Committee Report Recommends Changes to PIPEDA

The committee report provides an overview of PIPEDA, addresses each area of focus proposed by the Commissioner and makes recommendations to the Government of Canada. The proposed four areas of focus for the Committee’s study of PIPEDA were 1) meaningful consent; 2) reputation and respect for privacy; 3) the Commissioner’s enforcement powers; and 4) the adequacy of PIPEDA vis-à-vis the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will come into effect in May 2018. As a result of their deliberations, the committee made 19 recommendations for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government including privacy by design as a central PIPEDA principle, improving transparency about AI programs behind websites, granting individuals the right to erasure, data portability, and data de-indexing, default opt-in consent for use of PI for secondary purposes, and granting the OPC the power to make orders, impose fines, and choose which complaints to investigate. Uncertain how many, if any of the recommendation will be adopted.