PIPEDA Compliance IT Services for Canadian Businesses

PIPEDA — the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act — governs how Canadian businesses collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of commercial activity. Non-compliance exposes your business to regulatory investigation, reputational damage, and fines up to $100,000. Outsource IT Canada's PIPEDA compliance service implements the technical and procedural safeguards required to demonstrate compliance.

What PIPEDA requires

PIPEDA's ten privacy principles require organizations to:

• Appoint an individual responsible for privacy compliance
• Obtain meaningful consent for collection, use, and disclosure of personal information
• Limit collection to what is necessary for the identified purpose
• Implement security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information
• Provide individuals access to their personal information upon request
• Report breaches that create a real risk of significant harm

Our PIPEDA compliance services

• Privacy impact assessments (PIAs) — systematic evaluation of new systems, processes, and vendors to identify privacy risks before implementation
• Data handling procedures — documented procedures for collection, storage, access, retention, and disposal of personal information
• Breach notification protocols — a documented process for identifying, containing, assessing, and reporting breaches to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals
• Consent management — review of your customer and employee consent processes to ensure they meet PIPEDA's meaningful consent requirements
• Cross-border data transfer — assessment and contracting for personal information transferred to US cloud providers and international vendors
• Ongoing compliance monitoring — quarterly reviews to ensure your compliance posture keeps pace with business changes and evolving regulatory guidance

Provincial privacy legislation

Several provinces have enacted substantially similar privacy legislation that applies to private-sector organizations within that province:

• PIPA Alberta and BC — substantially similar to PIPEDA with some additional requirements around collection limiting and individual access rights
• Law 25 Quebec — stricter than PIPEDA with mandatory privacy impact assessments for new systems, enhanced consent requirements, and mandatory data breach reporting to the Commission d'accès à l'information
• PHIPA Ontario — applies to healthcare providers handling personal health information, with specific requirements for electronic health records and breach notification

We help Canadian businesses operating across provinces navigate the patchwork of Canadian privacy legislation. Contact us at (416) 623-9677 for a PIPEDA compliance assessment.