Proposed Canada Privacy Bill With Significant Fines And Enforcement Authority

The DCIA was introduced on November 17, 2020, to replace Canada's current national privacy law for the private sector, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

PIPEDA came into force in April 2000, and as it has been two decades since the law came into effect, the Canadian government has been signaling that it is working on an update for quite some time. The significant updates under the DCIA provide enhanced enforcement authority and fines, algorithmic transparency, additional rights for data subjects, and the ability for organizations to request approval of codes of practice and certification systems. The bill is still under consideration and may undergo some changes before becoming final.