Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2026 | Version: v2.1

DiversecitiUK Ltd (Company No. 10019393) t/a IngredientsWorldwide.com

1. Data Controller

IngredientsWorldwide.com is a trading name of DiversecitiUK Ltd (Company No. 10019393), registered in England and Wales.

DiversecitiUK Ltd is the data controller responsible for personal data processed via this platform.

Privacy and data protection contact: info@diverseciti.co.uk

2. Data We Collect

We collect limited business contact information necessary to facilitate B2B enquiries, including:

• Name
• Company name
• Email address
• Telephone number (if provided)
• Enquiry message
• Product or service interest

We do not request or require special category personal data.

3. Legal Basis

We process personal data under:

• Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR – Legitimate Interests (facilitating B2B introductions).
• Article 6(1)(b) UK GDPR – Processing necessary for pre-contractual steps at the request of the data subject.

We do not rely on consent for standard enquiry handling.

Marketing communications are only sent where lawful consent or another valid legal basis applies.

3A. Legal and Compliance Purposes

We may process business contact information and other relevant information for legal, regulatory and compliance purposes, including proportionate sanctions, restricted-party and fraud-prevention screening where appropriate.

Where relevant, this may include information supplied directly to us together with information obtained from lawful public or third-party sources.

The lawful basis relied upon will depend on the circumstances and may include compliance with a legal obligation and/or our legitimate interests in protecting the platform, its users and our business from legal, regulatory, fraud and compliance risk.

Where legitimate interests are relied upon, we consider whether the processing is necessary and proportionate and balance those interests against the rights and interests of the individuals concerned.

4. How Enquiries Are Handled

IngredientsWorldwide.com operates as an independent B2B introducer platform.

When an enquiry is submitted, relevant contact details may be shared with selected suppliers for the purpose of responding.

Once shared, suppliers act as independent data controllers.

DiversecitiUK Ltd does not act as a joint controller and does not control how suppliers process data after sharing.

5. International Transfers

As the platform facilitates international trade, enquiry information may be shared with suppliers located outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area where relevant to the enquiry, and some of our service providers may process data outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom and UK data protection law requires a transfer safeguard, we will use an appropriate lawful transfer mechanism available under that law for the transfer in question. Where a transfer is made at your request in order to put you in contact with a supplier, the transfer may instead rely on the relevant statutory basis for transfers necessary for the performance or conclusion of a contract in your interest.

Once a supplier receives enquiry information, that supplier acts as an independent controller and is responsible for its own compliance, as set out in Section 4.

6. Data Storage Model

Enquiries are processed via secure server-side systems and delivered to authorised business email accounts.

Enquiry content is not published or made available in public-facing databases.

Enquiry records may also be held in an access-restricted internal system so that enquiries can be reviewed, responded to, and administered. Access is limited to authorised personnel.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as there is a purpose for holding it. Where a fixed period is not stated below, retention is determined by the purpose of the processing, any legal or regulatory obligation that applies, the period during which a dispute or claim could reasonably arise, and legitimate business and compliance needs.

• Business correspondence, including enquiry emails: normally retained within secure business email systems for up to 24 months for operational and dispute resolution purposes, unless a longer period is required by law or a matter remains unresolved.
• Enquiries and buyer requests held in the internal system: retained while the request is active and for a reasonable period afterwards so that the request, any introduction made, and any subsequent query or dispute can be administered, then deleted or anonymised.
• Supplier submissions and listings: retained for as long as the listing or supplier relationship is active and for a reasonable period afterwards to evidence what was published and on what basis.
• Consent and preference records: retained for as long as needed to evidence the choice made and to honour it, including where a choice is to opt out.
• Service, invoicing and accounting records, where applicable: retained for the period required by applicable tax and company law.
• Suppression, abuse prevention and compliance records: retained for as long as necessary to keep honouring an objection, unsubscribe or block, and to protect the platform and its users.

Where personal data is no longer needed for the purpose it was collected for, it is deleted or anonymised. Aggregated non-personal statistics may be retained for service monitoring.

8. Security Measures

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures including:

• Encrypted connections (HTTPS) to the website
• Server-side form processing
• Rate limiting and spam prevention controls
• Access restricted to authorised personnel on a least-privilege basis
• Secure email systems protected by multi-factor authentication

We limit data collection to what is necessary for B2B enquiry facilitation, use personal data only for the purposes described in this policy, and control disclosure so that buyer and supplier contact details are released only where the relevant service process permits. Private submissions are not published, and internal reference identifiers are not exposed publicly.

No website, system or transmission method can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We take proportionate measures appropriate to the nature of the data we handle, and we do not describe specific security configurations publicly.

9. Automated Decision-Making

We do not use solely automated decision-making or profiling producing legal or similarly significant effects in relation to enquiry submissions.

IngredientsWorldwide.com may use AI-assisted tools, including in operational workflows involving enquiry or submission information, to assist human review, checking, organisation, classification or administration. Human review remains part of how enquiries are handled. Where such tools are provided by third-party service providers, they act as processors on our instructions, the processing relies on the same legal bases and retention approach set out in this policy, and any resulting transfers outside the UK or EEA are made under appropriate safeguards.

9A. Cookies, Measurement and Advertising

Cookies and similar technologies that are strictly necessary for the website to work are used at all times. Optional measurement is provided by a single Google tag used to measure the effectiveness of advertising, including conversion measurement. The tag may set cookies or use device identifiers to record how visitors reach and interact with the website.

The optional Google tag is not loaded and transmits no measurement data unless and until you affirmatively accept optional cookies through the website's cookie preference controls. On a first visit, and where no choice has been recorded, optional measurement is off. Continued browsing is not treated as consent.

If you decline optional cookies, the tag is not loaded and optional measurement stays off. You can reopen Cookie Preferences at any time from the link in the website footer, and you can withdraw consent there. Withdrawal takes effect through those controls immediately, without needing to reload the page: measurement signals are set to denied, the tag's own opt-out control is applied, and measurement cookies already set by the tag are cleared.

We do not provide personally identifiable enquiry information submitted through website forms to advertising platforms.

Where you have accepted optional cookies, you may also manage personalised advertising through your provider settings, including Google Ads Settings where applicable.

For full details of cookies used, see our Cookie Policy.

9B. AI-Assisted Internal Review

We may use approved third-party technology and AI-assisted tools to support the internal review and administration of enquiries and submissions. This may include authenticity and fraud checks, consistency review, categorisation, administrative processing, drafting assistance and preparation of non-identifying commercial summaries.

Where reasonably necessary for these purposes, information processed may include business contact information and enquiry or submission information contained in the original submission.

AI-assisted review supports our internal processes. IngredientsWorldwide.com remains responsible for how personal information is handled and for decisions concerning the operation of its services. Human review remains part of how enquiries are handled, as set out in Section 9.

We apply data minimisation and seek to limit information processed through AI-assisted tools to what is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.

We do not make buyer or supplier personal data openly available to public AI services for the purpose of training publicly available models. Where AI-assisted tooling is provided by a third party, that provider acts as a processor on our instructions for the purposes described in this policy.

Processing information through an AI-assisted service does not mean that the information will be published. Personal contact information is not made public merely because it has been used as part of an internal AI-assisted review.

The lawful basis for this processing is determined by the purpose of the processing, as set out in Section 3, rather than by the use of AI technology. Where we carry out authenticity, fraud prevention, abuse prevention, security or consistency review, we rely on legitimate interests for those specific purposes.

10. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Request access
• Request correction
• Request deletion
• Request restriction of processing
• Object to processing
• Request portability of data you have provided, where applicable
• Withdraw consent, where consent is the lawful basis relied upon
• Object to direct marketing at any time
• Rights relating to solely automated decision-making producing legal or similarly significant effects, where such decision-making takes place (see Section 9)
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office

These rights are subject to the conditions and exceptions set out in applicable data protection law and do not apply in every circumstance. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing carried out before withdrawal, or processing that relies on a different lawful basis.

Requests may be submitted to info@diverseciti.co.uk or via our Data Request Form. Where an enquiry has already been shared with a supplier, that supplier acts as an independent controller and rights in relation to its own processing should be exercised with that supplier directly.

11. Telephone Calls and Voicemail

Calls and voicemails may be recorded and transcribed for quality monitoring, compliance, training, fraud prevention, security, and callback handling.

Recordings and transcripts may contain personal information including:

• Name
• Company name
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Ingredient enquiry information

Recordings and transcripts are processed in accordance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. They are retained only as long as reasonably necessary and normally no longer than 12 months unless required for fraud investigation, complaint handling, compliance, or dispute resolution.

12. International Enquiries

IngredientsWorldwide.com operates globally and may receive enquiries from businesses located anywhere in the world. Information submitted via website forms, telephone calls, voicemails, or related communications may originate outside the United Kingdom and will be processed in the United Kingdom for the purpose of responding to enquiries and facilitating supplier introductions.

13. Sharing Enquiry Information with Suppliers

Enquiry information submitted by buyers may be shared with relevant suppliers so they can review the enquiry and respond directly. Information shared may include name, company name, email address, telephone number, ingredient requirement, quantity, and destination country. Buyer identity and contact details are released only through the applicable introduction, relay or service process described in our Terms & Conditions, and are not published on public pages of the platform. IngredientsWorldwide.com does not participate in any resulting transaction.

Selected non-identifying commercial information about a request, such as the ingredient, an indicative quantity and a broad destination region, may be published as a public summary on the platform in order to attract suitable suppliers. Public summaries exclude buyer name, company name, email address and telephone number, and we apply data minimisation to what is published. Internal reference identifiers and similar technical metadata are not published.

Because of the specialist nature of some markets, we cannot guarantee that an experienced market participant will be unable to infer a buyer's identity from the commercial characteristics of a published summary.

14. SMS on Request

If a caller explicitly requests a website link by SMS and the system permits it, the caller's phone number may be used to send a limited SMS containing links to relevant enquiry forms or website pages. SMS is only sent on request, only to eligible UK numbers, and is subject to strict abuse and cost controls.

15. Service Providers

We use third-party service providers to operate the platform. Depending on the activity, these may include providers of hosting and cloud infrastructure, database infrastructure, email delivery, telephony, security and abuse prevention, analytics, AI-assisted tooling, payment administration where applicable, and professional advisers.

Service providers act on our instructions for the purposes described in this policy. They are not permitted to use personal data received through the platform for their own unrelated purposes.

16. Personal Data Breaches

We assess personal data breaches when they occur. Where a breach meets the threshold set out in applicable data protection law, we will notify the Information Commissioner's Office and, where required, affected individuals. Not every security incident meets that threshold, and notification is made where the law requires it.

17. Service Communications and Marketing

Service and administrative communications, such as enquiry confirmations, responses, submission updates and account or service notices, are sent as part of providing the service and are not direct marketing.

Where we send direct marketing, we do so in accordance with applicable UK data protection and electronic marketing rules. Those rules treat business contacts differently depending on the type of subscriber: electronic marketing to corporate subscribers, such as a registered company or limited liability partnership, is generally permitted subject to the right to object, while marketing to individuals, sole traders and unincorporated partnerships is subject to stricter requirements including consent in the circumstances where the law requires it.

In every case you may object to direct marketing or unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe option in the relevant message or by contacting info@diverseciti.co.uk. We keep a record of objections and unsubscribes so that the choice continues to be honoured.

18. Children

IngredientsWorldwide.com is a business-to-business platform intended for use by businesses and business representatives. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

19. Third-Party Links

The platform may link to external websites and services operated by third parties. Those websites and services operate under their own terms and privacy practices, and IngredientsWorldwide.com is not responsible for how they handle personal data.

20. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy where our services, processing practices or applicable law change. The current version and its last updated date are shown at the top of this page. We do not notify individuals of every minor amendment.

Complaints

You may also lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.