. The Canadian approach maintained that it did not matter where the personal information was stored or who was involved in its processing, since the ultimate responsibility lay with the first organization to collect the data.
While the OPC position is a preliminary one – the office is accepting comments in a consultation until June 4 – there are distinct similarities with its attempt to add the right to be forgotten into Canadian law. In that instance, despite the absence of a right-to-be-forgotten principle in the statute, the OPC simply ruled that it was reading in a right to de-index search results into PIPEDA . The issue is currently being challenged before the courts.
The OPC is careful to note that it believes its position is consistent with Canada’s international trade obligations, but the issue could be subject to challenge. The Comprehensive and Progressive Trade Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership , the major Asia-based trade agreement that Canada implemented last year, features a commitment to allow cross-border transfers of information by electronic means.
The imposition of consent requirements for cross-border data transfers could be regarded as a non-tariff barrier to trade that impose restrictions greater than those required to achieve the objective of privacy protection. The interpretation is particularly vulnerable given that PIPEDA has long been said to provide such protections without the need for this additional consent regime.