Government Suspends CASL “Private Right of Action” – BBOT To Continue to Push for Amendment & Repeal of Spam Law

Today, June 7, the Government of Canada issued an Order in Council suspending the implementation of the ‘private right of action’ contained in Canada’s Anti Spam Legislation (CASL), a move the Burnaby Board of Trade applauds as a significant step in reducing the burden and harm of CASL on the business community.

The provision, known as private right of action, would have allowed individuals to file lawsuits against individuals and organizations for alleged violations of the spam law.

The Burnaby Board of Trade (BBOT) has been advocating against CASL for years, and has recently issued a policy position calling for the most onerous elements to be repealed immediately and for a new law to be drafted to completely replace CASL.  Specifically, the BBOT is calling for CASL to be amended to:

  • Permit using commercial electronic messages (CEMs) to seek consent for sending customers future commercial electronic messages (CEMs).
  • Exempt all business-to-business communications from the consent requirements entirely, not just for organizations which “have a relationship.”
  • Abolish the two-year and six-month expirations for implied consent completely and make implied consent based on a customer purchase or inquiry permanent until an unsubscribe request is made.Click here to read this policy in full.

The BBOT successfully lobbied for this policy to become an official position of the BC Chamber of Commerce and will work to secure the support of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce at its September AGM in an effort to unite opposition to this law.

As part of CASL, a parliamentary committee will be tasked with reviewing the law and the BBOT will ensure the concerns of our members are heard during this review.