The Privacy and Cybersecurity Group invites you to review its brief on the draft guidelines for valid consent criteria ("Lignes directrices 2023-1 sur les critères de validité du consentement") published by the Commission d'accès à l'information (CAI) on May 16, 2023. The CAI requested it as part of its targeted consultation and Fasken was among the 18 stakeholders targeted for this consultation.

The CAI is proposing such guidelines as part of the reform of An Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information ("Bill 25"), amending theAct respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information (the "Access Act") (available in French only) and the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector ("Private Sector Act") (available in French only). The final version of these guidelines is expected in October 2023.

The proposed guidelines call for significant changes in practice with regards to obtaining consent. It will be important to note how the CAI modifies its project in light of stakeholder feedback given that the CAI presents these guidelines as its "expectations" for organizations.

The brief is also available on Consultation Québec.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.