Trade Remedies Service: Privacy Notice and Terms of Use
June 2026
Introduction
This document is split into two sections. The first section sets out how your personal information is handled when you register and take part in a case using the Trade Remedies Authority’s digital platform, the Trade Remedies Service.
The second section provides information on how confidential information you supply via the Trade Remedies Service, such as business data, will be managed.
Part One: Privacy Notice for Trade Remedies Service
Purpose
The privacy notice (“Notice”) describes the handling of personal data collected and used by the TRA when you use the Trade Remedies Service. By personal data, we mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.
We are required under UK Data Protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR) and section 8 of the Data Protection Act 2018 to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice. It is important that you read this notice so that you are aware of how and why we are using your information.
This Notice only relates to data that the TRA collects and processes. We are not responsible for external organisations that may link to the TRA’s web pages. For more information concerning external agencies and stakeholders please visit the relevant privacy statement on their own web pages.
What we need
To take part in an investigation or to start an application you are required to create an account with the Trade Remedies Service. To create an account, you will be required to provide your:
- Full name
- The organisation you work for
- Email address (for signing into the service - on sign in to the service a code will be sent to your registered email to verify your identity)
- Organisation’s head office address including country
- A password (so you can access your case in the future)
When completing an application, you may need to provide the Trade Remedies Authority with additional information to be able to assess if you have a trade remedies case. Any further information you need to provide will depend on which capacity you are involved in the case.
Lawful basis for processing personal information
The Trades Remedies Service is a secure IT service used by the TRA to conduct its cases. We collect your personal information so that we can engage with you if you register on the trade remedies service, apply for a trade remedies investigation, or are taking part in a trade remedies case. It allows the TRA and external parties to interact with investigations and each other.
The lawful basis we rely on to process your personal data is article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR, which allows us to process personal data when this is necessary to perform our public tasks. The TRA’s functions are conferred on it by the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 (TCBTA), in particular by Schedule 4 to the TCBTA for functions relating to dumping and foreign subsidies causing injury to UK industry, and by Schedule 5 of the TCBTA for functions relating to increased imports causing serious injury to UK producers (commonly known as safeguards).
Why we need your data
To support its public tasks, the information you provide will be processed by the Trade Remedies Authority and selected third parties in order to:
- Carry out the functions conferred on it under the TCBTA, including carrying out trade remedies investigations, reviews and other related activity
- Provide the Secretary of State with such, advice, support and assistance as the Secretary of State requests under the Trade Act 2021 in connection with:
- The conduct of an international trade dispute
- The functions of the Secretary of State relating to trade
- The functions of the TRA, and
- Any other advice support and assistance as the TRA considers appropriate in relation to international trade, and trade remedies.
- Perform functions, comply with obligations or exercise powers under the:
- Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967
- Freedom of Information Act 2000
- Environmental Information Regulations 2004
- UK General Data Protection Regulation
- Data Protection Act 2018
- To conduct research to improve our services
- Provide you with information about our activities where we engage with industry on unfair trading practices, such as our newsletter and events
When do we collect information about people?
We collect information about people falling into the following categories:
- Directly from users when they create an account
- From users who submit personal data to support the investigation
- from automated technologies; cookies; telemetry or similar technologies when visitors use the TRS.
Sometimes we collect information from third parties.
Third parties the TRA obtains personal data from include but are not limited to:
- Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
- His Majesty’s Revenues and Customs (HMRC)
- Other parties that have supplied data in relation to a case including submission of evidence.
Sharing your information
In some circumstances we are legally obliged to share information. For example, under a court order or to prevent fraud or other crime.
As a public authority we receive information requests under the Freedom of Information Act and the UK GDPR. Requests are considered on a case-by-case basis, and we will only disclose your information where we are legally required to do so.
As a public authority we may share your information with auditors. What we share will depend on the nature and scope of the audit and we will take steps to minimise data sharing wherever possible.
As a public authority we must comply with the Public Records Act 1958. We are required to retain and transfer records of historical significance to TNA after 20 years in line with their Collection Policy.
We will not:
- Sell or rent your data to third parties
- Share your data with third parties for their marketing purposes
How long we keep your personal data
The law says that we may only keep your personal data for as long as we need it to do our work. For example, where we collect and use personal data to carry out a trade remedies investigation, it is likely that we will need to hold your data while any relevant trade remedies are in force, due to the potential for appeals and review of the measures. However, it is likely we will no longer need your personal data once the measures (and any appeals and/ or reviews in relation to the goods or the measures concerned) are revoked. When we no longer need your personal data, we securely delete it. In deciding how long we need to keep your personal data for, we also have regard to the time periods recommended to government departments for keeping certain categories of information by The National Archive and our own retention schedule.
How we protect your data and keep it secure
The information you provide through our Trade Remedies Service is securely stored by the Trade Remedies Authority, and we are committed to doing all that we can to keep your data secure. We have set up systems and processes to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of your data. All personal data is stored in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Once you submit documentation in an investigation you will not be able to access it through the Trade Remedies Service. The information will be sent to the Trade Remedies Authority where it will be held securely.
You can access all non-confidential documents you provide through the Trade Remedies Service when signed in. Throughout an investigation, non-confidential documents will also be issued to the public case file on the TRA’s online public file once it has passed an internal deficiency process to ensure it is suitable to publish - https://www.trade-remedies.service.gov.uk/public/cases/
Your legal rights in relation to personal data
Right to be informed about how personal data is used
You have the right request:
- Information about how your personal data is processed
- A copy of any personal data we hold about you
- That any inaccuracies in your personal data are correct immediately
You can also:
- Raise an objection about how your personal data is processed
- Request that your personal data is erased if there is no longer a justification for it
- Ask that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances.
Contact us
If you have any requests relating to your rights under data protection legislation, you can contact:
data.protection@traderemedies.gov.uk
Or write to
Knowledge and Information Management
Trade Remedies Authority
Premier House
60 Caversham Road
Reading
RG1 7EB.
You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office for independent advice about data protection, privacy, and data-sharing issues at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF
casework@ico.org.uk
0303 123 1113
Changes to this privacy notice
We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time and will provide you with a new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates.
Part Two: Confidential data
Confidentiality of data received by us in trade investigations
When supplying information to us in connection with the exercise of our functions under:
- The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act 2018 (TCBTA);
- The Trade Remedies (Dumping and Subsidisation) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019;
- The Trade Remedies (Increase in Imports Causing Serious Injury to UK Producers) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019; and
- The Trade Remedies (Reconsideration and Appeals) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019
you may request that we treat this information as confidential on the grounds that the information is by its nature confidential; or supply that information on a confidential basis. Unless required to do so by law, or in accordance with the TRA’s requirements on disclosing information as set out below, we will treat such information as confidential, where you demonstrate to us that there is good cause for us to treat such information as confidential; and you have submitted a sufficiently detailed non-confidential summary of that information for the purposes of the public file; or in exceptional circumstances, a statement of reasons.
Further detail on confidential information is set out in the regulations listed above. The TRA will also treat information as confidential, as appropriate, in accordance with its wider confidentiality obligations, including under data protection or trade secrets legislation.
Disclosing information
We may disclose information which we otherwise treat as confidential where such disclosure is:
- made with your consent, or the consent of the person supplying information on your behalf.
- made for the purpose of court or tribunal proceedings in the United Kingdom relating to the exercise by us or the Secretary of State of any functions under the Customs Act or Regulations
- made for the purpose of an international dispute relating to the exercise of any functions under the Customs Act or secondary legislation by us or the Secretary of State; or required or permitted by any other enactment or rule of law.
We may also disclose to the Secretary of State information that we are treating as confidential for the purpose of the Secretary of State exercising their functions under the TCBTA or regulations made thereunder.
We may receive information about you from HMRC for the purpose of facilitating the exercise of our functions relating to trade. Where we receive such information, we will not use the information for purposes other than in relation to functions permitted under The TCBTA and regulations made thereunder, or the Trade Act 2021, or further disclose such information without the consent of HMRC.
As a public authority we receive information requests under the Freedom of Information Act and the UK GDPR. Requests are considered on a case-by-case basis, and we will only disclose your information where we are legally required to do so.
As a public authority we may share your information with auditors. What we share will depend on the nature and scope of the audit and we will take steps to minimise data sharing wherever possible.
As a public authority we must comply with the Public Records Act 1958. We are required to retain and transfer records of historical significance to TNA after 20 years in line with their Collection Policy
Retaining your case data
The Trade Remedies Authority will retain the data you provide for the following periods:
- Where a case does not lead to a measure, data submitted in support of the case will be retained for six years. After this period, the data will be reviewed for deletion or transfer to The National Archives.
- Where a measure is implemented, all related data will be retained for six years following the expiry of the measure. After six years, the data will be reviewed for deletion or transfer to The National Archives.
- Where a measure is discontinued or revoked, the associated data will be retained for six years from the date of revocation. After six years, the data will be reviewed for deletion or transfer to The National Archives.
During the period in which you compile the documents into a submission, the TRA will not have access to the documents in their system – but they will be held in the system’s database so you do not have to complete a submission in one session.
Once you have submitted documents to the TRA for consideration, they will be kept as part of the auditable record of the case.
Complaints
If you believe your confidential data has been incorrectly managed, you can submit a complaint under our Complaints procedure to complaints@traderemedies.gov.uk
Next review: June 2027