The most recent business to pay the CRTC for Canadian Anti-Spam Law violations is none other than one of the countries top consumer brands – Kellogg Canada, in the amount of $60,000 for sending non-compliant email.

So is Kellogg Canada really a serial email spammer?

According to the CASL rules they are.
Apparently this offence is a result of email activity stemming back from October 2014 through to December 2014 and the message is clear; the government has not been complacent since the last enforcement when Rogers Media paid the CRTC $200,000 in November 2015. The CRTC must have their work cut out for them if they are still wading through the mass of spam reports still dating back to 2014.
While the details of this offence and the reason for infraction is not clearly spelled out it appears that messages sent by Kellogg and/or it’s third party service did not have proper consent. Or perhaps they could not prove that they captured proper consent? It’s been almost 2 years since then so we hope that they have cleaned up their email processes since then.

I wonder how many businesses will now be concerned that there are a number of spam complaints that might have been reported 2 years ago that they might still have to answer for?

If your business was contacted by the CRTC today would you be able to demonstrate that every email that was sent 2 years ago had proper consent? where was the consent originally captured? what was the date when the consent was collected?

There is no doubt that quite a number of companies would not be able to produce this information.

Regardless, this is another reminder and opportunity to ensure your company’s emails, contact lists as well as collection and unsubscribe processes are CASL compliant. Also, do not overlook the importance of keeping records of consent capture data as well as expiry dates. We know in speaking with many people that CASL is not a business priority and seen more as a nuisance.  Their main focus is on revenue or saving costs as it should be but with proper planning, process and technology it is not too onerous to manage and can primarily happen in the background if you have a proper compliant solution.

Over the past couple of months we have put together an article that will help with the basics of CASL compliance and also an interview with a CASL Expert to review the challenges businesses are facing. Check them out and get compliant, you don’t want to be the next brand paying the CRTC for anti-spam violations.

If you’re looking to put any future CASL concerns to rest and ensure your business is compliant with a simple technology solution please contact us.

Here are the documented details about the Kellogg Canada enforcement action from the CRTC.