As of tomorrow, it will be illegal for UK companies to send unsolicited commercial email to individuals unless they are already customers or have given their permission. If they break the law, they could be fined £5000.
Bill Newton Dunn, Liberal Democrat Euro MP for the East Midlands, who was rapporteur on the EU's 'Safer use of the Internet' package, welcomed the new law:
"The amount of Spam entering people's inboxes has been rapidly multiplying in recent years. Electronic junk mail is an increasing annoyance to people and businesses in the East Midlands, and threatens to cripple our electronic communication systems.
"Spam now makes up 50% of global email traffic and causes huge losses in productivity. Businesses across the European Union lost an estimated _2.5 billion in this way in 2002.
"Action must be taken internationally as Spam originates from all over the world. Britain now joins Denmark, Spain, Italy, Austria and Sweden in having transposed this legislation. Other EU Member States must quickly do the same. It is vital that we also work with countries beyond the European Union to develop an effective global approach to combat this growing problem."
Notes for the Editor:
• The Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive prohibits the sending of unsolicited commercial communications by fax, email, and SMS without prior consent of the addressee (opt-in).
• Where there is an existing customer relationship with a company, the customer can be contacted for the marketing of similar products and services but this must be made clear and the customer must be continually given the right to object (opt-out).
• Direct marketing where the identity and return address of the sender are hidden is prohibited.
• The deadline for transposing the EU Directive into national law was 31.10.03
Contact: Bill Newton Dunn: +32 228 47 77 12, 07939 250473; Tiffany Venning: +32 485 954 113