Analyzing the Effects of Privacy Laws on Business in Canada

This essay examines the impact of privacy laws on businesses operating in Canada, focusing on both federal and provincial regulations. It primarily discusses the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and its implications for private sector organizations, detailing the obligations, potential breaches, and penalties associated with non-compliance. The analysis extends to provincial privacy laws in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec, highlighting the complexities businesses face when navigating multiple jurisdictions. The essay also considers the financial burdens placed on businesses due to compliance requirements, including the need for specialized staff and advanced data security technologies. It concludes by asserting that while privacy laws are essential for regulatory environments, they can impose significant challenges and diminish productivity for Canadian businesses, especially multinational corporations.

Business Law
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
In Canada, various privacy laws are there. Different organizations and agencies handle
these laws. Nature of information and jurisdiction decides that which Privacy Law will be
applicable to a particular case. Majorly two kind of privacy laws are there. One is Federal and
another is provincial. This is significant to mention that these laws prescribe the provisions
related to the use of privacy laws by different organizations and businesses.
Discussion
In Canada, the way in that a business collect, secure and consist data of it is clients and
employees is regulated by Privacy Laws. Here, data stands for personal information of clients or
employees such as age, religion, marital status, financial information, DNA and many others.
Two federal Privacy laws are there in Canada, these are Privacy Act and Personal Information
Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). As the discussion is focused on the inquiry
that how these privacy laws affect working of business, the discussion will be held on PIPEDA.
PIPEDA is the Federal Privacy Law that is applicable to the business (Office of the Privacy
Commissioner of Canada, 2018). Business refers to the Private Sector Organizations. This is to
state that organization that do not work for profit will not be liable to follow the said act i.e.
PIPEDA. An organization on which, PIPEDA has to follow several rules and provisions as
required by this law. This act also provides the provision related to penalties and breaches.
According to the provisions of PIPEDA, if an organization fails to comply with the required and
stipulated provisions then such organization will be held liable under this act (Solove &
Schwartz, 2017).

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In order to study the given topic in a well-defined manner, it is necessary to understand
what is the breach of duty under PIPEDA. In reply to this inquiry, it can be stated that when an
organization fails to safeguard the personal information of it is clients and employees as per
mentioned outline and manner given in the law, then this situation termed as the breach of duty
(Otto, 2016).
In addition to Federal Privacy Laws, territory and Provincial Privacy Laws are also there
in the country. In comparison to Federal Privacy Laws, Provincial Privacy Laws are slightly
typical to understand. This is to mention that apart from Federal Laws, territories and Provincial
developed their own Privacy Laws. Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec are the three
provinces that have their separate Privacy Laws, which are more similar to PIPEDA, and for this
reason on these provinces, PIPEDA will not be applicable. Further, some of the provinces have
privacy Laws that apply to the employees information or health-related information. These
Provinces has to follow these laws in addition to Federal Law. Federal Law imposes several
restrictions on the use of personal data and provides the legal manner in which the same can be
used by organizations.
Similar to Federal Law, these Provincial Privacy Laws also defines the way and manner
in which a business should maintain the personal information. Apart from the provinces that
have similar Privacy Laws to Federal Law, rest of the provinces has to follow two Privacy Laws.
As mentioned earlier that discussed Privacy Laws are only applicable to economic business, the
same lead a burden on organizations and businesses. The focus of business organizations must be
to earn profit but the applicability of these laws, make this agenda difficult for businesses. These
laws have their strict provisions in relation to the breach of duty and penalties (Government of
Canada, 2018). These Laws affect businesses and their productivity in an adverse manner.

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Further, for multi-national companies, it becomes very difficult to do business in a smooth
manner, as state wise laws are applicable on such companies and for the reason the same needs
to ensure compliance of several acts (Ashford, 2018). To meet out the requirements of these
laws, businesses are required to employ new staff in their legal departments that cause an
additional cost to them. This is also necessary to state that these Privacy Laws requires a
business to secure the data related to their clients and employees and business needs to have
good technology for the same, that again increases the cost to them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this can be stated that although Privacy Laws are a
requirement of the smooth regulatory environment, yet one cannot ignore the fact
that these Laws put the unreasonable burden to business. These laws provide a
manner to collect data, to secure the same and to use the same. In conjunction
with, the same also put penalties in case of non-compliance. Presence of Provincial
Privacy Laws in addition to Federal Law makes the working of business hard and
interrupted. The restrictions and controls these Laws impose on business in Canada
are diminishing the productivity of organizations over there.

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References
Ashford. (2018) Are privacy laws and regulations strangling Europe’s productivity? Retrieved
from: https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Are-privacy-laws-and-regulations-
strangling-Europes-productivity
Government of Canada. (2018) Privacy and your business. Retrieved from:
https://canadabusiness.ca/government/regulations/regulated-business-activities/privacy-
and-your-business/
Office of the privacy Commissioner of Canada. (2018). Summary of privacy laws in Canada.
Retrieved from:
https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/02_05_d_15/
Otto, M., (2016). The Right to Privacy in Employment: A Comparative Analysis. United
Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
Solove D., J., & Schwartz, P., M., (2017). Information Privacy Law. New York: Wolters Kluwer
Law & Business.