Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

Marginal note:Powers of Commissioner

• 12 (1) The Commissioner shall conduct an investigation in respect of a complaint and, for that purpose, may

  • (a) summon and enforce the appearance of persons before the Commissioner and compel them to give oral or written evidence on oath and to produce any records and things that the Commissioner considers necessary to investigate the complaint, in the same manner and to the same extent as a superior court of record;

  • (b) administer oaths;

  • (c) receive and accept any evidence and other information, whether on oath, by affidavit or otherwise, that the Commissioner sees fit, whether or not it is or would be admissible in a court of law;

  • (d) at any reasonable time, enter any premises, other than a dwelling-house, occupied by an organization on satisfying any security requirements of the organization relating to the premises;

  • (e) converse in private with any person in any premises entered under paragraph (d) and otherwise carry out in those premises any inquiries that the Commissioner sees fit; and

  • (f) examine or obtain copies of or extracts from records found in any premises entered under paragraph (d) that contain any matter relevant to the investigation.

• Marginal note:Dispute resolution mechanisms

  (2) The Commissioner may attempt to resolve complaints by means of dispute resolution mechanisms such as mediation and conciliation.

• Marginal note:Delegation

  (3) The Commissioner may delegate any of the powers set out in subsection (1) or (2).

• Marginal note:Return of records

  (4) The Commissioner or the delegate shall return to a person or an organization any record or thing that they produced under this section within ten days after they make a request to the Commissioner or the delegate, but nothing precludes the Commissioner or the delegate from again requiring that the record or thing be produced.

• Marginal note:Certificate of delegation

  (5) Any person to whom powers set out in subsection (1) are delegated shall be given a certificate of the delegation and the delegate shall produce the certificate, on request, to the person in charge of any premises to be entered under paragraph (1)(d).