An Update on Privacy, Marketing to Kids, Local Media and Elections
Privacy
IAB Canada, as a part of the Business Privacy Group, concluded a series of meetings with representatives from ISI (formerly ISED) to review and discuss the newly proposed CPPA. These meetings were extremely productive sessions with industry posing a great deal of questions regarding the specifics and the overall intention of the bill. Meetings will resume in the coming weeks and we promise to update you on any progress as we head into the hearing stage of the process. Also, worth noting is that IAB Canada President, Sonia Carreno is presenting next week alongside Brent Homan – Deputy Commissioner, Compliance of the OPC at the Advertising Law Conference. She will be sharing our plans and progress around the adaptation of IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) for Canada, the technical framework that will aid in compliance with current and future Canadian privacy legislation.
Meanwhile, IAB Canada has prepared an industry response to the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) of Ontario’s consultation paper which sets out six potential priorities and principles to help build their five-year strategic plan. This response is currently being reviewed by our privacy committee and pertains to those areas that relate specifically to the online advertising industry. The feedback gathered on the consultation paper will help the Commissioner’s office to identify and direct discretionary resources toward areas where they can have the greatest positive impact as well as guide their choices when it comes to proactive initiatives. We hope to be continually involved in this collaborative and consultative process and promise to keep you updated on any future developments.
M2K
Yesterday IAB Canada took part in a meeting with the Coalition of Advertisers to discuss recent updates on Bill-S-228. With the shift of focus by government health officials to the ongoing pandemic, the effort to revive a set of regulations that would prohibit the marketing of unhealthy food to children has taken a back seat. However, industry has proactively developed a proposed self-regulatory framework that would work to satisfy the needs of government as well as the objectives of brands and marketers alike. This proposal, although still confidential, was apparently well received by Health Canada as well as NGOs such as Heart and Stroke and is currently being reviewed and revised by all parties. This is a big step forward for everyone involved and we only wish this invitation to collaborate had been extended in the onset when the original bill was being written.
Local
We are pleased to announce that the launch of #ourlocalmedia is on the horizon. This local media database will include all domestic publisher domains, in both official languages, tagged with pertinent details to enable open-source access and to provide an open-access foundation for innovation against Canadian media content. Subsequent phases will include layering on IAB international standards to ensure buyers and ad tech partners are able to filter by factors like ads.txt, VAST, MRC and others. We are in the final stages of development and are already planning an upcoming event which will highlight a cross-section of efforts being made in our industry to support our local publishers.
Elections
Rumour has it that Canadians will be headed to the polls this Spring. With an election expected in April, IAB Canada is turning our focus back to the not-so-new Bill C-76 and specifically, the registry requirements that caused much pain during the last election. Post-election consultations provided industry with an opportunity to submit feedback on this bill and some of the poorly thought-out requirements. We are in the process of setting up a meeting with our contacts in Ottawa to gauge any advancements in this area, particularly the development of a government owned database which would aid in capturing accurate data for registries or even better, an amended law that removes this requirement altogether.
IAB Canada’s policy committees are now on Slack and we welcome you to join our community. Reach out to [email protected] to join.