Law / Canada / Newfoundland and Labrador
Consumer Protection and Business Practices Act, credit reports
S.N.L. 2009, c. C-31.1, ss. 36-44, 109
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Consent, Data subject rights, Disclosure
As of .
What it requires
- If you are a credit reporting agency, provide a credit report only in response to a court order, on the consumer's written instructions, in response to an order or direction under Part VI, with the consumer's prior consent to a person you have reason to believe is involved in a business or credit transaction with the consumer or intends to use the report for employment purposes, or to the government of the province or of Canada or a peace officer acting in the course of duties (s. 38(1)).
- Do not seek to obtain a credit report from a credit reporting agency except for those purposes, and tell the consumer in writing, with the name and address of the agency, before you procure or prepare a credit report containing personal information (ss. 38(2), 41).
- If you assess a consumer's credit risk, tell the consumer on request whether a credit report was obtained and which agency supplied it (s. 40).
- If you are a credit reporting agency, do not put information as to race, religion, sex, political opinion, colour, or ethnic, national or social origin in a credit report, and do not collect, store, retain or report credit information unless it is capable of corroboration from another source (s. 39(1)(h), (2)).
- If you are a credit reporting agency, on a consumer's request and without charge, disclose whether you hold credit information about the consumer, produce its contents for examination and name the recipients of reports made in the previous year, and comply with a direction of the director to alter, amend or restrict inaccurate or non-compliant information (ss. 42(1), 43).
- If you are or have been a credit reporting agency, do not sell or lease your files except to a credit reporting agency registered under Part VI (s. 44).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Section 109(1) makes it an offence to contravene the Act or a regulation or to fail to comply with an order of the director, section 109(2) makes each day an offence continues a separate offence, and section 109(1) sets the fines and the imprisonment for a natural person on summary conviction.
Penalty structure
Section 109(1) sets a fine of not more than $100,000 and not less than $5,000 for a corporation; for a natural person it sets a fine of not more than $10,000 and not less than $500, or imprisonment for not more than one year in default of or in addition to a fine. The minimum shown is the corporation minimum.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 5,000
- Currency
- CAD
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
What this law does
A credit reporting agency is a person engaged in providing credit reports to another person, whether for remuneration or otherwise. A credit reporting agency may not provide a credit report except in the cases the Act lists, which include a court order, the written instructions of the consumer, and the consumer's prior consent to a person it has reason to believe is involved in a business or credit transaction with the consumer or intends to use the report for employment purposes.
A person may not seek to obtain a credit report from a credit reporting agency except for those purposes. A credit report may not contain information as to race, religion, sex, political opinion, colour, or ethnic, national or social origin. A credit reporting agency may not collect, store, retain or report credit information unless it is capable of corroboration from another source.
Where the credit risk of a consumer is being assessed by a person, that person must, on the request of the consumer, inform the consumer if a credit report has been obtained and the name of the credit reporting agency. A person may not procure or prepare a credit report containing personal information from a credit reporting agency unless the person notifies the consumer in writing of the intention to do so, together with the name and address of the credit reporting agency.
A credit reporting agency must, on the request of a consumer and without charge, disclose whether it holds credit information about the consumer, produce the contents for examination and disclose the names of the recipients of reports made within the preceding year. The director may direct the alteration, amendment, restriction or prohibition of the use of credit information that in the director's opinion is inaccurate or does not comply with the Part.
A person who is or has been a credit reporting agency may not sell or lease its files except to a credit reporting agency registered under the Part.
A person who contravenes the Act or a regulation, or fails to comply with an order of the director, is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction, in the case of a natural person, to a fine of not more than $10,000 nor less than $500 or to imprisonment for not more than one year, and in the case of a corporation to a fine of not more than $100,000 nor less than $5,000. The Act comes into force on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app makes high-risk automated decisions.