Personal Information Protection Act (Alberta and British Columbia PIPA)

A seller in Alberta or British Columbia meets PIPA when it handles customer and employee data in a sale. Alberta’s Act says its purpose is to govern the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by organizations, recognizing both an individual’s right to have it protected and organizations’ need to collect, use or disclose it for reasonable purposes (s. 3). Each Act applies to every organization, subject to its listed exceptions.

How it sits with PIPEDA

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada says organizations subject to a substantially similar provincial law are generally exempt from PIPEDA for collection, use or disclosure within that province. PIPEDA still applies to personal information that crosses provincial or national borders in commercial activity.

What to check

• Which law governs each flow of data, given where it is collected and where it goes.
• Employee information: Alberta defines “personal employee information” and British Columbia “employee personal information”, in different terms.
• Deal disclosures: Alberta (s. 22) and British Columbia (s. 20) have their own business transaction provisions, covered under the business transaction exception.

See which privacy law applies to employee information in due diligence.