Data Protection Complaints Policy: 

  1. Overview: 

You have the right to make a data protection complaint to us. 

You will not be charged for any time spent handling your complaint. 

You can request a copy of this complaint procedure at any time.

We issue all clients with a copy of this Data Protection Complaint Procedure when you raise a complaint.

We shall aim to deal with any complaint that we may receive promptly, fairly, openly, and effectively.

  1. Making A Complaint: 

A data protection complaint can be made in the following scenarios: 

 ⏹  a data breach which has impacted you;
⏹ Our response to your Data Subject Access Request or other privacy rights request;
⏹ How long we are keeping your personal information;
⏹ The accuracy of information that we hold about you;
⏹ The security measures we have in place to protect your personal details;
⏹ how we have profiled you;
⏹ or any other data protection related matter.

If you are unhappy with how we have processed your data in any of the above examples then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem. 

If you wish to make a data protection complaint you can write to the firm’s Data Protection Complaints Manager, Paul Johnson on:

Email: paul.johnson@mercatis.law

T: 44(0)20 3865 2517

Making a data protection complaint will not affect how we handle your case.  If you need to make a data protection complaint, you should:

  • Complain as soon as possible;
  • Provide your full name and contact details;
  • Provide us with your file reference number, if you have it;
  • Be clear on what the issue is and how you would like it to be resolved.

Please note that we may have to complete identification and verification checks to ensure that we are dealing with the correct person. 

If you require any help in making your complaint, we will try to help you.

  1. Timescales: 

The current legislation states that we must acknowledge each complaint within 30 days of receipt,   take appropriate steps to respond without undue delay, including making any relevant enquiries and keeping complainants up to date on progress and provide an outcome to complainants without undue delay;

However, we aim to improve upon this and progress things further for you. We will therefore mirror our usual Complaints Process, that is to acknowledge your data protection complaint within 3 working days and provide you with a full response within 8 weeks at the latest. 

We aim to provide you a response to include the following: 

⏹ Explanation of what has been done to resolve the complaint
⏹ Where appropriate any actions taken as a result
⏹ Explain in detail how we have complied with data protection law
⏹ Enough information to help you understand our decision.

  1. Next Steps: If you are not happy with our outcome or we have not provided you with an outcome within 8 weeks, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office. They can be contacted on: 

Web link: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/data-protection-complaints/

T: 0303 123 1113