CanadaTelecommunications Act, Unsolicited Telecommunications and the National Do Not Call List
Also known as National Do Not Call List, DNCL.
S.C. 1993, c. 38, ss. 41, 41.1 to 41.7, 72.01
In force.
A telephone contact rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Disclosure
What it requires
- Comply with any order the Commission makes under section 41 prohibiting or regulating the use of a Canadian carrier's telecommunications facilities for unsolicited telecommunications; this power does not reach a commercial electronic message that Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation section 6 already governs.NIST Privacy FrameworkGV.PO-P5
- Do not make, or cause to be made, a telecommunication restricted by a Commission order or requirement made for the purpose of the National Do Not Call List, unless an exemption in section 41.7 applies: an existing business relationship (a purchase or lease within the last 18 months, or an inquiry within the last 6 months, or a subsisting written contract) with no do-not-call request registered against you, a registered charity, a registered political party or its candidates and their campaigns, a survey of the public, or a newspaper-subscription solicitation.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P3
- If you rely on one of those exemptions other than the survey exemption, identify at the beginning of the call the purpose of the telecommunication and the person or organization on whose behalf it is made, and maintain your own do-not-call list honouring anyone who has asked not to be contacted on that basis.NIST Privacy FrameworkCM.AW-P1NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P3
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST Privacy Framework
- GV.PO-P5Legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements regarding privacy are understood and managed.
- CT.PO-P3Policies, processes, and procedures for enabling individuals’ data processing preferences and requests are established and in place.
- CM.AW-P1Mechanisms (e.g., notices, internal or public reports) for communicating data processing purposes, practices, associated privacy risks, and options for enabling individuals’ data processing preferences and requests are established and in place.
- FINOS AIGF
- AIR-PREV-005System Acceptance Testing
- AIR-DET-021Agent Decision Audit and Explainability
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework, and in the NIST Privacy Framework, line by line beside each duty above. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
A contravention of a Commission prohibition or requirement under section 41 can instead be prosecuted as a summary-conviction offence, carrying a fine of up to $10,000 for an individual's first offence ($25,000 for a subsequent one) or up to $100,000 for a corporation's first offence ($250,000 for a subsequent one); the same contravention cannot be proceeded against as both an administrative violation and an offence.
Penalty structure
The maximum administrative monetary penalty for a single violation of a Commission prohibition or requirement under section 41 is $1,500 for an individual and $15,000 for a corporation. A violation continued on more than one day is a separate violation for each day it continues.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- Currency
- CAD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 15,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, through persons it authorizes to issue notices of violation, subject to representations to the Commission and appeal under section 64; a contravention may instead be prosecuted as a summary-conviction offence, and a person harmed may bring a civil action under the Act's general civil-liability provision.
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does an 'inquiry or application' within the six-month period in the definition of existing business relationship in section 41.7(2) cover a website visit or a form submission that did not ask to be contacted, so that a later telemarketing call to that person is exempt from the National Do Not Call List rules?
What this law does
Section 41 lets the Commission, by order, prohibit or regulate the use of a Canadian carrier's telecommunications facilities for unsolicited telecommunications, to the extent it considers necessary to prevent undue inconvenience or nuisance, but this power expressly does not reach a commercial electronic message that section 6 of Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation already governs.
Sections 41.1 to 41.7, added in 2005, create the legislative framework for a National Do Not Call List, letting the Commission administer the list and investigate contraventions, and exempting a telecommunication made by or for a registered charity, made to a person with an existing business relationship who has not asked not to be called, made by or for a registered political party or a candidate or nomination or leadership contestant's campaign, made solely to survey the public, or made solely to solicit a newspaper subscription.
A caller relying on one of these exemptions (other than the survey exemption) must identify at the outset the purpose of the call and the person or organization on whose behalf it is made, and must maintain its own do-not-call list honouring anyone who has asked not to be contacted on that basis.
A contravention of a Commission order or requirement under section 41 is a violation carrying an administrative monetary penalty of up to $1,500 for an individual or $15,000 for a corporation, with each day a violation continues capable of being a separate violation, or, exclusively of the administrative-penalty route, a summary-conviction offence.
Anyone who has sustained loss or damage from an act or omission contrary to the Act or a Commission decision, including a section 41 order, may sue for their actual loss within two years under the Act's general civil-liability provision. The sections this entry groups came into force on different days.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app places automated calls.
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