Can we say goodbye to the ICO after Brexit? Whilst companies can wish that the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) would relax some rules and actions post-Brexit—perhaps even create a half human face to the organisation—they may be disappointed.
Although the ICO is a very bureaucratic department, and one of the closest to the European Union producing dictates on a regular basis, their rules will not change when the UK leaves the EU.
Rightly, Britain’s government is going to enact all EU laws that are currently in place and will only later review and drop some after Brexit. For data protection laws, this is unlikely to happen as the UK laws regarding such are old and need updating. When the EU implement the GDPR in 2018, the UK will then adapt accordingly.
The ICO explain the requirements for registration on their website and in a nutshell, if you process personal information, then you must register with the ICO.
Our view is simple; the ICO are an ‘unfriendly-to-business’ organisation, so it is in the best interest of businesses to register with them, regardless of whether you think you need to or not. Although they do not explicitly say this, the ICO believes that every company should be registered with them, even if the law conflicts with this view. Without going through the criteria here, register with the ICO however small your business may be and whether or not you think you hold personal information.
The ICO is one of many government departments that issue important notices, but for most companies it can be impossible to keep up to date with them. Here at Global Britain we aim to help by doing the monitoring for you; keeping you informed of what could or will affect your business.