Law / Canada / Prince Edward Island
Consumer Reporting Act, consumer reporting agencies and users of consumer reports
In force.
A sensitive categories rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Licensing, Disclosure, Data subject rights
As of .
What it requires
- The Act binds a consumer reporting agency (a person who for gain or profit, or on a regular co-operative non-profit basis, furnishes consumer reports), a personal information investigator, and a user of a consumer report (ss. 1(1), 3(1), 10).
- Do not operate or act as a consumer reporting agency or personal information investigator in the province unless registered under the Act (s. 3(1)).
- As a consumer reporting agency, furnish information from your files only in response to a court order, on the consumer's written instructions, in response to an order or direction made under the Act, or in a consumer report to a person you have reason to believe will use it for a purpose listed in section 8(1)(d) (s. 8(1)).
- As a consumer reporting agency, adopt all procedures reasonable for ensuring the greatest possible accuracy and fairness in your consumer reports, and leave out the items section 9(3) bars, including bankruptcy information more than seven years after discharge (s. 9(1), (3)).
- Before procuring a consumer report on a consumer, notify the consumer or obtain the consumer's consent (s. 10(2)).
- If you deny a benefit to a consumer or increase a charge, in whole or in part because of information from a consumer reporting agency, advise the consumer at the time the action is communicated, including the right to ask for the agency's name and address within sixty days (s. 10(3)).
- At a consumer's written request, disclose without charge the nature and substance of the information in your file, its sources and the recipients of reports in the preceding twelve months, and correct, supplement or delete information the consumer disputes in accordance with good practice (ss. 11(1), 12(1)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Section 22(1) makes a contravention of the Act or the regulations an offence punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, and section 22(2) caps a corporation's penalty at $25,000.
Penalty structure
Section 22(2) caps the penalty on a corporation at $25,000; section 22(1) sets a fine of not more than $2,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, for any other person.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- CAD
- Fixed cap
- 25,000
What this law does
A consumer reporting agency is a person who for gain or profit, or on a regular co-operative non-profit basis, furnishes consumer reports. No person may operate or act as a consumer reporting agency or personal information investigator unless registered under the Act.
No consumer reporting agency may knowingly furnish information from its files except in response to a court order, in accordance with the written instructions of the consumer, in response to an order or direction made under the Act, or in a consumer report given to a person it has reason to believe meets a condition in section 8(1)(d). A consumer reporting agency must adopt all procedures reasonable for ensuring the greatest possible accuracy and fairness in the contents of its consumer reports.
A consumer reporting agency may not report information as to the bankruptcy of the consumer after seven years from the date of the discharge, except where the consumer has been bankrupt more than once. A user who denies a benefit to a consumer, or increases a charge, because of information from a consumer reporting agency must advise the consumer of that fact at the time the action is communicated.
At the written request of a consumer, a consumer reporting agency must disclose without charge the nature and substance of all information in its files pertaining to the consumer. A person who contravenes a provision of the Act or the regulations is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $2,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. Where a corporation is convicted, the maximum penalty that may be imposed upon it is $25,000.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app makes high-risk automated decisions or provides financial services.