PIPEDA Fair Information Principle 10 – Challenging Compliance

Reviewed: August 2020

An individual must be able to challenge your organization’s compliance with the fair information principles. They should address their challenge to the person in your organization who is accountable for compliance with PIPEDA.

Your responsibilities

• Provide recourse by developing simple complaint handling and investigation procedures.
• Tell complainants about their avenues of recourse. These include your organization’s own complaint procedures, along with those related to industry associations, regulatory bodies and the OPC.
• Investigate all complaints you receive.
• Improve any information-handling practices and policies that are found to be problematic.

How to fulfill these responsibilities

• Record the date on which you receive a complaint, and its nature.
• Acknowledge receipt of the complaint promptly, and seek clarification if needed.
• Assign the matter to a person with the skills necessary to review it fairly and impartially. Provide that person with access to all relevant records, employees or others who handled the personal information or access request.
• Notify individuals of the outcome of complaint reviews clearly and promptly, and inform them of any steps taken.
• Correct any inaccurate personal information or modify policies and procedures based on the outcome of the complaint. Ensure employees are aware of any changes to policies and procedures.

Tips

• Handling a complaint fairly may help to preserve or restore your customer’s confidence and trust in your organization.
• Ensure staff members are aware of the policies and procedures for complaints, and know who is responsible for handling complaints.
• Record all your decisions to ensure consistency.