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Legal Environment in Canada
OverviewThe information presented here is intended to provide access to current developments in the field of electronic commerce. It is important to gain an understanding of the laws of Canada and the authoritative bodies that govern and enact these laws. This page will give an overview of Canada's Department of Justice and will go into an in-depth analysis of electronic commerce laws. This analysis will cover such topics as Privacy, Intellectual Property (Copyrights, Trademarks, etc.), Digital Signatures, Certificate Authorities and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). In addition these topics will introduce recent legislation. Canada's Department of Justice The people of the Department of Justice (DOJ) work to ensure that Canadians enjoy a justice system that is fair, accessible and efficient. They are responsible for helping the federal government to develop policy and to make and reform laws as needed. At the same time, the DOJ serves Canadians by acting as the Government's law firm. The DOJ responsibilities reflect the double role of the Minister of Justice, who is also the Attorney General of Canada: while the Minister is concerned with questions of policy and their relation to the justice system, the Attorney General is the chief law officer of the Crown. The Mission of the Department of Justice is to:
The DOJ works with other federal departments to enact legislation for electronic commerce and the protection of intellectual property and the privacy of its citizens in both the public and private sectors. The Canadian Laws can be viewed at the DOJ website and the status of legislation introduced in the House of Commons or the Senate can be viewed at Canada's Parliament website. The Department of Justice has been a key partner with other federal departments in supporting Canada's economic agenda, particularly in an increasingly global and digitally-driven economy. Electronic commerce, broadly defined to include any transaction where the underlying means of facilitating that transaction is electronic, is also used to deliver government services. Through the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ( Bill C-6) along with the Government of Canada Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) initiative, the Department is working to establish a legal framework that will give Canadians security and confidence to use the Internet as a place to communicate and to do business, and to facilitate electronic commerce nationally and internationally in a secure environment. More information about how the Government of Canada plans to become the most "connected" in the world by 2005 can be found at the Government On-line site. Federal departments and their counsel might find the compilation of references entitled Government On-Line - Checklist of Legal Issues useful. The Checklist will be updated from time to time to reflect lessons learned in the Government On-Line process. The Department is also playing a key role in the Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC) in drafting the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA). The UECA is similar to Part 2 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, in authorizing governments to use electronic technology to deliver services and communicate with citizens. For more information, please visit the following sections of our website: Current Statutory Initiatives in Canada [Source: Canada's Department of Justice] Privacy The Parliament has laws protecting the privacy of individuals and can be viewed in more detail at the Privacy Act P-21 website. The purpose of this Act is to extend the present laws of Canada that protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information about themselves held by a government institution and provide individuals with a right of access to that information. The Parliament has appointed The Privacy Commissioner of Canada, George Radwanski, as an Officer of Parliament who reports directly to the House of Commons and the Senate. The Commissioner is an advocate for the privacy rights of Canadians with the power to: investigate complaints and conduct audits under two federal laws; publish information about personal information-handling practices in the public and private sector; take matters to the Federal Court of Canada; conduct research into privacy issues; and promote awareness and understanding of privacy issues by the Canadian public. The Privacy Commissioner of Canada works independently of any other federal government agency and acts as the agent to monitor the federal government's use and disclosure of personal information. Electronic Commerce and the Laws Federal e-Commerce Legislation The Government of Canada passed its Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000 c.5. Part 2 of the Act deals with federal statutes and regulations, whereas Part 1 of the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act deals with provincial and territorial laws. The Uniform Electronic Commerce Act was adopted by the Uniform Law Conference of Canada on September 30, 1999, and recommended for implementation by governments in Canada. Provincial Legislation Saskatchewan has passed its implementing legislation, The Electronic Documents and Information Act, S.S. c.E-7.22, (in force November 1, 2000) Manitoba has passed its implementing legislation, The Electronic Commerce and Information Act, C.C.S.M. c.E55, (Parts 1, 4, 5, 7 in force October 23, 2000) Ontario has passed its implementing legislation, The Electronic Commerce Act 2000, S.O. 2000 c.17, (in force October 16, 2000) Nova Scotia has passed its implementing legislation, The Electronic Commerce Act, S.N.S.2000 c.26, (in force December 1, 2000) Yukon passed its implementing legislation, The Electronic Commerce Act, S.Y. 2000, c.10. (not yet available). British Columbia has introduced its implementing legislation, The Electronic Transactions Act, (Bill 13), (first reading April 5, 2001) Quebec has introduced Bill 161 to implement the United Nations Model Law on Electronic Commerce, entitled " An Act to establish a legal framework for information technology. Electronic Evidence Federal The Uniform Electronic Evidence Act was adopted by the Uniform Law Conference of Canada in August 1998, and recommended for implementation by governments in Canada. The Uniform Act makes focused amendments to existing rules of evidence to facilitate the admissibility of electronic records in court proceedings. The Government of Canada implemented the UEEA by amending the Canada Evidence Act in Part 3 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000 c.5. Part 3 was brought into force on May 1, 2000. Provincial Ontario implemented the UEEA by amending its Evidence Act through the Red Tape Reduction Act, S.O. 1999 c.12 (Schedule B, section 7), which came into force on June 30, 2000. Yukon passed legislation to implement the UEEA. See S.Y. 2000, c-11 (not yet available). Saskatchewan introduced legislation to implement the UEEA. See Bill 43. Manitoba introduced legislation to implement the UEEA in June 2000. See Part 7 of Bill 31, entitled The Electronic Commerce and Information Act. Intellectual Property
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), a Special Operating Agency (SOA) associated with Industry Canada, is responsible for the administration and processing of the greater part of intellectual property in Canada. CIPO's mission is to accelerate Canada's economic development by fostering the use of intellectual property systems and the exploitation of intellectual property information; encouraging invention, innovation and creativity in Canada; administering the intellectual property systems in Canada (patents, trade-marks, copyrights, industrial designs and integrated circuit topographies); promoting Canada’s international intellectual property interests. CIPO's areas of activity include:
Canada is dedicated to minimizing piracy rates in the country with actions from the federal government and private sector alliances. The Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST) is an industry alliance of software publishers who share the common goal of reducing software theft through education, legislation, and legal enforcement. CAAST has done extensive studies on piracy rates on a global and provincial level and has published statistics to aid in the understanding of the costs associated with software theft. Piracy is not only an issue for Canada, but it is a global concern. CAAST study revealed a study which is cause for concern for the entire world economy (see chart)
The regions with the highest dollar losses in 2001 were Asia/Pacific, Western Europe and North American and the primary reason for this may be that these countries have the largest economies aligned with the largest PC and software markets (see pie chart)
These statistics translate into huge dollar losses as depicted in the chart, translated in U.S. Dollars.
Domain Names The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the non-profit corporation that was formed in October 1998 by the United States government to assume responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions. ICANN's authority over domain name delegation has not been fully accepted by all countries. In Canada's case the .ca domain had been managed for years by John Demco. The Canadian Internet Registry Authority (CIRA) was established as a not-for-profit corporation under federal authority on December 3, 1998 to manage the .ca domain name in the interest of the public. CIRA was created as the instrument for Canadian domain name governance within the context of a country code system managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Digital Signatures & Certificate Authorities Digital signatures and the electronic documents they authorize are beginning to take shape and become recognizable as legal documents, such as a Notary. New legislation in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada is legitimizing electronic contracts and paperwork, making it more attractive for businesses to conduct transactions in a paper-free digital environment. The UN model law was used as a base version to develop the Uniform Law Conference of Canada, developed by a group of legal experts recruited from the judiciary, governmental law departments and faculties of law. Products have been introduced by vendors such as Pare's Messaging Direct, the Mountain View, California-based Veri-sign, Dallas-based ZixIt Corp., and PGP allow digital signatures and document authentication to integrate with e-mail and Web browser technologies. MessagingDirect and ZixIt offer free e-mail program add-ons that can be downloaded from their Web sites. Canada Post has also slid into the digital document game by introducing a secure e-mail service called e-Post.ca, which allows a customer to receive and send mail, including bills, electronically for a fee. EPost users connect their Web browser to an ePost Web site to receive and track secure messages. It is the digital equivalent of first-class mail. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
The Government of Canada PKI provides departments an efficient, effective, common basis for the secure electronic delivery of federal services and programs. The ultimate goal of the government's PKI project is the establishment of a secure federal electronic service delivery system based largely on a centrally managed PKI cross-certified with other PKI's. The Canadian Government initiatives have been the causal factors resulting in drafting the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Bill C-6). This Bill was introduced in the House of Commons in October of 1998 and serves as security protection when using the internet. Various departments within the Canadian Government worked in collaboration with the Uniform Law Conference of Canada to produce the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA) which governs foreign government communications, more specifically federal PKI. Canada has an ambitious plan to make all federal programs and services available on-line by 2004. This pledge has made the Public Key Infrastructure Initiative an integral part of the policies going forward and have been aimed at the following objectives:
[Source: PKI Initiative ] Cyber Squatting The practice of registering famous brand names as Internet domain names, e.g. harrods.com, ibm.firm or sears.shop, in the hope of later selling them to the appropriate owner at a profit This has currently been an issue for Canada because of the dot-ca registry. Dot-ca registration policies were adopted last year and the Treasury Board has recommended that the government agencies and departments purchase all related dot-ca names to avoid the cyber squatting issue. However, the only solution for Canada currently is to buy up domain names. [source: Canadian Government Fights Net Squatters - April 17, 2001 Link- [Source: GovTech Net]
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