Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act Consulting

You may have read in recent articles in the media that effective January 1, 2004, new private-sector privacy federal legislation comes into full effect. This new piece of legislation known as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) will impact most owner-managed business and non-profit organizations.

What is the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act?

• This Act is a comprehensive piece of federal legislation requiring all private sector organizations to establish policies and implement procedures to ensure the protection of the rights and obligations of individuals and organizations with respect to the collection, use, disclosure, and retention of personal information as defined by law.



• All businesses must ensure that they are compliant with this new Act by January 1, 2004 or be subject to Government Privacy Audits and potential fines (up to a maximum of $100,000) for failing to comply with the Act.

If you collect any type of personal data (e.g. customer and employee information including address, phone number, credit card information, credit application, etc.), then this Act affects your business and you need to have a privacy regime in place.

For more information relating to this critical privacy issue we have included links to the following information for your reference:

• Twenty questions a small business should ask about privacy.
• A brochure published by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.
• A copy of our own policy on privacy.

To help ensure that all or our clients meet the requirements of this new Privacy Act, we have developed an efficient and cost effective process for the development of a privacy regime that we can tailor to your business.

We would be pleased to assist you with implementing a privacy regime for your business. Please contact us for a free assessment of your privacy issues and more information on how we can assist you.