Privacy Commissioner Outlines Best Practices for Recorded Telephone Calls

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada (Commissioner) has released a fact sheet on "Best Practices for Recording of Customer Telephone Calls" (the "Guidelines"). The Guidelines provide guidance to businesses trying to comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). It is the Commissioner's position that by taping telephone conversations, businesses collect personal information from individual callers and this collection must meet the privacy standards set in the Act. In particular, the Guidelines state that to comply:

• Organizations should only record calls for specified purposes (e.g. quality assurance);
• Those purposes must meet the "reasonable person" test (i.e. is it for a purpose that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances?);
• Organizations must make a reasonable effort to ensure that the individual is advised of the purposes for which the information will be used;
• The individual must consent;
• The information collected should only be used for the specified purposes for which it was collected; and
• The tapes should be subject to the other provisions of the Act with respect to matters such as safeguards, access, retention and disposal.

The fact sheet notes that where an individual is made aware that the conversation is being recorded and told the purpose of the recording, and the individual proceeds with the call, consent will be implied. For a copy of the fact sheet, visit: http://www.privcom.gc.ca/fs-fi/02_05_d_14_e.asp For additional information on the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and federal privacy legislation, visit: http://www.privcom.gc.ca For a copy of PIPEDA, visit: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/P-8.6/index.html Contemplating a privacy audit of your company? Contact Amy-Lynne Williams (awilliams@dww.com) or Sue Diaz (sdiaz@dww.com) of DWW.