Posts Tagged ‘Anti-spam’

Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL): Federal government suspends the Private Right of Action provisions

June 13th, 2017 by Ted Hyland

Organizations – businesses, non‑profits and charities – are breathing a sigh of relief following the federal government’s decision to suspend indefinitely the coming into force of the provisions of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) that give persons the right to seek monetary compensation from anyone who has breached the consent rules in CASL and the collection and use of personal information rules in PIPEDA.[1]

Colloquially known as the “private right of action” clauses of CASL, they were slated to come into force on July 1, 2017; the suspension of their coming into force was accomplished by a federal Order‑in‑Council (PC Number: 2017‑0580), which was issued on June 2, 2017.

Among the groups that had lobbied the federal government to put the brakes on the implementation of the private right of action provisions were Imagine Canada and the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN). Imagine Canada and ONN sent a letter together to the federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains. The letter, dated February 14, 2017, lays out a number of the principal concerns that the nonprofit and charitable sectors have with CASL generally and with the private right of action specifically.

[1] Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (S.C. 2000, c. 5)

Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation: July 1, 2017 on the horizon — are you ready?

April 10th, 2017 by Ted Hyland

Updated May 11, 2017: Corrections/clarifications to the 4th and 7th bullet points below.

If you were keeping close tabs three years ago on the advent of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), you may be forgiven if you lost sight of it in the past three years. After all, you worked hard to ensure that your organization would be able to send commercial electronic messages (CEMs) once July 1, 2014 rolled around.

Well, it’s time to pay attention again, because July 1, 2017 marks the coming into force of a couple of important features to CASL. Continue reading “Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation: July 1, 2017 on the horizon — are you ready?”

CASL 2 years in. Are you in compliance? Join us for a free checkup on October 11th.

September 22nd, 2016 by Iler Campbell

ic-education-spam-web

When Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) was introduced in 2014 it sparked panic in many people whose jobs involved sending emails. The intricacies of the rules were confusing and the potential fines where huge. Eventually people figured out what they had to do and got on with their jobs.

Since then, we haven’t heard a lot about CASL, but it hasn’t been entirely quiet. Major fines have been levied against offenders and new rules have come into force. Next July, the sections of the law that deal with the private right of action will come into force. Individuals and organizations will be able to sue spammers directly for CASL violations, a development that has some people panicking again.

Join us on October 11 at 4:30 for a CASL refresher with Shelina Ali, an update on what’s happened since it came into force, and a look at where it’s going. Plus, we’ll have Iler Campbell’s IT manager, Fraser Page, on hand to help you through the technical details of CASL compliance.

Want to attend? Email us at [email protected]. Spaces are very limited.

CRTC levies $1.1 million fine for violation of Anti‑spam legislation

March 24th, 2015 by Shelina Ali

Earlier this month, the Canadian Radio‑television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC’s) Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer, issued a hefty penalty of $1.1 million dollars to Compu‑Finder for failing to comply with Canada’s anti‑spam Legislation that came into force in July of 2014 (commonly referred to as CASL).   The penalty was issued with respect to four alleged violations between July 2014 and September 2014.

Compu‑Finder is a Quebec based training company with a long history of sending unsolicited commercial emails. The CRTC reported that complaints about Compu‑Finder accounted for 26% of those submitted that related to training companies. Continue reading “CRTC levies $1.1 million fine for violation of Anti‑spam legislation”

Anti-Spam Legislation and Non-profits and Charities – Are you ready?

November 5th, 2012 by Ted Hyland

Preparations continue to lay the groundwork for the coming into force of Canada’s anti‑spam law.1  On October 10, 2012, the CRTC published two information guidelines regarding the legislation: Guidelines on the interpretation of the Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations (CRTC) (CRTC Guideline 2012‑548) and Guidelines on the use of toggling as a means of obtaining express consent under Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CRTC Guideline 2012‑549).

The background to the CRTC Guidelines is that on December 15, 2010, Royal Assent was given to Canada’s anti‑spam law.  A date for the law’s coming into force will be set in the coming months, with the date now expected to be in mid‑2013.  The anti‑spam law will affect any individual, business and organization that:

  • Uses commercial electronic messages;
  • Is involved in the alteration of transmission data; and
  • Produces or installs computer programs.

If you are involved in the operation of a non‑profit or charity why should you care about the anti‑spam law? Increasingly, non‑profit organizations and charities are using electronic means of communicating with people, and the anti‑spam legislation will apply to many, if not all, of those electronic messages. How so?

Continue reading “Anti-Spam Legislation and Non-profits and Charities – Are you ready?”

  1. An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act, S.C. 2010, c. 23. ↩