New Businesses & the CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation)

Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) has affected us at CryoDragon as well as every small business in Canada. If you send emails to anyone to let them know your business exists or that you are offering a promotional discount to new customers, you are breaking the law. Today, as it stands, you have to obtain written permission to email potential new customers, or to keep emailing existing customers that you have not contacted in approximately two years or longer. You can technically email people who have given you verbal permission, but you better know when that permission was given, by whom, and have it written down somewhere in your email to cover all your bases. The onus is completely on you. There is an exemption where businesses similar to each other are able to contact each other, but the CASL gets even more confusing within these waters.

Although the CASL protects us from spammers, it’s a huge hindrance to businesses who are just promoting their business by sending one email instead of newsletter subscriptions; they are completely separate issues. I understand how you would need permission to continue flooding someone’s inbox by updates on your company, but if you’re just sending out one email to one person, that should be allowed. Which brings me to my next question! What do you do if you’re a startup or a new business? You have no customer or client base to start with, so you’re left with approaching clients using old-school techniques.

Like many, I have become frustrated with this law as a small business owner and operator. I don’t get why I can cold call businesses without permission, or stop by and drop off flyers at their door, but I can’t email them to inform them of a service I’m offering. Calling a phone number is the same as typing an email address, and they both perform a similar function. They direct my query to a designated spot, a business.

People still have the ability of emailing you back and saying do not send any further information and cease all contact. The same as they can say at the door or over the phone. Once you ask someone to leave your premises, or not to contact them again, you by law have to obey or face criminal charges. But the CASL doesn’t give us the opportunity to be told not to contact them again. It takes away our ability to contact them and have them say, “Don’t Contact Us Again” or “I’d Love To Learn More”.

People can tell the difference between actual spam and an email from a business. They can mark it as Junk or report it as Spam, and then it will end up in every person’s junk mail. Legitimate business proposals that do not download any content to one’s computer, or have any malicious links contained within, should not be considered spam. The key is to do as you are expected and provide credentials and make sure that it is understood that it is a letter for prospective business partners so that the economy and community can continue to grow and flourish.

I guess we will have to see how the legalities will evolve over the next few years, and what the eventual and final outcome will be. I hope it ends up being reviewed and amended so business can continue as needed. In the meanwhile, for all those businesses that are startups and newly incorporated, be careful when you dabble with the CASL. The fines are serious, and remember to always obtain consent before contacting someone else by email. And when you do obtain consent, write down when, where, who and how you received this consent so that you’re always prepared for the worst that could happen!