Report reflects many of the amendments to PIPA recommended by the OIPC
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) of Alberta is pleased to see that many of its recommendations on amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) are contained in the final report of the Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship after its review of PIPA.
PIPA governs the use, collection, and disclosure of personal information of individuals by organizations covered by the Act. These organizations include corporations, unincorporated associations, trade unions, partnerships, or an individual acting in a commercial capacity. The Act was proclaimed into force on January 1, 2004. The committee’s report is the result of the second mandatory review of the Act.
“We were very happy to see that several of the recommendations in the report align with our recommendations to the standing committee,” said Information and Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod. “This includes the recommendation to provide specific protection for the personal information of children and the recommendation that my office be given authority to impose administrative monetary penalties on organizations, in order to encourage compliance with the Act. In addition, we were very pleased to see the recommendation that amendments to PIPA regarding de-identification and anonymization of personal information should consider our specific comments on this matter.”
The report also recommends that the government work to ensure that PIPA continues to be substantially similar to federal private sector privacy legislation, to improve alignment with all provincial private sector privacy legislation in Canada, and to ensure that PIPA contains comparable or better requirements than privacy legislation in world-leading jurisdictions.
“We are very much in favour of measures such as monitoring other privacy legislation across the country and around the world and working to ensure that Alberta is on par, or a leader,” added McLeod. “Such measures should go a long way toward capturing all the specific recommendations we made to the standing committee. On that note, we wish to thank the committee for its hard work on this report. In today’s rapidly-changing information technology landscape, this kind of review is complex and challenging. We look forward to next steps, as the Alberta government considers the committee’s report and presents its proposed changes to PIPA.”
Through the OIPC, the Information and Privacy Commissioner performs the responsibilities set out in Alberta’s three access to information and privacy laws, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Health Information Act, and the Personal Information Protection Act. The Commissioner operates independently of government.
For more information:
Elaine Schiman
communications@oipc.ab.ca
Communications Manager
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta
Mobile: (587) 983-8766
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