American commerce emails have long been regulated by the CANSPAM act from Congress. Canadians have not had as much in place to dictate when you can and can not send someone a commercial email. That is all about to change.
Canada's Anti-Spam Law, or CASL, will govern commercial email in Canada and could lead to some pretty steep fines for non-compliance. CASL has several key dates for parts of this legislation going into effect. The first is coming up next week on Canada Day, July 1.
While the first date for CASL is looming near, don't panic if you weren't aware and aren't ready. There are several dates of impact for this new program, spread across three years.
Take this as a time to educate yourself and get your ducks in a row.
The first thing you need to know? Are you even impacted by CASL? The answer to that is pretty simple. Do you send emails from Canada? Do you send commercial emails to someone who is opening them on an electronic device in Canada?
If you answered these both no, then you have nothing to worry about until you add Canadian email addresses to your list.
If you answered yes, then you need to learn about the new rules get your email practices in alignment with the new guidelines. You'll need to make sure you are obtaining the proper form of consent from your contacts to receive commercial emails. I'm sharing two of helpful resources I've found on this topic.
Here's a high- level infographic.
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