Privacy Code
The College of Opticians of British Columbia

Preamble

Opticianry is a self-governing health profession in British Columbia under the Health Professions Act. The College of Opticians was established by the Health Professions Act (HPA) and is giving a mandate under the Act.

In the course of fulfilling its mandate, the College may collect, use and disclose personal information regarding applicants for membership, members, members’ patients and persons employed, retained, elected or appointed for the purpose of the administration of the Legislation.

The personal information being collected is critical to the College’s ability to effectively regulate the profession in the public interest. Individuals who are employed, retained or appointed by the College as well as every member of College Board or a College committee are to preserve secrecy with respect to all information that comes to their knowledge. In addition, personal information handled by the College is subject to the provisions of this Privacy Code.

The College's collection, use and disclosure of personal information in the course of carrying out its regulatory activities are done for the purpose of regulating the profession in the public interest.

The College has adopted this Privacy Code voluntarily to provide a voluntary mechanism through which the College can provide appropriate privacy rights to individuals involved in the College's activities while still enabling the College to meet its statutory mandate under the Health Professions Act (HPA).

Principle 1 – Accountability

The Registrar is accountable for compliance with these policies and procedures. Complaints or questions regarding the manner in which personal information is being handled by the College should be directed to the Registrar who can be reached by phone at 604.278.7510 extension 22, by email at: natkinson@cobc.ca, or by mail at: The Registrar, College of Opticians of British Columbia, 420-2025 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V6J 1Z6.
 
The College will provide orientation and training to all new employees and appointees as well as all members of board, committees or working groups regarding their obligations.


Principle 2 – Identifying Purposes

The purpose for which the College collects uses and discloses personal information is to administer and enforce the Legislation. The College collects and uses personal information regarding its members for the following purposes:

• to assess whether a member continues to meet the standards of qualification for a certificate of registration;
• to investigate complaints regarding the conduct or actions of a member of the College; 
• to investigate whether a member has committed an act of professional misconduct or is incompetent; 
• to inquire whether a member is incapacitated; 
• to hold a hearing of allegations of a member's professional misconduct or incompetence or of allegations that a member is incapacitated; 
• to carry out the quality assurance program of the College, including an assessment of the records and practice of its members; 
• to administer the program established by the College to provide funding for therapy and counseling for persons who, while patients, were sexually abused by members of the College; 
• to investigate reports filed about members of the College under the HPA; 
• to assess whether a former member's registration should be reinstated; 
• to provide statistical information for human resource planning and demographic studies; 
• to administer or enforce Legislation, Bylaws or Standards of Practice.
  

The College may collect personal information regarding a member from the member, patients of the member and other persons, for the purposes set out above. Personal information regarding members is collected by the College from time to time and at regular intervals.

The College discloses personal information regarding its members only as permitted by or as required by law. The College collects and uses personal information regarding the patients of members of the College for the following purposes:

• to investigate complaints regarding the conduct or actions of a member of the College;
• to investigate whether a member has committed an act of professional misconduct or is incompetent; 
• to inquire whether a member is incapacitated; 
• to hold a hearing of allegations of a member's professional misconduct or incompetence or of allegations that a member is incapacitated; 
• to carry out the quality assurance program of the College, including an assessment of the records and practice of its members; 
• to administer the program established by the College to provide funding for therapy and counseling for persons who, while patients, were sexually abused by members of the College; 
• to investigate reports filed about members of the College under the HPA; 
• to assess whether a member continues to meet the standards of qualification for a certificate of registration; 
• to assess whether a former member's certificate of registration should be reinstated; 
• to administer or enforce the Legislation.
  

The College may collect personal information regarding a patient of a member of the College from the patient, the member and other persons, for the purposes set out above.

The College discloses personal information regarding the patients of members of the College only as permitted by or as required by law. For example, hearings of the Discipline Committee are required, subject to certain exceptions, to be open to the public. Evidence at a hearing of the Discipline Committee may include personal information regarding the member of the College who is the subject of the allegation of professional misconduct or incompetence, as well as personal information regarding the member's patients related to the allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence.

The College collects and uses personal information regarding individuals who may be practising the profession of Opticianry and their patients to investigate whether the individual has contravened or is contravening the Legislation and to administer or enforce the Legislation. The College discloses personal information regarding such individuals only as permitted or as required by law.

The College collects and uses personal information regarding individuals who are retained, elected or appointed for the purpose of the administration of the Legislation including the following:

• to review prospective candidates and retain or appoint persons for the purpose of the administration of the Legislation;
• to maintain records to ensure accurate remuneration and payment of expenses, and all documentation required by law and by the various levels of government in accordance with sound accounting practices;
• to maintain accurate and fair accounts of any disputes involving a person retained or appointed for the purpose of the administration of the Legislation or a member of the Council or committee of the College.
  

The College discloses personal information regarding the individuals referred to above only as permitted by or as required by law.

The College will make a reasonable effort to specify the identified purposes to the individual from whom the personal information is collected, either at the time of collection or after collection but before use, except where to do so would defeat the purpose of the Legislation or be inconsistent with the Legislation.

The College will state the identified purposes in such a manner that an individual can reasonably understand how the information will be used or disclosed.

Principle 3 – Consent
The College collects personal information for purposes related to its objects (see Preamble for the College's objects) including for the purpose of the proper administration and enforcement of the Legislation. In carrying out its objects, the College has a duty to serve and protect the public interest.

The College will make a reasonable effort to specify the identified purposes to the individual from whom the personal information is collected as described in Principle 2. Obtaining consent of the individuals would, in many cases, defeat the purposes of the College's collecting, using and disclosing the personal information. Personal information will only be collected, used and disclosed without the knowledge and consent of the individual for the purpose of the administration or enforcement of the Legislation and in accordance with the provisions of the Legislation.

Principle 4 – Limiting Collection
The College collects only the personal information that is required for the purposes identified in Principle 2 of this Privacy Code. The College collects personal information using procedures that are fair and lawful.

Personal information regarding patients must be collected as part of the College’s regulatory function. This information is obtained by the College as part of an investigation or quality assurance program. The focus of these inquiries is the conduct, competence or capacity of the member and the protection of the public. The College only collects personal information regarding patients to satisfy this regulatory purpose.

Principle 5 – Limiting Use, Disclosure or Retention
The College uses personal information only for the purposes identified in Principle 2 and in accordance with the provisions of the Legislation. Personal information is only disclosed in accordance or as required by law.

The College has a record retention policy in place and conducts regular audits to ensure that personal information that is no longer required to be kept is destroyed, erased or made anonymous. Regular audits will be performed annually. Specific information regarding the record retention policy can be obtained by contacting the Registrar at the College.

Principle 6 – Accuracy
It is in the best interest of the public that the College collects, use and disclose only accurate personal information in regulating the profession. The College therefore uses its best efforts to ensure that the information it collects uses and discloses is accurate.

Members are required to provide the College with current name, contact and employment information and to advise the College of changes within ten (10) days of any change. This information is updated annually when members renew their registration with the College.

Principle 7 – Safeguards
The College ensures that personal information it holds is secure. The College ensures that personal information is stored in electronic and physical files that are secure. Security measures are in place to safeguard this information which includes restricting access to personal information to authorized personnel, ensuring that physical files are under lock and key and ensuring that electronic files are protected. The College reviews its security measures periodically to ensure that all personal information is secure.

Employees of the College receive an orientation and ongoing training regarding the information safeguards required for personal information and their importance.
The College ensures that personal information that is no longer required to be retained is disposed of in a confidential and secure fashion (i.e. shredding).

Principle 8 - Openness
The College’s personal information management policies and procedures are available to the public and its members via the College’s website at www.cobc.ca or can be requested by phone at 604.278.7510 or by mail at The College of Opticians, 420-2025 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V6J 1Z6. Inquiries concerning the College’s policies and practices for collecting, using and disclosing personal information may be directed to the Registrar at 604.278.7510 extension 22 or natkinson@cobc.ca.

Principle 9 - Individual Access

Access

Where the College holds personal information about an individual, upon written request, the College shall allow access to the information to that individual, unless providing access could reasonably be expected to interfere with the administration or enforcement of the Legislation or it is impracticable or impossible for the College to retrieve the information.
Examples of situations where access may be denied include:

• Information contains references to another individual(s) that cannot be severed;
• Disclosure may result in significant risk of harm to the requestor or a third party; 
• Information was collected or created in the course of an inspection, investigation, inquiry, assessment or similar procedure authorized by law and/or Legislation; 
• Disclosure may defeat the purposes for which the information was collected; 
• Information cannot be disclosed for legal, security or commercial proprietary reasons; 
• Information is subject to solicitor-client or other privilege; 
• Information was generated in the course of a formal dispute or resolution process; 
• The request is frivolous, vexatious, made in bad faith or otherwise an abuse of process;
  

In cases where the personal information forms part of a record created by another organization, the College will refer the individual to the organization that created the record (unless it is inappropriate to do so) so that the individual may obtain access to the personal information from the organization rather than the College.

While the College's response will typically be provided at no cost or minimal cost to the individual, depending on the nature of the request and the amount of information involved, the College reserves the right to impose a cost recovery fee. In these circumstances, the College will inform the individual of the approximate cost to provide the response and proceed upon payment by the individual of the cost.

The College will make every effort to respond to the request within thirty (30) days and to assist the individual in understanding the information.

Individuals should send their written request for access, with contact information and sufficient information about themselves to identify them, to The Registrar, College of Opticians of British Columbia, 420-2025 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V6J 1Z6.

In the event the College refuses to provide access to all of the personal information it holds, then the College will provide reasons for denying access. The individual may then choose to file a complaint with the Registrar.

Challenging accuracy and completeness of personal information

An individual has the right to request a correction of what in his or her view, is erroneous information. Where the information forms part of a record created by another organization, then the College will refer the individual to the organization that created the record (unless it is inappropriate to do so) so that the individual may challenge the accuracy or completeness of the information.

For records created by the College, where an individual is able to successfully demonstrate that the personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, the College will amend the information (i.e., correct, or add information). In addition, where appropriate, the College will notify any third parties to whom the College has disclosed the erroneous information.
Where there is a dispute between the individual and the College as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, then the College will document the details of the disagreement, and, where appropriate, will advise any third party who received the contested information from the College, of the unresolved disagreement.

Principle 10 - Challenging compliance

Complaints or questions regarding the College's compliance with this Privacy Code should be directed to the Registrar at 604.278.7510 extension 22 or natkinson@cobc.ca, or The Registrar, College of Opticians of British Columbia, 420-2025 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V6J 1Z6. If the Registrar cannot satisfactorily resolve a complaint, the College has a privacy complaints procedure which includes:

• acknowledging the complaint;
• review of the complaint by the College;
• providing a written decision and reasons to the complainant; and 
• taking appropriate measures where the complaint is found to be justified.
  

Please note that there is a different process for handling complaints about the conduct or actions of a member of the College. Please contact the Registrar if you wish to file a complaint about the conduct or actions of a member of the College.