Bill C-54

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	SUMMARY
	Part 1 of this enactment establishes a right to the protection of personal information collected, used or disclosed in the course of commercial activities, in connection with the operation of a federal work, undertaking or business or interprovincially or internationally.
	It establishes the following principles to govern the collection, use and disclosure of personal information: accountability, identifying the purposes for the collection of personal information, obtaining consent, limiting collection, limiting use, disclosure and retention, ensuring accuracy, providing adequate security, making information management policies readily available, providing individuals with access to information about themselves, and giving individuals a right to challenge an organization's compliance with these principles.
	It further provides for the Privacy Commissioner to receive complaints concerning contraventions of the principles, conduct investigations and attempt to resolve such complaints. Unresolved disputes relating to certain matters can be taken to the Federal Court for resolution.
	Part 2 sets out the legislative scheme by which requirements in federal statutes and regulations that contemplate the use of paper or do not expressly permit the use of electronic technology may be administered or complied with in the electronic environment. It grants authority to the appropriate authorities to make regulations about how those requirements may be satisfied using electronic means.
	Part 2 also describes the characteristics of secure electronic signatures and grants authority to make regulations prescribing technologies or processes for the purpose of the definition ``secure electronic signature''.
	Part 3 amends the Canada Evidence Act to facilitate the admissibility of electronic documents, to establish evidentiary presumptions related to secure electronic signatures, and to provide for the recognition as evidence of notices, acts and other documents published electronically by the Queen's Printer.
	Part 4 amends the Statutory Instruments Act to authorize the publication of the Canada Gazette by electronic means.
	Part 5 amends the Statute Revision Act to authorize the publication and distribution of an electronic version of the Consolidated Statutes and Regulations of Canada.
	EXPLANATORY NOTES
	Canada Evidence Act
	Clause 52: Section 19 reads as follows:
	19. Every copy of any Act of Parliament, public or private, printed by the Queen's Printer, is evidence of that Act and of its contents, and every copy purporting to be printed by the Queen's Printer shall be deemed to be so printed, unless the contrary is shown.
	Clause 53: The relevant portion of section 20 reads as follows:
	20. Imperial proclamations, orders in council, treaties, orders, warrants, licences, certificates, rules, regulations or other Imperial official records, Acts or documents may be proved
	. . .
	(c) by the production of a copy thereof purporting to be printed by the Queen's Printer.
	Clause 54: The relevant portion of section 21 read as follows:
	21. Evidence of any proclamation, order, regulation or appointment, made or issued by the Governor General or by the Governor in Council, or by or under the authority of any minister or head of any department of the Government of Canada and evidence of a treaty to which Canada is a party, may be given in all or any of the following ways:
	. . .
	(b) by the production of a copy of the proclamation, order, regulation or appointment, purporting to be printed by the Queen's Printer;
	(c) by the production of a copy of the treaty purporting to be printed by the Queen's Printer;
	Clause 55: The relevant portion of subsection 22(1) reads as follows:
	22. (1) Evidence of any proclamation, order, regulation or appointment made or issued by a lieutenant governor or lieutenant governor in council of any province, or by or under the authority of any member of the executive council, being the head of any department of the government of the province, may be given in all or any of the following ways:
	. . .
	(b) by the production of a copy of the proclamation, order, regulation or appointment purporting to be printed by the government or Queen's Printer for the province; and
	Clause 56: New.
	Clause 57: Subsection 32(2) reads as follows:
	(2) All copies of official and other notices, advertisements and documents printed in the Canada Gazette are admissible in evidence as proof, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, of the originals and of the contents thereof.
	Statutory Instruments Act
	Clause 58: New.
	Clause 59: Subsection 16(3) reads as follows:
	(3) For the purposes of this section, where a regulation is included in a copy of a consolidation of regulations purporting to be printed by the Queen's Printer, that regulation shall be deemed to have been published in the Canada Gazette.
	Statute Revision Act
	Clause 60: Section 1 reads as follows:
	1. This Act may be cited as the Statute Revision Act.
	Clause 61: (1) The definition ``revision'' in section 2 reads as follows:
	``revision'' means the arrangement, revision and consolidation of the public general statutes of Canada authorized under Part I.
	(2) New.
	Clause 62: Section 5 reads as follows:
	5. The Commission shall, from time to time, arrange, revise and consolidate the public general statutes of Canada.
	Clause 63: The heading before section 8 and sections 8 to 10 read as follows:
	Consolidation
	8. (1) The Commission may prepare, maintain and keep up to date a consolidation of the public general statutes of Canada, and indices and appendices thereto, and may make such arrangements in respect of matters incidental thereto as may be required for that purpose.
	(2) Paragraphs 6(a) to (c) and (h) apply in respect of a consolidation of the public general statutes.
	(3) The Commission may keep the consolidation referred to in subsection (1) up to date by means of electronic data processing, microfilm, print or any other technique, as it considers suitable.
	9. (1) The Commission may cause to be published an edition of the consolidation referred to in subsection 8(1) in what is commonly known as a loose-leaf form, that is, a form in which the separate pages or separate chapters, as the case may be, are not bound together but are punched so that they may be conveniently held together by a separate fastening, and removed, replaced or added to from time to time.
	(2) The Commission may cause to be published, in the form described in subsection (1), an edition of a portion of the consolidation referred to in subsection 8(1) containing statutes selected by the Commission for the convenience of those who wish to subscribe to a service providing only certain statutes.
	(3) The Minister may enter into arrangements to provide copies of consolidations of the statutes or selected statutes to persons who wish to be supplied with those statutes at prices established in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed by the Treasury Board.
	(4) Section 19 of the Canada Evidence Act does not apply to an edition of the consolidation published under subsection (1) or to an edition thereof made available under section 10.
	9.1 (1) Copies of pages issued by the Commission to be added to, or to replace pages of, as well as the binders to be used for, an edition of the consolidation published pursuant to section 9 shall be distributed without charge to such persons or classes of persons as the Governor in Council, by order, directs.
	(2) Directions made under section 10 of the Publication of Statutes Act do not entitle persons referred to in subsection (1) to receive copies of the annual statutes of Canada.
	10. The Commission may cause an edition of the consolidation published pursuant to section 9 to be made available
	(a) in microfilm form directly from the printed edition or by electronic data processing; or
	(b) by electronic data processing for visual display, photocopying or automated typing at such locations as, in the opinion of the Commission, will best serve the convenience of the public.
	Clause 64: The heading before section 11 and sections 11 and 12 read as follows:
	Consolidation of Regulations
	11. (1) The Commission shall prepare, maintain and keep up to date a consolidation of the regulations of Canada (in this Part called the ``Consolidated Regulations'').
	(2) In preparing and maintaining the Consolidated Regulations and in keeping the Consolidated Regulations up to date, the Commission may exercise, in respect of the regulations, like powers to those that it has under section 6 in respect of a revision.
	(3) In this Part, ``regulations'' means
	(a) statutory orders and regulations published in the 1955 Consolidation of Statutory Orders and Regulations;
	(b) regulations, statutory instruments and other documents published in Part II of the Canada Gazette since the publication of the Consolidation referred to in paragraph (a);
	(c) regulations not exempted from publication pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 20(c) of the Statutory Instruments Act and registered with the Clerk of the Privy Council pursuant to section 32 of the Statutory Instruments Act, chapter 38 of the Statutes of Canada, 1970-71-72; and
	(d) any other regulations, statutory instruments or documents that, in the opinion of the Commission, are of continuing effect or apply to more than one person or body and that are not exempted from publication pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 20(c) of the Statutory Instruments Act.
	12. (1) On receipt of a written report from the Commission in respect of the completion of all or any part of the Consolidated Regulations, the Governor in Council may cause a printed Roll thereof, attested under the signature of the Minister and the President of the Privy Council, to be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Privy Council, and the Roll shall be held to be the original of the regulations included therein.
	(2) There shall be appended to each Roll a schedule similar in form to Schedule A appended to the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, and the Commission may include in the schedule a list of all regulations and parts thereof that, although not expressly revoked, are superseded by the regulations included in the Roll, or are inconsistent therewith, and a list of all regulations and parts thereof that were for a temporary purpose the force of which is spent.
	Clause 65: Subsections 13(2) and (3) read as follows:
	(2) On the day referred to in subsection (1) in respect of any Roll, the regulations included in that Roll shall accordingly come into force and have effect as law as part of the Consolidated Regulations to all intents as if each such regulation had been made by the appropriate regulation-making authority and all the requirements with respect to the making of that regulation had been complied with.
	(3) On the day referred to in subsection (1), all regulations and parts thereof listed in the schedule to the Roll are revoked to the extent mentioned in that schedule.
	Clause 66: Sections 15 to 17 read as follows:
	15. The Commission may cause to be published in one or more volumes in a loose-leaf form as described in subsection 9(1) in respect of a revision so much of the regulations as have been consolidated and deposited from time to time in the office of the Clerk of the Privy Council in accordance with subsection 12(1).
	16. (1) The Commission may cause to be published, in the form referred to in section 15, an edition of a portion of the Consolidated Regulations containing regulations selected by the Commission for the convenience of those who wish to subscribe to a service providing only certain regulations.
	(2) The Minister may enter into arrangements to provide copies of consolidations of the regulations or selected regulations to persons who wish to be supplied with those regulations at prices established in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed by the Treasury Board.
	17. Where the Commission has, as of a day selected by it, consolidated all the regulations of Canada that it is required to consolidate under section 11 to that day, the Commission shall cause the Consolidated Regulations to be published in the form of bound volumes, and the regulations to be included therein shall be those that have been consolidated as of that day, and that day shall be indicated in each of the volumes.
	Clause 67: Subsections 18(1) to (4) read as follows:
	18. (1) The repeal of the regulations and parts thereof listed in the schedule appended to a Roll does not
	(a) revive any regulation or part thereof revoked by them;
	(b) affect any saving clause in the regulations or parts thereof so revoked; or
	(c) prevent the application of any of those regulations or parts thereof, or of any regulation or part thereof formerly in force, to any transaction, matter or thing anterior to the revocation to which they would otherwise apply.
	(2) A regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations shall not be held to operate as a new regulation, but shall be construed and have effect as a consolidation and as declaratory of the law as contained in the regulation and parts thereof as consolidated, and for which the regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations is substituted.
	(3) Where, on any point, the provisions of a regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations are not in effect the same as those of the revoked provisions for which they are substituted, in respect of all transactions, matters and things subsequent to the time when the regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations takes effect, the provisions contained in that regulation prevail, but in respect of all transactions, matters and things anterior to that time, the revoked provisions prevail.
	(4) A reference in any regulation remaining in force and unconsolidated, or in any instrument or document, to any regulation or part thereof revoked under subsection 13(3) by inclusion in the Consolidated Regulations shall, after the regulation in the Consolidated Regulations takes effect, be deemed, in respect of any subsequent transaction, matter or thing, to be a reference to the regulation or part thereof in the Consolidated Regulations having the same effect as the revoked regulation or part thereof.
	Clause 68: Sections 19 to 21 read as follows:
	19. (1) The inclusion of any regulation or part thereof in the schedule appended to a Roll shall not be considered to be a declaration that the regulation or part thereof was or was not in force immediately before the coming into force of the portion of the Consolidated Regulations that includes that regulation or part thereof.
	(2) The whole or any part of the Consolidated Regulations shall be construed to be a consolidation of regulations within the meaning of subsection 16(3) of the Statutory Instruments Act.
	(3) A regulation that is included in the Consolidated Regulations stands permanently referred to any Committee or Committees of Parliament established under section 19 of the Statutory Instruments Act.
	20. (1) Any regulation included in the Consolidated Regulations may be cited and referred to in any Act, regulation, proceeding, instrument or document whatever either by its short or long title as a regulation or by using the expression ``Consolidated Regulations of Canada, chapter ........'', or ``Consolidated Regulations, chapter ........'', or ``Chapter ........ of the Consolidated Regulations'', or the abbreviation ``C.R.C., c. ........'', adding in each case the number of the particular chapter.
	(2) The citation of any chapter of the Consolidated Regulations in accordance with subsection (1) shall be deemed to include any amendments made thereto after the publication of that regulation in the Consolidated Regulations.
	21. The Commission may cause an edition of the Consolidated Regulations published pursuant to section 15, 16 or 17 to be made available
	(a) in microfilm form directly from a volume in loose-leaf form or a bound volume edition or by electronic data processing; or
	(b) by electronic data processing for visual display, photocopying or automated typing at such locations as, in the opinion of the Commission, will best serve the convenience of the public.
	Clause 69: Subsection 22(1) reads as follows:
	22. (1) Where the Clerk of the Privy Council, after consultation with the Deputy Minister of Justice, is of the opinion that any particular regulations should be remade by the regulation-making authority instead of being consolidated under this Act, he may request that authority or any person acting on behalf of that authority to make new regulations.
	Clause 70: Section 24 is new. Section 23 reads as follows:
	23. The Commission may cause indices to the Consolidated Regulations to be prepared and published for the convenience of the public.
	Clause 71: Part III reads as follows:
	PART III
	OTHER DUTIES
	Annual Statutes
	24. (1) The Commission shall obtain a copy of every Act of Parliament as soon as it has received Royal Assent and make such arrangements as may be required with the Clerk of the Parliaments, designated as such under the Publication of Statutes Act, the Queen's Printer and departments of the Government of Canada to assist in the distribution of such Acts to the public.
	(2) The Commission may make its services available to other departments of the Government of Canada in order to expedite the publication and distribution of the chapters of the annual statutes of Canada.
	Other Statutory Material
	25. (1) The Commission may prepare and cause to be printed tables of Acts of Parliament that are not public general Acts or tables of public general statutes or portions thereof that have been omitted from, but not repealed by revisions of the public general statutes of Canada.
	(2) The Commission may compile and prepare special editions of constitutional or quasi-constitutional statutes or instruments, and may compile and prepare special editions of local or private statutes.
	(3) The Commission may preserve the statutes compiled pursuant to subsection (2) in microfilm form without having those statutes reprinted.
	(4) A special edition described in subsection (2) may for convenience be prepared in the form of a consolidation.