Do you have consent? Anti-spam rules in effect July 1

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Changes to Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) come into effect on July 1. These changes state that you can only send a commercial electronic message (CEM), which includes emails, texts or social media messages, to people who’ve given implied consent.

Implied consent based on an ‘existing business relationship’ is achieved if you’ve:

• done business with the recipient of your CEM in the past two years (i.e., had an agreement with them); or
• received an inquiry about your products or services from the recipient in the past six months.

Consent to send CEMs can also be implied if a REALTOR® or Broker:

• is following up on a referral; 
• has an existing non-business relationship; 
• is sending a CEM because of a conspicuous publication of an email address; and
• is acting on a disclosure of an email address by the recipient.

Please review your mailing lists to ensure you’re complying with the legislation. If you don't have an existing business relationship, now is the time to send an email requesting consent to receive future communications, CEMs, from you. Failure to comply with this legislation could result in fines up to $1 million for an individual and up to $10 million for a business. 

Advocacy success

The federal government originally planned to allow people to bring legal action against CEM senders who contravened CASL on or after July 1. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), and other stakeholders, were successful in urging the government to postpone implementation of this private right of action provision.

CASL resources

• Learn more about your responsibilities under CASL here.
• Read this article from Allison McLure, Legal Counsel for CREA