Canada's new anti-spam legislation and what you need to know

Canada has sent a clear message that it will not tolerate spam. Canada's new Anti-Spam Legislation, or CASL, is designed as one of the most stringent anti-spam regimes in the world. It will impose significant restrictions on the use of electronic messages for commercial purposes and will dramatically impact the communications, marketing and advertising practices of businesses operating in the Canadian marketplace. CASL differs in several significant respects from the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act.CASL's anti-spam provisions apply to "commercial electronic messages" (or CEMs), which means any electronic message that has a purpose to encourage participation in a commercial activity. CASL's provisions apply to any CEM that is either sent from or accessed by a computer in Canada, so will impact many of the electronic marketing practices of businesses that have an electronic presence in Canada, even if the businesses do not have an actual, physical presence in Canada.