Anti-spam legislation that was as close as two weeks away from gaining royal assent was scrubbed on Dec. 30 when Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the Governor General to prorogue Parliament until March, reports a newsletter from itbusiness.ca.
Out of 64 bills introduced during the session, 37 of them will now need to be restarted. The anti-spam bill C-27, or the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, was just about to be reviewed by a Senate committee when Parliament was suspended.
The bill aims to cut down on the abuse of e-mail marketing by businesses. It does so by requiring that consumers give consent before they can be contacted via e-mail. It also creates legal procedures for spammers to be brought to justice and sued. Proponents of the legislation will now have to wait for several months at least before having a chance to pass the bill.
