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CALGARY – Consumers should start seeing fewer spam emails popping up in their inbox when a new anti-spam law takes effect on July 1.

That’s when any business that sends emails, texts or electronic voice messages that include offers to purchase, sell or lease a product, must have your permission ahead of time.

The new law also includes offers of a business, investment or gaming opportunity.

Thousands of Calgary businesses are scrambling to beat the deadline for the anti-spam law and are busy sending out consent forms to everyone on their contact lists to secure their permission.

“Everything we do today links back to this new legislation,” says Amish Morjaria of Forward Level Marketing. “So we have to become compliant in order to communicate with our prospects with our clients on a daily basis.”

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Sending an email, text or voice message to someone who didn’t request it, can lead to fines in the millions of dollars.

READ MORE: CRTC says anti-spam law will be hard to police

“It affects an awful lot of businesses”, says Sandra McKee-Crozier of the Better Business Bureau. “It affects non- profits. It affects businesses and the fines are extremely heavy. So it’s a bill that has a lot of teeth.”

While the new law should help curb spam originating in Canada, it’s a different story if the spam comes from outside the country.

“Unfortunately there’s very little that can be done about those spammers that are outside of our national borders,” says lawyer Samantha Kernahan.

Click here for more details of the anti-spam legislation.