Privacy Policy
Last updated: 18 September 2026
GLOBAL TRADE BUSINESS LIMITED helps businesses register for and comply with VAT and GST outside their home country. This policy explains what personal data we collect when you use globaltrade.business or become our client, why we hold it, how long we keep it, who we pass it to, and the rights you have over it. It is written for business contacts. We do not offer consumer accounts and we do not sell personal data to anyone.
1. WHO WE ARE
GLOBAL TRADE BUSINESS LIMITED ("we", "us", "our") is the data controller for thepersonal data described here.
Address: Unit 1104A, 11/F, Kai Tak Commercial Building,317-319 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong
Email: hello@globaltrade.business
Online: https://www.globaltrade.business/contact-us
We are established in Hong Kong. Where we offer services to businesses in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, the UK GDPR or the EU GDPR applies to that processing, alongside the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.
2. THE PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT
2.1 What you give us
Our contact form asks for the following. Only the first four are required:
- First name
- Email address
- Phone or WhatsApp number
- Preferred contact method (WhatsApp or phone)
- Last name
- Company name
- Where your business is based
- Business type (e-commerce seller, marketplace seller, manufacturer or wholesaler, importer or exporter, logistics or fulfilment, B2B seller)
- Which markets you sell to
- Which service you need (VAT registration, VAT refund, IOSS and OSS registration and returns, or other)
- Whether you already hold an EU VAT number
- A free-text description of your situation, timelines and questions
- How you heard about us
You may also write to us by email or message us on WhatsApp, and you may ask to receive our updates by ticking the newsletter box. If you do, we hold what you send us and the contact details you use.
2.2 What you give us once you become a client
To register you for VAT or GST and to file on your behalf, we need documents and details required by the tax authority concerned. These usually include company registration documents, tax and VAT numbers, director and authorised-signatory details, proof of identity and address for those people, bank details, powers of attorney, and transaction and sales data for the returns we file.
We ask only for what the relevant authority requires. We do not ask for special category data (health, race, religion, political opinion, biometrics), and you should not send it to us.
2.3 What we collect automatically
When you browse the Website we collect technical data: IP address, browser type and version, device type and operating system, the pages you view, the time and date of your visit, how long you stay, and referring pages.
Analytics data is only collected if you enable Analytics Cookies in our cookie banner. Our Cookies Policy lists every cookie we use, who sets it and how long it lasts: https://www.globaltrade.business/cookie-policy
2.4 What we do not collect
We do not operate user accounts or passwords on this Website. We do not take card or payment details through this Website. Our interactive tools, such as the VAT Obligation Checker and the rate tables, run in your browser and do not ask you to identify yourself.
3. WHY WE USE IT, AND OUR LEGAL BASIS
Purpose
Answering your enquiry and preparing a quote or proposal
Providing our services: registering you for VAT or GST, filing returns,acting as fiscal or responsible representative, handling refunds
Corresponding with you about live work, deadlines and authority correspondence
Keeping accounting, tax and anti-money-laundering records
Sending you our newsletter and service updates
Measuring how the site is used
Keeping the site and our systems secure and preventing fraud
Establishing, exercising or defending legal claims
Legal basis
Steps taken at your request before entering a contract
Performance of our contract with you
Performance of our contract, and our legitimate interest in running the engagement properly
Legal obligation
Your consent, which you may withdraw at any time
Your consent, given through the cookie banner
Our legitimate interest in security and fraud prevention
Our legitimate interest in defending our position, or a legal obligation
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered your rights and are satisfied our interest does not override them. Ask us and we will explain the assessment.
We do not make decisions about you by automated means alone, and we do not profile you.
4. HOW LONG WE KEEP IT
Enquiries that do not become work
Client files and correspondence
Accounting and tax records
VAT and GST filing records
Newsletter subscribers
Website analytics
Server and security logs
24 months from your last contact
7 years after the engagement ends
7 years, as required by law
As long as the authority of the country concerned requires, which is commonly 6 to 10 years
Until you unsubscribe, then up to 12 months to honour your opt-out
14 months
Up to 12 months
At the end of these periods we delete the data or anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to you.
5. WHO WE SHARE IT WITH
Tax authorities and government bodies. To register you and file for you, we submit your details and documents to the tax authority of the country concerned. This is the core of the service and cannot be avoided.
Local agents, fiscal representatives and correspondent firms. In several countries a local representative is required by law, or a local partner files on our instruction. We pass them only what the filing requires.
Service providers acting on our instructions:
- Wix.com Ltd — website hosting, our contact form, and the inbox and customer records behind it.
- Google Ireland Limited — Google Analytics 4 and the Google Translate widget on our pages.
- WhatsApp (Meta Platforms Ireland Limited) — only if you choose to contact us on WhatsApp. That conversation is subject to WhatsApp's own terms.
- Our email, accounting and document-storage providers.
Professional advisers. Our lawyers, accountants and auditors, where they need it. Business transfers. If our business or part of it is sold or reorganised, records may transfer to the buyer. We will tell you before that happens.
We do not sell your personal data, we do not rent it, and we do not share it for advertising.
6. SENDING DATA ABROAD
We are in Hong Kong, our providers are in the European Economic Area and the United States, and the authorities we file with are in the country where you need to be registered. So your data will cross borders.
Where data protected by the UK or EU GDPR leaves that area, we rely on the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, together with additional safeguards where they are needed. Transfers to a tax authority are made because the law of that country requires them, or because the filing you asked for cannot be made without them.
Ask us at hello@globaltrade.business for a copy of the safeguards that apply to your data.
7. YOUR RIGHTS
If the UK or EU GDPR applies to you, you may:
- ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- have inaccurate data corrected
- ask us to delete data we no longer need
- ask us to restrict what we do with it while a question is resolved
- receive the data you gave us in a portable format, or have it sent to another provider
- object to processing we base on legitimate interests
- withdraw consent at any time, for the newsletter or for analytics cookies, without affecting what we did lawfully beforehand
If the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance applies, you may request access to and correction of your personal data.
To exercise any of these, email hello@globaltrade.business. We answer within one month. We will ask you to confirm your identity first. There is no charge unless the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.
Some rights have limits. We cannot delete records we are legally required to keep, and we cannot withdraw a filing already made to a tax authority.
8. COMPLAINTS
Please raise any concern with us first at hello@globaltrade.business, so we can put it right.
You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority:
United Kingdom
European Union
Hong Kong
Information Commissioner's Office — https://ico.org.uk
The data protection authority of your country
Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data — https://www.pcpd.org.hk
9. MARKETING
We send updates only to people who asked for them. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can also email us to stop. Unsubscribing does not affect the messages we must send you about work in progress, such as filing deadlines.
10. SECURITY
We use access controls, encryption in transit, and providers who maintain recognised security standards. No website or email system is completely secure, so please do not send us identity documents or bank details by ordinary email
unless we have agreed a secure route with you.
11. CHILDREN
Our services are for businesses. We do not direct the Website at children and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us personal data, tell us and we will delete it.
12. OTHER WEBSITES
Our pages link to other sites, including tax authority websites and our social media profiles. We are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices. Read their policies before giving them your data.
13. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
We update this policy when our services or the law change. The date at the top shows the last revision. If a change materially affects how we use your data, we will tell you before it takes effect.
14. CONTACT US
Email: hello@globaltrade.business
Online: https://www.globaltrade.business/contact-us
Post: GLOBAL TRADE BUSINESS LIMITED, Unit 1104A, 11/F, Kai Tak Commercial Building, 317-319 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong
See also our Cookies Policy: https://www.globaltrade.business/cookie-policy