Settled Case summary #16: Personal information on receipts removed, information collected when goods returned is limited (November 21, 2005)
An individual complained about a retail chain's practice of printing personal information on receipts and collecting excessive information for returns. The complainant was concerned that the printing of name, credit card number, and expiry date on receipts, and the recording of driver's license and credit card information for refunds, constituted unnecessary collection of personal information. During the investigation, the company updated its point-of-sale equipment to mask personal information on receipts. For returns, the company committed to continuing to collect name, address, and telephone number, but would no longer record identification information, only asking to see it. Credit card information would only be requested if a credit card was used for the original purchase. The company also committed to training its employees on these new procedures. Both the complainant and the OPC were satisfied with these changes.
- 1Whether printing customer's name, credit card number, and expiry date on receipts constituted unnecessary collection of personal information under PIPEDA
- 2Whether requiring and recording a driver's license and credit card for returns constituted unnecessary collection of personal information under PIPEDA
- Collection of personal information: Practice of printing personal information on receipts ceased
- Collection of personal information for returns: Practice of recording identification information for returns ceased
- Collection of credit card information for returns: Practice of recording credit card information for returns ceased
- Employee training: Company committed to training employees on new procedures
Complaint settled — company changed practices
The company voluntarily changed its practices regarding personal information on receipts and information collected during returns to address the complainant's concerns, satisfying both the complainant and the OPC.
The company updated its point-of-sale equipment to mask personal information on receipts, committed to no longer recording identification information for returns (only asking to see it), and agreed to train employees on these new procedures.
This summary is informational only and not legal advice.
Related by meaning
Decisions with similar reasoning and facts — found by AI across statutes and jurisdictions, not just keywords.
Coverage — 13 of 14 jurisdictions searchable
Fully searchable: Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, New Brunswick, Manitoba.
Partial (recent decisions only): Federal (Canada) (651 of 1,631), Nova Scotia (49 of 472), Quebec (6 of 7,090), Prince Edward Island (2 of 279), Yukon (1 of 75).
Coming soon: Nunavut — being re-processed for AI search.
Find decisions like this one — by meaning, not keywords.
Related by meaning is a Pro feature. Upgrade to surface conceptually similar decisions across the corpus, powered by AI.
Upgrade to Pro