Words and Phrases - "electronic format"

Would there be considered to be express consent as per Regs. 209(3) and (4), where the taxpayer provides consent to the issuer over the phone or by selecting the electronic receipt of documents option using a touch-tone phone?

CRA indicated:

• express consent is defined in Reg. 209(4) as consent “given in writing or in an electronic format”;
• for there to be express consent, the taxpayer "must be duly informed and aware that by providing consent, he or she is providing consent to receive the information slips electronically," and that the "consent given must be clear and explicit"; and
• the reference to consent given in electronic format refers "to records retained in an electronically readable format."

CRA then concluded that, in the first scenario, consent over the phone would not be in writing or in electronic format and that an audio recording of verbal consent provided over the phone would not be so considered, as the recording would not be in an electronically readable form.

Regarding the second scenario, CRA considered that the consent provided by selecting the electronic receipt of documents using a touch-tone phone would not so qualify, since the "act of selecting an option using a touch-tone phone does not provide clear and explicit consent in writing" and, furthermore, unless the consent provided in this scenario could be retained in an electronically readable format, it would not constitute consent in an electronic format.

Accordingly, neither scenario would qualify.