Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 8 April 2024. 294 Subsection 29(1): Disclosure of Personal Information Disclosure of Personal Information 29(1) No government institution shall disclose personal information in its possession or under its control without the consent, given in the prescribed manner, of the individual to whom the information relates except in accordance with this section or section 30. Subsection 29(1) of FOIP protects the privacy of individuals whose personal information may be contained within records responsive to an access to information request made by someone else. Subsection 29(1) of FOIP requires a government institution to have the consent of the individual whose personal information is in the record prior to disclosing it. When dealing with information in a record that appears to be personal information, the first step is to confirm the information indeed qualifies as personal information pursuant to section 24 of FOIP. For more on what constitutes personal information, see the Guide to FOIP, Chapter 6, “Protection of Privacy” for a detailed explanation of section 24 of FOIP and the definition of personal information. Once confirmed as personal information, the government institution needs to determine if getting consent from the individual is reasonable. There may be circumstances where getting consent is possible. However, in some circumstances it may not be reasonable to do so. Reasonable means what is fair, proper, or moderate under the circumstances; sensible.1022 The consent must be in writing pursuant to section 18 of The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Regulations (FOIP Regulations). Section 18 of the FOIP Regulations has a number of requirements in terms of the consent gathered. This includes that the consent: • Relate to the purpose for which the information is required; • Be informed; • Be given voluntarily; and • Not be obtained through misrepresentation, fraud or coercion. Without consent, personal information cannot be released unless one of the provisions under subsection 29(2) of FOIP applies. For more on subsection 29(2) of FOIP, see the Guide to FOIP, 1022 Garner, Bryan A., 2019. Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group at p. 1518.
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