Canada's anti-spam legislation (CASL) has now
been in force for almost two years. However, many businesses still
find it difficult to understand and some still struggle to be
compliant with the new law.
For the most part, CASL is designed to restrict the transmission
of unwanted electronic information (such as spam). Although
reducing the amount of spam out there is arguably a good thing, the
law places an additional burden on businesses, marketing teams, and
individuals because of the effort needed to ensure compliance. And,
sure enough, trying to make sure you are not running afoul of the
law can be complicated, tedious, and difficult.
The general restriction
CASL prohibits the sending of a "Commercial Electronic
Message" to an electronic address unless certain requirements
are met. One of those requirements is consent; the message must
only be sent to someone who has consented to receiving it. Consent
can be either express or implied. CASL then specifically
