Molly Reynolds Says "Conservative Progress" Made Toward CASL Revision

Senior associate Molly Reynolds has told Law Times the government standing committee’s recommendations on the revision of the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) are “conservative progress toward reform and the reaction to those recommendations as largely one of cautious optimism.”

The article (published on page 5 of the January 8 hard copy edition of Law Times) explores reactions to the committee’s recommendations to the legislation which aim to “provide clarity to organizations, including assisting them in interpreting and applying the law.”

Some of the recommendations include clarifying the definition of “commercial electronic message,” to “clarify the provision pertaining to ‘implied consent’,” and to “increase efforts to educate Canadians ‘especially small businesses,’ about the requirements of the Act.”  

“The committee identified many of the key problems of ambiguities in CASL, especially around consent and definition of a CEM, but the recommendations do not give much guidance on how those issues should be resolved by the government,” Molly told Law Times.  

Molly also told the publication the committee’s process was certainly comprehensive but added there was room for additional communication on “how the areas needing clarification could be improved.”

“Because a lot more work will need to be done by the government to assess whether to reform any of the items highlighted by the committee and if so, what changes to make to the Act or regulations, I don’t expect the law will be changed on any expedited timeline,” she said.

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