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Being CASL Compliant: It’s All About Consent

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CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Law) exists to protect Canadians from unwanted electronic commercial messages.

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CASL applies to emails, texts and instant messages, and any similar messages sent to electronic addresses.

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As of January 15, 2015 CASL also applies if you install or cause the installation of software on someone's device without consent.

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CASL uses administrative monetary penalties rather than criminal sanctions. The entire legislation is based on the concept of consent.

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Consent can be express or implied.

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Express consent means that you’ve received oral or written permission for which you can provide documented proof.

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Implied consent can be a result of a particular relationship you have or particular circumstances, such as a previous purchase, donation or business card exchange at a conference. It also includes conspicuous publication.

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Conspicuous Publication means you obtained someone’s email address that is on a public website and have sent them a commercial email that is relevant to them or their job.

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Once you have express consent it’s good forever unless they opt out.

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However, implied consent only lasts 2 years after the event that has started that relationship and you must have them renew their consent at the end of that period.

It is also implied for 6 months when the “existing business relationship” consists only of an inquiry or application.

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For subscriptions or memberships, the period starts on the day the relationship ends.

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In addition to consent, you need to provide an unsubscribe mechanism in your commercial message and…

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Your message also needs to meet the identification requirements, meaning you must list your name, address or phone number or website.

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What about social media? According to CASL, it does not apply to promotional information you post online in places like blogs or social media.

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Now your existing email lists have a grace period for getting express consent until July 1, 2017. But you should start the process to reconfirm their opt-in sooner than later.

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The CRTC judges each case based on a series of factors, including the nature of the violation, your history with CASL, whether you benefited financially from the violation and your ability to pay a penalty.

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Better safe than sorry. If found in violation you could be fined up to $1M (individual/sole proprietor) and up to $10M (company).

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As July 2017, A Private Right of Action will be enforced where civil cases can be brought before the courts by any Canadian receiving unwanted commercial electronic messages.

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So remember when sending commercial electronic messages: to get consent, provide an unsubscribe mechanism, and properly identify yourself.

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Do you want to know more? • Why and how CASL has

been enforced in the pastyear?

• How you can prepare for thenext phases of CASL?

• How CASL compares toother anti-spam laws?

• What you can do to stay upto date with the latestcompliance trends?

Find out in our CASL Rewind webinar with guest speaker Senior Enforcement Officer at the CRTC, Dana-Lynn Wood: http://bit.ly/CASL_Webinar