Bill C-28 and eCommerce protection regulations: express and implied consents.
Bill C-28 applies to all commercial electronic messages sent by Canadian companies, to Canadian companies or by Canadian servers or to Canadian recipients (regardless if the sender is Canadian or not).
Two types of consents are currently accepted in regards to the transmission of commercial electronic messages.
- Express consent requires that your contacts have checked a field I would like to receive your newsletter or I wish to receive communications or promotions from XXXXX. It is what we call a consent (opt-in). (Note: said field cannot be pre-checked, the lead must take a positive action of checking the field). The onus of proving express consent is on the person or business who claims they have such consent.
- A consent (opt-in) is valid once the lead confirms the business can contact him. A double consent (opt-in) is often made using a "Confirm your susbscription" button in an electronic message sent to the lead once he has checked the a field I would like to receive your newsletter or I wish to receive communications or promotions from XXXXX.
- Implied consent requires that you have a business relationship or a non-business relationship. Implied consent validity period varies depending on the type of business relationship. The onus of proving you obtained implied consent from a lead arising from a transaction or an inquiry is on the person who claims they have such consent.
- implied consent arising from the purchase or lease of a good, service, product, etc. is valid for a period of 2 years. A commercial electronic communication sent within the 2 years is therefore compliant.
- implied consent arising from an inquiry or application is valid for a period of 6 months. A commercial electronic communication sent within the 6 months period is therefore comlpiant.
Furthermore, in order to be in compliance with Bill C-28, your emails must include:
- Company name and mailing address (must be valid at least 60 days following email send). Ideally, include phone number and email address.
- an unsubscribe link which is visible and easy to access. Any unsubscribe request must be taken care of within 10 days.
Electronic Commerce protection regulations
Insert the special link for the Mailing address
1. Go to the Content menu, then to the Email submenu, and select the email in which to insert the special link for the Mailing address.
The window below will be displayed.
2. Click Special Links in the toolbar.
3. Choose the Mailing Address link (the link will automatically be inserted in the bottom of the email. It is possible to change the address if needed).
4. Click Save.
5. You can preview your email by clicking Preview.
If you do not insert the special link in your email for the mailing address, the mailing address indicated in your company profile will appear automatically in accordance with Bill C-28 (the company profile is one of the configurations completed at the opening of your PUBLITRAC account. To access it, go to settings, under the Configuration, Business profile tab). Bill C-28 requires that the sender of an email for commercial purposes, includes a mailing address in the emails. In accordance with the law, no email will be sent by PUBLITRAC if the mailing address is not displayed; PUBLITRAC is equipped with a system for special links which 'forces' the automatic display of the address indicated in the business profile account if no special link mailing address has been inserted.
If no special link Mailing address has been added in your email, the following message will appear when you save:
Insert the special link Unsubscribe
1. Choose the Content menu and submenu Email.
2. Select the email in which to insert the Unsubscribe link.
The window below will be displayed.
3. Click Special links in the toolbar.
4. Choose the link Unsubscribe.
5. The link will be automatically inserted where you positioned your cursor in the email. It is possible to modify the unsubscribe message as required, by correcting the text following Default = .
In the above example, the default text in the tag is "Click here to unsubscribe". This text can therefore be changed at your convenience for the nomenclature of your choice.
6. Click Save.
7. You can preview your email by clicking Preview.
If you do not insert the special link Unsubscribe in your email, an unsubscribe link will be automatically added at the bottom of the email to comply with Bill C-28 which requires the presence of a link to unsubscribe in every email sent.