In 2010 a new Anti Spam law was passed in Canada called the Candian Anti Spam Legislation or CASL for short. It promised aggressive enforcement for those who continued to use electronic messaging to spam people. Spam simply means “irrelevant” to the recipient.
The government set forth a plan to come into force in 2014. When that plan was revealed it turned out to be a 3 year plan with staged elements coming into force by specific dates. So in total, organizations had at least 7 years to come into compliance. That’s right – 7 years!
The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) was positioned as the lead enforcement agency with the Competition Bureau and the Office of the Privacy Commission having limited enforcement powers.
Beginning in July 2014 the CRTC used the first 18 months to investigate and fine a few high profile companies like Rogers and Porter Airlines. As part of these announcements they were very clear why the fines were issued and every one of them required an order to come into compliance within 6 months. They also issued guidance documents to allow organizations to understand key elements of this new law.
In December 2015, CRTC’s focus shifted. They started several International discussions designed to create Memos of Understanding (MOUs) in order to enforce this tough new standard globally. It was clear to us watching them closely that they were setting the table for the Private Right of Action to come into force on July 1, 2017. The PRA was always meant to be the PRIMARY enforcement tool. With the public holding organization’s feet to the fire, the enforcement bodies could focus on malicious activity and the dark web, where their enforcement actions could make a significant difference in the amount of spam in our inboxes.
On June 14, 2017, just 2 weeks before the PRA was to come into force, then Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), Minster Navdeep Bains, announced…
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