CASL Legislation: What You NEED To Know Before It’s Too Late

With the countdown to the July 1st initiation of the new Canadian Anti-SPAM Legislation (CASL) underway, lead generation companies across the globe are pulling their hair out debating, “Do we or don’t we stay in Canada?” The Top Tier of Legal, Sales, Marketing, and Engineering Teams all gathered around the table debating: how do we become compliant, do we want to be compliant, how will that impact our business, how much business do we even do in Canada? Who’s Canada?

What is CASL?

The Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) will be enforced starting on July 1, 2014, and is applicable to anyone who makes use of commercial electronic messages (CEMs). This means if you have an email address in your database that you suspect belongs to a Canadian, or if anyone opens your email in Canada, this law is applicable even if your business is based in the U.S. or any other country outside of Canada.

CASL blows CAN-SPAM out of the water. CASL doesn’t follow the “you get one chance to contact a lead” motto. CASL follows the “you get no chance until consent is given to the Sender” motto.

How CASL Defines Consent

There are two types of consent: Express and Implied.

Express Consent:

Explicit opt-in language identifying who, what and where (i.e. NetLine, free eBook offers, by email). Clear messaging that the subscriber can opt-out must also be included – and most importantly the checkbox CANNOT be auto toggled to ‘yes’. Once express consent is obtained and documented, it will never expire unless the user opts out.

Implied Consent:

(This is where it gets fuzzy!) Existing business relationships, existing non-business relationships, contracts, disclosed addresses, etc… If you have implied consent you must then request express consent. Implied consent expires ranging from 6 months – 3 years post-acquisition.

It is very important to distinguish between the two types and determine what type of consent you have received (if any) – AND you must be able to prove it. Auto-subscriptions assigned to new leads for your company and your partners are a thing of the CAN-SPAM past.

How Does My Company Get CASL Ready?

Well… first you need to determine how CASL will affect your business model, database, and campaigns. Our experts have dedicated hours to this new legislation and we have gathered the top CASL resources for you. We suggest reviewing these documents and working with your legal team to determine next steps.

3 Important Questions to Think About:

Do you have the data to distinguish Canadian leads in your database? And are there Canadian leads that have not given consent to your company? (i.e. purchased or rented lists)
Does your company’s current lead generation and communication strategy follow CASL regulations for obtaining consent and sending CEMs? If no, how quickly can they be updated? If yes, do you have proper documentation to prove this?
What percentage of your business is from Canada? What are your future goals for generating business in Canada?

The good news…. While the July 1st date is right around the corner and certain business decisions need to be made before the cutoff, you can change the direction of your sails at anytime. The important thing is to make sure you have eliminated all risk before moving forward. Get #CASL Ready!

3 Essential CASL Resources

Government of Canada: The Law and Regulations
Make sure you’re CASL-ready: 3 Steps to CASL Compliance
Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) Campaign and Database Compliance Checklist

NetLine is dedicated to providing exceptional results for our clients and guarantees CASL compliance in B2B qualified lead generation. To learn more about NetLine’s B2B Lead Generation Services contact our Team:

Email: B2Bleads@netline.com
Call: 408.340.2200 Toll Free: 888.515.3237

*This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice.
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