📈Exemption Grid

Access to Information Act and Privacy Act Exemption Grid

This chart is meant for general reference only. The Acts should be consulted for more specific details concerning the exemptions. Please see below for the links. ⤵️

Access Section	Privacy Section	Subject	Comments
n/a	18(2)	exempt bank information	information contained in a personal information bank designated as an exempt bank
13(1)	19(1)	information obtained in confidence	obtained in confidence from a foreign, international, provincial, municipal or aboriginal government
14	20	federal-provincial affairs	injurious to the conduct of federal-provincial affairs
15(1)	21	international affairs and defence	injurious to the conduct of international affairs, defence of Canada
16(1)	22(1)	law enforcement and investigation	information obtained/prepared by a government institution that is an investigative body; information relating to investigative techniques or plans for specific lawful investigations; injurious to enforcement of any law of Canada; injurious to the security of penal institutions
16(2)	n/a	security	reasonably expected to facilitate the commission of an offence
16(3)	22(2)	policing services for provinces or municipalities	information obtained/prepared by the RCMP while performing policing services for a province or municipality
16.1	22.1	relating to investigations, examinations and audits	information obtained/created by the Auditor General, Commissioner of Official Languages, Information Commissioner or Privacy Commissioner in the course of an investigation, examination or audit
16.2	n/a	investigations	information obtained/created by the Commissioner of Lobbying in the course of an investigation
16.3	n/a	investigation, examination or review	information obtained/created by a person who conducts an investigation, examination or review in the performance of their functions under the Canada Elections Act
16.4	22.2	investigation or settlement	information obtained/created by the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner in the course of an investigation or in an attempt to reach a settlement pursuant to the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act
16.5	22.3	disclosure pursuant to the Public Servants Disclosure Act	information created for the purpose of making a disclosure under the Public Servants Disclosure Act or an investigation into a disclosure under that Act
17	25	safety of individuals	disclosure could reasonably be expected to threaten the safety of individuals
n/a	23	security clearances	information obtained/prepared by an investigative body in determining whether to grant security clearances
n/a	24	individuals sentenced for an offence	information collected/obtained by Correctional Service Canada or the National Parole Board while the individual was under sentence for an offence
18	n/a	economic interests of Canada	trade secrets/financial/ commercial/scientific/technical information belonging to the Government of Canada; information that would prejudice the competitive position of a government institution/interfere with contractual or negotiations; scientific or technical information obtained through research by an employee, the disclosure of which could deprive the officer or employee of priority of publication; information the disclosure of which could be materially injurious to the financial interests of a government institution
18.1	n/a	economic interests	trade secrets, financial, commercial, scientific or technical information that belongs to and is consistently treated as confidential to the Canada Post Corporation; Export Development Canada; the Public Sector Pension Investment Board; or VIA Rail Canada Incorporated
19(1)	26	personal information	personal information about an individual other than the individual who made the request
20(1)	n/a	third party information	information belonging to a third party that contains trade secrets, financial, commercial, scientific or technical information; information that could result in material financial loss or gain to, prejudice the competitive position; information that could interfere with contractual negotiations
20.1	n/a	third party investment information	investment information received in confidence from a third party by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board
20.2	n/a	third party investment information	investment information received in confidence from a third party by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
20.4	n/a	details of a contract or the identity of a donor	contract details for services of a performing artist/the identity of a donor who made a donation in confidence to the National Arts Centre Corporation
21(1)	n/a	advice etc.	Advice/recommendations, consultations/deliberations, positions/plans for negotiations, or plans about personnel management that have not yet been put into operation
22	n/a	testing procedures, tests and audits	information relating to testing or auditing procedures or techniques or details of specific tests to be given or audits to be conducted
22.1	n/a	internal audits	draft report of an internal audit of a government institution
23	27	solicitor-client privilege	information subject to solicitor-client privilege
24	n/a	statutory prohibitions	information the disclosure of which is restricted by a provision set out in Schedule II
n/a	28	medical records	Personal information that relates to the physical or mental health of the individual

Chapter 11 – Specific Exemptions and Section 35 of the Access to Information Act

• 11.1 Section 13 of the Act – Information obtained in confidence

• 11.2 Section 14 of the Act – Federal-provincial affairs

• 11.3 Section 15 of the Act – International affairs, defence and national security

• 11.4 Section 16 of the Act – Law enforcement, investigations and security of penal institutions

• 11.5 Section 16.1 of the Act – Records relating to investigations, examinations and audits

• 11.6 Section 16.2 of the Act – Records relating to investigations conducted by or under the authority of the Commissioner of Lobbying

• 11.7 Section 16.3 of the Act – Records relating to investigations, examinations and reviews under the Canada Elections Act

• 11.8 Section 16.4 of the Act – Exemption for the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner

• 11.9 Section 16.5 of the Act – Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act

• 11.10 Section 17 of the Act – Safety of individuals

• 11.11 Section 18 of the Act – Economic interests of the Government of Canada

• 11.12 Section 18.1 of the Act – Economic interests of certain Crown corporations

• 11.13 Section 19 of the Act – Personal information

• 11.14 Section 20 of the Act – Third Party Information

• 11.15 Section 20.1 of the Act – Exemption for the Public Sector Pension Investment Board

• 11.16 Section 20.2 of the Act – Exemption for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

• 11.17 Section 20.4 of the Act – Exemption for the National Arts Centre Corporation

• 11.18 Section 21 of the Act – Operations of Government

• 11.19 Section 22 of the Act – Testing procedures

• 11.20 Section 22.1 of the Act – Internal audits

• 11.21 Section 23 of the Act – Solicitor-client privilege

• 11.22 Section 24 of the Act – Statutory prohibitions

• 11.23 Section 26 of the Act – Information to be published

• 11.24 Other grounds for refusing access: Section 35 of the Act – Protection of representations made to the Information Commissioner in the context of an investigation