BALDWINS • FoodLegal

Australian Lawyers and Consultants

The New Spam Act

May-June 2004

The Australian government has made its contribution to the worldwide legislative effort to reduce spam on the Internet with the Spam Act 2003 (Commonwealth) which operates from April 10, 2004.

The Spam Act prohibits in Australia the sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages. These include emails, SMS and instant messaging technologies, and the law applies to anyone promoting goods, services, or business opportunities. The Spam Act has three main sections:

1. the requirement for consent (opt-in);
2. a functional unsubscribe facility and contact information in each message; and
3. the prohibition of address-harvesting software.

Individuals have a right to withdraw consent any time by sending a message to the business stating they do not wish to receive further messages from that business. If the business does not stop sending commercial messages within 5 business days it risks prosecution by the Australian Communications Authority (‘ACA’) and being fined and forced to render up profits made from the spam. The individual suffering from the spam can now apply for compensation from the court under the ACA-initiated proceedings. All businesses should review their privacy policies and their use of email addresses to contact customers in light of the new Act.

For further information, contact Joe Lederman at BALDWINS, Australian Lawyers & Consultants.

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