With just two days left before the new federal privacy rules go into force, the Quebec Court of Appeal has cleared the way for the province's attorney-general to contest the 'constitutional validity' of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, a law that will apply to any business in a province that doesn't already have its own private-sector privacy legislation.

The province's position, outlined in a Dec. 17 Quebec Court of Appeal order obtained by the Star and translated into English, is that the federal law 'interferes with Quebec's constitutional competence in matters of civil rights' and that the federal government has exceeded its jurisdiction.

'This puts them in a position to launch a case at any time,' said Michael Geist, a professor of Internet law at the University of Ottawa and technology counsel for law firm Osler, Hoskin, Harcourt LLP.

'The suggestion here is that we may see (a constitutional challenge) very early in 2004.'
Geist said such a challenge would create uncertainty in a business community struggling to understand and comply with rules designed to protect the privacy of customers and employees."

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CLB: Businesses which have not yet complied may find this a relief. However, every business should have a substantive privacy policy and general legislative and regulartoy compliance systems in place, regardless of this PIPEDA hiccough.