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Privacy in Canada

PIPEDA and Provincial Private Sector Privacy Laws

In Canada, the federal private sector privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), came into force on January 1, 2001. PIPEDA is based on the 10 principles of the CSA Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information, which is appended as Schedule 1 of the law.

Since January 2001, PIPEDA has applied to federally regulated companies, such as airlines, banking, broadcasting, interprovincial transportation and telecommunications. Since that time, the law has also applied to all organizations that disclose personal information for consideration outside a province or the country.

Since January 1, 2004, PIPEDA has applied to every organization that collects, uses or discloses personal information in the course of a commercial activity. However, the federal government may exempt organizations and/or activities within provinces that have adopted privacy legislation that is substantially similar to the federal law.