Europe to test Canada’s privacy laws this year

Authorities in Europe are set to test Canada’s privacy laws this year, which will determine if European data can continue to flow to Canadian companies.

An article by PaRR Global notes that Canada is currently allowed to transfer data from Europe as its laws are considered up to standard. However, since Europe moved in 2018 from what was called directive 95 to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Canadian privacy laws must be tested again to ensure those standards are upheld.

When speaking to PaRR, privacy Senior Associate Ronak Shah said he anticipates the federal government will try to follow “a similar GDPR essential equivalence standard in trying to ensure that Canada maintains its adequacy decision.”

MORE: Read our privacy team's 2018 analysis on the effect GDPR could have on Canadian businesses.

"We were anticipating that in June of this year the government would have proposed amendments to PIPEDA, but that timeline has changed, given the pandemic," Ronak said.

Ronak also notes that the new privacy laws “will bring in additional data rights for individuals, such as data portability, which links to the government's ongoing mandate to bring in open banking in Canada, which is basically data portability for the financial services sector”.

Subscribers can read the full article on PaRR’s website.

You can learn more about our Privacy team on the practice page.