Trading Standards privacy notice

What this document is for

This privacy notice provides information on how Norfolk County Council's Trading Standards Service uses your personal information.

By 'use' we mean the various ways it may be processed, including storing and sharing the information.

This privacy notice serves as a privacy notice:

Under Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (the DPA) for the County Council's statutory functions relating to trading standards' law enforcement activities
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the County Council's statutory functions relating to trading standards' non-law enforcement activities

Further details

We also provide the following details in our general privacy notice:

Who we are
How long we use your information for
Your rights under the GDPR and Part 3 of the DPA
How to exercise them

You can also ask us for a copy of this information.

What we use your information for

We use your personal information to provide advice and guidance, conduct investigations and ensure compliance with the relevant laws.

This includes:

Receiving and investigating consumer complaints
Responding to service requests from businesses and individuals
Monitoring, researching, analysing and reporting intelligence requirements
Ensuring compliance with legislation through a range of enforcement activities including visits, inspections and testing
Conducting investigations and enquiries into criminal offences and civil law breaches
Operating assurance schemes for businesses and referral agencies
Managing registration, certification and licensing

We also use this information to assess the quality of our services and evaluate and improve our policies and procedures.

We may also use information in other ways compatible with the above.

What personal data we collect and use about you

The information we collect and use includes:

Name
Date of birth/age
Gender
Marital status
Children
Place of birth
Contact details and preferred contact method
National Insurance Number and other identifiers
Job/profession and other information about employment history and current employment
Professional qualifications
Photographs, audio and video records, including Body Worn Cameras
Income and other financial information
Services or products provided to individuals and information about the services or products
Devices and technology used
Passport and information contained in other documents
Information from the Electoral Register
Social relationships and emergency contacts
Personal and social history

We may also collect and use information about your:

Racial or ethnic origin
Political opinions
Religious or philosophical beliefs
Trade union membership
Genetic and bio-metric data
Sexual orientation
Health including disabilities

This information is classed as "special category data" under the GDPR and sensitive data under the DPA.

We also collect information concerning criminal convictions and offences under the GDPR and DPA.

The GDPR includes safeguards to protect the use of your special category data and criminal conviction data. Further details can be found in our special category data and criminal offences data policy, which sets out our procedures for compliance with the principles of the GDPR and the retention and erasure of this information

The DPA includes safeguards to protect the use of your data for law enforcement functions. Further details can be found in our law enforcement processing safeguards policy, which sets out our procedures for compliance with the principles of the GDPR and the retention and erasure of this information

Who provides this information

We collect and use information you have provided to us.

We also receive information from:

Other members of the public
Police
Other enforcers or regulators, including HMRC, Health and Safety Executive
Other businesses or employers
Judicial agencies - courts, bailiffs, lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service
Government Departments/agencies
Other local authorities, including Trading Standards Services
Voluntary organisations and charities
Witnesses, including expert witnesses
Trade and/or sector associations
Food Standards Agency

Who we share your information with

We may share your personal information with:

Your family - in respect of under-age sales volunteers
Other residents in your area - in respect of No Cold Calling Zones
Other enforcers or regulators, including HMRC, Health and Safety Executive
Other local authorities, including Trading Standards Services
Government Departments/agencies - Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Food Standards Agency
Police
Judicial agencies - courts, bailiffs, lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service
Voluntary organisations and charities
Witnesses, including expert witnesses
Other businesses - Referenceline Ltd, Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution for the Trusted Trader Scheme

Any information which is shared will only be shared on a need to know basis, with appropriate individuals. Only the minimum information for the purpose will be shared.

Your personal information will also be given to third parties contracted by the County Council to provide a service to the County Council. These service providers are known as data processors and have a legal obligation under GDPR and to the County Council to look after your personal information and only use it for providing that service.

How the law protects you and the legal basis for processing your information

We have legal grounds to process this information:

Under the GDPR because it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest and the task or function has a clear basis in law.
Under the DPA for law enforcement purposes

The tasks, functions and purposes include:

General powers under the Local Government Acts
Those set out in the Legislation Enforced List (PDF) [70KB]

We have legal grounds to process (including share) special category data, sensitive data and criminal convictions data because it is necessary for reasons in the substantial public interest and in the exercise of a statutory function. (The statutory functions are under the legislation list above)

How long will we keep your personal information for

When the information is no longer needed for the above purposes, it will be securely deleted.

How we keep your information

The information is securely stored electronically, on the County Council's Network and our APP and Cx databases both provided by Civica. Information is also securely stored in other mediums, including email accounts, in paper files and our intelligence database.

We do not process your information outside of the European Economic Area.

Automated decision making

We do not make automated decisions about you.

Changes to this notice

We may amend this privacy notice at any time so please review it frequently. The date below will be amended each time this notice is updated.

This notice was updated in November 2024.