CPA Professional Liability Plan Inc.  

 

PRIVACY POLICY

CPA Professional Liability Plan Inc. ("CPA PLI") is committed to protecting your privacy and treating your personal information fairly and with respect. We2 have developed this privacy policy to let you know how we treat the personal information we gather, use or disclose in the administration of our professional liability insurance program (the "Program") or otherwise.

What is Personal Information?

"Personal information" means information about you that can be used, alone or with some other available information, to identify you. For example, and without limiting its meaning, personal information may include your name, home contact information, qualification and date of qualification, previous insurance history, information pertaining to past, current or potential insurance experience or claims, and financial information.

Applicable privacy laws and regulations exclude certain information from the scope of "personal information". Any such information is excluded from the term "personal information" when used under this privacy policy, but only as provided by applicable law for purposes of the applicable jurisdiction. For example, under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA ”), business contact information and certain publicly available information, such as telephone directory listings, may be excluded in certain circumstances from "personal information".

Our privacy practices regarding our employees' Personal information are set out in internal CPA PLI policy documents. Therefore, this information is excluded from this policy.

What Personal Information does CPA PLI collect?

Whenever it is practical for us to do so, we collect personal information directly from the individual it pertains to, or from his or her authorized representative. We may collect the following personal information about applicants for our insurance products: name, business contact information including business name, mailing address, phone number and email address, work history and claims history, date of CPA qualification and member number, names of persons with whom the applicant may have a business relationship, and names of persons in whom the applicant may have a financial interest. Further, we may collect the email addresses and mobile phone numbers or our insureds.

This personal information, and any additional personal information required for claims purposes, may be obtained from you or your authorized representative, the person applying for the insurance, or from third party sources. CPA PLI may collect such information directly or through our Program Facilitators, such as insurance adjusters, private investigators or lawyers representing CPA PLI or the insured.

We also collect, use and disclose personal information about third parties with respect to claims made against you. In these cases, we may obtain necessary consent directly, through you, or through the investigator, adjuster or lawyer involved in the claim. Where appropriate, consent may be inferred. Consent may not be obtained with respect to the collection of certain publicly available information, the collection of information respecting an investigation involving the suspected breach of an insurance policy (or other agreement) or breach of Canadian law, or as otherwise permitted by law.

Why CPA PLI collects, uses and discloses Personal Information

We use your personal information only to serve your professional liability insurance needs and to administer the Program. We collect, use and disclose personal information only for purposes a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances.

Specifically, we collect and use personal information for the purposes of:

  1. evaluating, monitoring and assessing your insurance needs;
  2. evaluating your application, particularly with respect to insurance risks being undertaken;
  3. processing, rating, binding and issuing your policy;
  4. amending, adjusting and assessing coverage;
  5. providing all policy related or administrative services, including loss control and handling, investigating and resolving claims;
  6. providing ongoing risk management services, including educating the profession on issues related to risk management;
  7. properly administering our insurance program, including negotiating and assessing insurance premiums, as well as compiling statistical data used on an ongoing basis to set premiums and provide risk management services;
  8. communicating with you to offer our services on an ongoing basis; and
  9. compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, or as authorized or required by law.

In this privacy policy, the above purposes will be referred to as the "Identified Purposes".

To Whom Do We Disclose Your Personal Information?

To fulfil the Identified Purposes, we work with organizations that assist us in providing the insurance, including the participating insurers, reinsurers, insurance brokers or agents, actuaries, claims adjusters, lawyers, investigators and experts or other consultants ("Program Facilitators"). To fulfil the Identified Purposes, we may disclose your personal information to the Program Facilitators and the Program Facilitators may collect your personal information on our behalf. In the underwriting process, for example, we disclose personal information to our program insurer(s). To fulfil the Identified Purposes, we may also disclose your personal information to third parties involved in handling claims.

We disclose basic policy information, including but not limited to your name and the number, limit and expiry date of your policy, to your Provincial Institute for the purpose of providing them with proof of the existence and status of your professional liability insurance. For members practicing in Quebec, we also provide the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec with a copy of your policy. We disclose this information as part of our service to you to assist you in meeting your provincial regulatory requirements. You may withdraw consent to this disclosure by notifying us in writing at the time of application for insurance [See Withdrawing Consent, below].

Under the terms of your insurance policy, we are required to notify your provincial CPA association in the event of cancellation or non-renewal of your policy for any reason.

We may also disclose your personal information:

  1. to purchasers or potential purchasers of all or substantially all of our business;
  2. where required by law or by a court, administrative agency or other governmental tribunal; or
  3. where otherwise permitted by law.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

Cookies

Cookies are small files which are sent to your Web browser and stored on your computer's hard drive. The cookie stores certain information about your online browsing. We only use cookies within the Client Area on our website which can only be accessed by secure login. We use these cookies to help us recognize you as a user of that area of our website and to help improve your user experience. The cookies last for the duration of your user session and are not permanently stored on your computer system after your browser is closed.

You may set your web browser to notify you of cookie placement requests or to decline cookies completely. However, doing so may prevent you from enjoying optimal functionality otherwise available to users of the Client Area of our website.

Consent

We only use your personal information for the purposes for which it was collected and with your consent, except where otherwise required or permitted by law. If your personal information will be used or disclosed for any purpose other than as outlined in this privacy policy, we will advise you of these new purposes and obtain your consent before such use or disclosure in accordance with any applicable legal requirements.

Your consent may be expressed in writing, given verbally, electronically, or through an authorized representative, including your firm's managing partner or legal representative. Your consent can also be implied, where appropriate.

In most cases, consent to collect, use and disclose personal information is obtained from the person applying for, renewing or revising your insurance coverage. If an application and/or policy covers more than one individual, we ask the individual applying for the insurance or signing the applicable form to confirm that the consent of all potential insureds has been obtained and/or that such individual has been appointed by them as their representative with authority to provide such consent on their behalf. CPA PLI will rely on this advice as it applies to you and your personal information unless you instruct us otherwise.

Withdrawing Consent

The nature and extent of the information you provide, or your decision to withdraw consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information, may limit the services we are able to provide. Due to the nature of the Program and the insurance our insureds request from us, once we issue an insurance policy for you your prior consent cannot be effectively withdrawn, except as noted below or otherwise in this policy.

If you cease to maintain insurance with CPA PLI you may withdraw your consent for the Identified Purposes vi., vii., viii., subject to legal and contractual restrictions and reasonable notice.

Please contact us if you wish to discuss withdrawing your consent and the implications of withdrawing your consent:

Privacy Office
c/o Nadine Chang, Manager Operations
CPA Professional Liability Plan Inc.
277 Wellington Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5V 3H2
Tel.: 416-204-3389
Email: privacy.office@cpaplan.ca

Safeguarding Your Personal Information and Location of Processing

CPA PLI maintains appropriate physical, organizational and technological security systems to protect your personal information. Access to personal information is limited to employees and authorized service providers who need it to perform their work. CPA PLI has made its employees aware of the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of personal information and our employees receive training in proper information handling practices.

CPA PLI will use contractual or other means, as appropriate, to maintain adequate safeguards to protect the security of your personal information transferred to third parties for processing.

Your personal information may be collected, stored, processed, used and transferred by one or more of our third party service providers in one or more countries outside your originating country. Some of our service providers are located outside Canada. Others, though located in Canada, may store or process your information outside Canada. In either case, your information may be subject to the laws of the country in which it is held. If you have any questions, please contact our Privacy Office. Contact information is provided below.

Retention of Records

CPA PLI will retain personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to comply with audit and legal requirements. After it is no longer necessary, the information will be disposed of according to approved guidelines and procedures to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the information during and after the process.

For Residents of the European Economic Area ("EEA")

Without limitation to the other provisions of this Privacy Policy, if you are a resident of the EEA you have the following rights under applicable law in relation to our processing of your personal information:

  • The right to access and inspect your personal information or to be provided with a permanent copy of the information being held about you;
  • The right to request the correction of any inaccuracies in your personal information or where the accuracy of information is disputed, to add additional information to give notice that you dispute the accuracy of the information content;
  • The right to request the erasure of your personal information, particularly where the continued processing of the information is no longer necessary;
  • The right to object to the processing of your personal information, particularly where there are no longer sufficient legitimate grounds for us to continue processing the information;
  • The right to restrict processing, data portability and the right to appeal any automated decision making or profiling; and
  • The right to complain to a Data Protection Regulator about our processing of your personal information.

It is important to note that the rights set out above are not unconditional and the specific circumstances of the processing being undertaken by us will determine if these rights may be exercised. Further information concerning these rights and their application can be obtained by contacting us at the address provided below.

If you are a resident of the EEA, our legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described in this privacy policy will depend on the personal information concerned and the specific context in which we collect it.

However, we will normally collect personal information from you where the processing is in our legitimate commercial interests which are not overridden by your protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. Typically, our legitimate interests include the Identified Purposes specified herein.

If you sign up for our services on your own behalf, we may need your personal information to perform a contract with you. In some limited cases, we may be under a legal obligation to collect, use or disclose your personal information, such as disclosure required by court order.

Where we rely specifically on express consent to collect and process your personal information, you are not obliged to provide your consent and you may subsequently withdraw your consent once it has been provided. It should be noted however that this may limit your experience with our resources and services. See the section entitled "Withdrawing Your Consent" for more details.

If you have any questions about or need further information concerning the legal basis on which we collect and use your personal information, please contact us at the address provided below.

Inquiries and Access to Your Personal Information

You may request access to, or disposal of , the personal information we hold about you, if any, at any time. Upon written request, you will be informed whether or not CPA PLI holds personal information about you and, if so, you will be provided reasonable access to that information. The right to access or require us to dispose of your personal information is subject to legal and contractual restrictions (and any other reasonable conditions which may be necessary) and may be limited as authorized by law. Please note that a fee may apply for processing access requests depending on the type and volume of information requested.

Before processing a request for access to or disposal of your personal information, we may require that you provide certain information to confirm your identity to our satisfaction and fulfil your request.

You also have the right to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete information in your file. If we are satisfied that the information in your file is inaccurate or incomplete, we will make the necessary changes.

Requests for access to, disposal of, or correction of your information should be made in writing to:

Privacy Office
CPA Professional Liability Plan Inc.
277 Wellington Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5V 3H2

If you have any questions or complaints about this policy please contact us at privacy.office@cpaplanca or at the address noted above.

Amendments

This policy applies to personal information collected by CPA PLI and may be amended from time to time at CPA PLI`s discretion. We encourage you to check this location frequently for any updates or amendments to this policy.

__________________
1 In this policy, "you" or "your" means any individual we collect personal information about, including any individual who has requested or applied for insurance from us or an individual currently or formerly insured by us, and includes any other individual for whom our customer has acted as agent, guardian or representative when making such request or application or holding such status as our insured.
2 "We", "Us", and "Our" means CPA Professional Liability Plan Inc. ("CPA PLI").

Last revised January 2021



 
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