Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and corresponding regulations by Industry Canada and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) became law July 1, 2014.
It is not too late to begin or enhance your compliance efforts.
Failure to comply could result in severe penalties including fines of up to $10 million, directors' and officers' liability, as well as criminal liability for the Competition Act related offences.
Bennett Jones has performed groundbreaking work with public and private corporations, marketing agencies, governments, healthcare providers, not-for-profit organizations, charities and private information-gatherers, advising on the far-reaching legal implications of commercial electronic messaging.
Offering both compliance and strategic planning advice, we have developed internal compliance checklists, procedures and policies for clients' existing business and non-business relationships, advised on transitional obligations under CASL and exemptions, electronic record keeping practices and the requirements of the Canada Evidence Act, provided opinions and direction on specific content for forms of consent and the manner in which consent should be obtained, and various other requirements and formalities under CASL, the regulations and Canada's privacy laws.
We are highly familiar with the Competition Act implications, where we have counselled clients on the use of representations and statements in electronic messages, online and on websites. We possess a wide body of experience in technology law, outsourcing and corporate governance, and are able to assist corporate directors and officers to assess and mitigate the risks involving electronic communication and to prepare organizational policies, employee guidelines and to negotiate appropriate terms with service providers, to ensure compliance with CASL.
As CASL also affects developers and distributors of software and apps, by imposing prohibitions on the installation of certain computer programs, we assist these types of businesses to meet the prescribed requirements and guide them in obtaining express consent in the proper form from customers. The software related provisions of CASL come into force in January 2015.
Our anti-spam compliance team also includes litigators prepared to defend clients and their electronic communication practices. Our experienced class action litigators are ready to defend class action lawsuits expected to arise when the private right of action comes into force.
In order to assist clients in taking steps to become compliant with CASL we have developed an anti-spam learning centre.