Anti-spam laws in Canada

Find out which laws apply to commercial email.

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Summary

The Canadian Government originally tabled anti-spam legislation in early 2009. Bill C-27 "The Electronic Commerce Protection Act" (ECPA) addressed spam, counterfeit websites and spyware. The original bill has now been reintroduced as Bill C-28, the "Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act" (FISA).

Legislation (C-29) is also being proposed to amend Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which covers online privacy in detail and contains many provisions relevant to email marketing.

Key documents

Bill C-28
The full text of C-28.

Industry Canada: FISA
Central resource for FISA, with links to the news release and backgrounder information that accompanied the (re)introduction of the bill, the full text, a Q&A, etc..

Bill C-27
Homepage for the initial proposals, with links to the full text, status, related meeting transcripts, speeches and more.

Industry Canada: PIPEDA
Full background details on PIPEDA, with guidelines and advice for business on ensuring compliance.

Task Force on Spam
The government set up a task force on spam which reported in May 2005. This site has all the details, including the full text of the final report.

Interpretation and commentary

Presentation: Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act
High-level overview and presentation slides at EmailKarma.net.

FISA posts
Collection of FISA-related posts at EmailKarma.net.

CAUCE North America
The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email played an active role in the spam task force and the site contains many good documents, links and commentary on the Canadian situation.

Canada's Electronic Commerce Protection Act
Matt Vernhout offers a detailed overview of the ECPA.

Canada Bill has Key Differences from Can Spam
Article outlines some of the nuances of C-27.

Uh O Canada
Another look at the differences between US Can-Spam legislation and the proposed Electronic Commerce Protection Act.

Canadian Marketing Association
A brief position statement from the CMA, welcoming the ECPA.

OECD spam task force
A portal to relevant Canadian sites, documents and agencies involved with spam regulation.