Enforcement staff at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has published an advisory to all businesses providing professional training services in Canada and that are, as part of their commercial activities, conducting e-marketing.
Commission staff has observed that some professional training service businesses are sending commercial electronic messages (CEMs) to lists of emails gathered from public websites. The purpose of this Enforcement Advisory is to remind professional training service businesses of the requirements under Canada’s Anti-spam Legislation pertaining to implied consent and conspicuous publication.
A CEM is a message whose purpose is to encourage participation in a commercial activity and is sent to an electronic address. In order to send CEMs such as emails, there are three main requirements under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)Footnote 1:
- Obtain consent (express or implied);
- Provide identification information; and
- Provide an unsubscribe mechanism.
Commission staff has observed confusion on two forms of implied consent –resulting from an existing business relationships, such as when a consumer has purchased a product or service, and as a result of conspicuous publication, such as when a person publishes their email address on a website.
Professional training service businesses should review their mailing lists and ensure that they are complying with CASL by having established consent or obtaining express consent, providing identification information and including an unsubscribe mechanism when sending CEMs.
To promote compliance, Commission staff has issued more guidance on implied consent.
For more information on CASL requirements and prohibitions, please see the Commission’s website for guidance material.
If you receive CEMs for which you have not provided consent or have previously unsubscribed from, please submit a complaint at the Fightspam website or send us an email at spam@fightspam.gc.ca.
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