letters to the editor
update
i
attended your education session in Victoria,
and you were advising us about spam law.
You said that the right to sue would take effect
on July 1, 2017. I read that the government has
changed its mind and the right is not going
to take effect, at least not yet. Is that true?
Victoria Broker
Reply: Short answer
Yes, the government has indefinitely postponed
the coming-into-force of the private right to sue
an entity that has breached Canada's anti-
spam law (CASL).
Fuller answer
Since July 1, 2014, CASL has provided
the Regulator with the authority to levy
administrative penalties against those who
violate CASL's anti-spam and anti-malware
requirements. CASL was to further provide, as of
July 1, the right for a person affected by an entity's
non-compliance to sue that entity (including the
right to sue an organization's officers, director and
agents). Claims could have been brought for an
entity having done one or more of the following:
.
sent commercial electronic messages without
the recipient's express or implied consent and
the messages not complying with the prescribed
form and content requirements;
.
installed a computer program on a device
without the recipient's consent; or
.
sent false or misleading electronic messages
or e-mail harvesting.
e affected person could have claimed both
compensatory damages and statutory amounts.
e claim for compensatory damages would
cover any actual losses or damages the person
may have suffered. e statutory damages could
be awarded whether or not any actual harm was
proven; these damages could range from as little
as $200 for each contravention to a maximum
of $1 million per day.
Because in the vast majority of cases an
individual would not suffer significant actual
harm, it would oen not be economically
feasible for someone to pay a lawyer to conduct
such a lawsuit. However, if the violating entity
affected a number of individuals, it may have
been possible for a lawyer to bring a class-
action lawsuit and be paid from the proceeds
of the suit.
e government chose to delay the right
to sue from coming into effect because, in the
words of Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation,
Science and Economic Development:
Canadians deserve to be protected from
spam and other electronic threats so that they
can have confidence in digital technology.
At the same time, businesses, charities
and other non-profit groups should have
reasonable ways to communicate electronically
with Canadians. We have listened to the
concerns of stakeholders and are committed
to striking the right balance.
So, for the time being, violators of CASL will
be subject to administrative penalties but not to
lawsuits from persons affected by the violations.
Please send letters to the editor to
info@cmba-achc.ca
letters
CMBa MEMBErS' VIEWS
12
| summer 2017 cmba-achc.ca CmB magazine
CASL Violators –
No Suit for You
SPAM
