PIPEDA and Law 25 Compliance Checklist for Vendors

This is a sales document, not a legal memo

Most compliance checklists are written for lawyers. This one is written for SaaS founders and sales leaders who need to answer the compliance questions that show up in procurement evaluations, enterprise sales calls, and RFP responses.

Canadian organizations are legally required to assess the privacy posture of their vendors. That means your buyers will ask you specific questions about data handling, hosting, breach response, and jurisdictional exposure. Having clear, documented answers to these questions isn’t just compliance — it’s competitive advantage. The vendor who can answer immediately wins the deal. The vendor who says “we’ll get back to you” loses momentum.

The four laws your buyers care about

Canada’s privacy landscape is fragmented. Four different laws may apply depending on where your customer operates, what sector they’re in, and what kind of data they handle.

The vendor compliance checklist

This is what your Canadian buyers will ask about, organized by what you can prepare now.

Privacy governance

• Designated privacy officer. Have a named person responsible for privacy compliance. Your customers need this for their vendor assessment forms. Law 25 requires it to be publicly listed.
• Published privacy policy. Clear, plain-language policy that explains what data you collect, why, how you use it, who you share it with, how long you keep it, and how to request access or deletion.
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA). A contract between you and your customers that specifies your obligations as a data processor. This should be available on request — ideally on your website.
• Subprocessor list. Publish a list of your subprocessors (hosting providers, analytics tools, support platforms) that handle customer data. Law 25 and PIPEDA both require transparency about third-party processing.

Data hosting and residency

• Document where data is stored. Country, region, cloud provider, specific data centre locations. Your customers need this for their TIAs and PIAs.
• Canadian data residency option. Not legally required under PIPEDA, but increasingly demanded by customers. If you offer it, document it clearly. If you don’t, document why and what safeguards are in place.
• Jurisdiction of incorporation. US-incorporated companies are CLOUD Act exposed regardless of hosting location. Canadian incorporation eliminates this. Document your corporate jurisdiction prominently.
• Backup and disaster recovery locations. Data residency isn’t just about primary storage. If your backups replicate to a US region, that creates cross-border exposure. Document your full data lifecycle geography.

Consent and data handling

• Purpose limitation. Document the specific purposes for which you process personal information. PIPEDA’s second principle requires this. Law 25 is stricter.
• Consent mechanisms. Ensure your product collects meaningful consent — not buried in terms of service. Law 25 requires granular, specific consent. Privacy by default means features that collect data should be off unless the user opts in.
• Data minimization. Collect only what you need for stated purposes. Both PIPEDA and Law 25 require this, and it simplifies your compliance posture across all frameworks.
• Retention and deletion. Have a documented retention schedule and a mechanism for customers to request data deletion. Law 25 strengthens deletion rights significantly.

Security

• Encryption at rest and in transit. AES-256 for storage, TLS 1.2+ for transmission. This is baseline. Document it in your security posture page.
• Access controls. Role-based access, least-privilege principles, MFA for administrative access. Document who at your company can access customer data and under what circumstances.
• Breach notification. PIPEDA requires notification for breaches that create a “real risk of significant harm.” Law 25 requires notification within 72 hours. Document your incident response procedure and commit to specific timelines in your DPA.
• Security certifications. SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, or equivalent. Not legally required but increasingly expected in enterprise and government procurement. If you have them, make them prominent.

Transfer readiness

• TIA-ready documentation. Quebec organizations must complete Transfer Impact Assessments for every vendor that processes personal information outside Quebec. Prepare a document that answers the TIA questions proactively: your jurisdiction, hosting location, applicable legal process, safeguards, and encryption posture.
• PIA support. Buyers under FIPPA, PIPA, and POPA need to complete Privacy Impact Assessments. The easier you make it for them to assess your product, the faster the deal closes. Consider publishing a PIA information sheet.
• Contractual safeguards for cross-border transfers. If data leaves Canada, your DPA must include specific protections. Document these explicitly — don’t leave your customers to infer them.

What’s coming: Bill C-27

Bill C-27 (the Consumer Privacy Protection Act) is still working through Parliament and would replace Part 1 of PIPEDA with a modernized framework. Key proposed changes relevant to SaaS vendors:

• Higher penalties — up to 5% of global revenue or $25 million
• Expanded individual rights — data portability, enhanced deletion rights
• Stricter consent — more explicit requirements, especially for analytics and marketing
• Algorithmic transparency — disclosure requirements for automated decision-making

Vendors who meet Law 25’s current requirements will be well-positioned for whatever Bill C-27 becomes. Law 25 is already the strictest privacy framework in Canada — preparing for it covers the most ground.

Turn compliance into a sales advantage

The vendors who win in the Canadian market aren’t the ones who scramble to answer compliance questions during procurement. They’re the ones who have everything documented, published, and independently verified before the first call.

Your competitors are getting the same questions from the same procurement teams. The one who answers fastest — with documented, verifiable evidence — closes first. That’s not a compliance strategy. That’s a competitive strategy.