The CRTC is preparing to mete out a $1.1 million fine against a company it accuses of "flagrantly" flouting Canada's anti-spam legislation – but brokers shouldn’t fear that kind of fine, says one expert in the field.
“For many companies, developing a CASL consent strategy can be daunting because the law extends beyond email,” says Martin Millican, president of Envoke.com. “However, it is vital not to panic and know that there are existing email marketing and online engagement processes available to make CASL compliance as automatic and as painless as possible for all involved.”
Quebec-based corporate training company Compu-Finder was has 30 days to contest the CRTC's ruling.
The Compu-Finder case represents the first time the CRTC has sought to impose a financial penalty under the anti-spam law, which came into effect in July.
The CRTC alleges the company sent commercial emails to consumers without their consent and did not allow recipients to unsubscribe from the mailings. The investigation was based on reports of four apparent violations of the law last year between July and September.
"This case stood out because of the flagrant nature of the violation," said chief compliance and enforcement officer Manon Bombardier.
"They have not made any effort to change their business practices.... People were unsubscribing and they were still getting emails, and some even made additional efforts to contact the company to say, 'I unsubscribed, I'm still receiving emails,' and despite those additional efforts they were still getting emails."
Bombardier said the CRTC has received more than 245,000 complaints since the first phase of the anti-spam law kicked in. Consumers continue to submit about 1,000 complaints a day, she said.
Compu-Finder was flagged for investigation as it accounted for more than one quarter of the spam complaints received that were related to training companies.
Bombardier said the company was notified of the CRTC's investigation and was given the opportunity to come into compliance with the law.
Complaints about Compu-Finder date back well before the spam law went into effect.
