PRIVACY POLICY

1 - WHO WE ARE

Design Conformity is the trading name of Design Conformity Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 10578710) with its registered office at Western House, Western Street, Hockley, Nottingham, NG1 3AZ. In this policy, “Design Conformity”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Design Conformity Limited.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of our clients, the users of our software, and visitors to our websites. We will ensure that any personal data you provide to us is processed fairly, lawfully and with appropriate care, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

For the purposes of the UK GDPR, the data controller is Carbon Efficiency Rating (Software) Limited, trading as Design Conformity.

2 - SCOPE OF THIS POLICY

This policy applies to personal data we collect and process in connection with:

  • Our websites, including https://www.dccircularity.com and https://designconformity.com.
  • Our Carbon Efficiency (CE) software platform, including account registration and use of the platform by our customers and their authorised users.
  • Our related products, services and business communications.

Where our customers use the CE platform to submit data relating to their own end users or business contacts, we process that data on our customers’ instructions as a data processor. In those cases, the customer remains the data controller, and individuals should refer to the relevant customer’s privacy policy in the first instance.

3 - INDIVIDUALS WHOSE DATA WE COLLECT AND PROCESS

We may collect, use, store and transfer personal data relating to:

  • Visitors to our websites.
  • Individuals at our customers, prospective customers and partners with whom we correspond.
  • Individuals authorised to use our products and services on a customer’s behalf, such as authorised resellers or overseas partners.
  • End users of our products and services.

4 - INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We collect and process the following information:

• Information you provide by filling in forms on our websites or in the CE platform, including information provided when registering an account, subscribing to our services or requesting information from us.
• Records of correspondence if you contact us.
• Technical details of your visits to our websites, including IP address, browser type, operating system, approximate location data and other communications data.

5 - INFORMATION WE PROCESS ON BEHALF OF OUR CUSTOMERS

In addition to the above, we process information on behalf of our customers as a data processor. This includes:

  • Information submitted to the CE platform by our customers or their authorised users.
  • Information collected through analytics tools and cookies (see section 8 below).

6 - HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use your information to:

  • Provide, operate and support the CE platform and our other products and services.
  • Carry out our obligations under the contracts entered into between us and our customers.
  • Ensure that content from our websites is presented in the most effective manner for you and your device.
  • Notify you of changes to our services.
  • Provide you with information about products and services that may be of interest to you, where you have consented to receive it or where we have a legitimate interest in contacting you as an existing customer about services similar to those you have previously purchased.

We do not disclose personal information to third parties for advertising or other marketing purposes.

7 - RETENTION AND DELETION

We retain your information for as long as you remain an active client, unless you ask us to delete it. If you cease to be an active client, we will retain your information only where we have a legitimate interest in doing so, and we will only contact you on that basis. If you have signed up to receive our newsletter or requested information from us, we will retain your details until you ask for them to be removed.

We may retain certain information after a deletion request:

  • Where your account has unresolved matters, such as outstanding invoices.
  • Where retention is necessary for legitimate business interests, such as fraud prevention.
  • Where we are required to retain it by applicable law.

8 - IP ADDRESSES, COOKIES AND ANALYTICS

We may collect information about your device, including your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration purposes and to gain insight into browsing patterns. This information is aggregated, does not identify individuals, and is deleted after six months.

We use cookies, which store small amounts of information on your device, to help us improve our websites. Cookies help us to:

  • Understand visitor numbers.
  • Store information about your preferences and content that may be of interest to you.
  • Speed up your searches.
  • Recognise you when you return to our websites.

You can decline cookies by adjusting the settings in your browser. Doing so may affect your use of our websites, and some areas may become unavailable.

We use Google Analytics and similar monitoring tools on our websites. Information collected by these tools is processed by the relevant third party in accordance with its own privacy policy. If you have any concerns, please consult the privacy policies of those providers, such as Google.

9 - WHERE WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

The data we collect may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the United Kingdom. It may also be processed by staff operating outside the United Kingdom who work for us or for one of our suppliers. Where we transfer your data outside the United Kingdom, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as transfers to countries covered by UK adequacy regulations or the use of the International Data Transfer Agreement or other approved contractual safeguards. We take all reasonable steps to ensure your data is stored securely.

10 - SECURITY

All information you provide is stored on secure servers and is accessible only to you and to the authorised users of our services and software. We use strict procedures and security features to reduce the risk of unauthorised access. Please note that the transmission of data via the internet is never completely secure, and any transmission is at your own risk.

11 - SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

  • If our business or assets are bought or sold, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective buyer.
  • If we are required to do so to comply with a legal obligation, to enforce our terms and conditions, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Design Conformity, our customers or others.

12 - YOUR RIGHTS

Under the UK GDPR you have the following rights:

  • Right of access. You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Right to rectification. If your data is inaccurate, you may ask us to correct it.
  • Right to object. You may object to our processing of your data, including for direct marketing. Unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds, processing will stop. You can object to marketing at any time by emailing admin@designconformity.com.
  • Right to erasure. You may request that your data is erased without undue delay where the data is no longer required, where you withdraw consent, or where there is no overriding reason for us to retain it. We may decline a request where continued processing is necessary, for example to comply with a legal obligation.
  • Right to data portability. You may request a copy of your data in a structured, machine readable format such as CSV or XLS.

If you are dissatisfied with how we handle your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at https://ico.org.uk.

13 - ACCESSING YOUR INFORMATION

To find out what personal information we hold about you, you can make a data subject access request. Any formal request should be made in writing to adam@designconformity.com or to our office address: Western House, Western Street, Hockley, Nottingham, NG1 3AZ. If we hold information about you, we will:

  • Tell you what information we are holding.
  • Tell you why we hold it.
  • Tell you who we would disclose it to.
  • Provide you with a copy.

We will provide this information free of charge. We may charge a reasonable fee, or refuse to act on a request, only where the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

14 - UPDATING YOUR INFORMATION

If at any time you wish to update your information, you can contact us with your updated details by emailing adam@designconformity.com. If you wish to opt out of marketing emails, you can do so by using the unsubscribe option in the emails we send, or by emailing adam@designconformity.com.

15 - LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITE

From time to time, our websites may contain links to and from other websites. These websites have their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to read before submitting any personal data. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of other websites.

16 - CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

Any changes we make to this Privacy Policy will be published on this page. This policy was last updated in September 2026.

17 - GET IN TOUCH

If you wish to contact us about this Privacy Policy, you can email adam@designconformity.com or write to Design Conformity, Western House, Western Street, Hockley, Nottingham, NG1 3AZ.