OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are teaming up to eradicate unsolicited telecommunications, unsolicited commercial electronic messages (spam) and other unlawful electronic threats
The new memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed by CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais and FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez, incorporates and solidifies the two Commission’s commitment to cooperate on enforcing Canadian and U.S. spam and telemarketing laws. It also details plans that will see both organizations share knowledge and expertise through research, training programs and staff exchanges, and promises to keep each other informed on developments related to the laws,…
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Dear Editor,
The headline of your March 21 story “CRTC says survey research is still telemarketing” does not correctly tell the story of what the Commission actually decided.
Although it may seem to be splitting hairs, the CRTC already provides exemptions to survey research — “the exemption of survey calls from the Telemarketing Rules is contingent upon such calls being void of solicitation” — therefore, the Commission recognizes that survey research is not a synonym for telemarketing.
Most importantly, survey research calls were exempted from the need to respect the Do Not Call list: “calls made for the sole purpose of collecting…
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Commissioner Shoan wanted a hearing
GATINEAU – After the close of trading Wednesday, the CRTC announced it has approved the $2.65 billion purchase of Shaw Media by Corus Entertainment.
In legal/regulatory speak, the Commission approved “an application by Shaw Communications on behalf of Shaw Media and its licensed subsidiaries, to effect a corporate reorganization resulting in the transfer of Shaw Communication Inc.’s shares in Shaw Media Inc. to Corus Entertainment Inc.”
Essentially, the Commission continued to treat Corus and Shaw as it always has since Corus was created in 1999 as a place to house media assets controlled by the Shaw family….
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TORONTO – Videotron’s Valérie Héroux is headed to Harvard in June as this year’s recipient of the CTAM Canada Fellowship Award, also known as CTAM U.
Héroux, pictured, holds a bachelor degree in both Civil and Common Law from McGill University. During her six-year in private legal practice, she specialized in communications law (CRTC regulatory) representing media companies such as Astral Media. She pursued her career as internal legal counsel at film distribution company Alliance Atlantis (now known as eOne Entertainment), followed by Quebecor Media, where she led the negotiation for the renewal of the artists' association collective agreement with…
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CASL needs to be fixed, or killed
LAST WEEK I RECEIVED several unsolicited emails, including the one shown below, asking for a donation to support Republican party leader hopeful John Kasich. The e-mail was sent without the remotest chance of there being an express or implied consent and without compliance with the prescribed information requirements of Canada’s much vilified anti-spam law, known as CASL.
There is no doubt that Canadians have an important interest in who wins the U.S. Presidential party nominations. Given the importance of the stakes, Canadian residents eligible to make a donation might have welcomed receiving the solicitation.
However,…
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TORONTO – Canada’s anti-spam legislation and the unsolicited telecommunications rules are here to stay, something that should be welcomed by the country’s “legitimate marketers”, CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais told the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA).
In a speech to the organization Tuesday, Blais (pictured) injected a splash of humour by equating unwanted marketing messages and calls with a stranger walking through attendees’ front door, tracking dirt across their kitchen floor, going to their fridge, grabbing a drink and then plopping themselves down in front of their TV.
“That’s pretty much how Canadians today feel about uninvited marketers who invade the private spaces…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a request by Ekos Research subsidiary Probit Inc. to amend the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules to exempt survey research.
The Commission said Monday that its current regulatory framework governing unsolicited telecommunications includes a broad exemption from the National DNCL Rules and the Telemarketing Rules for unsolicited telecommunications placed for the sole purpose of conducting a survey of members of the public.
“Probit has not established that the requested relief is necessary to comply with Parliament’s intentions regarding the regulation of unsolicited telecommunications”, reads the decision. “Probit’s proposed changes would increase the potential for misuse of…
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TORONTO – The CRTC will get candid with marketers at the Canadian Marketing Association's (CMA) exclusive breakfast event on Tuesday morning.
Held at the Toronto Board of Trade, CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais (pictured) will deliver a speech entitled "Protecting Canadians from Unwanted Communications". Attendees will hear about the regulatory and enforcement responsibilities affecting marketers in today's rapidly evolving media landscape, in efforts to better protect Canadians from unsolicited communications.
"CMA's self-regulatory code emphasizes trust, transparency and consumer choice," said CMA VP of government and consumer affairs Wally Hill, in a statement. "The Association is pleased that one of our industry's leading…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) is adding TV service provider watchdog to its role after the CRTC officially expanded its mandate Thursday.
The CCTS will become the single point of contact for Canadians’ complaints about all of their communications services, reads the decision. Since July 2007, CCTS has provided consumers with an independent and impartial mechanism for the resolution of complaints about deregulated local and long distance telephone services, as well as wireless service and Internet access.
All licensed television service providers (TVSPs), including related exempt TVSPs, must become members of the CCTS by September 1,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has kicked off a show cause proceeding to examine why its consumer safeguards for Canada’s public payphones should not directly apply to competitive payphone service providers (CPSPs).
The safeguards, announced last December, are designed to ensure that Canadians are properly informed about the rates and surcharges associated with making non-cash calls over a payphone. While incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) were directed to make this information available to consumers, the Commission did not, until recently, have the authority to directly impose these conditions on non-carriers, that is, providers other than Canadian carriers that include CPSPs.
“In the…
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