Privacy Law: Overview
Osler has a highly regarded team of privacy practitioners who are known for providing practical advice on the increasingly complex rules that govern the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. Our team is multi-disciplinary, drawing its members from the firm’s lawyers who specialize in business law, financial services, e-commerce, technology, outsourcing, marketing, franchising, health and pharmacy sectors, labour and employment, pensions, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, litigation and government affairs.
We are able to identify practical solutions for our clients because of our knowledge of the industry sectors in which they operate and our involvement in the public policy debate on privacy. In addition to making representations to legislators on draft legislation, we have been consulted by governments on high priority privacy issues, including spam and identify theft. Our involvement reflects a commitment to work with our clients, government, privacy commissioners to help shape the privacy landscape in Canada.
Our sophisticated knowledge of the policy and legal issues gives us the ability to identify practical solutions for clients, anticipate privacy law developments and assist our clients to comply with the myriad of privacy laws in Canada in a business efficient way while respecting the principles of privacy protection.
Our privacy lawyers advise on:
- Complying with federal and provincial privacy legislation including the preparation of required privacy policies and guidelines, consent language and data processing contracts;
- Complying with anti-spam and anti-spyware requirements in Canada;
- Developing policies and guidelines applicable to online advertising programs;
- Addressing cross-border privacy issues including the rules that govern the transfer of data outside of Canada;
- Responding to data breaches including breach notification issues;
- Responding to complaints filed with privacy commissioners in Canada;
- Pinpointing the requirements of privacy laws on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions and negotiating privacy law provisions for business transactions;
- Addressing employee privacy issues, including e-mail and internet use policies affecting an employee’s expectation of privacy and identifying privacy-compliant practices for handling and using employee data.