Do you need to register with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO)?

The ICO is the supervisory body for the UK with regard to data protection matters. Under the old Data Protection Act the ICO had a list of Data Controllers. The need to maintain a list of data Controllers disappeared with GDPR, BUT in order to fund the ICO, a bill was passed which means that the ICO maintains a register of fee payers. The fee payers are organisations which process personal information. This includes most companies as they will have customers, suppliers, contractors or staff.

The need to pay a fee only applies to those organisations based in the UK. If you are based anywhere else there is no need to pay the fee to the ICO. There are some exemptions but the ICO has a self assessment process so you can check whether you need to pay or not. You can find it here…..ICO Self assessment