Valid physical postal address in every commercial email
Why it matters
CAN-SPAM §5(a)(5)(A) mandates a valid physical postal address in the body of every commercial email — not just on the website, in the email itself. Missing this element is one of the most mechanically detectable CAN-SPAM violations because it requires only inspecting templates, not behavior. CASL Section 6 adds the same requirement for Canadian senders. Unlike consent violations that require evidence of a recipient relationship, a missing address is a strict-liability violation that applies to every commercial email sent without it.
Severity rationale
Medium because the violation is strict-liability and affects every commercial email sent, but the business impact is lower than consent or opt-out failures since recipients can still exercise their unsubscribe right.
Remediation
Add a physical address component to every commercial email footer template in src/emails/.
// src/emails/footer.tsx — shared footer for all marketing emails
export function EmailFooter({ unsubscribeUrl }: { unsubscribeUrl: string }) {
return (
<div style={{ color: '#999', fontSize: '12px', textAlign: 'center', marginTop: '40px' }}>
<p>
<a href={unsubscribeUrl}>Unsubscribe</a> from marketing emails at any time.
</p>
<p>
{/* CAN-SPAM §5(a)(5)(A) — complete postal address required */}
YourProduct, Inc. · 123 Main Street, Suite 100 · San Francisco, CA 94105 · USA
</p>
</div>
)
}
City and country alone do not satisfy the requirement — a street address or registered P.O. Box is required. If the company uses a registered agent, that address is acceptable. Import this footer into every marketing template; transactional emails are exempt.
DetectionPro
The detection method for this pattern is part of AuditBuffet Pro.
The full method (what to look for, pass and fail conditions, and how results get reported) ships inside the Email & SMS Compliance Audit. The pattern definition, severity rationale, and remediation remain openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
External references
- external · CAN-SPAM-§5(a)(5)(A) — CAN-SPAM Act §5(a)(5)(A) — Valid physical postal address required in commercial email
- external · CASL-S6 — CASL S.6(2)(c) — Sender's mailing address required
Taxons
History
- 2026-04-18·v1.0.0·Initial import from email-sms-compliance·automated