Receiver of wreck privacy information notice
Updated 4 May 2023
© Crown copyright 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maritime-and-coastguard-agency-privacy-notices/receiver-of-wreck-privacy-information-notice
1. How we use your information
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) collect and retain personal information when you report wreck material. We do this for the purposes of administering the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, to process claims to wreck and salvage from wreck owners and salvors. The information that you provide is primarily used for administering claims to wreck and salvage but may also be used for the purpose of the prevention and detection of crime and the investigation and prosecution of offences.
2. How long will we retain your information?
We will retain and process your information for each wreck report in accordance with the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. This record will primarily contain wreck report information, although it will also contain the name, address and contact details of the salvor. Your information will then remain on file to maintain a record of wreck material which has been legally salvaged.
Files are eligible for destruction twenty years after the date of the last correspondence on file for that case. An electronic summary record of each case will be kept as a record of wreck finds which have been through the statutory reporting process.
For wreck owners, we will keep your personal data for as long as you have an ownership interest in any wreck. We do this in order that we can contact you should material that we believe maybe your property be recovered from a wreck and reported to us.
If you no longer have an ownership interest in any wreck, you may contact us at row@mcga.gov.uk to inform us of this and to request that your personal data is updated or deleted.
3. Who will we share your information with?
We will not share your personal data with anyone other than for the purposes of processing your salvage/ownership claim or for the prevention and detection of crime or with your prior knowledge and agreement.