Stikeman Elliott has extensive experience in:
- Conducting privacy audits and developing privacy compliance programs
- Developing customer privacy policies and practices
- Employee and employment privacy issues
- Health information issues
- Drafting and negotiating contractual protections regulating the use of personal and confidential information
- Managing data protection and confidentiality issues that arise in the context of public and private financings, mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions
- Litigation matters and risk management relating to the protection of personal information and confidential information
- Advising in respect of the collection and use of personal information in the context of promotional contests and other direct marketing campaigns.
Stikeman Elliott's Privacy Group provides advice on both transactional and day-to-day compliance matters for a number of organizations. We have assisted clients across a wide spectrum of industries with their data protection concerns, including:
- Financial institutions
- Telecommunications providers
- Manufacturers and distributors
- On-line service providers
- Health care providers and pharmaceutical companies
- Resource based organizations
- Data collection agencies
- Insurance companies and brokerage firms
- Technology companies
Quebec
The Quebec Private Sector Act regulates the collection, storage, and communication of personal information about individuals by private enterprises operating in the province. The rules established by the Quebec Private Sector Act serve to supplement the privacy provisions contained in Quebec's Civil Code, and also address issues respecting the transfer of personal information outside of the province.
In 2003, the federal government recognized the Quebec Private Sector Act to be "substantially similar" to Part I of PIPEDA and therefore most non-federally regulated businesses operating in Quebec are exempt from that part of the federal legislation dealing with personal information. Accordingly, the Quebec legislation will apply within the province of Quebec to the exclusion of PIPEDA, as long as all of the actions of the commercial enterprise occur within the province. Where the collection, use or disclosure of personal information occurs across Quebec's borders, conceivably both PIPEDA and the Quebec Private Sector Act could apply.
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