August 10, 2020

Rachna Singh Chair, Special Committee to Review the Personal Information Protection Act Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 Dear Committee Members: REVIEW OF THE PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) appreciates the opportunity to provide feedback from our member companies to the Special Committee to Review the Personal Information Pro. [...] Finally, we wish to echo the words of Commissioner McEvoy in the BC OIPC General Briefing1 document and highlight the importance for the Special Committee to consider in its review the need for PIPA to remain substantially similar to PIPEDA and have adequacy status in relation to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. [...] “18 (1) … (q) the disclosure is made either on the initiative of an organization to another organization, or made by an organization to another organization upon the other organization’s request, and is reasonable for the purposes of detecting or suppressing fraud or of preventing fraud that is likely to be committed and it is reasonable to expect that the disclosure with the knowledge or consent. [...] Insurers have been able to learn from the guidance and relevant Orders issued by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta in addition to the Office of the Privacy Commission of Canada guidance on mandatory breach notification requirements. [...] With the goal of preserving the individual’s best interests, the industry recommends that the re levan t PIPA provisions be streamlined to ensure that medical information can be properly explained to the individual through a medical practitioner and to allow the access request to be complied with in a timely manner.