
avoidable by you, i.e., something you could have avoided by taking reasonable action, including
following our reasonable instructions.
The exceptions above in 13.2.1 to 13.2.3 do not apply to the extent the loss is caused or
contributed to by the negligence, wilful misconduct or fraud by the Practice.
Nothing in this contract shall exclude or limit the liability of either party in respect of:
death or personal injury arising from negligence; fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; and/or
any liability which may not otherwise be limited or excluded under applicable laws (including any
Non-Excludable Obligations).
14. THIRD PARTY RIGHTS
No one other than a party to this contract has any right to enforce any term of this contract.
15. DISPUTES
Our complaints procedure. We pride ourselves on offering a quality service, and take client
complaints seriously. Should the services we supply you fail to meet your expectations, please let
us know at the time, where possible.
Alternatively, should you wish to raise a formal complaint, we ask that you contact the Practice in
person, or by telephone, as soon as possible.
If you prefer to write to us, please send your correspondence to our Practice Manager and include
the following information:
• Your Name
• Your Contact details
• Name of your animal
• The date of the visit your concerns relate to
• A brief description of your concerns
• What we can do to best resolve this for you
We will acknowledge your correspondence and aim to address your concerns within 5 working days. In
some cases, we may need to carry out further investigation and will endeavour to respond to you as
soon as possible. Where possible, we will respond to your concern or provide an explanation for the
delay within 20 working days of receiving your complaint.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of this process, you may raise your concerns by emailing
the Practice directly, ensuring that you include the information listed above in clause 15.3,
together with the reason you are not happy with the response from us.
Resolving disputes without going to court. Alternative dispute resolution is an optional process
where an independent body considers the facts of a dispute and seeks to resolve it, without you
having to go to court. You can submit a complaint to the entity that regulates the veterinary
profession in the State or Territory in which the Practice is situated. If you are not satisfied
with the outcome, or do not wish to use alternative dispute resolution, you can still go to court.
You can go to court. These terms (and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in
connection with them) are governed by the law of the State or Territory in which the Practice is
situated and the courts of the State or Territory in which the Practice is situated have exclusive
jurisdiction to determine any dispute arising out of or in connection with them.
16. VARIATIONS
We may make changes to these terms from time to time. We recommend that you
check them each time that you wish to engage our Services, prior to doing so, to make sure that you
are aware and understand the terms that apply at that time. The terms which exist at the time at
which each relevant contract between us and you is formed.
17. PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION
When you register your animal with our Practice or request that we provide Services, we will
collect personal information about you and, where relevant, your employees and/or agents. We will
only collect information that we need to perform the Services, take payment or contact you such as
names, contact details and possibly some financial details. Please note that we may pass your
details to debt collection agencies or our legal advisers for the purpose of recovering unpaid fees
if you do not pay invoices when they fall due. For further information about your privacy rights
(including your right to request access to, or seek correction of, your personal information), plus
information about the categories of personal information we process, and our information handling
practices, please refer to our Privacy Notice which can be found on the Practice’s website.
If you have any questions or complaints regarding privacy and data protection or how we process
your personal information, then please contact our Data Protection team on
dataprotection@cvsvets.com.au.
18. PROHIBITION ON IMAGING AND RECORDING DEVICES
To protect the privacy of our staff and other clients of the Practice, the use of any imaging or
recording devices (including any imaging and recording functions on mobile phones) is prohibited on
the Practice’s premises.
Any individual that is found taking imaging or sound recordings on the Practice’s premises, may be
asked to immediately stop the imaging or recording and to delete the
imaging/recording material.
CVS Vets (Australia) Proprietary Limited reserves the right to take legal action against any
individual that covertly uses any imaging or recording device in a Practice, and/or uploads such
material to social media (including Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) or any
internet site.