Privacy Commissioner Can Now Be Choosier About Complaints She Investigates

Legislative amendments proclaimed in force last week mean that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada may now be more selective about the complaints her office decides to investigate.

The amendments in question, made to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), were actually contained in Bill C-28, Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, which received Royal Assent last December. Although most of that statute is not yet in force (and, as we noted on our Canadian Communications Law blog, may be delayed in coming into force by the federal election call), last week the Governor in Council proclaimed in force some of the consequential amendments in that bill that affect PIPEDA, leaving for proclamation at a later date those PIPEDA amendments that coordinate with new obligations in the Anti-Spam law itself.