Privacy statement

We, and the Government of Canada as a whole, are committed to respecting the personal privacy of individuals who visit federal Web sites. This section summarizes the Web site privacy policy and practices of the Canada Border Services Agency.

• The Canada Border Services Agency does not automatically gather any personal information from you, such as your name, phone number, or email or street address during your visit to our Web sites. This information is only obtained if you supply it voluntarily, usually through contacting us via email, or registering in a secure part of the site. When you submit sensitive information, such as that required in a tax return, we protect confidentiality by using 128-bit secure socket layer (SSL) encryption to code the information.
  
  
• At the point of information collection you will be informed that personal information is about to be collected and we will ask for your consent. You will be told the reason that the information is being collected and how you may exercise your right of access to that information. The information is not disclosed to anyone except our officers who need the information to respond to a request. We do not use the information to create individual profiles, nor do we disclose the information to any party inside or outside the federal government unless authorized by law. All personal information you provide is protected under the federal Privacy Act. In some cases, other legislation is more restrictive than the Privacy Act. Such legislation includes the Customs Act. Where these circumstances exist the more restrictive legislation applies.
  
  
• Our main Web server does not use cookies or use other session management methods to collect personal data about visitors to our Web site. Technology dictates that the server is aware of a visitor's ISP (Internet service provider), but this gives us no information of any kind about the individual user. However, some of our secure servers do use session cookies exclusively to support secure electronic transactions. You will be notified before cookies are used.
  
  
• We use software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. This software receives and records the IP (Internet protocol) address of the computer that has contacted our site, the date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We do not attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting our Web site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected.
  
  
• Questions or comments about this privacy policy, or our administration of the Privacy Act may be directed to the Access to Information and Privacy Division by email at atip-aiprp@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca. If you are not satisfied that we have adequately respected your privacy, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on the Internet or by calling 1-800-282-1376.