CRTC Releases Guidelines On CASL Consent Records

Since Canada's anti-spam legislation (CASL) was enacted in 2014, businesses have been faced with the challenge of keeping adequate records of their authority to send commercial electronic messages under CASL's various categories of express and implied consent. As the CRTC began CASL enforcement actions, the ability of companies to prove that they had appropriate consent under the law, and to respond to CRTC production notices requesting consent records, became a topic of increasing concern. However, as little information was publicly disclosed about enforcement proceedings undertaken to date, the full extent of the CRTC's expectations regarding consent records was unclear.

The CRTC has now issued public guidance on keeping records of consent in an Enforcement Advisory notice published July 27. Businesses and individuals sending commercial electronic messages should keep physical or electronic copies of: (1) all evidence of express and implied consent; (2)