Anti-Spam Legislation Is (Finally) Coming – Will You Be Ready?

As most will be aware by now, on July 1, 2014 parts of Canada's Anti-Spam legislation, known as CASL, will come into force, and have a dramatic impact on the way in which electronic commerce is conducted. The legislation is aimed at curbing the proliferation of unwanted electronic messages, commonly referred to as spam or junk email. Generally spam refers to unwanted bulk email but this legislation is not focussed solely on bulk messages. It applies to all "Commercial Electronic Messages" which are known as CEMs.

In addition to the legislation there are two sets of regulations issued by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the Electronic Commerce Regulations (CRTC) and the Industry Canada Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations.In addition, there are the Compliance and Enforcement Information Bulletins CRTC 2012-548 and 2012-549.