The regime to allow for email marketing is based on a consumer opt-in approach, which stipulates that businesses must get consent prior to sending commercial email or have a pre-existing business relationship with a consumer.

What does that mean in practical terms? How do we define consent and pre-existing business relationships? For that, we turned to Wise Law Blog’s report: Canada’s New Spam Act: What Does It Mean For Small Businesses?

“Consent” goes beyond express consent and encompasses implied consent as well. According to section 11 of the Act, businesses can assume implied consent when the receiver has:

• bought, leased or traded with the sender within the last two years,
• provided a business or investment opportunity to the sender within the last two years,
• entered into a contract with the sender within the last two years, or
• received an inquiry from the sender within the last six months.

I suggest reading Wise Law’s article from top to bottom, as it addresses other qualifications for a legitimate e-newsletter, including the need to identify the sender and provide an unsubscribe option.