Collecting information about your customers - small business checklist

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More information If you need any more information about this or any other aspect of data protection, please contact us. Phone: 08456 30 60 60 01625 54 57 45 e: please use the online enquiry form on our website w: www.ico.gov.uk June 2009 Data Protection Collecting information about your customers 3 small business checklist This checklist helps you to collect and use in 9ormation about your customers properly. It gives advice about dra 9ting a privacy notice 3 this is the statement you can give out to people explaining who you are and what you are going to do with their in 9ormation.

Checklist Work out whether you collect personal in 9ormation about your customers. A list o 9 names and addresses o 9 people you deliver goods to, or a le o 9 contacts you use 9or telemarketing, is personal in 9ormation. I 9 you do collect personal in 9ormation, decide whether customers would already know who you are and what you are going to do with their in 9ormation, including disclosing it to a third party.

I 9 not, you should dra 9t a privacy notice and provide it to them, 9or example in the 9orm o 9 ... more. less.

a leafet. Make sure your privacy notice is clear, honest and will be understood by the people it 9s aimed at. Avoid con 9using mixtures o 9 8opt-ins 9 and 8opt-outs 9. Do not pre-tick consent boxes. I 9 you are going to give your customers a choice, 9or example over the disclosure o 9 their details to another business, explain the choice clearly and respect their wishes. Make sure customers know the di 9 9erence between in 9ormation they need to provide to get the goods or services they 9ve requested, and in 9ormation which is optional. Review your privacy notice 9rom time to time to make sure it is accurate, up to date and accessible to your customers. See our Privacy Notices Code o 9 Practice 9or more detailed advice about collecting and using personal in 9ormation. You should not do anything with personal in 9ormation that customers might nd misleading, unexpected or objectionable. Being open with customers and treating their details 9airly should make them want to do business with you again. Example: Jan and Sandra are 9riends with hairdressing and beauty businesses. Jan would like to pass her customers 9 details on to Sandra so she can promote her new beauty salon to potential customers. A privacy notice like the one below would be a good way o 9 seeking customer agreement 9or this.

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