Legal
Data Retention Policy
How long we keep photos, approval records, accounts, logs and backups, and when each is permanently deleted.
Last updated: 27 October 2026 Version 1
This policy explains how long Image Approvals Ltd keeps the information held on the Image Approvals platform and in our working files, what starts each clock, and what happens when it runs out. It forms part of our Terms and Conditions and sits alongside our Privacy Policy. If your production contract with us sets a different period, the contract wins.
ShootBuddy has its own retention policy, published inside the ShootBuddy platform.
1. Summary
| What | How long we keep it | What starts the clock |
|---|---|---|
| A production's photos, and every copy we made of them | Removed from view on the Project Close Date, then permanently deleted within 30 days | The Project Close Date in your contract |
| Image Archiving (optional, paid) | For the archiving period in your contract, then deleted | The Project Close Date |
| A production's audit record: the record of approvals, approval reports, final contact sheets (with thumbnails of the approved images) and our project notes | At least 6 years, then reviewed every 2 years and deleted once no longer needed | The Project Close Date |
| Contracts and invoices | 6 years | The Project Close Date |
| Whole-system backups (encrypted) | No longer than 90 days | The backup is taken |
| User accounts not used for a year | Closed after 12 months with no sign-in, after warning emails. Accounts on a live production are never closed. | The last sign-in |
| Enquiries and access requests | 12 months | The request is answered or decided |
| Security and activity logs | Up to 5 years, depending on the type of event | The event is recorded |
Deleted photos cannot be recovered. Until photos are permanently deleted, you can ask us to extend your Project Close Date. After that, they are gone for good, and our backups cannot bring them back.
Production companies can ask for our detailed retention schedule as part of our data protection pack (see section 6).
2. Productions
On the Project Close Date set in your contract, your production is removed from the platform. The gallery, review pages, downloads and any links already shared stop working. Within 30 days, the photos and every version we made of them are permanently deleted, apart from the final contact sheets kept in the audit record. If you have bought Image Archiving, we keep an archive copy for the period you chose instead, then delete it.
We keep an audit record for at least 6 years. Questions about who approved an image can come up long after a title is released. So, on your instruction, we keep a record of what was approved and delivered: the approval history, the approval reports and final contact sheets we gave you, and our project notes. After 6 years we review it every 2 years and delete it once it's no longer needed. You can ask us for a copy while we hold it, or tell us in writing to delete it sooner.
People's accounts are not deleted with a production. An actor, their representative or a publicist may also work on other productions, so their account follows section 4.
3. Backups
We back up the whole platform so we can recover from a disaster. Backups are encrypted, kept separate from the live system, and kept for no longer than 90 days. We can't use them to restore an individual production. Information deleted from the live platform can therefore remain inside a backup until it expires.
4. Accounts
We keep your account while you use the platform. If you don't sign in for a year and you aren't a member of a live production, we close it. We email you beforehand, and signing in at any point keeps it open.
When an account is closed, your sign-in details and profile are deleted. Your name stays only where it appears in a production's approval record (for example, "approved by Jane Smith on 3 May"), and goes when that record is deleted.
5. Legal hold
We may pause deletion where the law requires us to keep information, where there is an actual or likely legal claim, or where a production's owner asks us in writing. We record who placed the hold, why, and when it will be reviewed. Normal timings resume when the hold is lifted.
6. Asking us to delete something
Email info@imageapprovals.com. We act on requests without undue delay, and deal with a formal erasure request under data protection law within one calendar month. We may extend that as the law allows if a request is complex, and we will tell you if we do.
Photos and approval records belong to the production. Under data protection law the production company is the controller of the photos and approval records on its production. If you appear in them and want them deleted, contact the production. If you contact us instead, we will pass your request on promptly and help them respond.
On request, a production's owner can have written confirmation of deletion, a copy of the approval record while we hold it, and our detailed retention schedule. Email info@imageapprovals.com.
7. Contact
Image Approvals Ltd, 13 Portland Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B16 9HN. Registered in England and Wales, company number 11685628. ICO registration ZB185861. Email info@imageapprovals.com.
We will give notice of changes to this policy as set out in our Terms and Conditions.