BILL 13 – 2003
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND PROTECTION OF PRIVACY AMENDMENT ACT, 2003

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1 Section 3 (1) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 165, is amended

(a) by repealing paragraph (f) and substituting the following:

(f) material placed in the archives of the government of British Columbia by or for a person or agency other than a public body; , and

(b) in paragraph (g) by striking out "the public body;" and substituting "a public body;".

2 Section 21 (3) (b) is amended by striking out "the British Columbia Archives and Records Service" and substituting "the archives of the government of British Columbia".

3 Section 27 (1) is amended

(a) by striking out "A public body must collect personal information" and substituting "A public body must collect personal information or cause personal information to be collected", and

(b) in paragraph (a.1) by striking out "the public body is not able" and substituting "it is not possible".

4 Section 27 (2) is amended by striking out "A public body must tell an individual from whom it collects personal information" and substituting "A public body must ensure that an individual from whom it collects personal information or causes personal information to be collected is told".

5 Section 27 (3) is amended by striking out "or" at the end of paragraph (a), by adding ", or" at the end of paragraph (b) and by adding the following:

(c) the information

(i) is not required, under subsection (1), to be collected directly from the individual the information is about, and

(ii) is not collected directly from the individual the information is about.

6 Section 28 is repealed and the following substituted:

Accuracy of personal information

28 If

(a) an individual's personal information is in the custody or under the control of a public body, and

(b) the personal information will be used by or on behalf of the public body to make a decision that directly affects the individual,

the public body must make every reasonable effort to ensure that the personal information is accurate and complete.

7 Section 30 is amended by adding "in the custody or under the control of the public body" after "personal information".

8 Section 31 is repealed and the following substituted:

Retention of personal information

31 If an individual's personal information

(a) is in the custody or under the control of a public body, and

(b) is used by or on behalf of the public body to make a decision that directly affects the individual,

the public body must ensure that the personal information is retained for at least one year after being used so that the affected individual has a reasonable opportunity to obtain access to that personal information.

9 Section 32 is amended by striking out "A public body may use personal information" and substituting "A public body must ensure that personal information in its custody or under its control is used".

10 Section 33 is amended

(a) by striking out "A public body may disclose personal information" and substituting "A public body must ensure that personal information in its custody or under its control is disclosed", and

(b) by repealing paragraph (m) and substituting the following:

(m) to the archives of the government of British Columbia or the archives of a public body, for archival purposes, .

11 Section 34 (1) (b) is amended by striking out "discloses the information." and substituting "discloses the information or causes the information to be used or disclosed."

12 Section 35 is amended

(a) by adding "or may cause personal information in its custody or under its control to be disclosed" after "disclose personal information", and

(b) by adding the following paragraph:

(a.1) the information is disclosed on condition that it not be used for the purpose of contacting a person to participate in the research, .

13 Section 36 is amended by striking out "The British Columbia Archives and Record Service, or the archives of a public body, may disclose personal information" and substituting "The archives of the government of British Columbia, or the archives of a public body, may disclose personal information or cause personal information in its custody or under its control to be disclosed".

14 Section 41 (4) is repealed and the following substituted:

(4) The commissioner may make a special report to the Legislative Assembly if, in the commissioner's opinion,

(a) the amounts and establishment provided for the office of commissioner in the estimates, or

(b) the services provided by the Public Service Employee Relations Commission

are inadequate for fulfilling the duties of the office.

15 Section 44 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(2.1) If a person discloses a record that is subject to solicitor client privilege to the commissioner at the request of the commissioner, or under subsection (1) or (2), the solicitor client privilege of the record is not affected by the disclosure.

16 Section 49 (1) is repealed and the following substituted:

(1) Subject to this section, the commissioner may delegate to any person any duty, power or function of the commissioner under this Act, other than the power to delegate under this section.

(1.1) The commissioner may not delegate the power to examine information referred to in section 15 if the head of a police force or the Attorney General

(a) has refused to disclose that information under section 15, and

(b) has requested the commissioner not to delegate the power to examine that information.

(1.2) Subsection (1.1) does not apply if a delegate of the head of the police force or a delegate of the Attorney General makes the request referred to in paragraph (b) of that subsection.

17 Section 60 (1) is amended by striking out "and" at the end of paragraph (a) and by repealing paragraph (b) and substituting the following:

(b) to determine, if requested under section 60.1, whether the commissioner as head of a public body is authorized to disregard a request made under section 5 or 29, and

(c) to review, if requested under section 62, any decision, act or failure to act of the commissioner as head of a public body.

18 The following section is added:

Disregard of request under section 5 or 29

60.1 The commissioner may request an adjudicator designated under section 60 to authorize the commissioner as head of a public body to disregard requests made under section 5 or 29 that

(a) would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the public body because of the repetitious or systematic nature of the requests, or

(b) are frivolous or vexatious.

19 Schedule 1 is amended

(a) in the definition of "educational body" by repealing paragraph (b), and

(b) in the definition of "local government body" by striking out "or" at the end of paragraph (o), by adding ", or" at the end of paragraph (p) and by adding the following paragraph:

(q) the Park Board referred to in section 485 of the Vancouver Charter; .

Commencement

20 This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.