How These Legislations Affect Canadian Online Business

There’s a lot of misinformation floating around the web about the Canadian Privacy act of January 2004 and the Federal Trade Commission’s Can Spam Act as it relates to the subject of e-mail. This article is intended to shed some light on the various aspects of the Can Spam Act and PIPEDA and how they affect bulk emailing practices and businesses in Canada.

The United States Federal Trade Commission Can Spam Act was mobilized in order to govern the use of unsolicited bulk email as a form of commercial advertising and prevent the abuse of email addresses by unscrupulous individuals. Namely it states that:

An unsolicited message must not have deceptive or misleading subject lines, its headers or ‘electronic-fingerprint’ must indicate its origin and not have a falsified or ‘spoofed’ header. It requires that you provide an opt-out method (a way for recipients to choose not to receive further email from you or your company) that is clearly marked and that is active for at least 30 days after the message is sent. All commercial advertisement emails must be clearly identified as commercial advertisements either early on in the body of the message or within the subject line. Finally, commercial advertisements must include the correct physical mailing address of the sender. It’s good practice to place this into every message you send anyways as a precautionary measure and a demonstration of credibility.

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) of Canada enacted in 2004 was put in place to govern how personal information is distributed and managed as well as grant a set of rights to individuals as to how their personal information is used and stored. Briefly it states that:

When collecting personal information, the collecting party must obtain permission from the individual and inform them as to the reason for the collection of said data. This information is to be kept securely using a level of protection appropriate to the information being held by the party to which it is given. Also, it is to be used solely for the purpose for which it was given. This means that businesses may not collect information such as an email address for a particular purpose and then transfer it to a sister company for an entirely different purpose. It cannot legally be transferred or used by other parties in any way unless in certain special circumstances and that the person whose information it is has the legal right to request viewing of any information held about them and the right to edit it as well.

Basically, these two acts mean that Canadian Businesses who collect data such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails for commercial use would be wise to adhere to both acts as standard process when collecting information and contacting individuals.

5 tips to stay on the right side of the law when sending out bulk email as a Canadian Business:

1. Use a double-opt-in method to ensure you have permission to contact recipients especially if they are Canadian Residents. Even though it’s not required to comply with United States Can Spam laws, it is required to comply with Canadian Privacy Law. Better safe than sorry.
2. Store all information related to an individual in a data bank secured in proportion to the sensitivity of the information being stored. E.g. Sensitive medical information requires greater security than a first name and an email address combination.
3. Collect, request, and store only as much information as you need at any given time. If all you need is a first name and an email, don’t store anything more than that. First, you will need more secure facilities to house the information and comply with legislation, second, you place yourself at greater risk for damages should a breach in security occur.
4. Make sure that at all times your unsubscribe method works. Don’t just comply with the 30 day requirement. Some people don’t read their email for months. An angry recipient 60 days later is still an angry recipient. It’s better to let them unsubscribe quietly and lose a contact you probably didn’t want anyway than have to deal with an investigation from the Federal Trade Commission.
5. Be honest with your audience about your content. If your message is clearly to solicit business, then say so in the body of the email. A better strategy is to use a newsletter and focus on delivering quality, relevant content that benefits the recipient and gets them to your website where you can sell them more effectively and without distraction.

It’s worthwhile to note that the Canadian Government has assembled a task force to combat spam and has also appointed commissionaires to investigate any complaints of violations against PIPEDA so if you think there’s no way you can get caught, think again. You may find yourself in a heap of trouble if you decide to gamble with people’s personal information. It’s just not worth it. It only takes a few complaints to the right people to launch an investigation which could cripple your company for months and worst case scenario, even put it out of business altogether.

The good news is that while it is now more time consuming and process intensive to send commercial email for legitimate businesses, following these guidelines will help you stay on the up-and-up and perhaps even increase the effectiveness of your email campaigns.

If you would like to find out more about how E-Mail Marketing can help your business, contact us about how we can help you create and launch an ethical email marketing campaign.

Article Sources:

Federal Trade Commission Website: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/business.htm

Strategis Canada: http://e-com.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/ecic-ceac.nsf/en/h_gv00045e.html