Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice
OnPath is member of the Canadian Marketing Association and abides by their code of Ethics and Standards.
The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) is the largest marketing association in Canada. Its members include corporations and organizations which encompass Canada's major business sectors and which represent all marketing disciplines, channels and technologies.
The CMA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (the "Code") is designed to establish and maintain standards for the conduct of marketing in Canada.
Marketers acknowledge that the establishment and maintenance of high standards of practice are a fundamental responsibility to the public, essential to winning and holding consumer confidence, and the foundation of a successful and independent marketing industry in Canada.
Members of the Canadian Marketing Association recognize an obligation - to the consumers and the businesses they serve, to the integrity of the discipline in which they operate and to each other - to practice to the highest standards of honesty, truth, accuracy, fairness and professionalism. CMA members must confirm their compliance with this Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice annually.
Application
This Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice applies to CMA member organizations regardless of business sector, sub-discipline or advertising medium employed. Its intention is to identify the ethical principles and best practices that member organizations of the Canadian Marketing Association consider essential to the conduct of marketing and marketing communications activity in Canada.
This Code does not purport to replace legal advice or provide legal guidance. Marketers should inform themselves about relevant laws that apply in their jurisdiction including, but not limited to the federal Competition Act and consumer, privacy and language laws in Canada.
This Code applies in its entirety to consumer marketing.
This Code generally applies to business-to-business marketing, with specific exemptions for those practices identified as exclusively relating to consumer marketing.
This Code applies in its entirety to marketing activities conducted by charitable or not-for-profit organizations. The terms "consumers" or "businesses" referenced throughout this Code should be regarded as interchangeable with the more common not-for-profit sector descriptors for donors or supporters.
Personal Information Practices
Marketers must promote responsible and transparent personal information management practices in a manner consistent with the provisions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) and/or applicable provincial legislation. Business-to-business marketing is exempt from PIPEDA when the collection, use or disclosure of contact information is limited to name, and/or title/position, and/or business address(es), and/or business phone number(s). If any other personal information is collected, used or disclosed then the provisions of PIPEDA apply.
Do Not Call List
Marketers must use the CMA's Do Not Contact Service when conducting a consumer mail campaign. In the absence of a government-mandated, national Do Not Call List, marketers must also use the CMA's Do No Contact Service when conducting a consumer telephone and/or fax marketing campaign. The service must be used regardless of whether the campaign is being conducted in-house or through the use of an agency. This does not apply to B2B marketing, or to current customers, who can separately request that they be included on an organization's internal do not contact list.
Responsibilities of Contact Centre Agencies
In their role as suppliers to marketers and as key contributors to the marketing industry, service providers are responsible for upholding the highest standards of professionalism and business conduct as set out in the CMA Code of Ethics.
Service providers must protect the confidentiality of their clients' proprietary information by not disclosing it without express consent from the client, unless required by law.
Whenever lists are being transferred to a service provider, service providers must provide a contractual guarantee that they will abide by privacy laws in Canada as these apply to the transfer, handling or storage of the data.
List owners or their representatives should require marketers who are using their list to provide accurate samples of the marketing communications to help ensure that marketing communications comply with this Code.
Ethical Practices
- Marketers must be clear and truthful. Marketers must not knowingly make a representation to a consumer or business that is false or misleading.
- Marketers must not participate in any campaign involving the disparagement or exploitation of any person or group on the grounds of race, colour, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or age.
- Marketers must not participate in the dissemination of unsolicited material that is sexually explicit, vulgar or indecent in nature, except where required to do so by law, such as a common carrier.
- Marketers must not participate in the dissemination of any material that unduly, gratuitously and without merit exploits sex, horror, mutilation, torture, cruelty, violence or hate, except where required to do so by law, such as a common carrier.
- Marketers must not knowingly exploit the credulity, lack of knowledge or inexperience of any consumer, taking particular care when dealing with vulnerable consumers. The term "vulnerable consumer" includes, but is not limited to children, teenagers, people with disabilities, the elderly and those for whom English or French is not their first language.
- Marketers must not engage in marketing communications in the guise of one purpose when the intent is a different purpose.
- Marketers must not claim to be carrying out a survey or research when their real purpose is to sell a product or service, or to raise funds.
- Marketers must not mislead or deceive consumers or businesses into believing that a marketing communication is news, information, public service or entertainment programming when its purpose is to sell products or services or to seek donations to causes or charities.
- Marketers must not use inaccurate information to attack, degrade, discredit or damage the reputation of competitors' products, services, advertisements or organizations.
