Update on Bill C-299
Bill C-299 is an Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Canada Evidence Act and the Competition Act (personal information obtained by fraud) and was introduced in Parliament as a Private Member's Bill.
Bill C-299 was introduced in Parliament by The Honourable James Rajotte on May 17, 2006, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights after it had received Second Reading on November 1, 2006.
The bill proposes amendments to the three statutes in its title, designed to penalize the fraudulent collection of personal information. In both the Code and the Competition Act, a definition of "personal information" is created, consistent with that of federal privacy legislation (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), while the "false pretences" section of the Code is expanded to criminalize its fraudulent collection and related actions. The amendment to the Canada Evidence Act would also render fraudulently obtained information inadmissible as evidence.
Under the Competition Act, obtaining personal information under false pretences would be added to the criminal provisions contained in s. 50 (price discrimination and predatory pricing) as an illegal trade practice, and the promotion of a fraudulently provided service would be deemed a false or misleading representation under both the criminal (s. 52) and the civil ( s.74.01) misleading advertising provisions. Recovery of damages by those suffering loss from any of these violations would also be made easier by allowing the victim to sue the Canadian affiliate of an international corporation that has committed the offense, regardless of whether the Canadian affiliate was involved.
