Are You Ready To Comply?
On July 1 this year, we will all be celebrating Canada’s birthday and hopefully you will be celebrating your compliance with Canada’s new anti-spam legislation. All businesses in Canada must comply with the new law even though many seem to be unaware of the fact that it is coming into force on July 1, write Doug Crozier and Tim Law of Heifetz Crozier Law in this week’s issue of Canadian Travel Press.
Although it is being referred to as the “anti-spam law,” it applies to much more than what most of us think of as “spam.” Every “commercial electronic message” (CEM) will be caught by the law and that is a message that is intended “to encourage participation in a commercial activity, regardless of whether there is an expectation of profit.”
An “electronic message” is one sent by any means of telecommunication, including text, sound, voice or image. An e-mail sent to inform of this week’s special deals is caught by the law because the expectation is that someone will buy and a profit will be made by the business sending the e-mail. The law also applies even if the person receiving the e-mail from the Canadian business is located outside Canada.
Having seemed to include all electronic messages the law then provides for some exceptions. Most importantly are those sent in reply to a request, inquiry or complaint. Messages concerning activities of a company sent by an employee, representative or consultant of the company to another employee, representative or consultant of the same or related company are also exempt. Fax transmissions to a telephone account, interactive two-way voice communications and voice messages sent to telephone account are exempt under the law. Any message sent to provide safety or warranty info for a good or product already purchased, or to finalize or complete the sale of a transaction already entered into are also exempt from the law.
In order to comply with the law the sender of the CEM must have the consent of the recipient and the message must have the specified information in it.
For the full story in this week’s issue of Canadian Travel Press, click here.
