The Canadian Anti-Spam law (CASL) has been in effect since July 1, 2014 and businesses are still struggling with how to manage the rules properly. The Government has already served notice that it intends to come down hard on companies that have clearly not complied with the new law. A few companies have already been penalized for various infractions with the largest fine being $1.1 million dollars.

Is your business completely compliant with CASL?

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So are most businesses out of the danger zone when it comes to being penalized for non-CASL compliance? Far from it actually. The government may have limited resources to follow up on anti-spam law complaints but there is another level of risk that many people are unaware of and that is the mighty consumer.

As of July 1st, 2017 consumers have the right to private action against companies that are not following the Canadian Anti-Spam law rules. While many companies may believe there is little risk to being financially impacted by the Anti-Spam law they should revisit the CASL rules and requirements as soon as possible.

What are the chances that consumers will pursue litigation?

At itracMarketer we wanted to know if consumers would actually start legal action against businesses that do not follow the CASL rules so we conducted a survey and the results were surprising.  Here are some of the key findings…

  • 66.6% of Canadian consumers are still frustrated with the amount of spam that they receive regardless of the new Canadian Anti-Spam law legislation.
  • 58.9% of Canadians have not received less spam with CASL laws in effect. 5.4% even reported they are getting ‘more spam’
  • 54% of Canadians would consider legal action under CASL laws

The results speak for themselves. Businesses should wake up and ensure that they have complete understanding and interpretation of the Canadian Anti-Spam Law as well as have appropriate processes in place to be in full compliance. There is still time before consumers and aggressive law firms start to identify companies that are in clear violation of the Canadian Anti-Spam law.

For full information and details of the survey that we conducted click here.