Everything you wanted to know about Canada's Anti-Spam
The Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) was enforced back in July 2014 to establish some rules and guidelines for sending out commercial electronic.
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Updated November 2026. This was first published on 29 May 2020. The idea is the same. Any number below is what the original piece said then. It is not a new count.
Key takeaways
- The Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) was enforced back in July 2014 to establish some rules and guidelines for sending out commercial electronic messages to Canadian audiences.
- Besides these electronic messages, CASL also prohibits the unauthorized alteration of transmission data.
- Unlike the American CANSPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing) Act, CASL is more recipient-based.
The Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) was enforced back in July 2014 to establish some rules and guidelines for sending out commercial electronic messages to Canadian audiences. Besides these electronic messages, CASL also prohibits the unauthorized alteration of transmission data. Unlike the American CANSPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing) Act, CASL is more recipient-based. means that the restrictions are imposed only if the recipient is located in Canada, and are of the location of the sender. Here is everything you need to know about the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
CASL Guidelines & Checklist #
Although the CASL consists of a long list of legal requirements and explanations, all of it can be summed up into three main points. As a business that frequently needs to send out commercial messages online, you can use these three points as a checklist to make sure you’re compliant with the CASL.
1. Review Your Email Address Collection Methods #
Ever since the law was implemented on the 1st of July, 2014, it requires every email address collected after the aforementioned date to be saved in a very specific manner. You need to document consent, either implied or express, with every email you’ve added to your email marketing database after July 2014. This consent may be documented in different manners but if you get caught using emails without consent, you can land into some serious legal trouble.
Explaining on the consent part, you can either use an Implied or an Express Consent. Implied consent is mostly based on actions of the recipients such as engaging in a business deal with the brand (for instance, a purchase or a donation). Express consent, But, requires you to explicitly ask for permission for sending out emails. Express consent is always recommended over Implied consent since making things crystal clear avoid any misunderstandings later on.
2. Obtain Express Consent from Existing Contacts #
This point requires you to obtain express consent from all of the Canadian contacts that you had collected prior to the enforcement of the law. The transition period for non-compliant consents was set to be three years and ended on July 1st, 2017. If you still haven’t been able to obtain this consent, you can still obtain it in a simple way. Simply send out an email to your Canadian contacts to confirm their opt-in status either through an external link or through a form attached within the email. Once they opt-in for the emails, you are good to go. Besides the consent itself, you may also want to document the date the consent was given and the method of obtaining consent to avoid any legal implications later on.
3. Make Sure Ongoing Communications have Appropriate Information #
This one is a little elaborate and covers all the necessary information you need to include in the emails you send out to your Canadian contacts. Here is everything your commercial emails must include,.
The email must clearly identify the sender of the email. The name of the person, business, or company sending the email must be clearly mentioned. The Email Service Provider must be clearly visible. The email must contain a mechanism allowing the recipients to opt-out easily. The instructions for opting-out must be clearly understandable by an average person. The email must contain a valid mailing address, email address, website, or a telephone number of the sending party.
To ensure compliance, make sure all your emails contain this information.
Notable Prosecutions Under CASL #
Not taking the CASL seriously has led some of the leading businesses of Canada in serious trouble and they have had to pay hefty amounts in violation fines to get out of the mess. Here are some popular companies that had to pay thousands to dollars in penalties.
Kellogg Canada Inc., a world-famous cereal manufacturing company, had to pay $60,000 in fines when a third-party sent out promotional emails to recipients on their behalf. The company, when convicted, claimed that it had obtained consent the right way but was unable to provide any records or proof when asked. Thus, due to the absence of proper documentation, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) concluded that the emails were sent without consent and proceeded to penalize the company. One of the most famous airlines of Canada namely Porter Airlines had to face a penalty of a solid $150K. They were responsible for sending out emails that did not have a clear unsubscribe option and were also unable to provide proof of consent for each email that was sent out to the Canadians. Rogers Communications, a Canadian communications and media company, was fined $200K for the mismanagement of unsubscribe mechanisms in their emails. There was also an ambiguity regarding the consent of the recipients. Another company by the name of Compu-Finder sent out commercial electronic messages promoting various training courses. These emails were sent without acquiring consent from the recipients and did not provide a way for them to unsubscribe. For these violations, they were subjected to a $1.1M penalty by the CRTC.
The Bright Side #
While the CASL has brought businesses marketing in Canada under strict check and has limited their email marketing freedom a lot, there have been a lot of positive effects associated with it as well. Here are some examples of how the law has helped both the recipients and the senders.
The CASL has simply brought down the level of spams Canadians had to face a lot. Within a year of the legislation being introduced, a 37% decrease in spam was observed in Canadians? Since the unsolicited clutter in the inboxes went down significantly, the click-through rates of the emails increased while the bounce rates dropped. Canadians became more disciplined in managing their emails and started paying attention to all their emails which benefited businesses a lot. Within 3 years of the legislation being introduced, the proportion of commercial emails reaching their recipients increased to 90% whereas the open-rate increased to 32%. This was even greater than that in the US.
How Brands in Canada Are Obtaining Consent? #
Here are a few examples of some of the leading brands in Canada that are complying to the CASL requirements through various consent forms and email templates. Going through these will make things even more clear for you and will help you understand the law even further.
Roots is a publicly held Canadian brand that sells apparel, leather bags, footwear, athletic wear, and home furnishings. Their newsletter subscription form is really detailed and contains a clear statement on obtaining Express consent. Also, it clearly says that the subscriber will be able to unsubscribe from the emails at any time.
BITE Beauty is one of the leading vegan, cruelty-free and gluten-free makeup brands in Canada. The emails they send out to their subscribers are compliant to the CASL. In the screenshot below, you can clearly see how the email contains an email address, a physical address, a contact number, and an unsubscribe button.
Walmart Canada also uses a similar consent form when collecting emails. They obtain Express consent by informing the users clearly what they are subscribing for. It is also stated that they may unsubscribe from the emails whenever they want.
Questions and answers #
How Brands in Canada Are Obtaining Consent? #
Here are a few examples of some of the leading brands in Canada that are complying to the CASL requirements through various consent forms and email templates. Going through these will make things even more clear for you and will help you understand the law even further.
Within a year of the legislation being introduced, a 37% decrease in spam was observed in Canadians? #
Since the unsolicited clutter in the inboxes went down significantly, the click-through rates of the emails increased while the bounce rates dropped. Canadians became more disciplined in managing their emails and started paying attention to all their emails which benefited businesses a lot.