Email Unsubscribe Law Canada | 4 things you should know about Canada’s anti-spam legislation
On July 1, 2014, Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) went into effect. At that time, companies were given three years to meet compliance standards. With the July 1, 2017 deadline fast-approaching, we sat down with Jennifer Noyes, Lead Delivery Specialist here at VerticalResponse to get the facts on how this legislation affects businesses that send emails. Here’s what you need to know:
1. What Canada’s anti-spam legislation is all about
According to Canada’s anti-spam legislation website, “The law will help to protect Canadians while ensuring that businesses can continue to compete in the global marketplace.” More specifically, CASL regulates the manner in which commercial electronic messages (CEMs) can be sent, requiring organizations to first obtain permission from recipients.
2. How to comply with the legislation
Noyes shared that CASL requires that your emails comply with these elements:
- All email addresses you send to must be permission-based. Subscribers must specifically opt in to receive your communications. If you are not currently doing this, you can use an email signup form to collect permission-based subscribers on your website, blog or social media networks.
- All emails must contain an easy-to-find unsubscribe link that is valid for 60 days. All unsubscribe requests must be satisfied within 10 days or less and at no cost to the recipient.
- Your subject line must pertain to the content in the email. No part of the email message can be misleading or false.
- You must identify your name and business. Your name or the name of anyone else on whose behalf you are sending the message, and a current mailing address must be clearly displayed. Also include a phone number, email address or web address. Ensure that this information is accurate and valid for a minimum of 60 days after sending the message.
If you’re using an email service provider, you’re most likely in compliance. VerticalResponse is compliant with all elements of CASL, and provides tools to help you follow these rules. In fact, VerticalResponse’s anti-spam policy is more strict than what you’ll find in CASL.
3. What you need to understand regarding mailing lists
One difference between CASL and other anti-spam legislation, such as the American CAN-SPAM Act, is that subscribers must have specifically opted in to receive your communications. During the three-year grace period, CASL allowed for what’s known as “implied consent” or permission that is inferred through consent to send the message actions rather than expressly given. However, implied consent expires on the upcoming July 1, 2017 deadline. Additionally, beginning July 1, 2017, legal action can be brought against any individual or organization alleged to be in violation of CASL. This means that you need to be able to prove that all email recipients have explicitly consented to receive your messages.
To mail through VerticalResponse, contacts must have signed up in some way to receive your emails. You cannot use a purchased or rented list, and you can’t use an address you took from a website. Here’s what you need to know and understand about your lists:
- If you’re using an opt-in form you’re good; you have permission and you have proof of signup if you need it.
- If you’re mailing to your customers, donors or clients and have been for a while, you’re most likely okay. But you may want to reconfirm consent, especially if you aren’t sure when or where they signed up, or if you don’t have any record, in case you need proof.
- If you have a list that you’ve never mailed to and have no idea where it came from, then you won’t be able to mail it, either through VerticalResponse or to people in Canada.
If you want to reconfirm your subscribers’ opt-in status, you can do so with a signup form. You may also want to create a list segment that contains only Canadian email addresses, and make sure you know where all the addresses came from. You can do this by searching your lists for email addresses that end in .ca.
If you have any doubts about how you obtained an email address, don’t send to it. After the CASL compliance deadline, the government will start enforcing fines for violations. encourages participation in a business role functions or duties in a business or official capacity.
4. What to do if your business isn’t in Canada
If your business is located outside of Canada, this does not mean you’re exempt. If you’re sending email to anyone who resides in Canada, your sending practices must abide by CASL. As you prepare for the upcoming compliance deadline, check out these helpful resources:
- Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation site has everything you need to know about the law.
- A FAQ about CASL.
Finally, here’s a handy infographic created by the Canadian government that further breaks down the law:
Note: The information in this post cannot be considered legal advice, and is not legally binding.
In Canada, organizations are required to comply with the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) when sending commercial electronic messages (CEMs). The law requires organizations to obtain express consent from individuals before sending CEMs to their electronic addresses, including email, telephone number, or web address. interest or right in land individual who made the referral consent to purchase sell barter or lease a product types of consent under casl. The consent must be obtained in a way that is conspicuous and in accordance with the law, such as obtaining explicit agreement or including an unsubscribe mechanism in the message. conspicuously published participate in a business role functions or duties in a business or official capacity full name of the individual telephone number email address or web address offers to purchase sell barter or lease a product commercial activity existing non business relationship relevant to purchase sell barter or lease a product interest or attends a business role functions or duties in a business or official capacity. Additionally, organizations must include their full name and contact information, such as a telephone number or email address, in all CEMs. CASL also requires organizations to consider factors such as the individual’s business role and functions, interests, and attendance at business events when obtaining consent. By following these guidelines and regulations, organizations can ensure they are sending emails in a legal and ethical manner.
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Editor’s note: This blog post was originally published in June 2014 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and relevance.
© 2017, Contributing Author. All rights reserved.
Hi Lori,
The anti-spam laws are really geared toward unwanted commercial emails, basically where someone is trying to sell something. People can still forward emails to their friends and colleagues and be compliant with the law. Even if you encourage them to forward emails it’s fine, it’s still one person sending their friend info they might like. So keep encouraging those forwards, you can build up your list, and hopefully customers, that way!
Jill Bastian
Training and Education Manager
VerticalResponse
Hi Jill, If I send out a newsletter to subscribers who have signed up and provided express consent, can I include a paragraph in my newsletter asking subscribers to please forward my newsletter to friends if they think they may be interested in reading it or is that a breach of the act as well?
Thanks,
Lori
Hi Camilla,
The opt-in through VR is double opt-in, meaning they sign up on a form and then need to click a link in an email to confirm the sign up. Once they fill in the form the info will be in your list, but will not be mailable until they click the link. If they don’t click, they’ll be in an unmailable state until they either click the link or you remove them from the list. They can always add themselves to the list again to get the email resent if they need it.
What happens if my contacts don’t reply to the opt-in mailer?
Hi Reza,
You can use a button with the opt-in form if you like, it’s up to you. We have a free button creation tool – buttons.verticalresponse.com – and you can create a button in any color and have it say what you want. So create a button that says Click to Confirm Your Interest! (or whatever) add it to your email as you would any image and then link it to your opt-in form. The forms have URLs, so just use that as the link. Then when someone clicks the button they’ll be able to confirm they want to be on your list.
Hi Tammy,
To use an ESP like VerticalResponse you do have to already have opted in email addresses. The rules on unsubscribing and subject lines that we often talk about come from the US law called CAN-SPAM. This is a new law from Canada which is pretty much just like the the US one, except for the rules on the opted in mailing lists. The US law doesn’t cover that currently, but most ESPs require it.
Hi Harvey,
When you use an ESP, like VerticalResponse, an unsubscribe link is added to the emails automatically. Plus we make sure that the unsub takes place quickly and complies with all the laws on unsubscribing.
Shouldn’t all emails be sent to opt-ins, have an unsubscribe line and a relevant subject line anyways??
Not quite sure how CASL is different to what is already in place?
Thanks for the reply Jill.
But I would really like a simple click here to continue being on our list button I could embed in my mailer like my competition has been sending out. I have used the opt in form on our site but I think it’s much easier and more likely that a recipient would click a simple button than have to click go to a site and fill in a form. If verticleresponse response could have something like that it would be amazing.
Hi Jill
I’ve been getting a lot of emails from places I shop
at that explain the law is coming to in effect and ask
if I would like too still get emails, the email is followed by
a big. “Yes, Keep Sending Me Email” button at the bottom.
Once clicked it goes to there site and confirms I will still
be getting emails from them. Does VR have something like
this?
Hi Carma,
VR requires that all addresses in your account be opted in, meaning they signed up in some way to receive your emails. The new CASL law requires much the same thing, that people sign up to get your emails, or that you have a specific business relationship that requires you email them. The question would be, how are you collecting the email addresses? If you’re using an opt-in form, a sign-up sheet at your business, a scan a trade show, however they’re giving you their info works. As long as they know you’ll be sending them emails, it’s fine.
Hi Tamara,
Good catch! I updated the length of time to 60 days. As far as implied consent goes, yes the law does allow for that, but if any questions come up you (the company sending the email) have to prove it. And that can be pretty difficult for something that’s implied. So we would always recommend that you have direct consent, plus VR does require all addresses in your account be opted in to receive your emails.
I don’t think that item 2.1 and 2.2 in this article are correct, ie,
2.1. CASL compliant implied consent is also allowed.
2.2. An unsubscribe link must be valid for a minimum of 60 days after the message has been sent.
We use our customer database where they have provided us with an email address. Is that considered opt in?
Hi Reza,
In order to use VR all the addresses on your list have to have already opted in to receive your email, so you won’t have to reconfirm them. If you don’t have specific information to show how and when someone from Canada signed up, you could ask them to sign-up again through an opt-in form. This only applies to people in Canada, the rest of your list should be fine. For more info on opt-in forms, go to our help site.