Why do we need your information:
In order for us to provide our Trading standards service, we may need to collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:
- your name, contact details, National Insurance number, passport number, driving licence number, gender, information about any current and past criminal offences (including alleged) and convictions
- health and medical data, including disabilities
- information relating to employment history
- financial information, bank and building society accounts
- electronically held information such as held on devices such as computers, laptops, mobile phones and remote and off-site storage
- business names (trading names, company name), date of incorporation
- data contained in any emails, notes or conversations between you and us.
We'll only gather the minimum amount of data we need in order to do our job.
All activities performed by Cyngor Gwynedd Trading Standards are done so to fulfil its official functions and meet legal requirements under legislation.
If contact is made via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service, they will collect this information and pass it to us, as per their privacy notice Citizens Advice privacy policy - Citizens Advice .
Justification for using your information:
Trading Standards have a very varied role, from helping and protecting consumers and businesses to prosecuting offenders, and as such the legal basis for processing data is varied under the Data Protection Act 2018.
Most of our Trading Standards work is done to fulfil a public task and/or legal obligation under Article 6 1(e) and 6 1(c) of GDPR.
We collect personal data in order to enable us to carry out our duties in connection with relevant legislation, which include:
- Consumer Rights Act 2015
- The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
- Trade Marks Act 1994
- Enterprise Act 2002
- General Product Safety Regulations 2015
- Food Information Regulations 2014
- Public Safety Act 1961
- Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
- Animal Health Act 1981
- Animal Welfare Act 2006
- Care Act 2014
- Weights and Measures Act 1985
- Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014
Sometimes, we may process data which includes information on sensitive matters, such as your ethnic, political or religious affiliations or your health status. This is legally classed as 'special category' data. We take care only to process it with an appropriate legal justification as follows:
- Article 9 2 (g) UK GDPR - for reasons of substantial public interest
Where we're processing data for purposes of criminal law enforcement, our lawful bases are found under parts 2 and 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018. We're considered a 'competent authority' for law enforcement purposes, as we have legal powers to prosecute for trading standards offences.
All work we carry out as part of our law enforcement duties falls within the criteria of section 31 of Data Protection Act 2018, which is:
"the prevention, investigation detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, including the safeguarding against and the prevention of threats to public security."
Who else will receive your information:
We do not routinely share your information outside of the Gwynedd Public Protection Group, unless there is a legal obligation to do so. Within the Public Protection Group, your details may be shared with other teams who support our service and who require your personal information to carry out their statutory roles.
Where any activity is identified or information which suggests or evidence criminal or unlawful activity, this may be shared for law enforcement purposes which includes the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, including the safeguarding against and the prevention of threats to public security. This information may be shared with:
- other external enforcement agencies such as HMRC, National Crime Agency, DWP, Illegal Money Lending Team, Insolvency Service, Environment Agency, Licensing, Action Fraud, Environmental Health, Legal Department
- local authority trading standards and national trading standards and regional investigations teams
- central government departments, such as the Office for Product Safety and Standards
- police forces and fire and rescue services
- members of the public, where lawful, under certain Data Protection Act or Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations conditions.
Sharing will only take place where there is a legal requirement to do so, and when the sharing is necessary, legitimate and proportionate. We will assess each case individually and assess the impact of any disclosure. All sharing will be completed in full accordance with our information sharing protocols.
How long will we keep your information:
We will hold your personal information for no longer than necessary in relation to the purposes for which it was collected – generally this is no more than 7 years from the conclusion of the matter for which it was collected, however the period can change dependent on the applicable legislation.
Personal data linked to petroleum storage sites will be retained indefinitely.
Your rights:
You have the right to see the information we have about you and the right to correct any errors in the data.
For more information about your rights or if you would like to complain about how we have handled our personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer by email to swyddogdiogeludata@gwynedd.llyw.cymru or telephone 01766 771000.
You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you think we do not process your information in accordance with the law.