Data Protection Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice explains how LH Notaries Limited, of 24 Warren Park Road, Hertford, SG14 3JD (“Business”, “we”, “us” or “our”), collects, uses, stores and protects personal data when providing notarial and associated services, including access to our website and online features.

LH Notaries Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) under registration number ZA233473.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, please contact us by email.

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. Any changes will be published on our website or notified to you by other appropriate means. Continued use of our services after such updates will be treated as your acknowledgement of the updated Privacy Notice.

Please note: You agree to indemnify LH Notaries Limited, its affiliates, officers, employees, agents and subcontractors against any claims, losses, demands, liabilities, penalties, expenses, damages or legal costs arising from any breach by you of the warranties set out in this Privacy Notice.

What is Personal Data?

“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable living person. This may include details such as your name, address, email address, telephone number, IP address, location data, cookies and similar information.

Personal data may also include special categories of personal data, such as information relating to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, health data, or data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation.

We may process personal data and special categories of personal data that you provide in connection with our services. This may include information about you and about other individuals whose details are included in documents or materials provided to us.

We may also obtain information from third-party service providers, such as due diligence platforms. If you use our online services, we may collect information about your device, including clickstream data.

Certain personal data is required so that we can comply with our client due diligence obligations and provide our services. You confirm, on an ongoing basis, that the personal data you provide is accurate, complete and up to date.

Failure to provide accurate and complete information may result in delays, rejected documents, documents being held invalid in the destination country, or other difficulties in completing the requested services.

Where you provide personal data relating to another individual, you confirm that you are authorised to share that information with us and, where required, that you have obtained the appropriate consent from the relevant individual.

How Do We Use Your Personal Data?

We will only process personal data in accordance with applicable law and for proper business and professional purposes.

We may use personal data for the following purposes:

• Responding to your enquiries, requests and communications;
• Providing notarial and associated services;
• Arranging acts or processes with foreign organisations where required;
• Allowing suppliers and service providers to carry out services on our behalf;
• Providing website access and online features where you choose to use them;
• Protecting the security of our business and preventing or detecting fraud;
• Administering the business, including complaints handling, troubleshooting, analysis and service improvement;
• Developing and improving our services;
• Complying with legal, professional and regulatory obligations, including Notary Practice Rules and lawful requests from courts or regulatory bodies.

The legal basis for processing personal data may include performance of a contract, compliance with legal obligations, legitimate business interests, consent, or any other lawful basis available under applicable data protection law.

Cookie Statement

What Exactly Are Cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of information sent to your browser and stored on your computer, mobile phone or other device. They help websites function properly and may also allow website owners to understand how visitors use their website.

You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, allowing you to decide whether to accept it. However, some website features may not work properly if cookies are disabled.

Cookies may be first-party cookies or third-party cookies.

• First-party cookies are placed on your device by the website you are visiting.
• Third-party cookies are placed on your device through the website by another organisation, such as Google.

The Cookies Placed on Our Website

We may use the following cookies on our website:

• Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to allow you to move around the website and use its features. Without them, services you have requested cannot be provided. These cookies are deleted when you close your browser.
• Performance cookies: These cookies collect information in an anonymous form about how visitors use the website. They help us understand visitor numbers, website movement and approximate visitor regions.

Cookie Consent and Opting Out

We assume that you are happy for us to place cookies on your device. Most internet browsers automatically accept cookies. You can withdraw consent or decline cookies at any time by changing your browser settings.

If you choose to decline cookies, some parts of our website may not function fully.

Disclosure of Personal Data

There may be circumstances where we need to disclose, or are required to disclose, personal data to third parties.

This may include disclosure to:

• Subsidiaries or associated offices;
• Suppliers and service providers who help us provide our services;
• Couriers, translators, IT consultants, legalisation agents and handling agents;
• Website hosting providers and identity verification partners;
• Consultants assisting with business security, systems integrity or business continuity;
• Public authorities, such as the Foreign Office, where required for the services;
• Foreign organisations, such as embassies, consulates and high commissions;
• Professional organisations connected with the notarial profession, including Chambers of Commerce, The Notaries Society and the Faculty Office;
• Successor or partner legal entities in connection with a merger, sale, reorganisation, collaboration or similar business event;
• Public authorities where we are required by law to disclose personal data;
• Any other third party where you have provided consent.

International Transfer of Personal Data

We may transfer personal data to third parties in countries outside the country where it was originally collected where this is necessary for the provision of our services.

In particular, personal data may be transferred to foreign organisations, such as embassies, consulates and other authorities located in the UK or overseas. These organisations will process personal data under the laws and international treaties that apply to them.

Where personal data is transferred to private organisations outside the UK, such as subcontractors, we will take appropriate steps, where required by law, to ensure that personal data is protected through appropriate technical, organisational, contractual or other lawful safeguards.

You may contact us if you require further information about these safeguards.

Retention of Personal Data

Personal data will be retained for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice, or for as long as required by law.

The Notaries Practice Rules require notarial acts in public form to be preserved permanently. Records of acts not in public form must be preserved for a minimum period of 12 years.

Please contact us if you require further details about applicable retention periods.

For security and convenience, personal data may be stored on remote data facilities in encrypted form.

Security of Personal Data

We will implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures to help prevent unauthorised access to personal data.

However, transmission of information over the internet is never completely secure. While we take steps to keep our systems secure, we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to us via the website, email or other online methods.

Data Subject Rights

Data subjects have a number of rights in relation to their personal data. Further information about data protection rights is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Right to Make a Subject Access Request

You may request copies of your personal data in writing. Such requests are subject to legal limitations, exemptions and the rights of other individuals. You may also be required to provide proof of identity and, where applicable, payment.

Right to Rectification

You may request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data is corrected.

Right to Withdraw Consent

Where we process personal data based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

Right to Object to Processing

You may object to certain processing of your personal data, including automated processing and profiling.

We do not make automated decisions. However, we may use third-party due diligence platforms that provide recommendations by automated means. We will comply with valid objections unless we have a lawful reason to continue processing.

Right to Erasure

You may request that we erase your personal data. We will comply unless there is a lawful reason for retaining the data, such as professional archiving obligations.

Right to Restrict Processing

You may request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances. We will comply unless there is a lawful reason for continuing the processing.

Right to Data Portability

In certain circumstances, you may request a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and ask for it to be transferred to another service provider.

Where this right applies, we will comply with the request. Please note that transferring data to another provider does not necessarily mean that we must erase the personal data, where we have a lawful reason to retain it.

Right to Lodge a Complaint

We recommend contacting us first if you have any questions or concerns about how we process personal data. However, you also have the right to contact the relevant supervisory authority directly.