International Health Regulations National Focal Point (NFP) Office of Canada Privacy Impact Assessment

Description of Program

Canada has a fully established International Health Regulations National Focal Point (IHR NFP) Office located at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), which must remain accessible at all times for urgent communication with the World Health Organization (WHO), as per the International Health Regulations (IHR)(2005). Canada's IHR NFP Office has mechanisms in place for rapid communication with domestic and international stakeholders in response to global public health risks.

Why was a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) completed?

The IHR NFP Office conducted a PIA due to the sensitivity of personal information that may be collected as part of its functions. Although, the IHR NFP does not retain personal information, but rather, immediately directs it to the appropriate programs within PHAC and Health Canada, Provinces/Territories, or other IHR State Party, a PIA is warranted.

More Information

The scope of this Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is restricted to the business processes and basic data flows of personal information related to Canada's IHR NFP'scollection, use, retention, disclosure and disposal of personal information.

The PIA identified risks pertaining to the collection, retention and disclosure of personal information, the absence of established criteria to guide employees working with personal information and the need to establish information management controls. Certain mitigations have already been addressed or are in the process of being implemented in order to reduce/eliminate all of the privacy risks identified.