Digital Privacy Act

On June 18, 2015, the Digital Privacy Act (Act) came into effect, amending the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and implementing significant amendments to the private sector privacy regime. The amendments include the expansion of the Privacy Commissioner's (Commissioner's) powers, a consent-and-disclosure exception for certain business transactions and mandatory data-breach notification rules. All the amendments are in effect immediately except those relating to data-breach notification, which will come into force once regulations are complete.

Extension of Privacy Commissioner's Powers

The Commissioner can now enter into compliance agreements with an organization that the Commissioner believes has committed, is about to commit or is likely to commit, an act or omission that contravenes PIPEDA.