The final two stages of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) will come into effect on July 1, 2017. This will end the transitional period of July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2017 and introduces the private right of action.
Since July 1, 2014, organizations have been operating within the transitional period to send commercial electronic messages (CEMs) based on implied consent. If an organization has a pre-existing business or non-business relationship with a contact any time prior to July 1, 2014, there exists implied consent to send the contact a CEM. The transitional period has been used by organizations to obtain express consent from contacts to send CEMs.
CEMs
The Government of Canada defines CEMs as “a message whose purpose is to encourage participation in a commercial activity.” CASL does not apply to the following:
- Non-commercial activity
- Voice, facsimiles or auto-recorded phone calls (robo-calls)
- Broadcast messages including tweets and posts
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) provides the following examples of CEMs:
- Offers to purchase, sell, barter or lease a product, goods, a service, land or an interest or right in land;
- Offers to provide a business, investment or gaming opportunity;
- Promoting a person, including the public image of the person, as being a person who does anything referred to above, or who intends to do so.
In order to send a CEM to an electronic address, the following is required:
- Consent
- Identification information
- An unsubscribe mechanism
End of Transitional Period
The transitional period will end on July 1, 2017, and sending CEMs based on implied consent will be subject to the limitation period of two years or six months; creating a more restrictive time within which to send a CEM to a contact based on implied consent.
On July 1, 2017, both individuals and businesses who are affected by contraventions of CASL will be able to seek monetary remedy in a court proceeding. If there is a breach of the CEM provisions, the liability can be $200 for each breach not exceeding $1,000,000 for each day on which the breach occurred. While CASL does not expressly include class actions, it is anticipated that the private right of action creates the possibility for groups to pursue class actions for CASL violations.
Sources:
Related Articles
- Overages in grain transportation revenue for CN and CPKC CN and CPKC railways have surpassed their Maximum Revenue Entitlements for the 2022-2023 crop year, resulting in penalties payable to the Western Grains Research Foundation. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA...
- Senators approve second Bill C-234 amendment As per the article reported on Farms.c.om, Canadian senators voted in favour of a second amendment to Bill C-234. On Dec. 11, senators voted 44-40 in support of Senator Yuen Pau Woo’s amendment that changes the su...
- ProSoils acquires the NH3 assets of Moose Mountain Farm Supply Ltd.’s Langbank location As per a media release from ProSoils, the company has announced it has reached an agreement with Lincoln Moose Mountain Farm Supply Ltd. to acquire its NH3 operations in Langbank, Saskatchewan. CAAR member ProSoil...
- Hot issues and trends in international ag retail markets At the end of November, CAAR Executive Director Mitch Rezansoff, was part of a panel at the US ARA Conference and Expo in Orlando, Florida, with the theme “hot issues and trends in international markets.” Margy Ec...
- Saskatchewan ammonia dealers: 2024 SGI Permit now available Saskatchewan members – CAAR has once again successfully renewed the SGI Letter of Approval to Anhydrous Ammonia or Fertilizer Distributors, expiring Dec. 31, 2024. This letter is available for Saskatchewan CAAR me...
Join the discussion...
You must be logged in as a CAAR member to comment.
Report
My comments