Privacy Notice

The bodies listed below are registered with the Information Commissioner as data controllers. They are distinct legal entities however the officers who support each body are stationed with the DEFA. This Privacy Policy covers all three bodies. 

Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture (DEFA)

The Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture is responsible for protecting the environment from the people and the people from the environment. We also manage most of the plantations, upland areas, glens, Sulby Claddagh and the Curraghs Wildlife Park for the benefit of our residents and visitors.

In addition, we provide financial and legislative support to the Agriculture and Fisheries industries, and provide Pest Control and Dog Warden services.

Office of Fair Trading (OFT)

The Office of Fair Trading is a Statutory Board of Isle of Man Government created by the Board of Consumer Affairs Act 1981 and the Statutory Boards Act 1987.The OFT works to provide the appropriate legislation, advice and compliance services to benefit and protect our Island's consumers and businesses from unfair trading practices.

Road Transport Licensing Committee (RTLC)

The Road Transport Licensing Committee acts as an independent tribunal body of Government with responsibility for regulating the transport of passengers.

It is the duty of the Committee to administer and enforce the provisions of the Road Transport Act 2001, to benefit and protect the public through the provision of sufficient, efficient, safe, and quality public transport services.

• Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’). An identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

• Processing means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction;

• Controller means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.

• Processor means a natural or legal person (other than an employee of the agency or body), public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.

We collect and process information, including your Personal Information:

• To provide effective and efficient services, both statutory and discretionary
• To provide effective and efficient regulation
• To help prevent and detect crime
• To contact you when the need arises

Your Personal Information is collected:

• On the various application forms, both paper and electronic, issued for reasons such as Planning; support payments, licence and permit applications, regulatory activities etc
• Via our websites hosted both on the Government server and externally;
• Telephone conversations when you speak to any of our Officers to request assistance or advice
• Email contacts when you contact any of our officers to request assistance or advice
• Interviews and conversations in relation to regulatory and investigation activity. These may be contemporaneous notes or voice recordings if the interviews are needed for potential legal action;
• From social media when officers may be searching for background information to support and investigation
• There are CCTV cameras on various Department buildings (e.g. IOM Sawmill, Thie Slieau Whallian) that collect images for crime prevention and investigation reasons
• Information may be collected from third parties when it will help to provide a service to you that you have requested or if it will progress an investigation that we have a statutory duty to conduct

Your Personal Information may be shared:

• Within the Department, Board or Committee to provide effective and efficient services and regulation
• With other Government Departments, Statutory Boards and Offices, where there is a statutory requirement, to provide effective and efficient services, regulation and crime prevention, detection and prosecution
• With other bodies, stakeholders and partners (where we have your consent), which the Department may engage to further its aims and regulatory activities
• To online registers that we have an obligation to maintain and make available

Where there is a legal obligation to do so, the Department, Board or Committee will check and verify the information you provide to us. This may include checks of publicly available information but in some cases, where it is necessary and relevant to your application, the information you provide may be disclosed or shared with other organisations in order to complete these checks. This is to allow us to verify the information and documentation you have provided is correct and will also help prevent and detect crime.

• Contact details such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses
• CCTV will collect your image when you visit our sites and offices
• Our websites will record details of your visit such as duration and pages visited
• Bank details
• Professional and personal references
• Your views and opinions in response to consultations

Your Personal Information is processed only:

• Where you (the Data Subject) have given your consent
• Where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or in order to take steps at your request to enter into a contract
• Where processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the Department is subject
• Where processing is necessary in order to protect your vital interests or those of another natural person
• Where processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Department

Your Personal Information will be kept in compliance with the Department’s, Board’s or Committee’s Retention Schedules and in all cases for the minimum time necessary in order to both complete the service you have requested (or that we are required to supply) and to fulfil our record keeping obligations. The Public Records Act 1999 determines the need for the Department, Board or Committee to retain information for historical or archiving purposes by the Public Record Office (PRO) and we engage with the PRO to decide what should be retained for the island’s permanent archive and what can be destroyed.

The security and confidentiality of your information is very important to us. 

We will ensure that: 

• Safeguards are in place to make sure personal data is kept securely
• Only authorised staff are able to view your data

Neither DEFA, the OFT or the RTLC carry out any automated processing.

You have a right to access your personal data to ensure that it is accurate, and to request that it is rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed if it is inaccurate;

To make any request relating to your data held by us, please contact the Data Protection Officer for the Department, Board or Committee using the details below.

Guidance on how to exercise your rights, including how to make a Data Subject Access Request, is available.  

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you may also complain to the Information Commissioner, whose details can be found on www.inforights.im, or the relevant supervisory authority. You may have a right to other remedies.

Thie Slieau Whallian,
Foxdale Road,
St John’s,
Isle of Man, 
IM4 3AS

Phone: +44 1624 686781
Fax: +44 1624 685851
E-mail: DPO-DEFA@gov.im