How Canada's Privacy Legislation Affects The Use Of Third Party Information And Payment Processors

Businesses often use third party entities to process customer information or transactions and to then relay portions of that information back to the business. Businesses using third parties in this manner should be aware of the provisions of Canada’s privacy legislation in this regard.

Overview of Canada's Privacy Legislation

Canada’s two predominant privacy statutes are the Privacy Act, RSC 1985 c P-21 and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, SC 2000, c5 ["PIPEDA"]. The former applies to actions of the federal government, while PIPEDA applies to every entity that collects, uses or discloses personal information in the course of commercial activities. Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec have provincial privacy legislation which is, for the most part, substantially similar to PIPEDA.