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Privacy notice
How Hacettepe Translation collects, uses, stores and deletes your personal data and the documents you send us, your rights under the UK GDPR and Turkish law, and how to contact us or complain.
Who we are
The controller of your personal data is Hacettepe Tercüme Bilgisayar Yazılım Danışmanlık ve İnternet Hizmetleri Ticaret Limited Şirketi, trading as Hacettepe Translation, Kızılay Mah. İhlamur Cad. İhlamur Apt. No: 9/8, 06420 Çankaya, Ankara, Türkiye. E-mail: [email protected]. We have not yet appointed a representative in the United Kingdom under Article 27 of the UK GDPR. Until we publish one here, send data protection requests directly to [email protected] or to our Ankara address. See company information.
This notice was last updated on 29 August 2026.
What we collect
- Contact and order details: name, e-mail address, telephone number, delivery address, the purpose of the translation, payment confirmation (we do not see card numbers).
- The documents you send us: images and files of certificates, court orders, academic records and other documents, and the translations we make. These contain personal data about you and often about other people, such as parents, spouses and children.
- Special category and criminal records data: where a document is a medical report, a criminal record certificate or a court judgment, it contains data of this kind.
- Correspondence: e-mails, WhatsApp messages and call notes.
- Website data: see the cookies page.
Why we use it and our lawful basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis (UK GDPR Article 6) |
|---|---|
| Quoting, translating, certifying, notarising and delivering your order | Performance of a contract with you, or steps at your request before a contract |
| Translating documents about other people that you send us | Our legitimate interest in performing the service you asked for; we process only what the document contains |
| Issuing invoices and keeping accounting records | Legal obligation under Turkish tax and commercial law |
| Answering questions and handling complaints | Legitimate interest in running our business and resolving problems |
| Asking for a review after delivery (one e-mail) | Legitimate interest; you can object at any time |
| Website analytics | Legitimate interest, with an opt-out; see the cookies page |
For special category data and criminal records data in documents you send us, we rely on your explicit consent, which we ask for when you upload such a document (UK GDPR Article 9(2)(a) and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018). You can withdraw consent, in which case we stop work and delete the document.
Who sees your data
- Our staff in Ankara and the translators and revisers working on your document, all bound by written confidentiality agreements.
- A notary public in Ankara and the apostille office, only if you order notarisation or an apostille.
- The courier, only for a hard copy: your name, address and telephone number.
- Our payment provider, hosting provider and e-mail provider, as processors: named on request — the list changes when providers change, and we send the current version by e-mail.
- Authorities, if the law requires us to disclose data.
We do not sell personal data and we do not use it for advertising.
Where your data is kept
We are established in Türkiye and your data is stored and processed there. When you send us a document, you are transferring it to Türkiye yourself, and we then hold it under this notice, Turkish data protection law (KVKK, Law No. 6698) and the UK GDPR, which applies to us because we offer services to people in the UK. Türkiye is not covered by UK adequacy regulations; the safeguards we apply are the confidentiality agreements, access controls and deletion periods described here.
How long we keep it
- Uploaded documents and translations: deleted 30 days after delivery. If you ask for a quote but do not order, deleted 30 days after the quote.
- Order records and invoices: kept for the period required by Turkish tax and commercial law, currently up to 10 years.
- Correspondence: 24 months after the last message, then deleted.
- Job applications: 12 months.
If you need a translation re-issued after 30 days, we make it again from the images you send us; there is no copy on our systems to retrieve.
Your rights
Under the UK GDPR you can ask us to: give you a copy of your data; correct it; delete it; restrict or object to its use; give it to you in a portable format; and withdraw consent where consent is the basis. E-mail [email protected] with the subject line Data request, or contact our UK representative. We reply within one month. Under KVKK you have equivalent rights and may apply in Turkish.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, tell us first; we respond to data protection complaints within 30 days under our complaints procedure. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) in the UK or to the Personal Data Protection Board (KVKK Kurulu) in Türkiye.
Automated decisions and children
We make no automated decisions about you. Our services are for adults; documents about children are sent to us by their parents or guardians. Read confidentiality and data protection for a plain-language explanation of how we handle documents.
Frequently asked questions
Do you keep a copy of my translation?
Only for 30 days after delivery, so that we can correct or re-issue it if needed. After that it is deleted. Keep your own copy of the PDF.
Can I ask you to delete my documents sooner?
Yes. E-mail us after delivery and we delete them the same working day. You will then need to send the images again if you want a re-issue.
Do you send my data outside Türkiye or the UK?
Only to processors listed above, such as hosting and e-mail providers, some of which may be in the EU or the UK. Translators working on your document may be outside Türkiye but access files only through our systems.
Is my data protected by UK law even though you are in Türkiye?
Yes. The UK GDPR applies to organisations outside the UK that offer services to people in the UK, and we have appointed a UK representative as it requires.