PIPEDA compliance improving slowly.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT - Canada. Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act 2000

As new data breaches during 2006 reinforced concerns about security issues and trans-border data flows in Canada, there has never been a greater need to take data protection seriously, according to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart. Her 2006 Annual Report on the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) was sent to the Canadian Parliament for consideration May 31. Enacted in 2000, PIPEDA is Canada's private-sector privacy law enforced by the privacy commissioner.

Privacy complaints against some of the major sectors covered by PIPEDA since 2001 (financial institutions, insurance companies, and the transportation sector) have declined slightly. This is in contrast, however, to those industries that have been subject to PIPEDA only since 2004, such as the retail and accommodation sectors, which have been the focus of substantially more complaints than in previous years. Overall, there were 424 complaints in 2006, compared with 400 in 2005.

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"We are pleased to see fewer complaints related to sectors more familiar with PIPEDA; I believe it stems from a stronger understanding of the act. It would appear that compliance is improving with time and we look forward to seeing this trend continue" Stoddart said. "Sectors with less experience with PIPEDA have more work to do. As they gain a better understanding of what the law requires, we expect to see a decrease in complaints involving them"

However, the results of a survey of Canadian businesses on privacy-related issues conducted by Ekos Research Associates and released earlier this year raised important...