Privacy Notice

The nature and scope of the personal information you will be asked to provide to us depends on the program, product, or service that you have requested or that is of interest to you. It is our policy to collect only the personal information needed to administer our programs and services.

We collect personal information directly from you whenever possible and feasible, for example, when you apply for our services as an owner of an unincorporated business, when you complete a form or subscribe to a newsletter. However, the nature of the services we provide and the context in which we handle personal information can result in us collecting your personal information from sources other than you.

Sources from which we may obtain your personal information could be those who have referred you to us, employees working for the corporation you own or control who are providing your information to onboard your company, and operators of business risk services, such as financial crime and sanctions list databases. When making decisions that directly affect you using personal information collected from sources other than you, we will seek your consent unless otherwise required or authorized by law.

The purposes for which we collect, use and share personal information are explained below.

To improve your experience on our website and to tailor information, content, products and services to your interests and business needs.

For a detailed explanation, refer to the section “What are cookies and how does EDC use them?” below.

To promote our programs, products and services to you.

With your consent, EDC may, from time to time, use your email or regular mailing address to send you information on EDC’s programs, products and services, trade information, business opportunities, or other topics and events of current interest. 

In order to do so and customize marketing and communication materials with relevant information, EDC may also use other information we have on file about you, such as information you provided on subscription or registration forms. 

To determine your eligibility for programs, products or services.

We use financial information such as your assets, liabilities, financial transactions, annual sales, and business history to evaluate your credit worthiness, assess your eligibility and to make decisions in the context of an application for financing or insurance services.

To manage your relationship with us and to make it easy to do business with us.

We use identifying and contact information about you and your business to allow us to communicate with you and respond to your enquiries about financing, insurance and bonding solutions and other programs or services you may be interested in.

To introduce you to Government and Industry Partners.

There's a lot you can do to take your exporting business to the next level and a lot of organizations that are willing to help you get there. With your consent, EDC will facilitate introductions to its federal, and provincial and industry partners to help you grow your business.

To process payments and financial transactions.

We collect banking information to process payments and other transactions.  In some circumstances, information is shared with counterparties and their respective banks in relation to fund transfers, payments, drawing of cheques, and other transactions.

When paying online for any of our services or products offered online, you will be submitting your payment information to an online payment provider with whom we have entered into a contract. The information you supplied during the payment session will be processed by the online payment provider and governed by their privacy policy.

To comply with legal, security, regulatory and industry requirements.

To ensure that we do not, directly or indirectly, unknowingly transact business with, procure goods or services from companies and/or individuals who present legal, regulatory and reputational risks to EDC, we collect personal information to conduct due diligence checks. This includes assessing whether our counterparties and their associates are named on official lists, such as terrorism or sanctions lists, are identified as politically exposed, or are subject to adverse media (investigations, charges, convictions, or other allegations of wrongdoing).

Reducing fraud, software piracy, and protecting our customers.

We may monitor any part of our website at any time and may take appropriate measures to curtail inappropriate use. EDC uses software to monitor site traffic and to detect unauthorized attempts to upload, change information, or otherwise cause damage.

We may use personal information to verify the identity or authority of relevant individuals, or representatives who contact EDC or may be contacted by EDC and to carry out or respond to requests, questions or instructions from verified representatives or other parties pursuant to security procedures.

To allow you to apply for jobs and to assess your suitability for a career at EDC.

We use your personal information to evaluate your job application and contact you if necessary.

To conduct market research about our customers, their interests, and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns if you’ve given us permission to do so.

Your information will only be viewed by those persons at EDC who need that information for the purpose for which it was given. We also engage third parties for the purposes of providing services to us such as: IT services, web analytics, secure online payments, live chat services, marketing, legal and accounting services.

We need to share your information with these third parties in order for them to provide you with the services you have requested. These companies are only provided with the information necessary to provide the services. They are contractually bound to keep your information confidential and are not authorized by us to use it for any purpose other than delivering the services that have been requested by EDC in accordance with EDC's instructions and authorization.

In some circumstances, information is shared with counterparties and their respective banks in relation to fund transfers, payments, drawing of cheques, and other transactions.

We may also share your information as required or permitted by law. We may share your information with regulatory authorities, statutory bodies or public agencies for the purposes of complying with their respective requirements, policies, directives and contracts.

We may also transfer your information to any location outside of the jurisdiction or country where we are located. If we so transfer your information, we will take measures to ensure that the recipient provides a standard of protection required under applicable law.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

We take the safeguarding of your personal information seriously. We have implemented a broad range of security measures in the interest of protecting user and customer information from unauthorized access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction and accidental loss. These safeguards include administrative controls, including policies and procedures, staff training and awareness, technical measures, such as strong authentication mechanisms, firewalls, encryption, and antimalware protection, as well as other physical access controls in the form of identification cards, employee and visitor access badges and video surveillance. 

To help protect our customers, EDC personnel have been instructed to only use official EDC domain email (person@edc.ca) to communicate for business purposes. Emails not originating from the "@edc.ca" domain could be fraudulent and should therefore be treated with suspicion. Do not respond to emails, open attachments, or click on suspicious links originating from other sources (examples: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo).

Hyperlinks to other websites are provided for convenience only and do not constitute our endorsement of such websites or the accuracy or reliability of material, content or services provided therein. Such websites are independent from, and not within the control of, EDC. Before using such websites, you should review their terms of use and privacy policies which may be different from EDC’s.

If you have provided your consent or are a current or former customer of EDC, EDC may provide you with trade information and promotional messages.

Withdraw Consent

At any time, by unsubscribing, emailing info@edc.ca or otherwise contacting EDC, you may withdraw your consent to receive electronic messages from EDC and EDC will remove your name from EDC’s mailing list.

EDC’s use of social media serves as an extension of its presence on the Web and is intended to facilitate interactions between the public and EDC. You can find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. Social media channels are public and are not hosted on our servers. Users who choose to interact with us via social media should read our Community Guidelines, as well as the user agreements and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications you use to access them. EDC does not endorse views or comments posted by users and in no way verifies or confirms either the accuracy of user comments or their compliance with our guidelines. EDC employees are held to the highest standards of professionalism in support of business-related social networking.

Personal information that you provide to EDC via social media account(s) is collected in accordance with this Privacy Notice and applicable laws. Information is collected to capture conversations (e.g. questions and answers, comments, “likes” and retweets) between you and EDC. It may be used by EDC to respond to inquiries, or for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes. Comments posted that violate any applicable law will be deleted and may be disclosed to law enforcement authorities. Comments that violate our guidelines may be deleted by EDC.

Retention

We will retain your personal information only for such periods of time as required for business purposes and as prescribed by applicable laws and regulations. In accordance with legal requirements, expired business purpose and/or contract obligations, we will destroy, erase, render anonymous, or otherwise dispose of personal information after such period of time. For questions about the retention of personal information email P&IR@edc.ca.

Accuracy

We will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that your personal information is accurate. In order to assist us with this, you should notify us of any changes to the personal information you have provided.

For questions or comments regarding this Privacy Notice or to access, update or correct your own personal information held by EDC, email atipteam@edc.ca. Please include sufficient details to enable us to search for relevant records.

Info Source

To learn more about EDC's functions and related information holdings, you can consult our Info Source. This resource also provides descriptions (known as “Personal Information Banks") of EDC's programs and activities that use personal information to make decisions affecting individuals or store personal information in a way that is organized or meant to be retrieved by an individual’s name or other identifier (e.g. EDC customer ID number).

Annual Reports Under the Privacy Act

To get more information about how we manage Privacy at EDC, you can review the annual reports about our administration of the Privacy Act.

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and allow you to use its core features, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. They also help protect our website from fraud and abuse. These cookies don’t gather information about you that is used for marketing purposes.

You cannot opt out of strictly necessary cookies using our Privacy Preference Centre, but you can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies. If you block them, some parts of the site won’t work.

We use Google reCAPTCHA on our website to help detect and respond to spam and abuse by automated programs. Google reCAPTCHA works by setting a cookie that collects the IP address and hardware and software information, including device and application data, of website visitors and sends this data to Google for analysis. The analysis aims to prevent automated programs from entering data on our website (for example, on a contact form). The cookie expires after 180 days, and it will not be used for advertising or tracking purposes. For more information, visit Google reCAPTCHA and Google Privacy.

These cookies allow us to monitor visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They also help us know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around our site to identify areas of digital friction.

These cookies let our website provide enhanced functionality, such as embedding content from other services or websites.

We also use first-party cookies to personalize your experience. These cookies help recognize your device or browser the next time you visit our website and gather information about your browsing activities. We use this information to infer your interests and offer you content, products or services that are more relevant to you or your business. None of these cookies record data that reveal your identity directly, such as your name and contact details. However, if you later become known to us by completing a form on our site, such as when you register for a white paper or a newsletter, we may associate cookie data about interests and preferences with your personal information collected through the form.

If you don’t allow these cookies, then some or all of these services may not function properly, or your experience may not be tailored to your interests.

EDC uses cookies to deliver and measure the effectiveness of tailored advertisements on EDC and third-party websites which form part of our advertising network. These cookies gather information about your browsing activities and use it to infer your interests for advertising purposes. For example, if you visit a page about a business loan, you may be added to a list of users who are interested in direct financing solutions. As a result, you may see an EDC ad about financing solutions on a different website.

If you don’t allow these cookies, you may still encounter EDC advertisements on websites you visit, but their presence will be coincidental.

If you turn off cookies, pixel tags will still be attached to your device when you click on an EDC advertisement on other websites. The pixel tag is anonymous and cannot identify you as an individual. EDC will not know if you have clicked on an advertisement unless you subsequently identify yourself by completing a form, for example: to submit a question, or register for a white paper or newsletter.

Because legal and business requirements are constantly evolving, we may change any part or all of this Privacy Notice. We will provide notice of substantial changes to this notice by posting a notice on our website or by emailing you. If this notice changes, the updated version will apply to your information.

Last Reviewed: February 2024