The latest draft regulations for Canada’s anti-spam law were published today in the Canada Gazette and the government is asking for consultation on them until Feb. 4.
While Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) received Royal Assent December 2010, it won’t be enforced in law until the end of this year or perhaps even next year. The law will impact any business that sends e-mail to Canadians. Particularly for marketing purposes, as the law will require prior consent to receive any commercial e-mail.
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But the new regulations, published for the first time since July 2011, include a few new breaks for businesses. It closes some loop holes where even e-mails sent within a business could be construed as spam, and business-to-business e-mail is also more acceptable so long as there’s a legitimate business relationship between the communicating firms.
Another big exemption is that businesses may send an e-mail to a new contact without their consent if a referral names that person, so long as that referral has a real connection to the person. You can bet this will make referral marketing a bigger focus for business in the year ahead as preparations are made for the anti-spam law to finally come into effect.