Canada’s Digital Privacy Rethink: Fines, Enforceable Compliance Agreements And More!

On April 8, 2014, Canada's government introduced Bill S-4, the Digital Privacy Act, in the Senate. Bill S-4 is the federal government's latest attempt to reform the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA"). It would be a mistake to say that it is largely recycled from the government's last attempt to reform PIPEDA in 2011 through Bill C-12, which died on the order paper. Here's what's different, what's been dropped, and what seems to be largely the same. Caveat: This is a first read!

What's different?

• Fines for Failure to Record and Report Breaches. First the big news: The government is proposing that it would be a criminal offence for an organization to knowingly fails to keep prescribed records for breaches (see below) or to knowingly fail to report breaches in compliance with PIPEDA (also below). These offences would be punishable by fines of CAD$100,000 (indictable offence) and CAD $10,000 (summary conviction). To