Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation – 2021 Year In Review

In 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear a challenge to the constitutional validity of Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (commonly known as "CASL"), and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued two CASL enforcement decisions.

CASL

CASL creates a comprehensive regime of offences, enforcement mechanisms and potentially severe penalties designed to prohibit the sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages (CEMs), the unauthorized commercial installation and use of computer programs on another person's computer system and other forms of online fraud. Following are some key aspects of CASL:

• CASL creates an opt-in regime that prohibits, subject to limited exceptions, the sending of a CEM unless the recipient has given consent (express or implied in limited circumstances) to receive the CEM and the CEM complies with prescribed formalities (e.g., information about the sender and an effective and promptly implemented