the specific health emergency. As well, the receiving party should be required to hold the information in confidence unless there is a statutory obligation to disclose it. Canadian and US laws may differ on key points: where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, what is personal information, the legal effect of transferring information to third parties. However, all differences aside, the OPC does not believe that Canadians are willing to accept a "levelling down" of their privacy protections simply in pursuit of an enriched perimeter security agenda. It is the position of the OPC that no subsequent agreements should be put in place for information sharing until an enhanced legal framework has been put in place to allow proper oversight and privacy protections and through a concerted public discussion and debate in our respective legislatures. Given the fundamental imperative of protecting civil liberties and privacy in advancing a North American security perimeter strategy, and that privacy invasive measures are not always effective, we would urge both governments to give due regard to the our recommendations and include them as fundamental aspects of their vision for shared perimeter security and economic competitiveness. ANNEX - Letter from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to Mr. Simon Kennedy at the Beyond the Border Working Group following signature of Beyond the Border: a shared vision for perimeter security and economic competitiveness Top of Page Table of Contents I am writing to follow up on our meeting last month, and to thank you for the