Privacy Compliance Services in Quebec
Build privacy governance that supports risk management, partner trust, and repeatable oversight.
Québec's privacy regime is the most demanding in Canada. Law 25, fully in force since September 2024, introduced obligations that go substantially further than PIPEDA: mandatory breach reporting to the Commission d'accès à l'information and to affected individuals, privacy-by-default as an operational requirement, stricter consent and transparency rules tied to identified purposes, privacy impact assessments for high-risk projects, and significant administrative monetary penalties for organizations that fall short. Critically, these obligations extend to any organization that handles the personal information of Québec residents — not only businesses based in the province, but any organization outside Québec whose activities touch the personal information of people here.
The CAI has been active in exercising its new powers, and the penalty regime creates real financial exposure for non-compliance. The CAI's posture makes clear that it expects substantive accountability — functional programs that genuinely reflect how the business operates — rather than polished documentation that doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Organizations that treated Québec's pre-Law-25 privacy rules as a softer, lower-stakes standard have found themselves rebuilding compliance programs under pressure with compressed timelines. Those building programs today have a real advantage, but only if the work is grounded in what Law 25 actually requires, not what the previous regime asked for.
Privacy Horizon specializes in Law 25 compliance for organizations operating in Québec. We begin with a structured gap assessment against Law 25's specific requirements, then build the governance, policies, and technical controls needed to close them — including the privacy-by-default framework, consent mechanisms, breach notification processes, and the accountability documentation the CAI expects. For organizations also subject to PIPEDA — federally regulated businesses or those with cross-border data flows — we align both regimes into a single coherent compliance program so that nothing falls between the two frameworks.
Privacy & security regulation in Quebec
Regulator: Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (CAI)
Québec has Canada's most prescriptive private-sector privacy regime following Law 25, enforced by the Commission d'accès à l'information, with obligations that often exceed PIPEDA.
Law 25Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information
Québec's Law 25 substantially modernized the province's private-sector privacy regime. Phased in between 2022 and 2024, it introduced mandatory breach reporting, privacy-by-default, stricter consent and transparency obligations, and significant administrative monetary penalties.
PIPEDAPersonal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
PIPEDA is Canada's federal private-sector privacy law. It sets out ten fair information principles governing how organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of commercial activity. It applies wherever a province has not enacted substantially similar legislation — and, even in provinces that have (Alberta, British Columbia, Québec), it continues to apply to federally regulated businesses such as banks, airlines, and telecommunications, and to personal information that flows across provincial or national borders.
What Privacy Compliance includes
We help you establish a credible privacy baseline quickly, then deepen controls where risk is highest — built to satisfy regulators, partners, and enterprise buyers.
Minimum Viable Privacy (MVP)
A credible compliance baseline, fast — then deepen where risk is highest.
Policy & Governance
The policies, roles, and oversight that make compliance repeatable.
ISO 27001 & SOC 2 Preparation
Readiness for the certifications partners and customers expect.
Ongoing Compliance Monitoring
Keep pace with changing obligations and evidence requirements.
Law 25 compliance, built to hold
Meeting Law 25 requires more than updating a privacy policy. Organizations must designate a privacy officer, publish privacy-by-default policies, assess the impact of high-risk projects, implement breach notification processes, and be able to demonstrate compliance on demand. We work through each of these requirements systematically — building documentation and controls that reflect how your organization actually operates, not a templated framework that falls apart under scrutiny.
Out-of-province organizations with Québec exposure
Law 25 applies to any organization that handles the personal information of Québec residents, including businesses based elsewhere in Canada or internationally. If your customer base, workforce, or data supply chain includes individuals in Québec, the CAI's rules apply to that activity. We help organizations outside the province assess their Québec exposure and build the targeted controls Law 25 requires — without rebuilding their entire compliance program from the ground up.
Other services in Quebec
Privacy Compliance elsewhere
What's Protecting Your Business from the Next Threat?
Don't wait for a breach to expose your vulnerabilities. Let Privacy Horizon secure your data, ensure compliance, and build lasting trust.