Industry prepares for privacy rules

The new federal privacy legislation, while not affecting the insurance industry until 2004, needs to be addressed now, representatives of the Insurance Information Centre of Canada (IICC) and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) told guests at a “Privacy and Security” breakfast, held recently in Toronto. Chief among the concerns in the new legislation is the protection of information, as well as gaining consent for the collection, use and dissemination of personal information.

Terri MacLean, senior vice president and COO of the IBC’s Insurance Crime Prevention Bureau (ICPB) notes that her organization began addressing privacy issues several years ago in response to Quebec’s privacy act, and those policies have been spread “right across the country”. She adds that the ICPB has been designated as an official investigation body, giving it freer use and dissemination of information under the act.

Developing industry standards should be a key focus, and the IBC’s existing privacy code could form a good basis for this, says Steven Lingard, senior counsel for the IBC. The nature of consent will be a big issue for companies, and specific procedures for obtaining consent to use information will need to be addressed. On the bright side, he notes, “we have the advantage of watching what happens to the banks and credit companies [already subject to the act] in the next few years”.