Skip To Content

Things to know

  • Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (known as CASL) is likely the most comprehensive e-messaging law in the world
  • CASL applies to “commercial electronic messages” (CEM), which is defined very broadly to include almost all email, SMS, instant messaging and at least some social media communications sent for a commercial purpose
  • CASL applies to messages received in Canada (even when the sender is outside Canada) and messages sent from Canada
  • Penalties for non-compliance include fines of up to CAD $10,000,000 per violation (e.g., per message)

Things to do

  • Establish which lawful authority (such as consent, an exemption to consent or a full exemption) can be used to send a CEM to Canadian recipients
  • If requesting express consent, ensure that your request complies with CASL’s prescriptive form and content rules
  • Ensure that the content of any regulated message complies with CASL’s disclosure and unsubscribe requirements
  • Implement a corporate compliance plan
  • Honour any unsubscribe request without delay, but in any event, no later than 10 business days after receiving it
  • Document your approach to compliance
Download topic