Do I need a UK representative?
To understand whether you need a UK representative you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you have customers in the UK?
- Is your organisation based outside the UK with no physical presence or employees in the country?
- Do you offer goods or services to UK residents or monitor their behaviour online?
If you answered yes to all three, you are likely required to appoint a UK representative. This representative acts as the official contact for both individuals and the ICO under Article 27 of the UK GDPR.
The UK GDPR Representative Service
Our annual subscription service is provided by our sister company, GRCI Law (operating as GRC Solutions), which will serve as your designated UK representative. GRCI Law is registered and operates in England.
We will:
- Act as a UK-based contact point for data subjects and the ICO regarding personal data processing matters;
- Hold a copy of your records of your processing activities in compliance with Article 30 of the UK GDPR and provide access to the ICO if requested;
- Manage communications between your organisation and UK-based data subjects;
- Facilitate interactions between your organisation and the ICO;
- Assist with ICO-related compliance matters where necessary.
Download the full service description
Please note that this service does not include advice or guidance on Article 30 records of processing activities. This service is for single entity organisations with 500 employees or less. For larger organisations contact us for pricing.
FAQs
What is a UK representative and why do I need one?
What does a UK representative do?
The UK representative’s role is to ensure that individuals (data subjects) and the UK’s data protection authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have a mechanism which allows them to communicate with organisations. A key driver behind this is to make sure that UK residents will be able to contact the data processors and controllers who hold their personal data in a quick, efficient and simple way.
Who needs to appoint one?
Put simply, under Article 27 of the UK GDPR if your organisation has no business presence in the UK you need to appoint an UK representative if:
- You offer goods or services to individuals in the UK; or
- Monitor the behaviour of individuals in the UK.
What does monitoring the behaviour of individuals mean?
Monitoring or “profiling” within the GDPR framework means anything you do that involves the automated analysis or predicting of behaviour of individuals, their movements, personal preferences, health, economic situation etc.
Are there any exceptions to this?
There are limited exceptions to this, depending on the volume and type of data you are processing or whether you are a public body or authority. However, the extent to which exceptions apply has not yet been tested.
When should I put this in place?
Since the 1st January 2021 the UK is no longer a member state of the European Union so organisations that don’t have a business presence in the UK but are marketing to the UK or monitoring the behaviour of people in the UK now need a UK representative. In some cases you may also need to appoint an EU representative. For example if your organisation is based outside Europe and the UK and your EU representative was previously based in the UK.
Why is it important to act now?
As details of the UK representative need to be easily accessible, typically in your privacy documentation, - for example your customer facing privacy notice or published on your website - it is obvious if you have failed to meet your Article 27 obligations. If you are in breach of Article 27 you may face fines of up to ten million Euros or 2% of your global turnover.
What is included in the service and how much does it cost?
What is included in the service?
We act as a communications conduit between data subjects and your organisation and the ICO, provide you with a UK representative email address, wording to insert into your privacy notice (s) and hold an up to date copy of your Article 30 record of processing activities, as required by Article 27. We pass any enquiries from data subjects or the ICO to you to deal with.
How much will it cost?
This service has an annual fixed fee from £950 for organisations with 1-10 employees, and £1500 for organisations with 11 – 500 employees. This solution is for single entity organisations with 500 employees or less. For larger organisations please contact us for pricing.
Do I need a separate UK representative for all the companies in my group?
We can provide a UK representative for all group entities, but we charge based on the number of entities that need to be included.
Do you charge extra depending on the number of data subjects our organisation deals with?
No, we charge a flat fixed fee based on the size of your organisation.
Does the UK representative need to be registered?
It is not required under the regulation but you need to make details of your UK representative easily accessible, for example in your privacy notice or by publishing details on your website.
What should my Article 30 Record contain?
The Article 30 record is a key document for GDPR compliance and should document what data you are processing and why, where data is stored, the volume of data you are dealing with and how it is moving through your organisation. If don’t have an accurate picture then you may not be aware of where your compliance gaps are and where you might be in breach of the GDPR. You also need to have one readily available in case a data protection authority asks to see it.
Our organisation has less than 250 employees am I required to have an Article 30 record?
The exemptions are very limited and haven’t been fully tested. Without an accurate and up to date record of processing activities it is difficult to be assured that you are compliant. It is best practice to have one and we strongly recommend all clients have one and keep it up to date.
Will you review or advise us on our Article 30 Record?
The team can help you with this but it is not included in this service. We would be happy to talk to you about your specific requirements.
How soon do you need my Article 30 Record?
Ideally, as soon as you sign up or as soon as possible.
If a data subject contacts you, do you deal directly with the query?
We pass all enquiries from data subjects to you to deal with along with any enquiries from data protection authorities.
Would you provide the Article 30 record to a data protection authority without consulting us?
We would contact you first before responding to a request from the ICO.