Hands Across The Information Border: OPC And FCC Sign Information-Sharing And Enforcement Cooperation Agreement

On August 28, 2024, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen mutual assistance and the exchange of information for the purpose of enforcing compliance and sharing expertise with respect to applicable laws.

In the MOU, the regulators acknowledge that today’s digital landscape involves information being transmitted across traditional nation-state borders, which leads to a need for increased cross-border enforcement cooperation to protect consumer privacy, data, and cybersecurity.  To advance these goals, the OPC and FCC committed in the MOU to using best efforts to, among other things, carry out the following:

1. upon request and when permitted by applicable laws, disclose information relevant to enforcement activities, including confidential information;
2. provide investigative assistance where appropriate and in accordance with applicable laws;
3. coordinate enforcement against cross-border violations that are a priority for both regulators;
4. provide other information within the scope of the MOU, including regulatory information, technical and policy developments, information relevant to consumer and business education, self-regulatory solutions, and amendments to relevant legislation; and
5. provide any other appropriate assistance to aid in relevant compliance activities and/or investigations and enforcement actions.

Additionally, the MOU provides certain limitations and protections for information disclosed between the regulators.  This includes obligations that information received under the MOU, the existence of the investigation associated with the shared information, and any requests made pursuant to the MOU are to be kept confidential and not further disclosed or used for purposes other than those for which they were originally shared, without prior written approval of the discloser.  Further, each regulator must use their best efforts to preserve the confidentiality of any confidential information provided under the MOU, including asserting all applicable legal exemptions and notifying the disclosing regulator of any demands or court orders that require disclosure of the confidential information.

The full text of the MOU can be found here.

 Summary By: Imtiaz Karamat