Alberta and BC Privacy Laws Exempt from Full Application of PIPEDA

As anticipated by many commentators, the Canadian federal government has formally exempted from the scope of its comprehensive private sector privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the collection, use or disclosure of personal information that occurs within the provinces of Alberta or British Columbia by organizations, other than a "federal work, undertaking or business", to which either the Personal Information Protection Act, SA 2003, c P-6.5 (Alberta) or the Personal Information Protection Act, SBC 2003, c 63 (British Columbia) applies. This follows from the federal government's finding that the provisions of the legislation in these two provinces are "substantially similar" to those of PIPEDA. (Such an exemption has already been granted regarding comparable legislation in Quebec). As set out in an earlier issue of E-TIPSâ„¢ (Vol 2, No 13, December 4, 2003) and the linked comprehensive article, in all provinces and territories other than Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec, the provisions of PIPEDA continue to apply, despite the exemptions, to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information in connection with the operations of a federal work, undertaking or business (eg banks, airlines, telecommunications companies) in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia or Quebec, as well as to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information outside those provinces and the collection, use and disclosure of personal information that crosses provincial or territorial boundaries in the course of commercial activity. For the text of the exemption order issued by Industry Canada for Alberta, see: http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/2004/20040410/html/regle3-e.html. For the text of the exemption order issued by Industry Canada for British Columbia, see: http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/2004/20040410/html/regle4-e.html. Summary by: Amy-Lynne Williams If you have any questions about the application of any of Canada's privacy legislation, contact Amy-Lynne Williams (awilliams@dww.com) or Michael Erdle (merdle@dww.com).