Information & Ethics committee  I'll start with some general comments and, then, I'll speak specifically to the transfer of information that occurred. In his answer earlier, Mr. Gallivan told you that, in addition to the correspondence that was exchanged, a certain number of meetings between the CRA and my office were held before the PIA was actually passed on.

Information & Ethics committee  The question we asked was of a general nature. If we had reason to believe that the regime was not properly applied, we could conduct an audit under the Privacy Act, but we aren't there yet.

Information & Ethics committee  Technically speaking, the Privacy Act authorizes the sharing of information for all the purposes listed in the agreement between the two governments. Once again, the purpose of the agreement is to combat tax evasion. Provided, then, that the information is shared for the purpose of preventing tax evasion, the CRA can transfer that information to the American government under the agreement.

Information & Ethics committee  From the privacy perspective, the retention issue relates to, again, the ultimate purpose of the arrangement, which is to avoid tax evasion. The two governments share information for that purpose and should only retain that information for a period that is necessary for the other government to actually take tax enforcement action.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't believe we have asked for clarifications along those lines, but they are certainly relevant. We will check on the content of the IGA. If the agreement does not speak to this aspect, we will ask these questions of the CRA.

Information & Ethics committee  I would start with what recourse there would be for improper disclosure, either by Canadian institutions or the CRA. Canadian financial institutions normally would have to keep the information of their clients secret, but the arrangement provides the legal basis for them to share information with the CRA with a view to sharing it with the IRS.

Information & Ethics committee  We have asked along those lines for the CRA to give us information about the threat assessment or the risk of breach assessment that they are conducting. We have not received that information yet, and it will be part of the next round of information that the CRA has promised to give us by the fall of 2016.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  The sequence of the correspondence is that the CRA sent us their privacy impact assessment in August of 2015, and we responded in December. They adjusted their rules about two weeks ago. We received that letter two weeks ago, and we wrote earlier this week to ask these questions.

Information & Ethics committee  An example would be these accounts under $50,000. Again, you start from the principle that it is legitimate for the two states, Canada and the U.S., to share information to avoid tax evasion. In order for Canada to obtain information from the United States, we have to provide some information to the United States in reciprocity.

Information & Ethics committee  Do you mean sent from or to other states?

Information & Ethics committee  Under this arrangement, the information that is sent to another state is sent to the U.S. There may be other arrangements whereby Canada sends tax information to other states in order to gain reciprocity. In terms of the information sent to other states, the guarantees are the guarantees that would be offered by the CRA, I would assume.

Information & Ethics committee  There are no formal international rules on these questions. All institutions, public and private, have an interest. To the extent that there's legislation in these countries and in the countries you have mentioned, there are legal requirements to protect information. It's a question of the legal regime that's in place.

Information & Ethics committee  The short answer is yes. I would start from the fact that agreements between states to avoid tax evasion are obviously desirable and necessary. A certain amount of information will have to be shared between states to prevent tax evasion. However, the type of information, the clarity of the criteria for sharing of information, the measures that should be taken to guard against privacy breaches—all of these are the privacy conditions under which what is a reasonable agreement in principle would properly balance tax information purposes and privacy purposes.

Information & Ethics committee  Merci, monsieur le président. Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for inviting me to provide my views on certain aspects of the tax information exchange agreement between the Canada Revenue Agency and the IRS in the United States. The minister explained a little about the legal framework under which this transfer is made.