Canada’s New Anti-Spam Legislation

By now you may have heard something about Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) that comes into effect on July 1, 2014. You’re probably wondering how this affects the CABC, our churches and other non-profits. This will hopefully answer your questions or point you in the right direction.

“We’re a church/non-profit. This won’t apply to us, will it?” Actually it will. There are some exemptions but as you’ll see getting express permission is the best way to guarantee that your message is getting to those who want to receive it.

This new legislation comes into effect July 1, 2014 and carries stiff fines for those who violate it. We strongly encourage all CABC churches and related non-profit organizations to be informed and prepared.

“Commercial Electronic Messages” (CEMs) are any message sent by email, instant messaging, social media or any other electronic correspondence that encourages participation in commercial activity whether it be the actual content or hyperlinks to a website containing this content. Such activity can include offers of purchase of goods or services, business, investment or gaming activity, or promoting a person who does any of the previously mentioned activity. If the primary purpose of the message is to raise funds for the non-profit, these are exempt from CASL…but only of it’s the primary purpose. As the CABC interprets CASL, we believe that CEMs may include promoting of events that we ask people to register for (Oasis, Springforth, Tidal Impact, etc).

So what is allowed? According to the new law, consent is NOT required if you are:

• Sending to a family member or someone with whom you have an established personal relationship.
• Responding to a customer or correspondence from the recipient within the previous six (6) months.
• Sending to an employee or individual associated with your business like a consultant or franchisee.
• Attempting to enforce a legal right or court order.
• Sending a message that will be opened or accessed in a foreign country, including the United States, China, and the majority of Europe. (For the complete list of the 116 CASL exempted countries, please visit this website).
• Sending on behalf of a charity or political organization for the purposes of raising funds and soliciting contributions (yes, this is allowed under the law).
• Providing information about a warranty, recall, safety or security about a product or service purchased or used by a recipient.
• Providing information about an ongoing use, purchase, subscription, membership, account, loan, or other ongoing relationship.
• Delivering product updates or upgrades.
• Sending a single email to a recipient who does not know you, but on the basis of a referral, if you disclose the full name of the person who made the referral. In addition, the person who made the referral can be a family member or have a personal or business relationship with the recipient to whom you are sending. (http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/about-the-canada-anti-spam-law-casl)

“I think my messages may be CEMs. What do I need to do?”
You need permission! Non-profits need consent before sending CEMs or before adding people to your mailing lists. There are two types of consent: implied or express.

• Express consent is given either in written or oral form. Either way you must be able to prove that you were given consent. This usually means being able to retain a copy of the consent until it is rescinded. This means that express consent is forever or until the person says they no longer want to receive these messages. You need to be clear – tell them who you are, how they can contact you (all contact info), what you will be sending them and a clear way they can unsubscribe at any time.
• Implied consent is just that. In the past 2 years, the recipient has made a donation or gift, volunteered for, or attended a meeting organized by your organization; or they have purchased a product, service, entered into a contract or have a membership with your organization. Once that time lapses without any of these occurring, you must get consent or remove the contact information from your database.

How CABC will be handling this:

• CABC Newsletters – In a few days you will receive an email asking if you wish to continue subscribing to our newsletters. We send a general CABC, Youth & Family and InterCultural Ministries Updates that anyone can receive, not just pastors.  We also send a Clergy Formation & Wellness newsletter that is intended for CABC pastors only.  As we understand it, these messages are subject to CASL and we need your express consent. We will keep records on who has provided us with this information.
• CABC Announcements & Special Updates – sometimes we need to get word out to our churches and pastors quickly about something.  It may be an obituary, a new resource, a survey or something we just need to share.  We need a quick, efficient and cost effective way of making contact and email is still the preferred way to deliver these.  Because our churches are CABC members and many of our pastors are credentialed with us, these messages are exempt from CASL.  Please let us know when email addresses change.

How this affects our churches:

• Much of the information above applies to churches.  Consider how you are communicating to your congregation and community.  If you have any question that your communications may fit into this, the best course of action to protect your church is to get express consent for all your communications.  Try and do this before July 1st because messages sent after may be considered CEMs.

NOTE: For anyone currently on your list, you have 3 years to get express consent. Anyone new after July 1st, you must get express consent in order to send CEMs.

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1. Legislation covers commercial electronic messages (CEMs), which includes day-to-day communications.
2. Only fundraising emails sent for the primary purpose of raising funds for the charity are exempt.
3. Other revenue-generating activities by nonprofits and charities are not exempt.
4. Legislation will be in force on July 1, 2014 (for commerical messages), January 15th 2015 (for computer program requirements) and July 1st 2017 is the end of the transition period.
5. CEMs must have an unsubscribe function.
6. CEMs must clearly identify the organization.
7. If people signed up for your newsletter directly, it’s ok to continue communicating with them.
8. You’ll need written or oral permission before you can add people to other lists (like adding program graduates to your general newsletter list).
9. CEMs may only be sent if the recipient expresed or implied consent.

(http://www.techsoupcanada.ca/en/community/blog/top-9-things-nonprofits-need-to-know-about-the-canadian-anti-spam-legislation
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This page is intended to assist you with the complexities of CASL and is by no means exhaustive. Please consult the legislation and other websites for further clarification:

• http://fightspam.gc.ca/eic/site/030.nsf/eng/home
• http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/casl-lcap.htm
• http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/about-the-canada-anti-spam-law-casl/
• http://www.cccc.org/index.php/webinars
• Sample express consent form – http://www.brainrider.com/better-programs-blog/casl-canadas-anti-spam-legislation-guide-b2b-marketers/

Disclaimer:

The Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches provide this information based on how we understand CASL.  This should not be considered legal advice. Local churches should seek assistance and advice from their local advisers when specific issues arise. This guide is provided to you as a service; it should be used to increase knowledge within your local church.