Canada Anti-Spam Law vs United States’ CAN-SPAM

There is historical precedence for direct marketers’ current scramble to bring their email marketing campaigns in line with the restrictive Canadian Anti-Spam Law, which will go into effect shortly, and that is the scramble to comply with the US federal CAN-SPAM Act.

These two laws were written with very different intents: CAN-SPAM aims only to regulate commercial email. Its primary backer, Senator John McCain, joked after it was signed that he’d never even used email. The law reflects a lack of understanding of how technology evolves, how new communication capabilities emerge, and how marketers find new ways to exploit them.

The Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL), on the other hand, was written to prohibit all commercial electronic messages without express or implied consent. CASL emphasizes that its regulations apply to electronic commercial communications generally, not just one marketing channel. CASL doesn’t only prohibit email marketing but also text messages, social media, instant messages, and whatever other new methods of marketing communication that haven’t been developed yet.

Click the link below to view an infographic of specific differences between the Canadian Anti-Spam Law and US CAN-SPAM:

US CAN-SPAM Act vs Canada Anti Spam Law

Another important difference to note is the scope of each law: where CAN-SPAM doesn’t apply to transactional messages with a primary purpose to deliver a service message but include marketing material, the Canadian Anti-Spam Law applies to all communications with any commercial intent.

CAN-SPAM and the Canadian Anti-Spam Law are very different laws and require every North American business to reassess its direct sales and marketing efforts for gaps in compliance. That’s where Gryphon can help. Our experts have covered this law from the beginning and have almost 20 years of experience in the realm of contact governance compliance.

It’s almost impossible to overstate how impactful the Canadian Anti-Spam Law will be to marketers worldwide. The Canadian opt-in framework is unprecedented, and it’s crucial that all marketers bring their email, text message, and other electronic marketing campaigns in compliance.

Gryphon can also help protect your business from another big difference between the laws: where CAN-SPAM charges only $16,000 per email in violation, Canadian Anti-Spam Law violations can earn businesses up to $10 million each

Navigating the state and federal regulatory maze while mitigating risk is becoming more daunting every day for compliance leaders. Especially when dealing with agents in branch offices, reps using personal phones, or independents and BPOs marketing on your behalf. For almost 20 years, Gryphon has protected the largest and most valued brands in banking, insurance, manufacturing and home services from headline risk, brand damage, and costly fines associated with outbound marketing violations.

Avoid TCPA and DNC fines. Protect your business from TCPA and DNC Risk. The Cost of non-compliance extends far beyond the risk of fines. Since 1998, Gryphon’s highly patented suite of compliance services provides bulletproof compliance and protection from headline risk, brand damage, and costly penalties.

Our services apply all legal exemptions to those laws to help your business grow, and our experts provide customized consulting and support with expanding regulations. Bullet-proof compliance is only half the equation used to solve TCPA and DNC compliance issues.  Gryphon’s intelligent cloud engine automatically applies legal exemptions (opt-ins) to make sure you are not over-suppressing legal contacts who want to hear from you. Gryphon’s Secure Cloud engine unlocks your largest marketable universe to maximize your outreach and protect every opportunity.