Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation: Considering CASL In Business Transactions

Since coming into force on July 1^st, 2014, Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation ("CASL") has created new concerns and risks that must be addressed in business transactions. This post reviews those concerns in the context of asset acquisitions, specifically the risks associated with the transfer of CASL consents for the purposes of sending marketing messages to business customers. Given the volume of marketing and customer contact conducted by retailers and consumer products distributors, this may be of particular concern in acquisitions of consumer facing businesses or businesses that manufacture consumer products. A retailer or distributor that fails to address these issues at the time it obtains CASL consents, or prior to the transaction, could find a significant portion of the transaction value eroded by its inability to transfer customer contact lists.