Linklaters obtains Binding Corporate Rules approval

Linklaters’ Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) were approved by the UK Information Commissioner on 1 June 2012, making it the first law firm to achieve this approval. The ICO acted as the lead authority with the Belgian Privacy Commission and Data Protection Authority of the German state of Hesse acting as co-lead regulators.

Linklaters’ BCRs apply to transfers of personal information about both clients and employees between Linklaters’ 27 offices in 19 jurisdictions worldwide.

David Smith, Deputy Commissioner at the ICO said: “Linklaters should be commended for its commitment to the concept of binding corporate rules and for the respect for the privacy of individuals that this demonstrates. The ICO welcomes approaches from multi-national organisations that need to share personal information within their own group, but outside Europe, and who want to use binding corporate rules to enable that.”

Tanguy Van Overstraeten, Linklaters’ Global Head of Privacy and Data Protection, commented: “Binding corporate rules were a logical next step for us building on both a well-established privacy programme within Linklaters and the significant experience we have built up advising our clients on their applications for binding corporate rules. It demonstrates our commitment to protect the personal information of our clients and our employees.”

The ICO has now approved fourteen BCRs, including that of Denmark-based Novo Nordisk A/S on 21 May 2012.

The Privacy Laws & Business 25th Annual International Conference on 2-4 July 2012 in Cambridge will include a session on BCRs with speakers from the ICO, Linklaters, Novo Nordisk and others.   

Linklaters’ BCR is available here.