Ottawa is proposing to give numerous organizations, including those overseeing some accountants and credit unions, the power to collect personal information in the course of an investigation, without gaining individual consent.

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act requires an organization, which is disclosing personal information, to obtain the individual’s consent in most circumstances. An exception to this rule permits the disclosure of personal information to and by a private investigative body, without the knowledge or consent of the individual, if the investigative body is specified by the regulations.

Amendments are being proposed that would add the provincial disciplinary bodies of the Certified General Accountants of Canada, the Credit Union Office of Crime Prevention and Investigation, Certified General Accountants and independent insurance adjusters, along with law societies, health colleges and others to the list of bodies that can claim the exemption.

The exemptions allow an organization to disclose personal information, without the consent of the individual, to a private investigative body in order to instigate or facilitate an investigation. And, allow an investigative body to disclose personal information to another private organization, including the client organization on whose behalf it is conducting the investigation. The disclosures are circumscribed as they must be related to investigations of a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the law and be reasonable.

Organizations and investigative bodies that exchange personal information will remain responsible for compliance with all other requirements of the act for this information, and will be subject to oversight by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the ability of individuals to seek redress in the Federal Court of Canada.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner reviewed each of the applications for investigative body status. Regarding the professional regulatory bodies, it observed that all have legislated mandates with clearly defined powers, well-established investigative processes and powers to impose sanctions for non compliance, and all are required to act in the public interest. For these reasons, it had no serious reservations about adding these bodies to the Regulations. It also had no objection to the Credit Union Central of Canada, as it is similar to the Bank Crime Prevention Office and exists solely to do investigations.