Personal information and electronic message laws in Canada and the USA

Activity Messenger abides by laws governing personal information and electronic messages in Canada and the United States.

# Electronic message laws in Canada and the USA

• United-States CAN-SPAM Act: In the USA the FTC provides a comprehensive FAQ to help you understand CAN-SPAM. Read it here:
  https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
• Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL): The CRTC provides an excellent FAQ to help you understand CASL. Read it here:
  https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/com500/faq500.htm

The laws governing electronic messages in Canada and the United States have 4 main considerations:

# 1 - Intent of the message

The laws apply to commercial messages (with marketing intent). For example promotion of next season's program is considered a commercial message. Available spots at day camp as well.

The laws do not apply to transactional or relational messages. For example notifying participants a class is cancelled, or sending them an account statement or receipt does not count. Survey questions are also not considered commercial.

Activity Messenger does not provide means to manage the intent of messages you create. Parents and participants that unsubscribe from notifications by your organization do so for any intent. Activity Messenger does however provide you with tools to manage unsubscribes. Consult the help page Bounces, complaints, unsubscribes and bad numbers for details.

# 2 - Consent

It is your organization's responsibility to obtain consent from your participants. If you are using a registration platform like Amilia, consent was already given when the participant registered to the activity or program, or when they subscribed to a membership or service.

Activity Messenger assumes that participants you import and send messages to have given you consent.

# 3 - Identification information

Emails you send must contain your identification. Activity Messenger puts your address in the footer of emails. The From will always be the name of your organization as well. SMS messages are signed with your organization's alias. Consult the help page Organization and Brand Information for details.