Covington & Burling LLP (LexBlog Canada)

On March 25, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (“GGPPA”), which establishes a national pricing benchmark for greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Reference re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, case numbers 38663, 38781, and 39116. Several provinces challenged the law, arguing that it was unconstitutional and that it imposed...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) held its Artificial Intelligence: Intellectual Property Policy Considerations conference on January 31, 2019. The conference featured six panels of speakers, including policy makers, academics, and practitioners from Canada, China, Europe, Japan, and the United States. As stated by USPTO Director Iancu during his introductory remarks, the purpose of...

Canada’s new data breach law, The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”), took effect on November 1. Official guidance released by the country’s Privacy Commissioner explains a few of the law’s key provisions that will affect organizations, specifically, breach reporting and notification obligations, their triggers, and record retention. Reporting & Notification...

By Dan Cooper and Rosie Klement On July 26, 2017, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) published Opinion 1-15 (the “Opinion”) on the proposed agreement between the European Union and Canada on the transfer and processing of passenger name record (“PNR”) data (the “Agreement”).  The Agreement was signed in 2014, but the CJEU...

A recently-published NAFTA arbitration award in Windstream Energy LLC v. Government of Canada illustrates the perils of investing in clean energy projects in jurisdictions with ever evolving regulatory and policy frameworks.  The case is also a good reminder of the importance of investing in foreign jurisdictions through vehicles incorporated in countries that have adequate investment-protection..

By Lala Qadir Canada’s telecommunications regulator, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), issued its first fine under a new anti-spam law.  The CRTC alleged that Compu-Finder sent users emails without acquiring their consent and did not provide a way for consumers to unsubscribe from the emails.   Compu-Finder has 30 days to submit written representations...

By Lala Qadir The Supreme Court of Canada recently issued a 4-3 decision that gave the police a green light in conducting warrantless searches of an arrestee’s cell phone as long as the search is directly related to the suspected crime and records are kept.  Over three dissenting judges that characterized mobile phones as “intensely...

In May 2014, the Global Privacy Enforcement Network (“GPEN”) performed its second Global Privacy Sweep, in which 26 privacy enforcement authorities from 19 countries downloaded 1,211 mobile apps and assessed their privacy practices. On September 10, 2014, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC”) published the results of the Sweep (the “OPC Report”)....

Entergy’s large transmission system and five operating companies in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and eastern Texas have been integrated into the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO).  This extends MISO’s footprint to 15 states from Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico, making MISO the largest Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) by geography.  The integration adds about 18,000...

Last week, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in Canada (OPC) issued important guidance under Canada’s national privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).  The guidance highlights various scenarios in which PIPEDA applies based on judicial opinions and previous OPC interpretations.  In general, PIPEDA applies to the personal information that an...

On December 10, 2010, Nova Scotia’s Personal Health Information Act, which regulates the collection, use, disclosure and disposal of personal health information, was granted royal assent.  The purpose of the new legislation is to better protect citizens’ health data, while also facilitating the use of electronic medical records by provincial health institutions.  Nine of Canada’s...