Last Updated: 30 May 2025
Company: UK Customs Brokers Ltd T/A UK Customs Ltd
Registered Office: 172 Beaver Lane, Ashford, Kent, TN23 5PE, United Kingdom
Companies House Registration: 16483053
Data Protection Officer: The Data Protection Officer
Contact: +44 1233 516996 | [email protected]
Our Commitment to You
At UK Customs Ltd, we don’t just process data; we facilitate global trade. We understand that this responsibility extends to the protection of your personal information. This policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your data when you interact with our services, website, and team.
We are committed to handling your personal data with the same diligence and efficiency we apply to clearing your goods through customs.
1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We collect information necessary to provide our customs brokerage and logistics services, which often involves legal and regulatory obligations.
A. Information You Provide Directly:
- Contact & Identity Data: Your full name, business address, email, telephone number, and job title.
- Business & Financial Data: Your company name, VAT number, EORI number, bank details for payment processing, and credit history.
- Shipment & Goods Data: Detailed descriptions of goods, commodity codes (HS codes), values, quantities, country of origin, and supporting documents (e.g., commercial invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin).
- Communication Data: Records of your correspondence with us via email, phone, or our website contact forms.
B. Information Collected Automatically:
- Technical Data: When you visit our website we may collect your IP address, browser type and version, time zone setting, operating system, and platform.
- Usage Data: Information about how you use our website, including the full URL clickstream to, through, and from our site, pages you viewed, and page response times.
C. Information from Third Parties:
We may receive personal data about you from various third parties, including:
- Your Suppliers or Customers (who list you as the importer/exporter of record).
- Carriers and Freight Forwarders.
- Government Agencies such as HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Border Force.
2. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION (OUR LEGAL BASIS)
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Our primary legal bases are:
| Purpose of Use | Type of Data | Legal Basis for Processing |
| To provide our customs clearance services (submit declarations to HMRC, calculate duties). | Identity, Contact, Business, Shipment Data | Performance of a Contract & Legal Obligation |
| To manage our business relationship (billing, customer support, sending service updates). | Identity, Contact, Financial, Transaction, Marketing | Performance of a Contract & Legitimate Interests |
| To comply with our legal and regulatory requirements (retaining customs records for HMRC). | All data related to shipments | Legal Obligation |
| To improve our website and services. | Technical, Usage Data | Legitimate Interests (to grow our business) |
| To market our services to existing customers. | Identity, Contact, Profile, Marketing | Legitimate Interests (you can opt-out at any time) |
3. HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION
We treat your data with confidentiality but must share it with specific entities to perform our service:
- HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) & Other Government Bodies: This is essential for customs declarations, security filings, and compliance checks.
- Carriers and Port/Airport Authorities: To facilitate the physical movement and release of your goods.
- Our Professional Advisors: Including auditors, lawyers, and insurers where necessary.
- Service Providers: IT support, cloud storage, and software providers (e.g., our customs declaration software platform) who act under strict data processing agreements.
- As Required by Law: If we are under a duty to disclose or share your data to comply with any legal obligation.
We do not and will not sell your personal data to any third party for marketing purposes.
4. INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS
Given the international nature of trade, your data may be transferred outside the UK, for example, to a carrier or supplier in the EU. When we do this, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by using specific contracts approved for use in the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.
5. DATA SECURITY
We have implemented robust security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way. These include:
- Encrypted data transmission and storage.
- Strict access controls limited to authorised personnel on a need-to-know basis.
- Regular security awareness training for our staff.
- Secure physical premises for paper records.
6. DATA RETENTION
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
Due to UK customs law, we are required to retain all data relating to a customs declaration for 6 full years from the end of the year in which the transaction took place. After this period, we will securely delete or anonymise your data.
7. YOUR DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
- Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
- Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate.
- Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
Please contact us at [email protected] to make a data subject request.
8. HOW TO COMPLAIN
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at our contact details above.
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: +44 303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
