The holidays are just around the corner, and it’s already time to send your greeting cards. More and more people send them electronically. It’s faster, cheaper and greener.
Now that Canada’s anti-spam law (Bill C-28) is in force, can we still send holiday cards by email?
The law governs any commercial electronic message sent to an electronic address. Does a holiday card have a commercial character? The strictest interpreters of the law will say that if you add your logo to your e-card, it becomes commercial.
In my opinion, we need to think this through further and also look at the message itself. If the greeting card contains a discount coupon and promotes a few products on sale, the law fully applies.
On the other hand, if your message simply contains season’s greetings and wishes for a happy 2015, I find it very hard to imagine the CRTC considering your email a commercial message and taking action against you. Besides, someone would first have to complain to the CRTC after receiving your greeting card, which would be very surprising unless your card were of very poor quality or in very bad taste.
So I encourage you to send your holiday cards electronically to let your contacts know you’re thinking of them and wish them a wonderful holiday season.