Section 34 - Definition of Consistent Purposes

Overview

Section 34 states the criteria by which a use of personal information is deemed to be consistent with the use for which it was obtained or compiled under sections 32 and 33.2.

Section Reference

Section 34 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act

A use of personal information is consistent under section 32 or 33.2 with the purposes for which the information was obtained or compiled if the use

1. has a reasonable and direct connection to that purpose, and
2. is necessary for performing the statutory duties of, or for operating a legally authorized program of, the public body that uses or discloses the information or causes the information to be used or disclosed.

Summary

Section 34 balances the protection of individuals' privacy against the need of public bodies or persons acting on their behalf to use and disclose personal information effectively to carry out program activities and fulfill their legislated mandates.

Sections 32 and 33.2, that govern how public bodies or persons acting on their behalf use and disclose personal information, state that uses or disclosures are permissible if they are consistent with the original purpose for which the personal information was collected.

Section 34 defines "consistent purpose" for the purposes of this Act. A use of personal information is consistent with the purpose for which it was obtained or compiled if:

• it has a reasonable and direct connection to the original purpose; and,
• is necessary to perform the statutory duties of or to operate a legally authorized program of the public body that uses or discloses the information or causes the information to be used or disclosed.

Policy

1. Public bodies or persons acting on their behalf should consider whether the person the information is about would expect their information to be used in the proposed way.
2. Public bodies or persons acting on their behalf must ensure that a consistent use has a logical and plausible link to the original purpose for which the personal information was obtained or compiled. It must flow or be derived directly from the original use or be a logical outgrowth of the original use.
3. Where it is not clear that the intended use or disclosure of personal information under section 32 or 33.2 is "consistent" as defined under section 34, the public body or person acting on their behalf shall seek the consent of the individual for the proposed use or disclosure.

Procedure

1. Determine if the use of the personal information:
   • has a reasonable and direct connection to the purpose for which it was obtained or compiled; and,
   • is necessary for performing the statutory duties of, or for operating a legally authorized program of, the public body that uses or discloses the information or causes the information to be used or disclosed.
2. If it cannot be determined that both criteria listed above have been met, seek the consent of the individual to whom the information belongs before proceeding with the intended use or disclosure.

Interpretation

Interpretation Note 1 (Section 34):

A use of personal information is "consistent" with the purpose for which it was obtained or compiled if:

• it has reasonable and direct connection to the original purpose; and,
• it is necessary to perform the statutory duties of, or to operate a legally authorized program of, the public body that uses or discloses the information or causes the information to be used or disclosed.

Section 32 or 33.2

"Section 32" governs the use of personal information within a public body (access and use of personal information for a specific program function within the public body which collected the information). For more information, see section 32.

"Section 33.2" governs the disclosure of personal information outside public bodies (release of personal information to any person or body outside the program which collected the information). For more information, see section 33.2.

"Obtained"

"Compiled"

The use of "and" rather than "or" between paragraphs 34(a) and (b) means that the conditions set out in both paragraphs must be met. That is, the use must have a reasonable and direct connection to the original purpose and must be necessary for performing statutory duties or operating a legally authorized program of the public body. 

Interpretation Note 2 (Section 34(a)):

"Reasonable and direct connection to that purpose"

The consistent use must have a logical and plausible link to the original purpose. It must flow or be derived directly from the original use or be a logical outgrowth of the original use.

There is no strict rule on what constitutes a consistent use. However, one guideline to consider is whether the person concerned would expect the personal information to be used in the proposed way.

Examples of disclosure for consistent purpose

• A public body lends money to eligible members of the public while they attend training courses to upgrade their skills. In order to administer this program, the public body collects personal information from the participants, such as their name and address, other sources of income and intended course of study. On finishing their courses, the participants are supposed to begin repaying the loans in accordance with a pre-arranged schedule.
  
  Although the public body's primary purpose for collecting the personal information was to determine the participants' eligibility for loans, Government is also responsible for recovering those loans. Collection of the debt is thus consistent with the purpose for which the information was collected. The collection of debts is, however, actually handled by another public body. The first public body may disclose personal information to the second one in order for it to collect the debts, but only as much as that second public body needs to locate the participants and arrange for repayment of the loans.
• Following from the above example, the second public body does not have the resources to follow up on the students and may in turn contract out the collection of the debts to a private collection agency. The second public body may disclose the minimum amount of personal information to the collection agency necessary to locate the participants and collect the debts.
  
  Note, however, that the first public body may not disclose a participant's personal information to a bank that is trying to locate the person in order to collect a debt the person owes to the bank. The collection of money owed to the bank is not a purpose consistent with the public body's original loan administration purpose.

Example of disclosure for inconsistent purpose not permitted

• A university collects personal information from students in order to facilitate the delivery of educational services to students. Fundraising is not a use consistent with the purpose for which this information was originally collected. The university may not disclose a student's personal information to a university foundation for the purpose of fundraising without the student's consent. It may be practical to obtain a student's consent to disclose specified personal information to the university foundation for use in fundraising at the time the student files an application for graduation.

Example of use for consistent purpose

Evaluation of a program

• The Ministry of Health begins a new vaccination program. As part of the administration of the program, the Ministry collects personal information from the public. Once the vaccination program has been running for several months, the Ministry evaluates it to determine if the program is effective and is preventing disease as it was designed to do or if improvements can be made.
  
  As part of their evaluation work, Ministry employees have access to a sample of personal information collected from the patients and compiled during the running of the program (e.g., adverse reactions to the vaccine, incidence of disease and the patients' responses to a survey of their opinions of the program and other services provided by the Ministry).
  
  It is reasonable that the Ministry of Health will evaluate the program and make changes according to its findings. It is equally reasonable, and consistent with the purpose of the original collection, for the evaluators to have selective access to the personal information that they need to complete this evaluation.

Expansion of a program

• A Ministry wishes to expand the scope of an assistance program to include a set of people who were rejected under previous criteria because of their age. Rather than collecting the same information over again from these people, the Ministry uses the information it collected from them in their original applications for assistance to make decisions about their eligibility under the new rules.
  
  This re-use is consistent with the original purpose. The information was collected to determine the eligibility of the applicants for the program (even though they were rejected the first time around) and is now being used for the same program because the eligibility criteria have been revised.
  
  By re-using the information, the Ministry reduces the response burden on the public by not asking the applicants the same questions twice and reduces its own costs by not duplicating the collection.

Updating of a program/benefit

• Clerical workers for the provincial government are entitled to a retroactive pay increase because of recently passed employment equity legislation. Rather than asking the employees to apply for the increases, the pay and benefits staff calculate and issue the retroactive payments using the existing payroll and service information.

Similar program

• A public body collects and uses one set of job applications to staff several similar positions, rather than asking the applicants to fill out a form for each position. The purpose for which the information is used in each individual staffing process is consistent with the purpose of collection.
• A school compiles information about students while the students attend that school, including grades, and lists of members on sports teams and in clubs. The school uses this information to determine eligibility for awards at the end of the school year. The use of this information for assessing eligibility for an award is consistent with the purpose of collection.

Examples of use for inconsistent purpose not permitted

• An MLA requests the names of all high school graduates with an average over 80% from a board of education. The MLA intends to send each student a letter of congratulations and literature on her political party. This use of the students' grades is inconsistent with the collection of the information and is not permitted under the Act. The information could however be disclosed with the consent of the students concerned.  
• A hospital collects personal information from patients for the purpose of facilitating the delivery of health care services to patients. The use of this information to make future contacts with discharged patients in order to solicit donations for the hospital is not consistent with the original health care delivery purposes.
  
  The hospital may, however, use patients' personal information for fundraising purposes if they obtain the consent of the individual patients to this use [paragraph 32(b)]. It may be practical to obtain consent at the time patients are discharged or when they are settling their bills.
• The above example addresses the hospital's use of patients' personal information for its own fundraising. The same considerations would apply to the disclosure of patients' personal information for use for fundraising purposes. As in the above example, the information may be disclosed if the hospital obtains consent.

Interpretation Note 3 (Section 34(b)):

Necessary for performing the statutory duties of, or for operating a legally authorized program of, the public body that uses or discloses the information or causes the information to be used or disclosed.

"Necessary for performing the statutory duties" means the personal information is needed to perform duties or obligations required by legislation.

Example

Section 14 of the Child, Family and Community Services Act (RSBC 1996, c. 46) requires a person to report instances where a child may need protection. Thus, public bodies that have the personal information of a child may disclose that information to the Director, Ministry of Children and Family Development where they feel that the child is in need of protection.

"for operating a legally authorized program" means the collection, use or disclosure of personal information is needed to operate a program that is authorized by legislation.

Example

The BC Benefits (Income Assistance Act) (RSBC 1996, c. 27) provides that minimal levels of income shall be made available to persons in British Columbia who qualify. In order to determine if an applicant qualifies for income assistance, certain personal information is needed. The income assistance program is enabled by the BC Benefits Act, and personal information is collected and used to verify eligibility and to audit and review program effectiveness. All these activities involving the use of personal information are necessary for operating a legally authorized program of a public body.

“causes the information to be used or disclosed” contemplates use or disclosure of personal information on behalf of a public body by a person under contract or other form of agreement or arrangement with the public body, 

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Last updated: July 23, 2007