The Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) is responsible for regulating the sending of commercial electronic messages in Canada. They hold hearings based on complaints that are made to them.
A recent decision involving a company called nCrowd is of interest to officers and directors. The president of nCrowd was surprised to be charged a $100,000 fine by the CRTC because his corporation did not follow all of the rules under the legislation CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation). The rules that were not followed appear to be sending email to someone who you do not have permission to contact and failing to take people off the list when they unsubscribe.
The president was held to be personally liable as he is the person who had control over the corporation. This is a concern for directors and officers, as no one is looking for additional liabilities. A director should have an answer to the question “how do you know that your organization is compliant with CASL?” A director would only be liable for a fine if there is a problem, so make sure that there are no issues with CASL compliance.
No comments yet.