The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act was approved by the House of Commons in April 2000 and took initial effect on January 1, 2001. The Act applies to any organization that collects, uses or discloses personal information in the course of commercial activity. Within four years, it will apply to the entire private sector in Canada (except Quebec), unless the provinces and territories enact equivalent legislation.
The Act is primarily designed to support and promote electronic commerce by protecting personal information that is collected, used, or disclosed in certain circumstances. It gives the force of law to the CSA Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information that representatives of business, government, and interest groups developed between 1992 and 1995.
Parts 2-5 of the Act provide for the federal government to approve the use of electronic means for companies and individuals to communicate or record information or transactions electronically in the form of digital signatures and include amendments to the Canada Evidence Act, the Statutory Instruments Act, and the Statute Revision Act.
This book offers complete analysis of every provision in the Act. It also includes the CSA Model Code; detailed discussion of critical privacy issues; frequently asked questions; Privacy Impact Assessment guidelines; sample privacy policies; reproduction of the entire Act; and reproduction of European and OECD data protection initiatives.

Stephanie Perrin is Chief Privacy Officer at Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. in Montreal. Prior to joining Zero-Knowledge, Ms. Perrin was the Director of Privacy Policy for Industry Canada's Electronic Commerce Task Force and led the legislative initiative at Industry Canada that resulted in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. An internationally recognized expert in freedom of information and privacy issues, Ms. Perrin was instrumental in developing Canada's privacy and cryptography policies for nearly twenty years and has represented Canada internationally at the OECD Security and Privacy Committee. Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. is a leading developer of Internet privacy and identity-management solutions.

Stephanie Perrin's profile page

Heather H. Black is a member of the Department of Justice on secondment to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Ms. Black was a member of the Information Law and Privacy Group at Justice from 1982–86, where she participated in the drafting of guidelines for the implementation of the Privacy Act, provided legal advice on its interpretation, and offered litigation support on Privacy Act cases. As counsel to Industry Canada from 1994–2000, she worked on the development of Part 1 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. She was involved in the policy development and was instructing counsel on the drafting of the Bill. Ms. Black holds an LL.B. from McGill University and is a member of the Ontario Bar.

Heather Black's profile page

David Flaherty is a specialist in the management of privacy and information policy issues. He recently completed a six-year, non-renewable term as the first Information and Privacy Commissioner for the Province of British Columbia. From 1972 until 1993 he was professor of history and law at the University of Western Ontario, from which he is now a professor emeritus. In 1992ȁ3;93 he was a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC and a Canada-US. Fulbright Scholar in Law. He is currently an Adjunct professor in political science at the University of Victoria. Dr. Flaherty has written extensively on privacy and information policy and has testified on privacy issues in both the US Congress and the Parliament of Canada. In the fall of 1999 he served as a Special Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Industry Canada in support of Bill C-6, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

David Flaherty's profile page

T. Murray Rankin, Q.C., is managing partner of Arvay Finlay Barristers in Victoria, B.C. and former Professor of Law at the University of Victoria. Mr. Rankin has had a long-term interest in freedom of information and privacy protection as a practitioner, law professor, and activist. He received the House of Commons "Award of Merit" for his contribution to Freedom of Information in 1979, and was a key advisor to the Government of British Columbia on the 1992 provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. He has been involved in public law litigation and complex negotiations for over 20 years. His areas of specialization include information law, administrative, aboriginal, and environmental law. Mr. Rankin holds an LL.B. from the University of Toronto and an LL.M. from Harvard University.

T. Murray Rankin's profile page