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Canadian Government Introduces Bill to Amend PIPEDA
On May 25, 2010, the government of Canada tabled amendments to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the federal private sector privacy legislation. PIPEDA establishes rules that organizations must follow when collecting, using, or disclosing personal information in the course of commercial activity.
The proposed amendments will alter PIPEDA in several significant ways. Firstly, organizations will be required to report material breaches of security safeguards to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, as well as to notify individuals and organizations of breaches where there is a “real risk of significant harm”.
In addition, business contact information, such as an individual’s work email address, name, title, and business telephone and fax numbers will not be subjected to PIPEDA, as long as such information is used for managing the employment relationship, produced for work purposes, and used for due diligence in business transactions.
As well, disclosure of personal information will be permitted without the knowledge or consent of the individual for certain purposes, such as disclosures for the purposes of identifying an injured, ill or deceased individual and communication with their next of kin; performing police services; preventing, detecting or suppressing fraud; or protecting victims of financial abuse.
One criticism of the Bill is that the amendments do not contain clear penalties for non-disclosure, and thus may not deter organizations from non-compliance. This, coupled with the introduction of additional exceptions for disclosure, has led some to believe that the Bill actually does little to protect the personal privacy of Canadians.
For the first reading of Bill C-29, An Act to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, 3d Sess., 40 th Parl., 2010, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/33hjucg