This Legislative Take Action is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as legal advice. Readers should contact legal counsel for legal advice. ©2014 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved.
According to a 2013 Deloitte
survey, only 13 per cent of
companies understand CASL
requirements and have begun
applying them to their business.
CASL-compliant Commercial Electronic Messages
On July 1, 2014, most provisions of Canada’s Anti-
Spam Legislation (CASL) will come into force. The
purpose of this law, in part, is to regulate unsolicited
commercial electronic messages (CEMs),
commonly referred to as “spam.” If your company
sends CEMs, you should take note of the law and
examine the effect it may have on your business
practices. This article outlines steps your company
should take prior to July 1 to ensure compliance.
What’s Changing?
The law will restrict all forms of CEMs sent via
telecommunication, including email messages, text
messages, instant messages and messages sent
through social media sites. In order to qualify as
commercial, CEMs only need to encourage
commercial conduct and do not need to
have an underlying expectancy of profit.
In order to send a CEM, a company must
be able to prove that it has consent from the
recipient. As such, it’s recommended that
companies maintain a list of all contacts,
how each contact consented to receive CEMs, the
date consent was issued and the date consent
expires (if it expires).
There are two types of consent: express and
implied:
• Express consent is obtained when a recipient
“opts in” to receive CEMs. Consent can be oral
or written and could take the form of an unedited
audio recording, paper form or electronic
checkbox on a website. For electronic
checkboxes, consent cannot be gained by using
an unchecked opt-out box or pre-checked opt-in
box. The end-user must opt-in or make a
positive action to indicate that he or she provides
consent. Express consent never expires, but it
can be revoked by the recipient.
• Implied consent exists when the sender can
establish that the recipient implicitly consented to
receiving the CEM. Recipient consent is implied
if a pre-existing business relationship already
exists between the sender and the recipient.
Prior business relationships can be established
in situations where the recipient purchased a
product, agreed to a contract or made a
business inquiry. An existing business
relationship expires in six months if a prospect
doesn’t become a client and in two years if a
client doesn’t renew.
Implied consent is also granted in certain non-
business relationships, including situations
where the recipient provided qualifying
donations or volunteer work, or the CEM is
provided in a conspicuous publication. Implied
consent also exists if the recipient provides the
electronic address to which the message is sent
and does not indicate that he or she not want
communications, and if the message is directly
related to the recipient’s professional role.
Companies that rely on implied consent when
sending CEMs need to keep organized, careful
records of contacts and consent dates.
(16 pages)
(48 pages)
Manymanuals.com
Manymanuals.de
Manymanuals.fr
Manymanuals.it
Manymanuals.pl
Manymanuals.cz
Manymanuals.es
Manymanuals-pt.com
Commentaires sur ces manuels