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ARTICLE · 20 JULY 2017

Personal Liability Under Canada's Anti-Spam Law

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Under Canada's Anti-Spam Law (CASL) not only may a corporation that fails to comply be liable to pay a monetary penalty but personal liability may also arise.

CanadaCorporate/Commercial Law
J. Sébastien Gittens
J. Sébastien Gittens
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Under Canada's Anti-Spam Law (CASL) not only may a corporation that fails to comply be liable to pay a monetary penalty but personal liability may also arise. Section 31 provides that "An officer, director, agent or mandatary of a corporation that commits a violation is liable for the violation if they directed, authorized, assented to, acquiesced in or participated in the commission of the violation, whether or not the corporation is proceeded against".

An example of application of Section 31 is the case of Mr. Halazon and TCC reported by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in June 2017. Mr. Halazon was the chief executive officer of Couch Commerce and several subsidiaries (all described as "Couch Commerce"). The CRTC report indicated that those entities are bankrupt.

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