On January 1, 2019, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada will begin enforcing Guidelines for obtaining meaningful consent, which impose requirements for obtaining legally valid privacy consents. This bulletin summarizes five steps to compliance with the Guidelines.
In May 2018, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Alberta and British Columbia jointly issued Guidelines for obtaining meaningful consent (the “Guidelines”) to help private sector organizations obtain legally valid consents to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. The Guidelines criticize “the use of lengthy, legalistic privacy policies”, and explain that the requirements and best practices summarized in the Guidelines are intended to “breathe life” into the ways that consent is obtained.
The Guidelines detail seven principles for private sector organizations to follow to obtain legally valid privacy consents.
