Privacy Policy

Formalize AI is a service operated by Formalize AI Limited, a company registered in Zambia. We provide an AI assistant that helps people understand how to register and stay compliant with Zambian authorities such as PACRA and ZRA. For the purposes of the Data Protection Act No. 3 of 2021, Formalize AI Limited is the data controller responsible for your personal data, and we handle it in line with the registration and other obligations that Act places on data controllers.

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner of Zambia is the supervisory authority that oversees how organisations handle personal data. You can raise a concern with them about our handling of your data at any time (see section 8).

We collect only what we need to run the service:

• Account information. If you create an account, our authentication provider (Clerk) collects your name and email address. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email, and profile picture from Google. We never see or store your password.
• Conversation content. The messages you send, the details you share about your business (such as its activity, location, and structure), and the guidance plans that are generated. If you are signed in, your conversations are saved to your account so you can return to them.
• Technical & usage data. Your IP address (used to limit abuse and protect the service), basic device and browser information, and server logs of requests you make.
• Cookies. A small session cookie and authentication cookies (see section 5).

Formalize is free and we do not currently take payments, so we do not collect card or bank details. We do not ask for, and you should not send us, sensitive personal data (such as health, biometric, or precise financial account information) — the assistant does not need it.

• To provide the assistant and generate your guidance.
• To save and show your past conversations when you are signed in.
• To operate, secure, and improve the service, including preventing abuse and fraud.
• To respond to your requests and communicate with you about the service.
• To comply with our legal obligations.

We rely on your consent and on our legitimate interest in operating a secure, working service as the lawful bases for this processing. We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use your conversations to show you advertising.

We share data with a small number of trusted service providers who process it on our behalf, only to make Formalize work:

• AI model providers (OpenAI and Anthropic).To generate answers, the content of your messages is sent to these providers’ models. They process it to return a response and, under our agreements, do not use it to train their models. We also use OpenAI to convert our reference documents into a searchable form.
• Clerk. Manages sign-in and stores your account details.
• Hosting & infrastructure. Our cloud host, database, and cache providers store and serve the application and your saved conversations.

We may also disclose information if required by law, to enforce our Terms, or to protect the rights, safety, and property of Formalize, our users, or the public. If our business is ever transferred, your data may be part of that transfer, subject to this policy.

We use only the cookies we need to run the service — not for advertising or cross-site tracking:

• An anonymous session cookie so the service can recognise your browser and apply fair-use limits, even before you sign in.
• Authentication cookies set by Clerk to keep you signed in.

You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings, but the sign-in and some other features will not work without them.

We keep your account information and saved conversations for as long as your account is active. If you delete a conversation, we remove it. If you close your account or ask us to delete your data, we will delete it within a reasonable period, except where we must keep limited records to meet a legal obligation or resolve a dispute. Anonymous, unsaved conversations are not stored on our servers after the session.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls, and scoping every account’s data to that account. No online service can be perfectly secure, but we work to keep your data safe and to notify you and the relevant authority of a breach where the law requires it.

Under the Data Protection Act No. 3 of 2021 of Zambia, you have the right to:

• access the personal data we hold about you;
• ask us to correct data that is wrong or incomplete;
• ask us to delete your data;
• object to or ask us to restrict certain processing;
• withdraw consent at any time (this does not affect processing already carried out); and
• lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commissioner of Zambia.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at uncledevhq@gmail.com. We will respond within the timeframes the law allows.

Some of our service providers (including the AI model providers and hosting) operate outside Zambia. This means your information may be processed in other countries. Where we transfer personal data abroad, we take steps to ensure it remains protected to a standard consistent with the Data Protection Act.

Formalize is intended for people aged 18 and over who are registering or running a business. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make a material change, we will update the effective date at the top and, where appropriate, tell you within the service. Continuing to use Formalize after a change means you accept the updated policy.

For any privacy question or request, contact Formalize AI Limited at uncledevhq@gmail.com.