Legal Considerations

Freedom of Information Act, 2000 (Scotland 2002)

Private records held in public sector archives are potentially subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which allows the public (including researchers, the media and competitors) to gain access to the information in such archives, depending on the basis on which they were deposited. Archivists of the institutions concerned can provide further advice on this matter.

Statutory records

There are legal restrictions under the Companies Act on the gift of company documents, for example AGM proceedings, while the company is still trading. Please take the advice of your company secretary or contact The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland for more information.

Data Protection

The EU General Data Protection Regulation 2018 replaces the Data Protection Act, 1998. For implications see: https://www.icsa.org.uk/knowledge/resources/eu-general-data-protection-regulation

This is the main piece of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK and it imposes certain obligations in relation to it. Please take the advice of your company secretary or contact the The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland for more information.

The National Archives has produced guidance on data protection, including a guide to archiving personal data and a toolkit for dealing with data protection requests and issues: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/legislation/data-protection/

Regional/country legal frameworks globally will impact on a firm’s activity or trading abroad.