17 November, 2020
Today the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Navdeep Bains, introduced the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2020 (Bill C-11), signaling the government’s intent to create a new privacy law. Entitled the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA), its fines are among the highest in the world—upwards of 5% of companies' global revenue.
If passed, the CPPA will require companies to comply with the following:
The new framework will resemble Canada’s competition law model, which requires regulators seeking penalties to obtain approval from a quasi-judicial body. In this case, that body would be the newly created Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal.
Canada’s federal government announced its vision of privacy as Canada’s Digital Charter in May 2019. It promised Canadians stronger privacy protections, while reassuring companies that privacy reforms will be fair, flexible and clear so that innovation continues to be supported.
The legislative process for having this bill passed can be lengthy. Bills typically go through several stages of approval within both the House of Commons and the Senate. This includes a “committee stage” where elected officials can invite government officials and other experts to comment on the impact of the law and then propose edits to the Act. This process can take several months, even years. Once Bill C-11 is passed, we expect a period of adjustment for organizations to understand their new privacy obligations before the law goes into effect.
At PwC, we are committed to advancing the public policy discussion and thought leadership on responsible data use, privacy and innovation. We engage with companies, policymakers and privacy professionals to develop solutions to some of the most pressing privacy and cyber issues. If you have questions, or are seeking unique solutions for your own organization, set up a consultation with one of our PwC advisors.
Our PwC Canada Privacy team will be actively involved in and engaged with updates relating to this process, and we’re available anytime to answer your questions:
National Data Trust & Privacy Practice Leader, PwC Canada
Tel: +1 416 869 2384