Datas Statement

The personal information we collect, the source and how we use it

Most countries publish information about companies as part of their official public record. We collect these information from these public sources around the world，Like:

  • Official Govermeny company registers (such as Companies House in the UK);

  • Trademarks;

  • Government gazettes;

  • Customs import and export data;

  • Yellowpages or company website;

  • Other regulatory data sources;

  • and any other authoritative sources.

In addition, in order to provide users with better free query services, our team

will also spend a lot of manpower to improve and correct the data.

The information that we collect will vary from territory to territory depending on the information contained on the official public record for that territory. We aim to be completely open and transparent about the source of information we collect and wherever possible we publish a link to the source of the data we have collected. In the vast majority of cases, The personal data we collect will have been made public through the provision of such information in a public register. If you are or were an officer, shareholder or ultimate beneficial owner of a company, or a sole trader registered with a company registry, we may collect and process the following information about you in our public records register (dependant on what the official public record requires):

  • name;

  • address;

  • unique identifier;

  • partial or full date of birth;

  • occupation;

  • nationality;

  • details of the company that you are or were an officer      for and filings that refer to you (please be aware that not all of this is      personal data);

  • details of your relationship with the company you are or      were an officer for, such as your position (e.g. shareholder/director) and      period at the company (start and end date); and

  • gazette notices (being statutory and non-statutory      notices that are published in an official public record) that refer to      you.

If you are the registered owner of a trade mark, licence or trading/"doing business as" name related to a company held by SeekAB, we may collect and process your name and address in our public records register. SeekAB processes this information to fulfil the Transparency Purpose by: (a) compiling a database of company and company officer profiles based on publicly available corporate data and then (b) enabling members of the public to access the contents of the database (for free) through a search engine webpage made available on its website (https://SeekAB.com/). In addition to the publicly available and free to use webpage, SeekAB also makes its database available via API and bulk download to certain third parties (as described in more detail below, see "Who can access the information collected by SeekAB").

Who can access the information collected by SeekAB

A fundamental aspect of our public mission is that everyone should have easy access to the information we collect and maintain. In delivering this public mission, we therefore make our services available to individuals and organisations:

  • to the public via the SeekAB website      (https://SeekAB.com/);

  • to third parties via the SeekAB API      (https://api.SeekAB.com/); and

  • to third parties via bulk download .The third parties to      whom we make our database available (e.g. via API and bulk download)      include:

  • Commercial third parties, such as financial institutions      carrying out money laundering or other corporate due diligence checks.

  • Public authorities, including law enforcement agencies      investigating corporate crime and tax evasion.

  • NGOs, journalists or academics for journalism and/or      research purposes.

We will also share information, including personal data, with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law. Whilst we make our services available to everyone, the SeekAB website, API and bulk download is not designed for access or use by minors.

How long does SeekAB keep personal information

The information we collect forms part of our historical archive of company information. It is the express aim of the database to provide transparency of corporate connections, including historical connections, without which a full and accurate picture of the corporate world would remain hidden. Maintaining this on an on-going basis is fundamental to our public interest mission, and is particularly important for those using our services for investigative purposes. Accordingly, we do not automatically delete or remove information from our public records register after a certain period of time (as the European Court of Justice has ruled, “matters requiring the availability of personal data in the companies register may arise for many years after a company has ceased to exist”).

Our grounds for processing personal information

The lawful basis that we rely on for processing personal information in our public records register is that the processing is necessary for the legitimate interests pursued by SeekAB which are not outweighed by the rights and freedoms of the individual (Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR). The legitimate interests pursued include the fulfilment of our mission as set out above; namely, to increase and promote transparency of the corporate and business world, including the existence, ownership and activities and entities and people connected with them, by maintaining our public register. More specifically, we consider there to be significant benefits to the wider public in our processing of this data that are not outweighed by the rights and freedoms of individuals whose personal data is contained in our database, such as:

  • Substantially enhancing access to a fulsome picture of      the corporate world for members of the public, journalists, law      enforcement agencies, financial institutions, NGOs and others. The      provision of corporate data is obviously of great importance not least      when it comes to the identification of corporate corruption and      malpractice, corporate fraud, tax evasion, money laundering and the like.

  • Contributing to the achievement of corporate data      accuracy and reliability by facilitating access to the data held within      official registers and, thereby, enabling errors or other questionable      aspects of the data to be more readily detected.

  • Contributing to the fight against corporate crime and      the creation of a more trusted corporate environment for all.

Keeping personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or accessed in an unauthorised way. We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach that we suffer and will issue a public notification of any security breaches that we suffer in accordance with our obligations under applicable law (including under the GDPR).

Your rights

Under the GDPR, individuals have a number of important rights. These include the right to:

  • obtain access to personal information that we hold about      you, as well as information about how we process your personal      information;

  • correct any mistakes in information we hold about you;

  • object to our processing of your personal information;

  • request erasure of your personal information;

  • request restriction of our processing of your personal      information;

  • portability; and

  • lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (see How      to complain below).

However, please be aware that not all of these rights are available to everyone all of the time. In order for these rights to arise certain conditions must be met and there may be exceptions that apply meaning that some of these rights do not apply to the personal information that we process about you. You can submit a request to us via our contact details (see Contact us below). Upon receipt of your request, we will assess the request on a case-by-case basis, and we will communicate the outcome of this assessment to you.

Redacting information

In keeping with our public mission, our public records database is intended to be an accurate account of company data as reflected on official public company registries. If we are informed that a public company register has removed (or limited access to) certain information about a person concerned with a company due to exceptional circumstances (for example, because of a serious risk to personal safety), we will:

  • update the SeekAb records in a timely manner; and

  • institute a procedure for temporarily removing the      relevant information from the SeekAb records while this is being carried      out.

In addition, we can carry out our procedure to temporarily redact information while the official public record is being changed. You can inform us of any application made to a public company register to remove or limit access to your information by contacting us here. Please include the relevant URLs, your position in the company and full details of the reasons for requesting such removal or limitation. We may require further information from you in order to fully consider your request. Note that requests for redaction of personal information must be made by the individual concerned or their legal representatives (including in the case of minors, their parents or guardians) and we may seek to verify this information.

Other Specific Issues

Information regarding minors

We do not set out to process personal data about minors, however on rare occasions there may be information in public records that relates to minors. Where SeekAb becomes aware that information in a public record clearly relates to minors, for example where there is a name and date of birth, SeekAb will restrict access to the record by allowing access only to logged in users (registration is free). We will also add a no-index tag to the web page(s) concerned which stops the webpage(s) from appearing in a Google search.

How to complain

We hope our data team would be able to resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information (see Contact us below). The GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Contact us

The GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113. If you wish to contact us for any other reason, we can be contacted here: