Marine and fisheries compliance: privacy notice

Marine Scotland Compliance takes the right to privacy seriously and this privacy notice reflects our commitment to the fair and transparent processing of personal information. This document provides a summary of how Marine Scotland Compliance handles your personal data. This includes details of the personal data we gather; the legal basis for us to process your personal data; how long we keep your personal data before destroying it; and who we share your data with.

1. The Scottish Government’s Marine Scotland Compliance (MSC) division ensures effective monitoring and enforcement of marine and fishing laws to protect Scotland's fisheries and marine areas.  

2. The Scottish Ministers are a competent authority in terms of the Law Enforcement Directive (LED) and MSC will process personal data as necessary under both the LED and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

3. This processing is undertaken through monitoring and enforcing statutory provisions, and through this detecting breaches of fisheries and marine regulations. This could be through monitoring and inspection at sea, in ports or elsewhere, and then taking appropriate action from a range of enforcement options which may ultimately include reporting a case to the prosecuting authorities.

4. MSC enforces fisheries and marine legislation from:

• the European Union;

• the UK; and

• Scotland.

Why do we collect personal information?

5. MSC collects personal information in order to comply with legal obligations and to assist in the functions in administering a system necessary for the management of fisheries. If you are involved in the fishing industry in Scotland, or even more widely as we perform certain functions on a UK-wide basis, then we will process your personal data as necessary. This processing is necessary in the public interest to ensure compliance with the laws currently in force.

What we do with your personal data

6. MSC will process personal information in the administration of licences and other matters concerned with commercial fishing which are provided for in statute, and this will be covered by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It will also, where necessary, use personal information in the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal penalties as provided for in the Law Enforcement Directive (LED). 

Consequences of not providing personal information

7. In general, not providing personal information will mean that we are unable to deal with your licensing application or other function that you request which would allow you to undertake your business legally. Not providing certain personal information in relation to law enforcement may amount to obstruction, which is an offence.

How is personal data collected?

8. MSC collects information in a variety of ways including paper and online forms, email, letters, and telephone. Information may also be collected through one-to-one engagement with officers and recorded in their notebooks. This may be through an inspection, boarding, other means of surveillance or interaction.

What personal information is collected?

9. Personal information that will be processed can include any of the following:

• name

• address

• date of birth

• telephone number

• nationality

• name and PLN of vessel

• names and positions of persons within companies

• positional data

• logbook and landing declaration data

• sales note data

10. Your personal data is managed in a secure manner. Only Marine Scotland officials see the personal information you have provided. 

Information sharing

11. Although we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose personal information if we have a legal obligation to do so, or where prosecutorial bodies or other law enforcement bodies have demonstrated that any request for information from them falls under an exemption in the Data Protection Act 2018.  

What happens with personal information?

12. The personal information will be processed in a number of ways:

• stored securely within the Electronic Recording System which has been tested for electronic and physical security;

• stored on other Scottish Government official corporate record or other secure storage areas that have been tested for electronic and physical security;

• personal information will not be transferred to, stored at, or processed in a destination that is outside the European Economic Area.

What are your rights?

13. You are entitled to ask us for a copy of any personal data that we hold about you and to ask about how and why your personal data is held, processed, retained and shared. You can also challenge us if you think that we are processing your personal data inappropriately or if you consider the personal data we hold to be inaccurate. 

14. If you believe the personal data that Marine Scotland Compliance is processing about you is inaccurate, you can request to have it corrected.

15. You can ask for your personal data to be erased, or to restrict processing of that data.

Queries about how personal information is handled

16. If you have any queries or concerns about how your personal information will be handled, contact Marine Scotland Compliance at:

Marine Scotland Compliance
Area 1A North
Victoria Quay
EDINBURGH
EH6 6QQ

Email: MS_Enforcement_Unit@gov.scot

Data subject rights

17. You have the right to access the personal data we process about you, the right to object to processing that is or is likely to cause substantial damage or distress to you or another, the right to request to rectify, erase, block or destroy inaccurate information and the right to be confident that we will handle your personal information responsibly and in line with good practice.

18. To exercise these rights, you can write to the Scottish Government Data Protection Officer, supported by the Data Protection and Information Asset Team at:

Data Protection and Information Assets Team
V Spur

Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
EDINBURGH
EH11 3XD

Email: dpa@gov.scot  

Complaints

19. If you feel we have been unable to resolve your information rights concern, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the supervisory authority responsible for data protection in the UK. 

20. For further information, including independent data protection advice and information in relation to your rights, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at:

Information Governance department
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
WILMSLOW
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Website: http://www.ico.org.uk/

21. You can also report a concern here. 

General Information

Marketing

22. Marine Scotland Compliance will not share personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.

Research

23. Marine Scotland Compliance may grant access to personal data to certain pre-approved researchers for studies that would contribute to its work with Scottish Ministers to improve the well-being of Scotland and its people. The outputs of that research would not identify any individuals.

Automated decision making or profiling

24. Marine Scotland Compliance does not conduct any automated decision making/profiling.

Marine Scotland Compliance

Date: May 2018