TORONTO – Companies that market products and services to Canadians should establish their own internal compliance program to ensure that they abide by the country’s anti-spam legislation and the unsolicited telecommunications rules, said CRTC chief compliance and enforcement officer Steven Harroun.
Speaking Tuesday to the annual conference of the Credit Association of Greater Toronto, Harroun chatted up CASL and the Unsolicited Telemarketing Rules, reminding attendees that ignorance is not a defence.
“Every business should have a compliance program in place to help ensure each commercial message or telemarketing call is compliant”, he said. “If your practices are ever called into question, a thorough compliance program can help you with a due diligence defence.”
According to Harroun, the primary components of a compliance program could include:
- Senior management involvement to provide leadership from the top. A member of senior management should be named as the business’s chief compliance officer.
- A risk assessment to determine which business activities are at risk of violating the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules and/or CASL.
- A written corporate compliance policy that is easily accessible to all employees, including managers – the policy should be updated to keep pace with changes in legislation or new services and products.
- Good record keeping – in the event of complaints to the CRTC against the business, proof of the measures taken will be required.
- Training programs for staff at all levels about what constitutes prohibited conduct and what should be done if employees witness such conduct.
Stressing the CRTC’s responsibility to enforce the laws of the land, a job that he said the Commission takes seriously, he also sympathized with the plight of “legitimate marketing professionals”.
“I appreciate that promoting your goods and services can sometimes be a difficult balancing act. One part of the general public celebrates you. Another part scorns you”, Harroun continued. “My colleagues and I at the CRTC can relate. Sometimes we’re praised for helping Canadians regain control of their communication system. Other times, we are viewed as busy-bodies who interfere with the market for no good reason. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground.”
