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In This Volume

  • 32 (1) In this section:
  • “authorized person” means,
  • (a) in subsection (5)(k), an authorized person as defined in section 13.1 of the Assessment Act,
  • (b) in subsection (5)(l), a person who is engaged or employed, or was formerly engaged or employed, by or on behalf of the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia, to assist in carrying out the provisions of the Land Title and Survey Authority Act, and
  • (c) in any other case, a person who is engaged or employed, or was formerly engaged or employed, by or on behalf of the government, to assist in carrying out the provisions of this Act;
  • “confidential information” means information of any kind and in any form relating to one or more persons,
  • (a) that is obtained for the purposes of this Act by or on behalf of the minister, or
  • (b) that is prepared from information referred to in paragraph (a),
  • but does not include information that does not directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the person to whom the information relates;
  • “designated person” has the same meaning as in section 241(10) of the Income Tax Act (Canada);
  • “official” means any person
  • (a) who is employed in the service of, is engaged by or on behalf of, or occupies a position of responsibility in the service of the government of British Columbia, another province or Canada, or
  • (b) who was formerly so employed or engaged or formerly occupied such a position,
  • and, for the purposes of subsections (2) and (3), “official” includes a designated person;
  • “police officer” means a police officer as defined in section 462.48(17) of the Criminal Code.
  • (2) Despite any other enactment or law, except as authorized by this section, an official must not
  • (a) knowingly provide, or knowingly allow to be provided, any confidential information to any person,
  • (b) knowingly allow any person to have access to any confidential information, or
  • (c) knowingly use any confidential information otherwise than in the course of the administration and enforcement of this Act or for a purpose for which it was provided under this section.
  • (3) Despite any other enactment or law, an official must not be required, in connection with any legal proceedings, to give or produce evidence relating to any confidential information.
  • (4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply in relation to the following:
  • (a) criminal proceedings that have been commenced by the laying of an information or the preferring of an indictment under an Act of the Parliament of Canada;
  • (b) any legal proceedings relating to the administration or enforcement of
    • (i) any enactment of British Columbia, another province or Canada that provides for the imposition or collection of a tax or duty,
    • (ii) the Home Owner Grant Act, or
    • (iii) the Land Tax Deferment Act.
  • (5) Subject to subsection (6), an official may do one or more of the following:
  • (a) provide to any person confidential information that can reasonably be considered necessary for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of this Act, solely for those purposes;
  • (b) provide to any person confidential information that can reasonably be considered necessary for the purposes of determining
    • (i) any tax or other amount that is or may become payable by the person under this Act,
    • (ii) any refund to which the person is or may become entitled under this Act, or
    • (iii) any other amount that is relevant for the purposes of a determination under subparagraph (i) or (ii);
  • (c) provide confidential information as follows:
    • (i) to an official of the Department of Finance of the government of Canada, solely for the purposes of the formulation or evaluation of fiscal policy;
    • (ii) to an official solely for the purposes of the initial implementation of a fiscal policy;
    • (iii) to an official of the ministry, solely for the purposes of the formulation or evaluation of fiscal policy;
    • (iv) to an official solely for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of an enactment of British Columbia that provides for the imposition or collection of a tax or duty;
    • (v) to an official solely for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of the Home Owner Grant Act, the Land Tax Deferment Act or the Real Estate Development Marketing Act;
    • (vi) to an official solely for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of an Act of the Parliament of Canada, or an enactment of another province, that provides for the imposition or collection of a tax or duty;
    • (vii) to an official solely for the purposes of the compilation of statistical information by the government or the government of Canada, as the case may be;
    • (viii) to an official solely for the purposes of setting off, against any sum of money that may be due or payable by the government, a debt due to the government;
  • (d) provide confidential information, or allow inspection of or access to confidential information, as the case may be, under, and solely for the purposes of,
    • (i) sections 44(1) and 61(1) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, or
    • (ii) sections 15, 16 and 17 of the Auditor General Act;
  • (e) provide confidential information relating to a person
    • (i) to the person, and
    • (ii) with the consent of the person, to any other person;
  • (f) use confidential information to compile information in a form that does not directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the person to whom the information relates;
  • (g) provide confidential information solely for the purposes of sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Financial Administration Act;
  • (h) use, or provide to any person, confidential information solely for a purpose relating to the supervision, evaluation or discipline of an authorized person by the government in respect of a period during which the authorized person was employed by, or engaged by or on behalf of, the government to assist in the administration or enforcement of this Act, to the extent that the information is relevant for the purpose;
  • (i) provide confidential information to a police officer, solely for the purposes of an investigation into whether an offence has been committed under the Criminal Code, or the laying of an information or the preferring of an indictment, if
    • (i) the confidential information can reasonably be considered necessary for the purpose of ascertaining, with respect to an official, or with respect to any person related to the official,
      • (A) the circumstances in which an offence under the Criminal Code may have been committed, or
      • (B) the identity of the person who may have committed an offence under the Criminal Code,
    • (ii) the official was or is engaged in the administration or enforcement of this Act, and
    • (iii) the offence can reasonably be considered to be related to the administration or enforcement of this Act;
  • (j) provide confidential information to, or allow inspection of or access to confidential information by, any person otherwise legally entitled to the information under a prescribed enactment of British Columbia, solely for the purposes for which the person is entitled to the information;
  • (k) provide confidential information to, or allow inspection of or access to confidential information by, an authorized person, solely for the purposes of the administration or enforcement of the Assessment Act;
  • (l) provide confidential information to, or allow inspection of or access to confidential information by, an authorized person, solely for the purposes set out in section 4(1)(a) of the Land Title and Survey Authority Act.
  • (6) Except in accordance with an information-sharing agreement entered into under section 32.1, an official must not, under subsection (5)(a) to (c) and (g) to (l) of this section, provide confidential information to, or allow inspection of or access to confidential information by,
  • (a) an official of a public body, as defined in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, other than the ministry,
  • (b) an official of the government of Canada, or
  • (c) an official of the government of another province.
  • (7) An official may provide to appropriate persons any confidential information relating to imminent danger of death or physical injury to any individual.
  • (8) The person who presides at a legal proceeding in relation to the supervision, evaluation or discipline of an authorized person may make orders necessary to ensure that confidential information is not used or provided to any person for any purpose unrelated to the proceeding, including
  • (a) an order that the proceeding be held in private,
  • (b) an order banning publication of the confidential information,
  • (c) an order to conceal the identity of the person to whom the confidential information relates, and
  • (d) an order sealing the records of the proceeding.
  • (9) To the extent of any inconsistency or conflict with section 32 or 33 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, this section applies despite that Act.

1987-15-21; 1987-64-6, effective December 12, 1987 (day after First Reading of 1987-64); 2007-31-29, effective October 15, 2007; 2018-25-15, effective January 1, 2019 (B.C. Reg. 230/2018); 2021-18-59, effective June 17, 2021; 2023-23-153.