CASL Guidance For Registered Charities

Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation ("CASL"), which came into force on July 1, 2014, is considered to be the toughest commercial electronic messaging ("CEM") legislation in the world, with substantial fines for violations (including fines up to $10 million for organizations).

While CASL's prohibition on sending CEMs (without adhering to prescribed consent, form and unsubscribe requirements) applies to all organizations, the regulations exempt CEMs sent by a registered charity (as defined under Canada's federal Income Tax Act) where the primary purpose of the CEM is to raise funds for the charity.

Registered charities making efforts to comply with CASL have had difficulty determining the scope of the fundraising exemption because of ambiguity with respect to the meaning of the words "primary purpose" and the fundraising activities untended to be covered by the exemption.