The main provisions of Canada's anti-spam legislation,
generally known as CASL, came into effect on July 1, 2014. The key
component: you cannot send a commercial electronic message
("CEM") unless you have consent, whether express or
implied, and the CEM contains certain content about the sender and
the right to stop getting CEMs. The advent of CASL caused great
discussion and concern and, for many organizations, significant
cost as they struggled to get compliant mailing lists and processes
in place. You can read more about the background of CASL at
http://blog.blg.com/nfp/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=213. The
government website http://fightspam.gc.ca/eic/site/030.nsf/eng/home
contains useful tips and FAQs.
New rules about installing computer programs came into force on
January 15, 2015. The next big date for CASL watchers is July 1,
2017, when the sections of CASL that deal with private right of
action come into force. That means that at that time individuals
will be able to sue. Until then, the CRTC has a range of options
available to enforce the legislation, including financial
penalties. There have been several fines issued so far, including a
$1.1 million fine levied against Compu-Finder for various
violations of CASL, including sending CEMs without consent and
failing to have a working unsubscribe feature.
It may not be on many people's lists of "favourite laws
ever" but we continue to get questions around the
applicability of CASL to certain situations. One thing we have
noticed is that the processes and practices people worked so hard
to put into place before July 1, 2014 may have evolved over the
last two years and, in some cases, are no longer in compliance with
the legislation. Perhaps CASL's second anniversary is a good
time to review what you are doing around CASL compliance to ensure
your organization is not the next one under review by the CRTC or
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Happy Canada Day everyone and Happy Birthday CASL.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.