PN079 - Trading Standards Privacy Notice

Torfaen County Borough Council is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services. This Privacy Notice is designed to give you information about the data we hold about you, how we use it, your rights in relation to it and the safeguards in place to protect it.

TCBC Service Area: Neighbourhoods, Planning and Public Protection
Work area: Trading Standards
Contact Details: Claire Howells
Privacy Notice Name: Trading Standards

Data Controller: Torfaen County Borough Council, c/o Civic Centre, Pontypool, NP4 6YB

If you wish to raise a concern about the handling of your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer on 01495 762200 or email dpa@torfaen.gov.uk

Data is collected and processed by the Trading Standards service to enable us to enforce relevant rules and regulations to protect the public.

Who provides your data to the Council?

The personal information we process is provided to us directly by you.

AND

We receive personal information indirectly from partner agencies and publicly available sources to assist us in ensuring that relevant laws are being followed.

How does the Council collect this information?

  • Direct contact such as telephone calls and emails
  • Information from partner agencies
  • Investigations by authorised officers

What information does the Council collect about you?

The Trading Standards service may collect:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Telephone numbers
  • Email address
  • Date of Birth
  • Addresses of Rental properties for Landlords
  • Financial information
  • Photographs
  • Telephone and text records
  • Messaging and Social Media data

Why does the Council process your personal data?

Under Article 6 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

(c) We have a legal obligation.

(e) We need it to perform a public task.

Special categories of personal data:

Where we collect criminal data this is processed within the Council under Article 10 of the UK GDPR.

Who has access to your data?

Your data is shared internally only with the appropriate staff where it is necessary for the performance of their roles.

If you request business advice, we may ask for your consent to pass on basic details of your request to Torfaen Business Direct, who will use the information to produce anonymous statistics.

Your data may also be shared externally with organisations for prevention and detection of crime, enforcement or legal action, to safeguard vulnerable persons, or to assist official audits or investigations. These may include, but not be limited to:

  • Police
  • HMRC
  • UK Visas and Immigration
  • Rent Smart Wales

Apart from where previously stated, we do not pass your details to third parties unless we are lawfully required do so.

Is the Data transferred out of the UK?

No

How does the Council keep your data secure?

The Council has internal policies in place to ensure the data it processes is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed. Access to this data is restricted in accordance with the Council’s internal policies and in compliance with the UK GDPR.

Data will be stored securely in:

  • Secure electronic storage facilities
  • Secure software systems
  • Confidential paper storage facilities

How long does the Council keep your data?

The Council will hold your personal data only for the period that is necessary and will follow organisational and Local Authority standards in this area. At the end of the retention period the Council will securely destroy or dispose of the data in line with retention schedules.

Are we making automated decisions/profiling with your data?

No

Your rights

You have a number of Rights you can exercise:

  • Access - to obtain a copy of your data on request
  • Rectification – to require the Council to change incorrect or incomplete data
  • Object, Restrict or Delete - under certain circumstances you can require the Council to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing
  • Data portability – to receive and/or transmit data provided to the Council to other organisations (this applies in limited circumstances)
  • Withdraw your consent at any time (where consent has been given)
  • To know the consequences of failing to provide data to the Council
  • To know the existence of any Automated Decision-making, including profiling, and the consequences of this for you.
  • To lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Information Commissioner’s Office)

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact Claire Howells, Team Manager Licensing and Trading Standards, trading.standards@torfaen.gov.uk

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (Wales), 2nd Floor, Churchill House, Churchill Way, Cardiff, CF10 2HH. Telephone 0330 414 6421 or e-mail Wales@ico.org.uk

Last Modified: 17/07/2023 Back to top