Clock ticking on new spam rules /Not all businesses ready as July 1 deadline nears to tighten up message systems CLARE MELLOR STAFF REPORTER [email protected] @CH_cmellor Halifax business owner Malcolm Norton hates spam clogging his inbox and believes his customers do, too. The owner o f Thumpers Salon in Halifax says he is ready for Canada’s new anti-spam legislation that takes effect July 1. “We are aware of it and have been for a while. “We do recognize that (sending out emails) is a privilege and the last thing we want to do is send anything to anybody who would be offended or would not want what we are sending, he said in a recent interview. “We are very careful to keep a very clean list of (email addresses). The new law makes it illegal for a person or business to send any commercial electronic message — such as an email or text — unless they can prove they have the consent of the recipient. Fines for breaking the law range from up to $1 million for an individual to up to $10 million for a business. While Norton is ready, some business groups and legal experts worry that many businesses, especially smaller ones, are not . “I would say that work still needs to be done to communicate to small businesses that this is coming July 1 and this is going to have a very real effect on how they communicate with their customers, said Jennifer English, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in Nova Scotia. Becky Davison, a spokeswoman for the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, agreed. “I noticed that the awareness is growing but I don’t think that small businesses are stopping to pay attention to it as much as they should, she said. English said her organization has been busy trying to boil the legislation down to understandable terms so businesses can comply. But it is also telling businesses to seek legal advice. Under the new law, a client must give either express or implied consent to receive commercial electronic communications. Implied consent refers to an interaction between a business and client, within the past two years, that makes it clear the client is open to receiving communications. “What we have been saying to members is get on this now, English said. “You have until July 1 to obtain consent and then you will be in compliance. Consumers may have noticed an influx of emails over the last few weeks from many larger companies and organizations asking them to click “yes if they want to keep receiving emails. English said the legislation is a burden for small-business owners, who don’t have the in-house legal experts or communications personnel of large corporations. “Business owners are going to have . . . to develop a record system (of clients who have given consent) and keep it, and this is going to cause significant red tape issues for many of our members. This is just one more thing that they have to do. David Fraser, who has been busy advising businesses on compliance, agrees the new law will hamper many. “The burden on business is grossly disproportionate to the benefit for consumers, said Fraser, a lawyer with McInnes Cooper in Halifax. The federal government has not done enough to educate businesses about their obligations, he said. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is the main regulator. “The impact of this law is absolutely dramatic on small businesses and large businesses, Fraser said. “It has been put forward as an anti-spam law and most companies will think, ‘We don’t send spam. We don’t send these Viagra ads. We are not scamming people or anything like that.’ This law goes well beyond what you and I would consider to be spam. Fraser said a child who sends an email to neighbours to let them know about his lemonade stand could theoretically be penalized under the law as it is written. “He would be lumped into the same category as these African inheritance scammers. Fraser said the law is complex and even lawyers are having debates interpreting parts of it. “I can’t imagine a layperson who is spending 12 hours a day running his or her small business and then coming home at the end of the day and trying to make sense of it. However, Lynne Perrault said the CRTC’s electronic commerce enforcement agency has been “working diligently to explain the legislation and help industry b e compliant . “I can’t comment as to whether (industry) is ready for it but they are certainly aware of it, said Perrault, director of the agency. “We have done extensive outreach over the last six months. In fact, we went across the country. The agency has also created a video and webinars and has extensive information on its website, she said. She said the agency will have a spam repository centre and people can submit complaints at www.fightspam.gc.ca. The agency will also look for violators on its own and focus its enforcement on the most “egregious activity. “We have a fairly complex system, a state-of-the-art lab, that we put in place. We have developed a number of tools to help us triage all this data. . . . It allows us to focus our enforcement efforts. Penalties will depend on the “merits of each investigation, Perrault said. “Perhaps a specific individual or a corporation might be given a warning letter . . . We can go from a soft approach to a hard approach in terms of our enforcement. More information can be found at cfib-fcei.ca. Fraser will hold a free webinar about the legislation on June 23 at 9 a.m. at mcinnescooper. com/casl-webinar
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 15:40:38 +0000
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