Bill 54 Proposes New Notification Requirements for Privacy Breaches and for Using Foreign Service Providers

Employers operating in the Alberta private sector will have to comply with more stringent privacy legislation once amendments to the province's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) come online.

The upcoming changes flow from the Personal Information Protection Amendment Act, 2009 (Bill 54), which received Royal Assent late last year and will come into force on proclamation. Although we do not know when Bill 54 will become law, once it does, the PIPA's offences and penalties provisions will have bigger teeth. Bill 54 also clarifies and expands organizations' obligations under the PIPA relating to:

• transferring personal information to service providers outside Canada;
• collecting, using or disclosing employee information;