The Government of Quebec recently tabled Bill 64, an Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information (Bill), before the National Assembly of Quebec. Should the bill be passed, it proposes to update the existing framework applicable to the protection of personal information by amending various laws of the province of Quebec, including the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector and the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of person information (Acts). Both private and public sector organizations in Quebec would be subject to increased data protection obligations, similar to the EU’s GDPR. Key features include heftier fines and new monetary administrative penalties; breach notification requirements; mandatory privacy impact assessment; a data protection officer requirement; privacy by design; additional consent requirements; clarification on disclosures without consent; data portability right; de-indexation right; anonymization of personal information and increased transparency; and accountability.
