Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which Catholic Truth Society collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a “User”) of the www.ctsbooks.org website (“Site”). This privacy policy applies to the Site and all products and services offered by Catholic Truth Society.

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CTS Privacy Policy

CTS knows that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This Privacy Policy describes how CTS collects and processes your personal information, and the purposes for which we process your personal information. It also sets out your rights to the ways we process your personal information.

Please take a moment to read and understand it. Please note that it should be read in conjunction with CTS Terms and Conditions and the Cookie Policy.

Who is CTS?

CTS is the Incorporated Catholic Truth Society. Our mission statement is:  

We believe in helping people to discover, nurture and share their faith, by providing honest and compelling answers to life’s deepest questions.

Everything we do is authentic, accessible, and authoritative. You can rely on us to tackle the important issues of life and faith, to make the complicated easy to understand, and that the works we publish are in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

As a charity and a publisher, we use the written word to support and encourage people at every stage of their journey; from parish priests to those exploring for the first time and from pre-schoolers to pensioners.

Catholic Truth Society
God’s truth, beautifully told.
SINCE 1868

Who is responsible for your data?

This Privacy Policy applies to the personal data that CTS collects and uses.

References in this Privacy Policy to “CTS”, “we”, “us” or “our” mean the CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, a charity registered in England and Wales (number  218951) and an incorporated limited company number 57374. Our registered office is 42-46 Harleyford Road, Vauxhall, LONDON, SE11 5AY

We control the ways your personal data is collected and the purposes for which your personal data are used by CTS. We are the “data controller” for the purposes of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 and other applicable European data protection legislation.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), registration number Z6590386.

CTS has a designated a volunteer Data Protection Officer who can be contacted via dataprotection@ctsbooks.org

What type of information do we collect?

We may collect the following types of personal data from you, depending on how you interact with us:

  • Full name, postal address, telephone number and email address.
  • Bank details like account name, sort code and account number.
  • Order and payment information.
  • Donation information and Gift Aid declarations.
  • CTS online account username/display name and password.
  • any other personal data you may submit to us.

With your consent, we also collect non-personalised data. Please read our cookies policy for more information.

How do we get this information and why do we have it?

Most of the information we process is provided to us directly by you, and our primary goal in collecting personal information from you is to:

  • verify your identity;
  • carry out requests made by you on the CTS website and/or when contacting the CTS office
  • help us improve our products, and to develop and market new products;
  • investigate or settle enquiries or disputes;
  • comply with any applicable law, court order, other judicial processes, or the requirements of a regulator;
  • enforce our agreements with you;
  • protect the rights, property or safety of us or third parties, including our other customers and users of the Site
  • use as otherwise required or permitted by law.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

  • (a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting us: CTS Privacy, 42-46 Harleyford Road, Vauxhall, LONDON, SE11 5AY
  • (b) We have a contractual obligation.
  • (c) We have a legitimate interest.

What do we do with the information?

In particular, we use your personal information for the following purposes:

  • To manage the Order fulfilment and subscription services you request from us
  • To maintain and administer your customer record with us, including your order history.
  • To process, maintain and administer your Donations, recurrent Donations (like Direct Debits), Appeals, Gift aid declaration and Legacy Administration.
  • To send marketing communications by Email if you subscribe to our email communications.
  • We collect and maintain personal information that you voluntarily submit to us during your use of CTS site including registering on our Site.

We will share your personal information with the following categories of third parties:

  • To verify card payments and process refunds – credit card companies and other payment providers.
  • To deliver products and process returns via Norwich Book & Music (CTS distribution partners) and the delivery and courier companies.
  • To auditors and as requested by HMRC to comply with the Charity Commission regulations
  • To Access Paysuite Ltd which process our Direct Debits. Here are their Terms & Conditions.
  • To Ingram Lightning Source who fulfil Special Order Items. Here is their Privacy Policy.

How long we keep your information for? 

We keep your personal information for as long as it is required in order to fulfil the relevant purposes described in this Privacy Notice, as may be required by law such as for tax and accounting purposes, or as otherwise communicated to you. We are required to keep details of financial transactions, including donations, for seven years to meet accountancy and HMRC requirements.

For example, we retain your transaction history so that you can review past purchases (and repeat orders if desired) and what addresses you have shipped orders to, and to improve the relevancy of products and content we recommend.

How about Confidentiality and security of your personal information?

CTS is committed to keeping the personal information you provide to us secure and we will take reasonable precautions to protect your personal information from loss, misuse or alteration.

Sensitive and private data exchange between the Site and its Users happens over a SSL secured communication channel and is encrypted and protected with digital signatures.

We follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) when handling credit card data.

We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in connection with the collection, storage and disclosure of personal customer information. Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity before we disclose personal information to you.

Changes to this privacy policy

Catholic Truth Society has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page. We encourage Users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications.

Your acceptance of these terms
By using this Site, you signify your acceptance of this policy. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.

Contacting us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us at:
Catholic Truth Society
42-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY United Kingdom
020 7640 0042  [+44 20 7640 0042]


This document was last updated on January 9, 2023