Spam Act 2003 - Australia

 
..don't risk fines of
up to $1.1 million dollars

Late in 2003, the Australian Government enacted legislation known as the Spam Act 2003. This new legislation came into force on 10th April 2004 with some of the world's toughest restrictions on SPAM (unsolicited commercial email) and substantial penalties. A business found in breach of the Spam Act may be subject to penalties of up to $1.1 million dollars.

DO NOT PRESUME YOUR CURRENT EMAIL USAGE IS EXEMPT !!
Every Australian business that uses email should take the time to
understand the Spam Act and how it may relate to their activities.

WEBSTART does not purport to be expert regarding the Spam Act or any other legal field. However by providing basic information we hope to foster awareness of this important new law and that you may have a need for further information from those more qualified.

Three Key Elements to Spam Act Compliance:

Consent

Only send commercial electronic messages with the addressee’s consent - either express or inferred consent.

Identity

Include clear and accurate information about the person or business that is responsible for sending the commercial electronic message.

Unsubscribe

Ensure that a functional unsubscribe facility is included in all your commercial electronic messages. Deal with unsubscribe requests promptly.

Requirements of the Spam Act

Under the new Spam Act, ANY outgoing email that contains a commercial message (ie. a message that offers a commercial transaction or points the recipient to a location where a commercial transaction takes place), and is sent from 10 April 2004 onwards, MUST have the following key characteristics to comply:

Express - Where the recipient has expressly consented to or asked for the communication, for example, by:
    - Giving their consent in signing Terms & Conditions
    - Ticking a box and agreeing to receive product/services information
    - Explicitly asking for this information
    - Subscribing to a program or club that includes email updates as part of the services.


Implied - Where consent can be inferred from either:
    - Behaviour/conduct  (eg. person has given sender a business card. It is only reasonable to send information that is relevant to their position).
    - Business or other relationship (eg. person has previously dealt voluntarily with the sender before and, on the basis of that existing relationship, can reasonably be assumed by the sender to be prepared to accept messages of the type being sent. The message should be relevant to the particular product purchased and, if announcing a new product, compatible with their previous purchases).
    - "Conspicuous publication" of an electronic address (eg. person publishes their email address on a web site. It is acceptable to use addresses of this nature, but they must be used responsibly by only sending information that is relevant to their position).

Detailed Authoritive Information

We encourage you to study further information on the Spam Act.  The Australian Government's Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) has a full resource available on the subject at: http://www.dcita.gov.au/ie/spam_home or one of their most informative PDF files archived here : A Practical Guide for Business

For a "Lawyers eye view", visit the Lawyers Weekly web site:
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/articles/A8/0C01CAA8.asp?Type=55&Category=844

For the "microscopic detail view", visit the Australian Govt. Attorney General's Dept. web site:
http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/3/3628/top.htm
 

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