Law / Canada / Nova Scotia
Personal Health Information Act, Review Officer and offences
S.N.S. 2010, c. 41, ss. 91-92, 100-101, 106-108
archived copy
Read from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived . Publisher's page: https://nslegislature.ca/sites/default/files/legc/statutes/personal%20health%20information.pdfIn force since .
An enforcement supervision rule binding public and private bodies.
- Enforcement body
- Review Officer under the Personal Health Information Act
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Governance
As of .
What it requires
- As a custodian, expect the Review Officer to review complaints and to investigate a suspected contravention of the privacy provisions, and decide within thirty days of receiving the Review Officer's report whether to follow its recommendations and give written notice of the decision (ss. 92, 100, 101).
- Do not wilfully collect, use or disclose health information in contravention of the Act, fail to protect personal health information in a secure manner as the Act requires, or use individually identifying health information to market a service for a commercial purpose or to solicit money without the individual's express consent (s. 106).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Section 106 makes the listed conduct an offence and section 107 makes it punishable on summary conviction, by imprisonment for six months for an individual.
Penalty structure
Section 107 sets a fine of not more than $50,000 for a corporation and, for an individual, a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for six months, or both.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- CAD
- Fixed cap
- 50,000
What this law does
The Review Officer may monitor how the privacy provisions are administered, conduct reviews of complaints, initiate an investigation of compliance where there are reasonable grounds to believe a custodian has contravened or is about to contravene them, and mediate and make recommendations on complaints. The Review Officer's report on a review sets out recommendations, and the custodian must within thirty days decide whether to follow them and give written notice of the decision.
A person is guilty of an offence if the person wilfully collects, uses or discloses health information in contravention of the Act or the regulations. It is also an offence to fail to protect personal health information in a secure manner as the Act requires. It is also an offence to use individually identifying health information to market a service for a commercial purpose or to solicit money unless the individual has expressly consented to that use.
An individual guilty of an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars or imprisonment for six months, or both, and a corporation to a fine of not more than fifty thousand dollars. An officer, member, employee or other agent of a corporation who authorized the offence, or who had the authority to prevent it and knowingly refrained from doing so, is a party to and guilty of the offence.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app handles health records.