Federal (Canada) privacy & access decisions

The complainant alleged that Loblaw collected more personal information than necessary for its $25 gift card program and was concerned about data transfers to a US-based third party. Loblaw requested ID (utility bill or driver's license) from some registrants to verify eligibility and prevent fraud, but initially failed to specify that only name and address were needed and other information could be redacted. The OPC found that Loblaw initially over-collected information under Principle 4.4, but this issue was resolved when Loblaw clarified its requirements. Regarding the cross-border transfer of data to a US Program Administrator, the OPC found that Loblaw had sufficient contractual safeguards in place to ensure a comparable level of protection (Principle 4.1.3) and was transparent about these transfers (Principle 4.8). No additional consent was required for the transfer of name and address information, as it was for the original purpose. The complaint was found well-founded and resolved for over-collection, and not well-founded for the data transfer issues.

• Whether Loblaw collected more personal information than necessary for the Loblaw Card Program (Principle 4.4)
• Whether Loblaw ensured a comparable level of protection for personal information transferred to a third party for processing (Principle 4.1.3)
• Whether Loblaw was required to obtain additional consent for the transfer of personal information for processing (Principle 4.3)
• Whether Loblaw was sufficiently open and transparent about its cross-border data transfers (Principle 4.8)