On June 18, 2015, Canada’s Senate and House of Commons passed the Digital Privacy Act to amend the country’s federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Many of the amendments are scheduled to come into force on a date to be determined by the government. The revised requirements (highlighted below) will have a significant impact on the treatment of personal information by organizations that are subject to PIPEDA. These are organizations that either are federally regulated and fall under the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada, or operate within a province that does not have in place data protection legislation that has been determined to be substantially similar to PIPEDA (all Canadian provinces other than Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec).

Three amendments are noteworthy for businesses subject to PIPEDA.