What should your business know about PIPEDA?

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, or PIPEDA, governs how businesses use the personal information of their clients and employees.

At first glance, it might seem like another one of those laws in Canada that you can ignore as long as you’re not in the U.S., but it’s not as simple as that.

In fact, PIPEDA compliance may be required to do business with U.S.-based companies, so your business needs to know more about it than just the basics. In this guide, there’s all you need to know about PIPEDA and why you shouldn’t ignore these laws.

PIPEDA Explained

PIPEDA alleviates consumer confidentiality issues while allowing Canadian businesses to participate in the global digital economy. To ensure effective legislation and results, such as the protection of personal information, the law must be reviewed every five years.

Any company handling personal information for a commercial purpose that does not fall under an exemption is subject to PIPEDA. Both for-profit firms and federal works, undertakings, or businesses in Canada are required to abide by this regulation.

These legal provisions ensure that customers:

• Give permission for the usage of their personal data.
• Can view their data.
• Can alter their information.
• Recognize it’ll be safeguarded.

To comply with the Privacy Act, your business needs to do the following:

Secure Personal Information

Make sure that only authorized individuals, whether inside or outside your business, have access to personal records you gather. Adhere to procedures that shield personal data from burglary and illegal access. Fines may be assessed if the proper protections are not put in place.

While PIPEDA does not specify certain tools or procedures for data protection, adopting secure servers and encryption techniques can help protect private data during data exchanges.

Get Consent

Customer/user authorization is crucial for you to collect, use or store their data in data storage networks. This permission should be given to your business voluntarily.

Ask for permission in a way that your clients can comprehend. In accordance with PIPEDA, consent is only considered valid if it is likely that the people your organization serves would understand why you are collecting their information and how it would be used.

Limit The Collection of Personal Information

Only the information that your company requires should be sought and recorded. Keep it upfront and honest about why you are asking for personal information and what you plan to do with it.

Access

Give individuals access to their personal information because it’s their right to access any personal information you may have about them. You must be able to determine who or what groups have viewed or utilized it.

Additionally, you should destroy/de-identify personal information if consent isn’t given, if it is no longer needed, or when requested by an individual.

PIPEDA Exemptions

Not all businesses are affected by PIPEDA laws. Depending on who you are, type of information you deal with, why you hold it, or why you do so may qualify you to exemptions from the law.

Some popular exemptions include:

• Specific Federal Government Organizations included under the Privacy Act
• Non-profit organizations, political parties and charity groups
• Contact information obtained from contracts with individuals in a professional capacity
• Personal health information used for commercial activities in Ontario, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Labrador and Nova Scotia.
• If the data gathered is for artistic, journalistic or literary purposes.

Final Thoughts

These privacy rules serve as a constant reminder that data privacy and security must be a top consideration with every business decision because firms rely on sustainable growth to stay in business.

A fine of up to $100,000 CAD may be imposed on organizations who wilfully fail to comply with these obligations for proactive security measures, data breach reporting, and preserving records of those breaches. Fortunately, you have the information you need to take action today to ensure you are not held in contempt of these laws.

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