While the focus of attention on the Electronic Commerce Protection Act has obviously been on the anti-spam provisions (more on the enforcement as well as changes to privacy and competition law shortly), possibly the biggest story in the bill is one that has been unreported and is not discussed in the government briefing materials. Buried at the very end of the bill, are provisions that would kill the National Do-Not-Call list. Section 86, the second last provision in the bill, states simply that Sections 41.1 to 41.7 of the Telecommunications Act are repealed. Those sections are the provisions that create a legislative framework for the national do-not-call list.
What is going on?
It would appear that the Government is laying the foundation for killing the do-not-call list with plans to replace it with the approach found in the ECPA. That could be a good news story, since the ECPA adopts an opt-in model (ie. companies need consent before sending electronic commercial messages). This means that Canadians would not need to register their phone numbers on the list, since the presumption would be that there is no right to call unless the caller/marketer has express or implied consent. While many of the current do-not-call exceptions are found in the ECPA, some are not. For example, the newspaper exception contained in the do-not-call list is not part of the ECPA and would therefore disappear with this transition.
