Canada's new "Anti-Spam Act" was passed
in December 2010, but has not yet come into force. The greatest
impact on Canadian businesses will be that sending electronic
messages which encourage participation in a commercial activity
will require express or implied consent from the recipient.
Commercial electronic messages include e-mail, social networking
accounts and text messages.
The consent requirement introduces an entirely new regime in
Canada which will be one of the most onerous in the world. In order
to rely upon implied consent, the technical rules contained in the
Anti-Spam Act and its regulations must be followed.
If express or implied consent to a message is obtained, the
message must comply with certain form and content requirements
including an unsubscribe mechanism.
