PEGNL – Professional Engineers and Geoscientists Newfoundland and Labrador
PEGNL – Professional Engineers and Geoscientists Newfoundland and Labrador

Privacy Policy

Purpose

This privacy policy is intended to permit PEGNL to comply with the requirements of the Engineers & Geoscientists Act 2008 and Canada Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Many of the activities of PEGNL that can be classified as regulatory are not covered by PIPEDA with only so called commercial activities being subject to the act. Nevertheless in its regulatory role PEGNL will strive to balance the requirement for use and disclosure of personal information with the privacy needs of its members.

General

PEGNL collects, uses, and in particular cases, shares personal information of members and applicants with organizations that are related to the regulation of the engineering/geoscience professions or the provision of services offered to members.

PEGNL collects, uses and shares personal information in order to:

  • process applications for registration as member or member-in-training;
  • assess applications for licensure or transfers from another provincial/territorial professional licensing body;
  • process Professional Development Program information received from members;
  • contact members on official PEGNL business such as discipline matters, balloting, completing surveys, and provision of PEGNL communications and publications;
  • otherwise comply with legal and regulatory requirements;
  • provide access to member services provided by third parties; and
  • determine eligibility for recognition of membership milestones or awards.

Personal information is data about an identifiable individual such as home address, date of birth, home telephone number, finances and education. It does not normally include job title, business address or business telephone number.

PEGNL will collect only the personal information necessary to fulfill these purposes. Within PEGNL, personal information is available only on a need to know basis. Except for the purposes referenced above or where required by law, PEGNL will not collect, use or disclose information without member consent.

Sharing of Personal Information

In limited circumstances PEGNL shares personal information with other parties: This is done for two main reasons:

  • To administer the Act, including transfer applications to other associations, applications for licensing and providing information to other regulatory bodies in the investigation of alleged breaches of the Act or by-laws, or any applicable statute of Newfoundland and Labrador or any other jurisdiction.

The Engineers and Geoscientists Act (Section 19) requires that a register be maintained of members which shall be available for inspection by the public. The PEGNL register is published online and can include member name, designation, discipline and status.

  • For the promotion of member service products which PEGNL believes to be of interest to the membership. Currently, PEGNL only promotes member benefits arranged by the Engineers Canada including various types of insurance at competitive rates.

Members may withdraw consent to the forwarding of personal contact information to PEGNL’s member service providers. To do so members must provide PEGNL with written notice of their intention and the details of their withdrawal of consent. Members should understand that the withdrawal of consent may affect the provision of benefits and services to which they may otherwise be entitles.
PEGNL will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information provided to another organization is protected appropriately from disclosure and is used only for the purpose for which it was provided.
At the time of application and at the time of membership renewal members will be asked if they wish to opt-out of participation in member service programs.

Protection of Personal Information

As required by PIPEDA, PEGNL has appointed a Privacy Officer. Currently Steve McLean, P.Eng., Executive Director is PEGNL Privacy Officer.

PEGNL does not retain members’ personal information any longer than is necessary to effectively provide the service requested or to comply with legal requirements. Nevertheless, much of the personal information gathered by PEGNL will remain in the members’ files indefinitely. Some transactional information must be retained for audit purposes. Other information, such as credit card records, will be retained for a period of time sufficient to allow for transactions to be completed, to address inquiries and/or deal with disputes. PEGNL periodically removes personal information from our systems that is no longer required.

Members may review their personal information at any reasonable time. It is PEGNL’s policy to allow any member or licensee access to his/her file without charge once in a calendar year. Application to review personal files may be made in writing to the Privacy Officer at PEGNL, Suite W-270, Prince Charles Building, 120 Torbay Road, St. John’s, NL, A1A 2G8. Members will be required to produce suitable identification.

It is important that PEGNL has current contact information about all members. Members may provide corrected information at any time and PEGNL will amend our files as quickly as possible.

Consent

At the time of application and at the time of membership renewal, through the annual invoicing process, consent will be requested of applicants and members for the collection, use and sharing of private information by PEGNL as described above. Members will only be permitted the opportunity to opt-out of the sharing of personal information with third party member service providers.