PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act)
PIPEDA sets out the rules for how private sector organisations collect, use and disclose personal information in the course of commercial activities in most of Canada. It is built around principles such as accountability, identifying purposes, consent, limiting collection and use, safeguards, openness and individual access.
GDPR Register helps you put these principles into practice with clear records, risk visibility and documented decision-making.
Accountability in practice
PIPEDA makes it clear that organisations are responsible for personal information under their control, including information handled by third parties on their behalf.
With GDPR Register you can:
- Assign responsibility for processing activities to specific teams or roles
- Maintain a central register of systems, processes and third parties that handle personal information
- Capture purposes, categories of data, retention rules and safeguards for each activity
- Keep supporting documentation (policies, procedures, assessments) linked to the relevant records
Processing records and data flows
Understanding where personal information is, and how it flows, is essential for demonstrating compliance and responding to individuals and regulators.
GDPR Register enables you to:
- Build a structured data inventory covering customer, employee and partner information
- Map internal and external data flows, including transfers to service providers and affiliates
- Document legal justifications, consent approaches and any limitations on use or disclosure
- Import existing Excel-based inventories and convert them into a consistent, maintainable register
Breach and incident logging
PIPEDA requires organisations to report certain breaches to the regulator, notify affected individuals where there is a real risk of significant harm, and keep records of all breaches.
With GDPR Register you can:
- Maintain a breach and incident register recording what happened, what information was involved and potential impacts
- Document assessments of whether notification is required and to whom
- Record what remedial steps were taken and by which teams
- Link incidents to the relevant processing activities, systems and service providers for follow-up and improvement
Cross-border data flows and service providers
PIPEDA allows cross-border transfers, but expects organisations to be transparent and to use contractual or other measures to ensure comparable protection.
GDPR Register helps you:
- Maintain a central register of service providers and partners, including those outside Canada
- Record where data is stored or accessed, and what safeguards are in place
- Track key contractual commitments, such as security requirements and restrictions on use
- Integrate vendor risks into your overall privacy and security risk picture
Individual access and correction rights
PIPEDA gives individuals the right to access personal information held about them and to request corrections.
With GDPR Register you can:
- Log and manage access and correction requests in a single register
- Track deadlines, status, responsible owners and decisions
- Link each request to the relevant systems and processes so teams know where to locate the information
- Maintain an audit trail of how requests were handled and why certain actions were taken or refused
Part of a broader, multi-regulation framework
Many organisations subject to PIPEDA also need to comply with GDPR, UK GDPR, US state laws or sector-specific rules.
GDPR Register supports this by:
- Allowing you to reuse your core data inventory and adapt it with PIPEDA-specific fields or tags
- Providing configurable templates so assessments, breach records and vendor information can reflect Canadian requirements alongside others
- Offering dashboards and filters that show which activities, systems and vendors are in scope of PIPEDA as well as other laws
In short: GDPR Register supports PIPEDA compliance by making accountability visible: clear records of processing, structured breach and incident logs, transparent cross-border data flow documentation and a consistent process for handling individual rights – all within a single, multi-regulation platform.