PIPEDA section 7.2(4): the business transaction exception excludes the sale or lease of personal information itself (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5, s. 7.2(4))
The exception that lets companies share personal information without consent in a merger or asset sale does not cover a deal whose main purpose or result is the sale or lease of personal information. My reading: a data licence whose value is the records themselves falls inside this exclusion, so the holder cannot use the exception.
Dated 18 Oct 2026Source checked 18 Oct 2026Basis: primary text
In the source's own words
“Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to a business transaction of which the primary purpose or result is the purchase, sale or other acquisition or disposition, or lease, of personal information.”
Where it was read
Also read from the same source
- For customers or staff in Canada, has each person consented to this new use, or will the data be anonymised to the Canadian standard before it leaves? For Quebec, is the privacy impact assessment done and the written agreement ready?
- PIPEDA Schedule 1, clause 4.2.4: a purpose not previously identified needs the individual's consent (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5, Schedule 1, cl. 4.2.4)
- PIPEDA Schedule 1, clause 4.5: no use or disclosure for other purposes without consent (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5, Schedule 1, cl. 4.5)
- PIPEDA section 5(3): only purposes a reasonable person would consider appropriate (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5, s. 5(3))
- PIPEDA section 7(3)(f): disclosure without consent for statistical or scholarly research (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5, s. 7(3)(f))
- PIPEDA sections 2 and 4(1): commercial activity, and staff data only for federal works (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5, s. 2 (commercial activity), s. 4(1))
Figures it counts in
It is shown on its own, not counted into a figure.
Cited in these 2 guides