Bill 54: Personal Information Protection Amendment Act,
2009 received Royal Assent on November 26, 2009 and will come
into force by proclamation. The proposed changes to the
Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) are intended to
strengthen the existing protections of personal information and
better align the protections with emerging business practices. The
key amendments to PIPA include:
- requiring organizations to notify individuals if their personal
information is transferred to a service provider outside of
Canada;
- making it an offence for an organization to fail to notify the
Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner of a privacy breach
that could result in a real risk of significant harm to an
individual;
- clarifying the provisions regarding the collection, use and
disclosure of personal information of current and former employees,
including some revised consent provisions;
- clarifying provisions regarding the retention and destruction
of personal information;
- streamlining the Alberta Information and Privacy
Commissioner's processes; and
- adding new offence provisions (for example, it will be an offence for an organization to take adverse action against a "whistleblower" employee).
These amendments will require organizations to:
- amend their privacy policies;
- review their procedures surrounding the transfer of personal
information across borders;
- ensure that the Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner is
contacted with respect to privacy breaches that could cause
significant harm to an individual; and
- ensure adequate record retention and destruction processes are in place.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
