The eDiscovery Juggernaut Rolls into Canada
After two years, requested records must be delivered in a ‘reasonable period of time.’ In fact, NI 31-103 requires firms to keep some records for seven years after the departure of a client.” Wow - sounds eerily similar the US’s FRCPs.
Now, the reality is that many of Canada’s largest institutions have taken eDiscovery seriously for quite some time. After all, those organizations do a fair amount of business either in the US or with US partners - and they feel it’s better to be safe than sorry. What this new proposed legislation means is that smaller organizations will be compelled to think seriously about the retention and discovery of their electronic communications. Good news once again for the email archiving market.
Skeptics out there will say that Canada has mirrored the US and that this is no big deal. I would argue that this proposed legislation is a good example of yet another country telling businesses, “you better get your arms around this electronic communication thing and not hide behind excuses that it’s inaccessible or that it’s too expensive to restore it from backup tapes.” The onus is squarely on the organization - anyone who doesn’t get that has their head in the sand.
As we look worldwide, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that more and more countries will adopt similar legislation. Surely, many countries will have cultural differences and want to protect the privacy of individuals. All that means is that organizations (especially those that do business in multiple countries) will need technology that allows them to set retention policies and access controls at a very granular level. The need for archiving and eDiscovery tools will only be heightened by geographic differences.
Years ago, when the FRCP amendments went into effect, the collective industry wondered what the global effect would be. Well, the answers are starting to come in - and it looks like governments will have stringent requirements. Don’t be an ostrich - start planning your infrastructure to manage electronic communications today!
