Consent

Consent is a key element of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada’s federal private sector privacy law.  Under PIPEDA, organizations are required to obtain meaningful consent for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. Consent is considered meaningful when individuals are provided with clear information explaining what organizations are doing with their information.

In May 2016, we launched a consultation on the issue of consent under PIPEDA. The goal of the consultation was to identify improvements to the current consent model and bring clearer definition to the roles and responsibilities of the various players who could implement them.

On September 21, 2017, we published our Report on Consent in our 2016-17 Annual Report to Parliament. The report outlines recommendations to address consent challenges posed by the digital age and indicates actions we will take.

Explore the links on this page to find information developed by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) about consent, particularly in the online environment, under PIPEDA.