Canada's New Anti-Spam Law – Implications For Charities And Nonprofits

The federal government has enacted an anti-spam law ("Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation" or "CASL") which is expected to come into force sometime in 2013. Unlike the federal privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act or "PIPEDA", which for the most part does not apply to charities and nonprofits, the new law will apply to such organizations and will have a significant impact on the way they conduct their donor and member communications.

The most significant, and potentially challenging, aspect of CASL is the consent requirement. In essence, all organizations will be required to obtain positive, "opt-in", recipient consent to be able to send "commercial electronic messages" ("CEMs") to their customers, donors, members and others unless they have a relationship with the contact that is exempt from the law or can establish implied consent under one of CASL's specifically defined categories. Due to the difficulties in managing email