A U.S. company that calls or texts customers in Canada has to follow Canadian rules, wherever it’s based. Sales calls fall under the telemarketing rules and National Do Not Call List run by Canada’s telecom regulator, the CRTC. Marketing texts fall under Canada’s anti-spam law, which requires consent before the first message. Canadian numbers share the +1 country code, so they slip into U.S. lists easily. For a company facing a complaint, the upside is that Canada enforces mainly through regulators, not class actions.
Do Canada’s telemarketing rules apply to a company based in the United States?
Yes. Canada’s rules follow the person being called, not the caller’s location.
The CRTC’s Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules govern any “Telemarketer,” which the rules define as “a person that conducts telemarketing either on its own behalf or on behalf of one or more other persons.” The rules apply to a seller that hires a call center too. They reach the “Client of a telemarketer,” defined as “a person that has engaged a telemarketer to conduct telemarketing on its behalf.” Neither definition depends on where the company sits.
Canada’s anti-spam law, usually called CASL, addresses location directly for electronic messages. Section 12(1) says “A person contravenes section 6 only if a computer system located in Canada is used to send or access the electronic message.” A text read on a phone in Toronto is accessed in Canada, wherever it was sent from.
Which Canadian law covers calls, and which covers texts?
The split is cleaner than it is in the United States, and it decides which compliance program a message needs.
Live sales calls go through the CRTC. The Telecommunications Act lets the CRTC regulate unsolicited telecommunications “to the extent that the Commission considers it necessary to prevent undue inconvenience or nuisance, giving due regard to freedom of expression.” That’s the source of the Do Not Call List and the telemarketing rules.
Texts and emails go through CASL. The same section of the Telecommunications Act says the CRTC may not regulate a call if it’s “a commercial electronic message to which section 6” of CASL applies. CASL defines an electronic message as “a message sent by any means of telecommunication, including a text, sound, voice or image message,” and it covers messages sent to “a telephone account.”
Prerecorded calls circle back to the CRTC. CASL section 6(8) says the consent rule doesn’t apply to a message “that is a voice recording sent to a telephone account.” Those calls fall under the CRTC’s separate rules for automatic dialing-announcing devices, which require express consent before any sales call that uses one.
A business that runs both voice and SMS campaigns into Canada needs both programs. Treating texts like calls, or calls like texts, is the most common cross-border mistake.
What do the CRTC rules require for sales calls?
They look familiar to anyone who knows the U.S. Do Not Call rules, with some differences in the details that matter.
Registration and fees. The CRTC rules state that a telemarketer “shall not initiate a telemarketing telecommunication on its own behalf unless it is a registered subscriber of the National DNCL and has paid all applicable fees to the National DNCL operator.” The same applies to a call center’s clients. That’s a step with no U.S. counterpart for most sellers, and it’s easy to miss when Canada is an afterthought.
A fresh list. The CRTC rules require “a version of the National DNCL obtained from the National DNCL operator no more than thirty-one (31) days prior to the date that any telemarketing telecommunication is made.” The U.S. rule uses the same window, but it’s a separate list with separate access, so a U.S. Registry scrub does nothing for Canadian numbers.
Calling hours. Calls are restricted to “9:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays (Monday to Friday); and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekends (Saturday and Sunday),” measured by the consumer’s local time under the CRTC rules. Weekend calling stops at 6 p.m., three hours earlier than the federal U.S. cutoff. A dialer configured for U.S. hours will violate it every Saturday evening.
Internal do-not-call lists. A company must keep a consumer on its own list “for a period of three (3) years and fourteen (14) days from the date of the consumer’s do not call request,” and must add the number within 14 days. Those are different clocks from the U.S. rule, so a shared suppression list should apply whichever period is longer.
Abandoned calls. The CRTC rules cap predictive-dialer abandonment at “a five (5) percent abandonment rate” in any calendar month, with monthly records kept for three years.
Does an existing customer relationship help?
It does, within limits that differ from U.S. law.
The Telecommunications Act exempts calls to a person with whom the caller has an “existing business relationship” and who hasn’t made a do-not-call request. The Act defines that relationship to include a purchase “within the eighteen-month period immediately preceding the date of the telecommunication” and an inquiry or application “within the six-month period immediately preceding the date of the telecommunication.” The purchase window matches the U.S. rule, but the inquiry window is six months, twice the U.S. period.
That exemption covers only the National DNCL. The CRTC rules say “The Telemarketing Rules apply whether or not the telemarketing telecommunication is exempt from the National DNCL Rules,” so calling hours and the internal list still apply to an existing customer.
For texts, CASL has its own version. Consent is implied when the sender has an “existing business relationship” with the recipient, and CASL counts a purchase “within the two-year period immediately before the day on which the message was sent.” Implied consent based on an old purchase doesn’t last forever. A program that relies on implied consent needs a way to age customers out.
What does CASL require before a marketing text goes out?
Consent first, then specific content in every message.
Section 6(1) prohibits sending a commercial electronic message “unless (a) the person to whom the message is sent has consented to receiving it, whether the consent is express or implied; and (b) the message complies with subsection (2).” Subsection (2) requires each message to identify the sender and the business it’s sent for, give contact information, and include an unsubscribe mechanism.
The burden is on the sender. Section 13 says “A person who alleges that they have consent to do an act that would otherwise be prohibited under any of sections 6 to 8 has the onus of proving it.” A company relying on consent has to be able to produce it, number by number.
Unsubscribe requests must take effect “without delay, and in any event no later than 10 business days after the indication has been sent,” under section 11(3). That’s the same outer limit the FCC uses for opt-outs, which makes a single cross-border opt-out process workable.
What’s the exposure if something goes wrong?
Canada’s exposure is mostly regulatory, which is a real difference from the U.S. class action market.
Under the Telecommunications Act, each violation of the CRTC’s rules can bring “an administrative monetary penalty of up to $1,500” for an individual and “up to $15,000” for a corporation, according to section 72.01. Under CASL, “The maximum penalty for a violation is $1,000,000 in the case of an individual, and $10,000,000 in the case of any other person,” per section 20(4). The statute also says “The purpose of a penalty is to promote compliance with this Act and not to punish.”
The private lawsuit Canada once planned never arrived. CASL’s private right of action appears in the consolidated statute only as “47 [Repealed before coming into force, 2008, c. 20, s. 3].” That doesn’t make Canada risk-free, but it does mean a Canadian complaint usually reaches a company as a regulator’s inquiry, not a demand letter.
Individuals can still be named. CASL section 52 makes an officer or director liable for a corporation’s violation “if they directed, authorized, assented to, acquiesced in” it.
Can the TCPA apply to calls to Canada too?
Possibly, and that’s the part U.S. companies tend to overlook.
The TCPA’s autodialer and prerecorded-voice restrictions in 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1) apply to “any person within the United States, or any person outside the United States if the recipient is within the United States.” The text limits the recipient’s location only for callers outside the country. A U.S. company sending prerecorded calls to Canadian cell numbers shouldn’t assume the TCPA stays home. Canadian numbers carry a +1 country code, so a plaintiff with a Canadian number may not even look out of place on a U.S. dialing list.
The Do Not Call side is different. The FCC’s rule protects a subscriber “who has registered his or her telephone number on the national do-not-call registry of persons who do not wish to receive telephone solicitations that is maintained by the Federal Government,” under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(2). That’s the U.S. Registry. Most Canadian numbers won’t be on it, which is why the Canadian list matters so much.
U.S. and Canadian rules side by side
| Topic | United States | Canada | What a cross-border program should do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do Not Call list | National Do Not Call Registry, 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(2) | National DNCL, CRTC rules Part II | Scrub each list separately, within 31 days |
| Calling hours | 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., recipient’s time | 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends | Use the narrower window for each number |
| Marketing texts | TCPA consent rules and Do Not Call rules | CASL consent and unsubscribe rules | Get express consent and keep the proof |
| Prerecorded sales calls | Prior express written consent, 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(2) | Express consent under the CRTC’s automatic dialing rules | Don’t send without signed consent |
| Exposure | Private suits for up to $500 per violation, up to $1,500 if willful or knowing | Penalties up to $15,000 per violation (calls) or up to $10,000,000 (CASL) | Treat Canada as regulatory risk, the U.S. as litigation risk |
When a complaint about Canadian calls or texts arrives
- Put a hold on the dialer and SMS records for the number, including call times in the recipient’s time zone and the consent record behind each contact.
- Pull the internal do-not-call history for the number with dates, and check whether the request was added inside the 14-day window.
- Pull the registration and fee records for the national list, along with the list version used for each campaign.
- Gather the call-center contracts and calling scripts. The regulator’s rules hold the client of a telemarketer to a reasonable-efforts standard, so the contract terms matter.
- Talk to a lawyer before answering a regulator, a demand letter, or the person who complained.
If a U.S. claim travels with the Canadian complaint, the defenses run through U.S. courts and the federal statute. The firm’s TCPA litigation defense page covers how those claims move through state and federal court. For the U.S. list rules, see the post on scrubbing against the National Do Not Call Registry and the one on quiet hours claims.
Questions U.S. businesses ask about Canadian calls and texts
Do we need to register with Canada’s Do Not Call List if we only call our own customers?
Usually yes. The CRTC’s telemarketing rules require registration and fees before a company makes sales calls on its own behalf, and they apply even when a call is exempt from the National DNCL because of an existing business relationship. A company that calls only existing customers may not need to scrub every number, but it still needs to register with the list operator.
Does a U.S. opt-in checkbox satisfy CASL?
It can, if it’s written for CASL. CASL requires a request for express consent to state its purpose and identify the person seeking it, and the form has to say how consent can be withdrawn. A form built only for the TCPA may say nothing about who is sending or how to withdraw. Review it before using it for Canadian numbers.
Can a Canadian consumer sue us in a class action over texts?
Not under CASL itself, because the private right of action never came into force. A Canadian number holder may still try to sue under the TCPA in a U.S. court. Whether the statute reaches those calls is a question a defendant can contest, but it’s safer to plan as though it does.
Which calling hours apply when we call a Canadian number from California?
The recipient’s. The CRTC rules measure calling hours by the consumer’s local time, and provinces can set narrower hours for particular activities. A dialer should map each Canadian area code to its time zone and stop weekend calls at 6 p.m. local time.
Defending claims over cross-border calls and texts
If your company has been sued or received a demand letter over calls or texts that reached numbers in another country, the dialer’s time-zone settings and the consent records for each number usually decide the defense. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents businesses defending TCPA lawsuits and class actions through its business litigation practice, including claims involving cross-border telemarketing calls. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
The U.S. statute is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act at 47 U.S.C. § 227, and the FCC’s rules are at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200. Canada’s telemarketing rules start in the Telecommunications Act, S.C. 1993, c. 38, sections 41 to 41.7 and 72.01, and the CRTC’s Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. Canada’s anti-spam law is S.C. 2010, c. 23, published as An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy.
This post is general information about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and related laws as of October 30, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Courts and the FCC change the rules in this area often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.