CASL in Plain English: Email Marketing Rules for Canadian Businesses

Email is still one of the most cost-effective ways for a small business to stay in touch with customers. In Canada it also comes with rules. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, known as CASL, has applied to commercial email since 2014 and is one of the stricter laws of its kind. The good news is that complying with it mostly means doing what good email marketers do anyway.

This article is a plain-language overview, not legal advice. For decisions about your own situation, check the official guidance linked below or speak with a lawyer.

What CASL covers

CASL applies to “commercial electronic messages”: emails, texts and some direct messages that encourage participation in a commercial activity, sent to or from Canada. A newsletter promoting your services counts. So does a one-off promotional email to an old customer list. The law is enforced mainly by the CRTC, and penalties for businesses can reach into the millions of dollars per violation, so it is worth getting the basics right.

The three requirements

1. Consent. You need the recipient’s permission before you send, either express or implied.
2. Identification. Every message must clearly say who is sending it and include a mailing address plus a phone number, email address or web address where you can be reached.
3. Unsubscribe. Every message needs a simple, working way to opt out, and you must act on requests within 10 business days.

Express and implied consent

Express consent means someone actively agreed to hear from you, for example by ticking an unticked box or typing their email into a clearly labelled signup form. It does not expire unless they withdraw it. A pre-ticked box does not count.

Implied consent covers certain existing relationships. The most common is an existing business relationship: broadly, you may email someone for two years after they buy from you, or six months after they make an enquiry. Implied consent runs out, so the safest long-term approach is to convert these contacts to express consent while the relationship is active.

A practical checklist

• Use a signup form that says plainly what people will receive and who it is from.
• Keep a record of when and how each person consented. Your email platform usually stores this.
• Put your business name, mailing address and contact details in the footer of every email.
• Include a one-click unsubscribe link and test it.
• Do not buy lists. You cannot prove consent for addresses someone else collected.
• Clean your list regularly and remove contacts whose implied consent has expired.

If you also email Americans

Many businesses in British Columbia have customers on both sides of the border. The US CAN-SPAM Act works differently: it does not require consent in advance for most commercial email, but it does require honest subject lines, a physical postal address and an opt-out that is honoured within 10 business days. CASL is the stricter of the two, so a list managed to CASL standards will generally satisfy both. Build one process around the stricter rule rather than running two.

Common mistakes we see

• Adding every business card and every quote request to the newsletter forever.
• Hiding the unsubscribe link in pale grey text.
• Sending from a “no-reply” address with no way to reach a person.
• Importing an old customer spreadsheet without checking how long ago each person bought.

Where Cloud9 fits

Cloud9 Web Developments sets up signup forms, consent records and email templates for businesses in Greater Vancouver and across Canada and the United States, so the compliance details are handled from day one. Our own newsletter form works the same way. Read about our email marketing service, see how email fits into a wider digital marketing plan, or contact us to talk through your list.