To help advisors deal with the new federal privacy legislation governing how they must treat personal client information, Advocis has authored a paper that explains the legislation and offers advice on how to comply with its requirements.

Compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) will be mandatory beginning Jan. 1, 2004

“This appears to be complex legislation, but in reality it’s just about the ownership and control of personal information,” says Steve Howard, Advocis president and CEO. “What we have done in this paper is set out the concepts contained in the Act and provided our members with a roadmap for compliance.”

The paper was authored by Rick Johnson, Advocis’ director, practice advisory services. It answers a number of questions on the topics that advisors will most be interested in, such as:

  • how will the Act affect my ability to prospect for new business?
  • how will I get consent from all my clients?;and
  • what happens if I don’t comply?

    The paper also offers a practical interpretation of the 10 principles upon which the legislation is based. It is available on the Advocis Web site at www.advocis.ca.

    Currently, some provinces have, or will have, privacy legislation of their own.

    “The provincial legislation will have to be substantially similar to the federal legislation for it to be effective,” says Johnson. “That means they can add to the federal legislation to fit the needs of the province, but can’t change or remove what the Feds have done. The Advocis paper concerns itself only with the federal legislation coming into effect on January 1,” he added.

    Johnson also noted that the privacy guidelines will be incorporated into the next issue of Advocis’ Best Practices Manual.