Committee Calls For CASL Clarification

Following a series of hearings this fall, a Parliamentary Committee has recommended that the Canadian government revise Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) to clarify a number of key provisions, and that the government and its enforcement agencies provide enhanced guidance material to assist organizations in interpreting and applying the law.

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU) also recommended that the potential impact of implementing CASL's private right of action, whose coming into force was suspended earlier this year, be further examined once the recommended changes and clarifications have been implement to the Act and its accompanying regulations, and that such an examination consider whether any available damages should be based on proof of tangible harm (as opposed to the statutory damages contemplated in the not-yet-in-force private right of action provision).