Memorial has begun work to comply with federal legislation that will help keep unwanted spam messages and phishing scams out of your inbox.

The new Canadian Anti-spam Legislation (CASL) came into effect July 1, 2014. CASL is a federal law that seeks to improve and safeguard electronic commerce by prohibiting spam, phishing and the installation of spyware and malware.

Except for registered charities and fundraising political parties, virtually everyone who communicates electronically – via email or e-newsletters, for example -- is required to comply.

CASL prohibits the transmission of commercial electronic messages, unless the sender has the express or implied consent of the recipient. Express consent is obtained simply by asking for it. Express consent, when obtained from a contact whose name is contained in a database or listserv, will last until it is withdrawn by the recipient. The task for most managers of databases and/or listservs is to convert implied consent into express consent by making a request that follows the CASL requirements.

If the message is sent to a recipient with an existing business relationship; an existing non-business relationship or if the recipient has published or disclosed their address to the sender, this is considered implied consent.

There are exceptions. If your message falls into one of the categories of exception, it is exempt from the CASL requirements.

If your message is not exempt, it can only be sent once you have obtained implied or express consent and follow the form and content rules. To view the categories of exception, as well as the form and content rules, please visit www.mun.ca/generalcounsel.

A three-year transition period has been built into the legislation to allow time for the conversion. Memorial’s Office of the General Counsel says that during this time, the Memorial community is responsible for reviewing and assessing its current commercial electronic messaging practices and setting timelines and priorities for converting implied consent into express consent.

Considering that the legislation is broadly written and given that it’s an untested area of the law and the penalties substantial, Memorial’s Office of the General Counsel has advised that the university be cautious in its approach. A number of universities across Canada have initiated varied mitigation plans depending on their individual interpretation of the new legislation.

“CASL has teeth,” said Gerard Quigley, associate general counsel, Office of the General Counsel. “It authorizes significant administrative monetary penalties for failure to comply: up to $1 million per infraction for an individual, up to $10 million per infraction for an institution like Memorial.”

The new legislation has many exceptions and qualifications; to assess how it may or may not impact you, visit www.mun.ca/generalcounsel for initial guidance, apply it to your particular area and contact the Office of the General Counsel at 709-864-7695 or mgquigley@mun.ca with any questions you may have.

“CASL compliance is everyone’s responsibility,” said Mr. Quigley. “The Office of the General Counsel provides legal advice to the university, and is available to provide guidance to keep us on side with this new legislation.”