The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recently issued another notice of violation under Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL), this time against Plentyoffish Media Inc., a corporation offering dating services to nearly 100 million users, some of which are located in Canada. This notice was sent in relation to commercial electronic messages that did not contain a prominent, easy-to-use unsubscribe mechanism. After being notified of these violations, the corporation entered into a voluntary undertaking with the CRTC according to which the corporation agreed:
- to pay a $48,000 fine; and
- to develop a compliance program that includes staff training and changes to its policies
This fine is relatively small as compared to the $1.1 million fine issued against Compu-Finder:
- Compu-Finder is a Quebec company that was fined for sending emails to consumers without their consent and not allowing recipients to unsubscribe from the mailings.
- Apparently the company made no effort to change its business practices.
- Complaints regarding Compu-Finder spam date back to 2008, well before CASL went online.
- Essentially Compu-Finder disregarded CASL and was fined.
A general caution, the CRTC is taking violations and related enforcement very seriously. If you have any concerns about this legislation and how it may impact your business, contact a lawyer for counsel.
Paul Kennedy
Associate Lawyer, Corporate/Business Law
Lindsay Kenney LLP – Langley Law Office
This article is intended to be an overview of the law and is for informational purposes only. Readers are cautioned that this article does not constitute legal or professional advice and should not be relied on as such. Rather, readers should obtain specific legal advice in relation to the issues they are facing.