Alberta reviews private sector privacy law, PIPA – RCC comments
May 31, 2024The Alberta government begin reviewing the province’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) in January 2024. PIPA is substantially equivalent to federal privacy law PIPEDA, meaning that it may apply in use cases that handle Albertan personal information and should be considered in complement with PIPEDA. The legislature’s Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship is conducting the review, with a report due 18 months out, i.e., by mid-2025.
RCC submitted brief comments on the review. We suggested any proposed changes to PIPA:
- Focus on harmonization with other privacy laws, especially with federal requirements and Bill C-27
- Refrain from adding any Alberta-specific artificial intelligence provisions to PIPA and instead work with the federal government on C-27 and AIDA
- Refrain from adding any retail-applicable data mobility/data portability provisions to PIPA and instead work with the federal government on the data mobility framework in C-27 if data portability/mobility becomes an Albertan priority
