Canada Anti-Spam Legislation: Obligations and Opportunity. Presenters: Matthew Wansink Chris Bakker

Transcription

1 Canada Anti-Spam Legislation: Obligations and Opportunity Presenters: Matthew Wansink Chris Bakker

2 Agenda Introduction CASL Overview CASL Nuts and Bolts CASL What is compliance? Building your business the CASL way

3 Introduction CASL New Legislation Online July 1, 2014 Information Overload Focus on practical considerations» Be current» CASL compliant business development

4 CASL - An Overview

5 It s a Mouthful! CASL actually: An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act. Better Yet: Canada Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)

6 What Is it Really? Federal Legislation (i.e. Canada wide) designed to promote e- commerce and discourage unsolicited electronic messaging as a business and marketing tool Response to the proliferation of spam Takes a prohibitive approach not a permissive one Deters most damaging and deceptive forms of spam

7 Why Now? Government, industry and the public wanted less unsolicited electronic messages, whether in the form of , text messages, social media or other means of telecommunication, sent for commercial reasons Secondary attempt to reduce electronic threats to commerce, including phishing, pharming, malware and spyware

8 What Does CASL Capture? For starters - Applies to Marketing, and all Social Media Marketing for a commercial activity Barring specific exemptions, don t assume that recipients want to receive marketing materials get consent! Very broad coverage Commercial Electronic Messages (CEMs) Malware / Spyware Automatic Information Collection

9 CEMs What Are They? Commercial Electronic Messages - message sent by any means of telecommunication, including a text, sound, voice or image message, to an electronic address / instant messaging accounts Similar accounts Several classes of commercial messaging are exempted from CASL Phone conversations Messages sent via fax to telephone accounts Voice recordings sent to a telephone account

10 When is this Happening? Originally enacted in December 2010 Main body of CASL comes online July 1, 2014 Computer program rules (malware etc.) trigger on January 15, 2015 On July 1, 2017, private individuals gain a right of action to claim damages You can be sued as well as receive administrative penalties

11 Do I Really Need to Worry? CASL creates new offences, enforcement mechanisms and penalties regulating unsolicited CEMs With CASL - some of the toughest legislation in the G-8 Higher consent standards Covers more communication mediums Detailed content requirements Significant penalties for breach:» $1,000,000 up to $10,0000,000 per instance» violations may be separately assessed for each day of noncompliance

12 CASL vs CAN SPAM ACT CASL Covers: Commercial electronic messages Potential liability of directors, officers and agents of a corporation Expressly includes employers of employees Any CEM that has, as its purpose, or one of its purposes, a commercial activity CAN SPAM ACT Covers: Commercial electronic mail messages (CEMM) Directors and officers not referenced in the legislation Any CEMM that has as its primary purpose a commercial intent

13 CASL Nuts and Bolts

14 Is an Electronic Message Commercial? Commercial message: content that as one of its purposes encourages participation in a commercial activity, regardless of whether this is done with the expectation of profit Messages that offer to sell or advertise products Messages that promote a person or corporation, including personal contact information Messages that aim to collect consumer or market information Messages aimed at obtaining consent to send further messages

15 Exemptions From CASL Do Exist CEM provides only factual info about a subscription, membership or account CEM sent to an individual with whom the sender has a personal or family relationship CEM sent to a person engaged in a commercial activity and consists solely of an inquiry or application related to that person s commercial activity Any CEM sent in response to a request, inquiry, complaint or otherwise solicited by the person receiving the CEM

16 Exemptions From CASL Do Exist (con t) Employee to employee CEMs between companies that have a business relationship and the CEMs relate to the company receiving the message A CEM sent to satisfy or inform of a legal obligation, recall notice or warranty information A one-time CEM sent to someone without consent, relying on a referral from a 3 rd party, as long as the sender discloses the name of the person making the referral, and as long as the person making the referral has a relationship with both the sender and the receiver

17 If No Exemption Then GET CONSENT! Two things to think about in order to comply with a Non-exempt CEM: Need Consent from the receiver» Express Consent; or» Implied Consent CEM Content must contain» Information Disclosure» Unsubscribe Mechanism

18 Picture It... CEMs Non-Exempt Consent Do I have?? Content Is it there? Express Implied Disclosures Unsubscribe Gold Standard Limited Time Required Info Mechanism Oral Keep Records Written Preferred Business Relationship Is it really? Non-Business Relationship Close enough? Published Info Relevant Info

19 Express Consent Go to form of consent Required disclosures to obtain consent Purpose of the request Name and contact information of party making the request for consent Communication must include statement that consent can be withdrawn at anytime (an unsubscribe option)

20 Implied Consent Onus on the Sender Business Relationship Contractual Relationships Parties to leases, contracts for sale Supply or Services contracts Relationship Outside Business Shared volunteer associations Membership in clubs or groups Address of Recipient is Published Hasn t previously withdrawn consent Information is relevant to the recipient s duties

21 Content Requirements Disclosure of Information Who is sending the CEM The name of the agent used (if any) Sender s contact information Unsubscribe Option Must advise receiver they can unsubscribe at anytime Receiver must be able to reply directly to the notice

22 Express Consent Means EXPRESS!

23 Express Consent Be Careful

24 Unsubscribing Examples

25 CASL What is Compliance?

26 Be Prepared! Main body of CASL comes online July 1, year transition period in some cases During the Transition Period implied consent continues For a period of 3 years after July 1, 2014 Until express consent is obtained Consent is withdrawn

27 Staff Knowledge & Compliance Groups Internal buy-in is key s to staff / required replies Senior and Mid-level management messaging» Continual process, not a one time event Cross organizational compliance group Leaders across divisions» Information Tech / sales & marketing / administrative CASL compliant database of CEMs ABR - Always Be Reminding

28 Go Data Mining My commercial electronic message business is... Review databases for CEM communications Required disclosure from sales & marketing staff Categorize and classify CEMs» What categories and types are important» Risky CEMs with little value add» New types moving forward Make database easy and accessible

29 The CEM Database Is a category of CEM Allowed by Express Consent Gold Standard Allowed by Exemption Allowed by Implied Consent be careful Are database management tools Capable of tracking unsubscribe notices Tracking time periods for implied consent Capable of recognizing upgrades in consent

30 The CASL 500 CASL not a one lap race Compliance today doesn t mean no breach tomorrow Coordinate departmental communications and develop/implement training plan» Don t forget new employees» Refresher courses» Targeted training CEM Database review benchmarks» Monthly / quarterly Are management tools working

31 Build Your Business: The CASL Way

32 Show Me the Solution! voic or calls events and meetings signature online presence

33 Show Them How

34 Hand to Hand promote your list and encourage people to join from your business card and other printed material

35 Customer Touch Every interaction with a contact should be used as an opportunity to join your business list Business Card drops, voic , sales/service invoices & quotes

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