Alberta Latest Canadian Province to Introduce Privacy Legislation

Last week, Alberta became the latest Canadian province to introduce privacy legislation to cover the private sector. Alberta's legislation is aimed at ensuring that the Federal privacy legislation covering the private sector, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA"), does not take effect in Alberta after January 1, 2004, as would be the case in any province or territory that does have its own "substantially similar" legislation in place by that date. Alberta's move follows a similar action by the province of British Columbia, which also recently introduced privacy legislation to cover the private sector. In a related development, the federal Privacy Commissioner has already warned British Columbia's Privacy Commissioner that, for several reasons, the proposed B.C. legislation may not meet the "substantially similar" test that determines whether provincial privacy legislation will apply instead of PIPEDA. For copy of the Alberta legislation, visit: http://www.assembly.ab.ca/pro/bills/ba-bill.asp?SelectBill=044 For a copy of B.C. legislation, visit: http://www.legis.gov.bc.ca/37th4th/1st_read/gov38-1.htm For the Commissioner's news release about the B.C. legislation, visit: http://www.privcom.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2003/02_05_b_030508_e.asp Summary by: Javad Heydary