CANADA’S ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION (CASL)€¦ · ensure required functionality for CASL compliance....

Regulating and advancing engineering practice to protect the public interest.

CANADA’S ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION (CASL)

Training for Chapters

Based on Guidelines for ChaptersFirst published February 2015

Edited December 2015 and June 2017Version 3.12

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Contents• Introduction• CASL Applicability• Consent

– General definition– Express consent– Implied consent– When don’t we need consent?– Withdraw consent

• Requirements• Ongoing Compliance• Questions?• Contact Us

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Introduction• Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) came into effect on July 1, 2014.• Intent of CASL is to put restrictions on how commercial electronic messages

(CEMs) are being sent.• As of July 1, 2017, there are more changes to CASL.• CEMs will require express consent from the intended recipients before such

messages can be sent.• PEO and its chapters need to comply with CASL.

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CASL Applicability

CASL only applies to commercial electronic messages (CEMs).

Commercial electronic messages refer to an electronic message (such as email, text or instant/direct message) where at least part of the purpose is to encourage the recipient to participate in a commercial activity.

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CASL Applicability (cont’d)

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CASL Applicability (cont’d)• Commercial

– Even an event costing $1 to attend is considered a commercial activity.

– “Expectation of a profit,” or lack thereof, is no exception.• Electronic message

– Email– Text (SMS text message or similar)– Instant/direct message

• Intent of the message (…at least part of)– To encourage the recipient to participate in a commercial activity.

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CASL Applicability (cont’d)• CASL does not apply to:

– telephone calls;– faxes;– broadcast messages

• tweets; • social media posts;

– messages responding to a request, inquiry or complaint; or– messages sent to someone with whom the sender has a

personal or family relationship.

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Friendly Hint #1

If a chapter is in doubt as to whether a message will be considered a commercial electronic message and be captured by CASL, it should consult with PEO before sending the message.

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Consent – General definitionConsent

– Someone has voluntarily agreed to, or provided their approval or permission.

Two types of consent in CASL:• Express consent

– is clearly stated

• Implied consent– can be inferred from the circumstances or someone’s conduct

Note: Consents are not defined explicitly by CASL

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Consent – Express consent• Chapters should always seek express consent.

– PEO requires written express consent.

• When seeking consent, chapters need to ensure the recipient understands:– that the local chapter, all other chapters and PEO are collectively

asking for their consent;– why they might receive commercial electronic messages;– that they can withdraw consent any time; and– the method by which they can withdraw consent.

• Consent requests must contain appropriate identifying and contact information of the individual.

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Consent – Express consent (cont’d)• Consent requests cannot be bundled with other requests for consents.• Example:

– A chapter cannot request consent to receive commercial electronic messages at the same time as it requests permission to collect private information.

– The two requests should be kept separate.

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Consent – Implied consent• Chapters can assume they have implied consent if:

– there is an existing business relationship between the sender and the recipient; or– the recipient had made an inquiry or application in the past six months in relation to

certain commercial activities.

• Implied consents must be converted to express consents by Canada Day 2017*

* Based on business relationships in existence as of Canada Day 2014

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Friendly Hint #2

By July 1, 2017, chapters will not be able to rely on any implied consent. Express consent must be received by that date in order for CEMs to be sent.

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Consent – When don’t we need consent?• We don’t need consent if the message:

– facilitates, completes or confirms a commercial transaction; or– is sent within the organization, or between organizations that have a

relationship, and concerns the activities of the recipient organization.

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Consent – When don’t we need consent? (cont’d)

• Third-party referrals– A chapter can send a SINGLE commercial electronic

message to someone without consent following a third party’s referral;

– Where existing relationships exist • person making the referral the chapter, and• person making the referral the recipient;

– Chapter must be able to prove that relationships exist.

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Third Party Referral

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Consent – Withdraw consentAnyone can withdraw consent at any time• They can do so by email, telephone, regular mail and

electronically, such as via an unsubscribe mechanism.• If a person withdraws consent, the chapter must stop

sending any further commercial electronic messages within 10 days.

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Friendly Hint #3Chapters must include an unsubscribe mechanism in all commercial electronic messages (incl. newsletters).

An unsubscribe mechanism is already included in the Campaigner template for eblasts.

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Email List Maintenance• PEO HQ maintains the email lists of its members (P.Eng.

and EIT) and uses Campaigner to distribute emails.• Chapters should use Campaigner to distribute emails to

their respective members as well.• PEO HQ provides and maintains the email templates to

ensure required functionality for CASL compliance.• Chapters are advised not to maintain their own mailing

lists or use programs other than Campaigner to send out email campaigns.

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Friendly Hint #4

Chapters should only use Campaigner when sending out email campaigns.

The approved PEO email templates within Campaigner have the unsubscribe mechanism required by CASL.

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Requirements• PEO and its chapters need to balance the need to be compliant

with CASL with the ongoing desire to continue to communicate with stakeholders at the local level.

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Requirements (cont’d)• To respect the CASL requirements on July 1, 2017 and beyond:

1. Chapters are to remove all monetary references from their electronic communications.

2. Chapters may refer recipients of the communication to their website for further details on chapter events, but,

3. Chapters must not provide a direct link to the chapter website in the communication.

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Requirements (cont’d)• Example of an acceptable email campaign:

– The ABC Chapter’s annual golf tournament and networking event will be held this year on July 31. For more information, please visit the ABC Chapter website.

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Requirements (cont’d)• Social media presence:

4. Chapters are also encouraged to increase the use of general posts on their social media accounts (e.g. Facebook wall posts, LinkedIn posts or tweets) to inform stakeholders of events.

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Requirements (cont’d)• Cautions regarding social media presence:

5. Commercial messages should not be sent to individuals via instant/direct messaging from social media accounts.

6. Direct links to any commercial message on social media should not be included in any email distributions.

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Requirements (cont’d)• Frequency of email campaigns:

7. It is suggested that chapters limit the number of electronic messages they send out to one per week (commercial or otherwise) so as not to overwhelm and/or frustrate recipients as well as to avoid spam filters.

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Ongoing Compliance• It is important that PEO and all its chapters respect the CASL requirements

that come into force on July 1, 2017.• PEO’s chapter office will be happy to review any chapter correspondence in

order to provide helpful suggestions on how to meet the spirit of the legislation.• The chapter office will also conduct annual CASL training for all chapters.

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Questions?

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If you have specific questions, please send an email to [email protected]

CANADA’S ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION (CASL)€¦ · ensure required functionality for CASL compliance....

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