Bill 64: How Does It Impact Professional Orders?

Bill 64, entitled An Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information, is aimed at modifying practices followed by all organizations in Quebec for the protection of personal information. This bulletin is intended to illustrate the specific impacts of Bill 64 on professional orders.

Since the addition of section 108.1 and following the Professional Code¹ in 2006, professional orders have had to deal with a hybrid regime under which their activities regarding supervision of the profession have essentially been subject to the same access-to-information regime² as that applicable to other public bodies, while their administrative activities are subject to a regime equivalent to that applicable to private enterprises.³ This hybrid regime is further supplemented by specific provisions in the Professional Code.⁴