Privacy notice - Labelling and Standards in Northern Ireland

The Food Standards Agency is what is known as the ‘Controller’ of the personal data provided to us. 

Purpose and lawful basis for processing

The personal information we hold on you consists of the name and address of your business and any relevant contact details. The Food Standards Agency obtains this information from a number of sources, including directly from individuals, industry bodies, local authorities and other government departments.

We need to collect this information for the purposes of fulfilling our statutory obligations under EU legislation (as retained in UK legislation) and national legislation in relation to food labelling and standards, as we have a statutory obligation to consult with relevant stakeholders in the development of legislation.

This information will allow us to effectively carry out our official duties of completing a necessary task and to the required standard. It is also necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the exercise of official authority vested in us and/or will be in the public interest.

How and where we store your data and who we may share it with 

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to carry out these functions, and in line with our retention policy. We hold different records which will have different retention periods. The individual retention periods and requirements are outlined below:

• Enquiries: information will be retained for 5 years from receipt.
• Briefings: information will be retained for 5 years from receipt.
• Research projects: information will be reviewed 7 years after closure (date of last modification) and a decision will be made on whether it should be sent to the National Archives.
• Policy: information will be reviewed 7 years after closure (date of last modification) and a decision will be made on whether it should be sent to the National Archives. 

Your information may be shared with other government departments, public bodies and organisations that perform public functions to assist them in the performance of their statutory duties or when it is in the public interest.  If an enquiry or another task requires input from another government department, your information may be passed on to them, for example, the Department of Health or DAERA.

For more general information, please see the How and where we store your data and who we may share it with section in our Personal Information Charter. 

International transfers 

For more information on international transfers, please see the International transfers section in our Personal Information Charter. 

EU citizens 

For more information on EU Citizens Privacy Notice, please see the EU citizens section in our Personal Information Charter. 

Your rights 

For more information on your rights, please see the Your rights section in our Personal Information Charter. 

Contact us 

If you have any queries concerning this Privacy Notice, your personal information or any questions on our use of the information, please email our Data Protection Officer in the FSA, who is the Information Management and Security Team Leader using the address below.