LUIS Privacy Notice

Livestock Unique Identification Service (LUIS) Privacy Notice.

date of last review June 2025

Introduction

This Privacy Notice explains how Livestock Information Ltd (LI) collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you use the Livestock Unique Identification Service (LUIS). LUIS is the official government service responsible for allocating the unique identification codes for all sheep and goat, and cattle ear tags (both electronic and non-electronic) and electronic boluses in England, Scotland and Wales.

We are committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy in accordance with UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who we are
Data we collect
How we obtain your data
Our lawful basis
How we use your data
Who we share your data with
Data retention
How we keep your information safe
Your rights
How to contact us

1. Who we are

Livestock Information Limited (LI) is a subsidiary of The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB)

LI is working collaboratively with industry and Government to develop a world-leading multi-species livestock information service for cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and deer. In time, the Livestock Information Service aims to become an important national tool that enables industry and government to:

Better control chronic endemic livestock diseases.
Terminate exotic disease outbreaks quickly and effectively.
Drive positive changes in productivity and sustainability.
Develop a competitive trade advantage by building trade partner and consumer confidence in the provenance of British meat and livestock products.

We are committed to handling all data in accordance with applicable legislation, industry expectations, and our own high standards of information governance.

You can find out more about us at: www.livestockinformation.org.uk

2. Data we collect

“Personal Information” is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual. The following data fields are collected for the Ear Tag Allocation System and are shared with LI

Ear tag manufacturer contact details, including business email addresses identifying employees.
Flock / herd identifiers, linking livestock and their keeper(s).
Keeper contact details.
County Parish Holding (CPH) numbers.
LUIS website users,
- your IP address, operating system, web browser type and version are collected. This is to ensure the proper functioning and security of our website.

3. How we obtain your data

We receive personal data from Defra to validate ear tag orders
We receive personal data from ear tag manufactures to process ear tag orders

4. Our Lawful basis

Public Task
As an arms-length body of Defra our processing of personal information is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest and in the exercise of the official authority of Defra to supply livestock traceability under statute, by operation of the following regulations and laws.

UK Laws

Assimilated EU Laws

5. How we use your data

LI collect and use personal information for the purpose of delivering the Livestock Unique Identification Service (LUIS).

TThe statutory element of LIS is livestock traceability which Defra is required to supply under statute, by operation of EU Regulation 1760/2000, EU Regulation 21/2004, and EU Directive 2008/71/EC.
- Animal identification through tagging is a vital element of the LIS and the Ear Tag Allocation System is a component of this process by validating tag numbers, following requests from the ear tag manufacturers.
- To do this, some of your personal information will be shared with LI, including who you are and what type of tag you are ordering.
For https://luis.livestockinformation.org.uk/ website users, we collect your personal data to ensure the proper functioning and security of our website.
- For information on cookies, see our website cookie notice.

6. Who we share your data with

As part of the Livestock Unique Identification Service (LUIS), we may share your data for regulatory and animal health purposes with –

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB)
Ear Tag Manufactures
Food Standards Agency (FSA),
The Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA)
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) or its equivalents in the Devolved Administrations or their appointed agents.
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA),
Trading Standards
Universities and institutions conducting research on animal diseases, monitor outbreaks, and develop strategies for prevention and control.

We will never sell your personal information to third parties or release your personal information to any company outside of the LI for their mailing or marketing purposes.

Where required, we will share personal data to respond to requests from courts or law enforcement agencies

7. Your rights

We retain your personal information for no longer than necessary for the purpose it was obtained unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

In the event we have no lawful basis for processing your personal data, it will be securely disposed of.
Animal tag numbers will be retained indefinitely to prevent reissue and will only be used for tag performance statistics.

If you would like further information on our specific retention periods, please contact us using the details provided below.

8. How we keep your information safe

We ensure that there are appropriate and proportionate controls in place to protect your personal information in the following ways.

We use encryption, where appropriate, and we store data within LI secure network and cloud environment.
We limit and control who has access to the personal information we hold through administrative, technical, and physical access controls.
Where we use third party suppliers or partners to process personal data, we put a contract in place that sets out our expectations and requirements, especially regarding how they manage and securely transfer the personal information and fully comply with all applicable data protection legislation.
LI own systems and storage are within the UK and EEA. Some of our suppliers or partners process personal information on our behalf outside the EEA, where a recognised data security protocol and safeguards are in place between the UK and that country.
LI employs a data protection officer monitoring compliance with GDPR, upholding data subject rights and monitoring processing activity.
Security controls are reviewed regularly to ensure continued effectiveness.

9. Your rights

By law you have certain rights over your personal data that we hold about you and these are summarised below.

Some of the rights are complex and not all the detail is included in our summaries, you should therefore read the relevant guidance on the Information Commissioner’s Office website: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/.
To enquire about exercising any of these rights please contact the Data Protection Officer using the details below “How to contact us”.
We may need to verify your identity before implementing your request, for instance through photographic ID.
Not all rights under the UK GDPR are absolute and your request may be denied where there are grounds such as an exemption under the Data Protection Act 2018.

Right	Description
Right to Access (Right to Know)	You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to Rectification	You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten)	You can request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to Restriction of Processing	You can ask us to pause the use of your data under specific conditions
Right to Data Portability	You can request your data in a structured, commonly used format to transfer it elsewhere.
Right to Object	You can object to processing based on legitimate interest or for direct marketing purposes.
Rights related to Automated Decision-Making and Profiling	You are protected from decisions made solely by automated means that have legal or significant effects.
Right to Withdraw Consent	Where we rely on consent to process your data, you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us.

Right to Complain:

Individuals have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if they believe their data protection rights have been violated.
Please contact the Data Protection Officer in the first instance. If you’re not satisfied and wish to complain the independent supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) information can be found at www.ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

10. How to contacts us

General queries info@livestockinformation.org.uk

Data Protection queries data.protection@livestockinformation.org.uk

You can write to us at the following address.

FAO LI Data Protection Officer

Livestock Information Ltd

Seacole Building

2 Marsham Street

London

SW1P 4DF

Document Approval

Version	5.0
Last Updated By	Danny Meaney, Data Protection Officer
Last Updated date	June 2025
Effective From	June 2025
Next Review Date	June 2026