2020 is gearing up to be another year fueled by policy changes and IAB Canada is working extremely hard to ensure that the voice of the digital advertising industry is heard.
Privacy Update:
The most pressing issue on the agenda of the Canadian government is future amendments to Canada’s federal privacy legislation, PIPEDA.
In the recently released Digital Charter, Ottawa mandated increased citizen protection, going so far as to declare privacy as a human right. In our response to ISI’s (formerly ISED) discussion paper “Strengthening Privacy for the Digital Age” IAB Canada expressed continued support for change that protect both citizens and the healthy growth of industry. We anticipate major enhancements to the law and will continue to share our global work in consent management and compliance in both Europe (GDPR) and California (CCPA) with members of government and industry. As ISI continue their work towards amending PIPEDA, we see a great opportunity for the IAB Tech Lab’s Transparency Consent Framework to be adapted and adopted to work with existing global policies as well as with future privacy legislation in Canada. ISI has assured us an invitation to further discussions on the topic.
We will also continue to utilize our seat on the DAAC Board of Directors to encourage the integration of this technical framework into the existing AdChoices program in order to further aid in compliance.
Yesterday, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) launched a consultation paper on its proposals for ensuring appropriate regulation of artificial intelligence as it relates specifically to PIPEDA. IAB Canada intends on responding to this consultation on behalf of the industry. If you are interested in joining this working group or have any questions, please contact policy@iabcanada.com
Elections Canada Update:
With a minority government in place, it is with certainty that we will soon be faced with another federal election and in preparation, we have already met with the team at Elections Canada to review the impact of the newly amended law. During this meeting, we discussed the issue ad database solution that was created by IAB Canada and how it has helped subscribers in their efforts to comply with Bill C-76. Elections Canada has repeatedly expressed their appreciation for the efforts made by Industry and they wish to provide more clarity for us in the future – specifically by way of clearer guidance. Elections Canada has assured us that they intend to continue to collaborate and as a next step, IAB Canada will be collecting our member feedback on current guidance to fuel our response throughout this upcoming consultation. Overall, this as a very positive development and IAB Canada will continue to communicate the needs of the digital advertising industry to policy makers in Ottawa.
Health Canada Update:
While Health Canada promises to pick up the Marketing to Kids legislation again in 2020, IAB Canada continues to work with the Coalition of Advertisers to ensure that the impact to digital advertising is not as crippling as it might have been had S-228 passed last year. We have already begun a series a meetings and discussions with the Coalition to take a proactive approach with Ottawa as Health Canada brings the Bill back to the attention of Parliament. The purpose of this Bill is to prohibit the marketing of “unhealthy” food and beverages to children under the age of 13. In early 2019, IAB Canada successfully tested a signal-based approach that would allow publishers to flag content that would be either considered child-directed or that was known to have high composition levels of child audiences, within RTB so as to provide buyers with the ability to avoid questionable placements and to comply with legislation. We are confident that the industry could implement this approach in the face of new regulations.
Cannabis Update:
IAB Canada also continues to be at the forefront of developments in the Cannabis industry. With an increasingly growing Cannabis committee, these discussions will continue into 2020 with the presentation of new research, case studies as well as discussions around ad tech, compliance and increased lobbying efforts on behalf of the industry.
In the coming days we will be releasing our Ad Opportunities for Cannabis update to the Publisher Media Kit. We appreciate the cooperation from our Publisher members and look forward to providing the buying community with a valuable resource to navigate this sensitive area.
If you, or anyone on your team, would like to join any of these conversations, or if you have any questions, please contact policy@iabcanada.com.