Public Sector Portal

Stay on top of the latest Ontario and federal public sector orders and decisions related to access to information and privacy. This portal provides topic hubs related to Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA), as well as to the federal Access to Information Act (ATIA) and the Privacy Act (PA).

We regularly add new topic hubs and updates to provide the most recent and relevant information you need to know. 

Our topic hubs let you easily find information you need. You can browse by key topics or by section number of FIPPA, MFIPPA, ATIA or PA. Alternatively, you can use keywords to search for information, which in addition to our topic hubs includes:  

  • Public sector access to information and privacy regulatory orders, decisions, guidelines and other resources, issued in Ontario and federally.
  • Case summaries from across the access and privacy spheres.

Here is a sample topic hub:

Third Party Information

Quick Summary

  • Section 20(1) ATIA sets out five exemptions that are applicable to third party commercial information under the control of a government institution. These exemptions may be applied concurrently to the same information.
  • There are three class-based exemptions for commercial information:
    1. Section 20(1)(a) ATIA exempts the trade secrets of a third party. A  trade secret under the ATIA has the same meaning as that term has at common law.
    2. Section 20(1)(b) ATIA exempts:
      • confidential financial, commercial, scientific or technical information, that is
      • consistently treated in a confidential manner; and,
      • supplied by the third party to a government institution.
    3. Section 20(1)(b.1) exempts information supplied in confidence by a third party for the preparation, testing, maintenance or implementation of government emergency management plans.
 

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