diff --git a/plat/imx/common/include/sci/sci_ipc.h b/plat/imx/common/include/sci/sci_ipc.h
index 1167ea3..39e9012 100644
--- a/plat/imx/common/include/sci/sci_ipc.h
+++ b/plat/imx/common/include/sci/sci_ipc.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2015-2018, ARM Limited and Contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2015-2019, ARM Limited and Contributors. All rights reserved.
  *
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
  */
@@ -62,6 +62,6 @@
  */
 void sc_ipc_write(sc_ipc_t ipc, void *data);
 
-sc_ipc_t ipc_handle;
+extern sc_ipc_t ipc_handle;
 
 #endif /* SCI_IPC_H */
diff --git a/plat/imx/common/sci/ipc.c b/plat/imx/common/sci/ipc.c
index 6491ca5..5769119 100644
--- a/plat/imx/common/sci/ipc.c
+++ b/plat/imx/common/sci/ipc.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2015-2018, ARM Limited and Contributors. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2015-2019, ARM Limited and Contributors. All rights reserved.
  *
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
  */
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 #include <sci/sci_rpc.h>
 #include "imx8_mu.h"
 
+sc_ipc_t ipc_handle;
+
 DEFINE_BAKERY_LOCK(sc_ipc_bakery_lock);
 #define sc_ipc_lock_init()	bakery_lock_init(&sc_ipc_bakery_lock)
 #define sc_ipc_lock()		bakery_lock_get(&sc_ipc_bakery_lock)