Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, which came into effect July 1, 2014, is considered among the toughest in the world when it comes to regulating commercial electronic messaging. Up until July 1st 2016 businesses were able to communicate electronically with customers if they had implied consent. Friday July 1st, 2016 will mark the first day of the expiration period for any 2-year implied consents obtained after CASL came into effect. Implied consent includes situations where an existing business relationship has been identified, the address collected was conspicuously published or when the address was provided on a business card.

If your organization has not obtained express consent or renewed implied consent over the past 2 years, those records will begin expiring on July 1, 2016 in accordance with their most recent implied consent date. Keep in mind that if you have implied records in your database that have continued to qualify for implied consent under the implied consent definitions under CASL, then the 2-year implied consent refreshes for another 2 years with every transaction.

In addition to the rules about consent there are rules around the actual consent form, rules around the ability to unsubscribe, the unsubscribe form and the contents of the unsubscribe notices.

Foreign companies that breach the rules are not out of reach of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the key federal anti-spam regulator.

The CRTC has warned it will be collaborating with its international counterparts to investigate and enforce the Canadian legislation. The penalties for corporate non-compliance are up to C$10 million.

For more information about how this effects your business or how to comply you can visit this Government of Canada website.

 

 

Tags: Financial Services