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BY GEORGE LEE
The PEGG
APEGGA privacy policies
will ensure that the handling of member information complies
with new provincial legislation,
said Deputy Registrar Al Schuld, P.Eng.
“We’re
confident that most or all of what APEGGA does with personal
information is acceptable under the new Personal Information
Privacy Act. What we’re doing now is clearly outlining
what our practices are, so members can be assured that
their information is not improperly collected or used,” said
Mr. Schuld.
“We’re also reviewing all of our information and data
collection policies, to find out whether we need to change
any of them.”
The Alberta Legislature’s committee-of-the-whole passed
the Personal Information Privacy Act in early December, which
means APEGGA will be legislated provincially for privacy
rather than under the federal Personal Information Protection
and Electronic Document Act. Both acts take effect Jan. 1,
2004.
Mr. Schuld said protection of privacy has always been an
APEGGA priority. The Association’s regulatory roles,
however, and its obligation to protect the public and maintain
professionalism, require a certain amount of information
collection and sharing. For example, the public needs enough
registration list information to confirm members are APEGGA-regulated
professionals. And when someone complains about member conduct,
APEGGA has to investigate.
“Certain activities must take place involving personal information.
These are intrinsic to the process of self-regulation, and
they allow members to enjoy the benefits and meet the obligations
of professionalism,” said Mr. Schuld, APEGGA’s
privacy officer. “The key here is to strike a balance
between each member’s expectation of privacy and each
member’s expectation that APEGGA maintain the quality
of the professions.”
APEGGA’s member services aren’t regulatory and
do involve some information sharing. However, that sharing
is limited to business contact information, as provided by
members.
As The PEGG went to press, APEGGA was finalizing a personal
information code and a separate website privacy policy. Watch
www.apegga.org for updates and the final versions of the
two documents.
The draft version of the code is built upon 10 major tenets:
• Accountability
• Identifying purpose
• Consent
• Limiting Collection
• Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention
• Accuracy
• Safeguards
• Openness
• Individual Access
• Challenging Compliance (to privacy legislation)
The website policy will fall in line with the privacy code.
APEGGA isn’t required to have a separate privacy policy
for the site, but Mr. Schuld said web privacy is on the minds
of many members because of the volume of electronic information
sharing that occurs these days. Besides, a website policy
is in the spirit of the Personal Information Protection Act.
Although it appears little will change in the way APEGGA
conducts day-to-day work, Mr. Schuld said the exercise of
creating and publicizing the policies is valuable in itself. “These
documents will demonstrate that what we do is above-the-board
and necessary, and that there is recourse for members when
they disagree with our privacy actions. We need to be as
transparent as possible in this area and all other areas
of our work.”
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