Rules
How to Write CASL Compliant Email Persuasion That Still Sells
CASL compliant email persuasion needs consent records, sender identity and a working opt-out, plus the Quebec French-language rules for that province.
What to take away
- Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation reaches any commercial electronic message opened on a device in Canada, whoever sent it and from wherever.
- The private right of action scheduled for 2017 was suspended before it took effect, so complaints run through the CRTC, not the courts.
- A pre-checked box is not express consent. The recipient has to tick it.
- An unsubscribe request must be honoured within 10 business days, and the mechanism has to keep working for at least 60 days after the message goes out.
- Quebec's Charter of the French Language sits on top of the federal rule: advertising aimed at that province carries French treatment.
Who is caught, and who enforces
Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation covers commercial electronic messages sent from Canada or opened on a device in Canada. The CRTC enforces it. A Halifax sender writing to a Montreal inbox is inside the rule, and so is a Chicago sender whose message lands in Toronto.
The full text of CASL settles the reach question when a platform tells you otherwise.
A private right of action was set for July 2017 and suspended before it took effect. That leaves the regulator as the practical route for a complaint. It does not soften the consent test: the question is still whether you can show on paper that the recipient agreed.
What holds a promise together is set out in commitment and consistency.
What the message itself must carry
The footer does the compliance work, not the subject line. Three items are mandatory, and each fails in a predictable way.
| Element | What it must contain | Common failure |
|---|---|---|
| Sender identification | The legal name of the sender, plus any name the recipient knows the sender by | A trading name alone, or a supplier named as the sender |
| Mailing address | A current physical address the recipient can write to | A closed mailbox, or no address at all |
| Unsubscribe mechanism | A working opt-out that needs no account, no survey and no phone call | A dead link, a login wall or a reply-by-email step |
Mandatory Email Footer Elements
- Sender identitylegal name of sender
- Contact addressmailing address or phone
- Unsubscribeclear, prominent, works 60 days
- No account, survey or phone line required
- Honour later withdrawals to avoid findings
The unsubscribe mechanism is where audits most often fail. A recipient has to complete it without creating an account, answering a survey or waiting on a phone line. Treat the 60-day figure as a floor. Honour a withdrawal that arrives later, because refusing on a technicality is how a routine complaint becomes a published finding.
Claims inside the message answer to a second set of rules. A subject line that promises a result the product cannot deliver invites a complaint under misleading advertising law. Proof claims lifted from nowhere are the usual trigger, and messages that overstate what the numbers support are the subject of social proof ethics.
A footer that reads like fine print invites a spam report. A footer that reads like a signature does not.
How the copy still sells
Persuasion and the footer do not compete. The footer carries the sender, the address and the opt-out. The body carries the offer, the proof and the call to action. Keep the sales click above the footer.
- Offerone offer, in the opening lines.
- Proofone claim you can document from your own records.
- Call to actionone click, no account, one sentence.
- Subject linename the contents, not the outcome. "Your March order, and one question" beats "Double your yield this spring".
An annotated compliant email
| Block | What it does | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| Subject line | Names the contents, no outcome the product cannot deliver | Your March order, and one question |
| Sender name | Legal name plus the name the reader knows | Greenline Supplies Inc., trading as Greenline |
| Opening line | Gives the reason for the email | You asked us to flag when the trays return. |
| Offer | One offer, said simply | The trays are back this week. |
| Proof | One claim you can document | Same gauge as the trays you bought in March. |
| Call to action | One click, no account | Reserve one tray |
| Mailing address | Current physical address | [Street, city, province, postal code] |
| Unsubscribe | One link, live for at least 60 days, honoured inside 10 business days | Unsubscribe from Greenline emails |
Records that decide the outcome
When a complaint arrives, the CRTC looks for evidence that the address was added with permission. Keep five things:
Implied Consent Shelf Life
- Last purchase or signed contract24 months
- Business inquiry6 months
- Withdrawalrecord date it took effect
- The date and time the address was added.
- The source, such as a checkout box, a webinar form or a paper sign-up sheet.
- The exact wording the person saw when they consented.
- The type of consent, and for implied consent the transaction behind it.
- Every withdrawal, with the date it took effect.
Express consent arrives as a positive action: a tick box, a signed trade-show form or a recorded verbal agreement. Keep the exact wording they saw. A pre-checked box, a purchased list or silence does not qualify.
Implied consent has a shelf life. A purchase or a signed contract supports it for 24 months from the last transaction. A business inquiry supports it for six months. The Act sets no fixed retention period, so hold the record while you rely on the consent, and a little longer.
What a reader is owed either way appears in informational influence ethics.
The Quebec overlay
CASL is federal, so the consent rule does not change at a provincial border. The law around it does. Quebec's Charter of the French Language requires commercial advertising to be in French, which means a national list that reaches Quebec addresses needs French treatment for those recipients.
Provincial privacy statutes govern storage and use of the data behind the list. One consent standard for the country, with a Quebec overlay, is the workable pattern. Confirm the current requirements with the Office quebecois de la langue francaise and with counsel licensed in Quebec before you mail that segment.
What happens if you do not comply
The CRTC issues a notice of violation. It names the sender and sets a deadline for a response. Decisions and undertakings are published, so the name travels further than the campaign did. Directors and officers can be held liable for a corporation's breach.
The maximum administrative monetary penalty is set in the Act: up to CAD 1 million for an individual and up to CAD 10 million for a business, per violation. Check the current text before you quote it.
Non-Compliance Consequences
- CRTC issues notice of violation
- Names sender and sets response deadline
- Decision or undertaking is published
- Directors and officers can be liable
- Competition Act covers misleading claims
Misleading claims in the message also fall under the Competition Act, and the provisions on false or misleading representations cover the same email. An inflated promise is therefore two problems, not one.
Common questions
Does a pre-checked box count as express consent?
No. Express consent needs a positive action, so a box that is already ticked does not meet the test. Ask the recipient to tick it themselves.
How quickly must an unsubscribe request take effect?
The Act requires it to be given effect without delay, and no later than 10 business days after the request. A slower process is a breach even if it eventually works.
Who is liable if I buy a list from a supplier?
You are. A contract that promises a clean list does not move the duty. A supplier's confidence is not a defence, which is the distinction drawn in authority compared with expertise.
