TORONTO – The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) has released a new guide to help organizations provide clear information to consumers about how their personal information is collected, used and shared.
Billed as the latest tool created by the CMA to help Canadian marketers maintain high standards of professional conduct, the CMA Guide to Transparency for Consumers will help companies comply with new Guidelines for Meaningful Consent issued by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and that came into effect on January 1st.
The guide sets out a Transparency Framework to help organizations provide clear, user-friendly information about how consumers’ personal information is collected, used and shared.
CMA members may also use the guide’s transparency framework to tailor their privacy policy and practices to suit their sector, business model, consumers' preferences and products. That framework is built on the following three pillars:
- Information is layered so that consumers can choose the level of detail that suits them, and they receive information in smaller amounts, as it is needed. To achieve this, the Guide outlines a range of approaches.
- Information is tailored to the medium and the audience, such as a simple, succinct "privacy label" that can easily be read on a small screen, making it user-friendly and user-appropriate.
- The approach reflects the shared roles of individuals, organizations and regulators.
CMA president and CEO John Wiltshire said that the majority of consumers do not take the time to review and absorb the often lengthy, complex privacy policies currently used by many organizations.
"Good privacy policy is good business," Wiltshire said in the news release accompanying the guide. "Organizations that adopt practices contained in the CMA Guide to Transparency for Consumers will instill more trust and loyalty in current and future customers because their customers will be better informed and have more choice and control."
With over 400 members that include the corporate, not-for-profit, public, post-secondary and health sectors, the Canadian Marketing Association is the voice, advocate and advisor of the marketing profession in Canada.
