Canada is one of the countries where steps are being taken to modernize privacy legislation. As we’ve seen with the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), being a prelude for further developments in the United States, Quebec takes the lead in modernizing privacy legislation in Canada. ‘Law 25’, or previously ‘Bill 64’, was introduced in 2020 and came into force in three steps, increasingly adding requirements for businesses that are processing personal data of Quebec residents.
Complianz closely follows developments around Canadian (Quebec) privacy legislation and statements made by Quebec’s Data Protection Authority, Le Commission d’accès à l’information du Quebec.
As nearly a quarter of Canadian residents lives in Quebec, Complianz applies these requirements to all websites configuring Canada as a targeted region, in addition to PIPEDA requirements. WordPress websites that use Complianz and are configured for Canada will see their Complianz plugin being updated before the deadlines below.
Below we will briefly summarize the most essential changes per deadline.
Step 1: September 2022
- The requirement is to appoint a designated person within the organization responsible for the company’s Privacy compliance. The company website must publish this person’s name and contact information.
- Data breach reporting
Step 2: September 2023
- The requirement to publish a Privacy Statement
- The requirement to gather opt-in (as opposed to opt-out, which has been the default for most cases)
- Inform site visitors about any automated decision-making processes
- Data subjects have improved rights to delete or modify their personal data
- Additional regulations regarding the privacy of children
Step 3: September 2024
- Further additions to the rights of Data Subjects: Right of Portability
Complianz contains all that is needed to comply with the above-mentioned requirements. Any further additional requirements will be implemented before upcoming deadlines.
