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Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007

Posted August 9th, 2007 by peter

On 5 September the above act comes into force. So what can it mean to your business or organisation? What is spam? Spam is the generic term for the electronic commercial ‘junk mail’ you receive without having requested it. This includes unwanted messages sent to people’s email accounts or mobile phones. You know, we have all received it. For you who have their email hosted with us, you probably don’t see a lot of it, but for some, can mean 10-20 even a 100 such emails a day. What a time wasting pain in the backside it is too !! So the New Zealand government approved a new law back on the 5 of March and it comes into effect on 5 September that they think will prevent spam getting to your mail box. Of course, it will probably work for those sending spam from NZ, but from overseas – we think not. So, to prevent you possibly getting into trouble, we thought it timely to let you know how we interpret the act from an email point of view. Let us make it clear now that we don’t pretend to be lawyers and if you “think” you may be outside the law in your email communications, we suggest you check with your lawyer before sending off those hundreds/thousands of email. We think that 99% of our clients will not be affected by this law, but, with more and more businesses using email as a way of sending an offer or newsletter to many people on a “list”, please read on. The way we read the act, it does not apply to individual email – only bulk sends – maybe 10 or more, and it is most likely contain an offer of some kind. In a nutshell, if you are undertaking such a task, there are some rules to follow:

1. Ensure you have the persons permission to send them email – It could be argued that if a person has given you their email address through direct correspondence or by personal contact, then they have agreed to receive email from you.
2. Always include an opt out (or unsubscribe) in the email. e.g. If you do not wish to receive further email from us, please contact us (accordingly)
3. If a person opts out from receiving your emails MAKE SURE that you remove them from your list, so they NEVER receive another one from you. In our opinion, this is where businesses or organisations are most likely to come to grief.

Please remember, the above is a guide from us and we are not lawyers. If you are unsure, get expert advice, before you send those emails to that list. We believe 99.9 per cent of spam originates from overseas so it is most unlikely that the act will stop spam. It will however, prevent New Zealand becoming a `spammer haven’ by allowing authorities to fight New Zealand sourced spam. Further information is available from a variety of websites below http://www.antispam.govt.nz/ http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/canspam/new-zealand/