IAPF Spring 2018 Irish Pensions Magazine

IRISH PENSIONS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2018 | 43 data privacy. The IORPs II Directive itself must be implemented by 13 January 2019. This is going to lead to a step change in the mandatory governance and compliance requirements applicable to Irish schemes. We have already been in dialogue with the Pensions Authority about aspects of the Directive. We will also be contributing actively to their formal consultation process on its implementation. We value the strong communication links we have with the Pensions Authority in relation to what is going to be an absolutely critical development for Irish pension schemes. The IORPs II Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation represent European Law as written. However, Jerry Moriary and I also continue to participate very actively in PensionsEurope. This is the umbrella body for European Pensions Associations, based in Brussels, which attempts to influence European legislation relating to pensions before it is enacted. PensionsEurope has had some notable successes in recent years, and as they say, if you think IORPs II is bad, you should have seen it before PensionsEurope got its hands on it. Our DC committee, led by Colm Fortune, is focusing on a range of DC issues and preparing a revamp of our Pensions Quality Standard award, which schemes can apply for to verify their adherence to quality and good practice standards. Our benefits committee, led by Peter Griffin, has been preparing for the wider impact of IORPs II and has participated in the Pensions Authority’s initial consultation process on the Directive. Another key European development is the coming into force of the general data protection regulation (GDPR) in May, which will require Irish trustees to take more responsibility for protecting their members’ data privacy rights. We are currently conducting a tender process for external consultants to draft a GDPR code of conduct for our pension trustee members. This will provide you with a detailed roadmap to ensure compliance with your new GDPR obligations. The data protection commissioner’s office has also indicated their willingness to review this Code and to confirm it satisfies their requirements. We hope that this will be of significant benefit to our member trustees in relation to the complex but important area of ANNUAL DINNER