New Canada Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL): A Litigation Perspective

What is Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation ("CASL")?

CASL was passed into law on December 15, 2010, over vigorous objection by various business interests, and became effective on July 1, 2014.  CASL can best be understood as a draconian, Canadian hybrid of the U.S. Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 ("CAN-SPAM") and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 ("TCPA").  CASL prohibits all commercial electronic messages ("CEMs") that are sent without proper consumer consent, including e-mail, text, social media and image messages.  As such, CASL has a strict "opt-in" framework.  By contrast, CAN-SPAM regulates the content and form of e-mail messages and does so through use of a much more liberal "opt-out" framework.