European Email Legislation in 5 minutes!
There has been a lot has been talk over the last couple of years - particularly
since the August 2000 Distance Selling Directive did not give the direct marketing
industry sufficiently clear guidelines about opt-in and opt-out status in respect
of email usage.
At that point it was left to individual EU Member States to ensure that Unsolicited
Commercial Emails (UCE) are only sent where there is no clear objection from the
consumer. This ambiguity left the way clear for the dubious spamming practices we
have all witnessed over the last couple of years.
Following persistent lobbying from pressure groups, MEP's and responsible email
marketers, the EU Parliament finally moved in mid 2002 to clarify the position in
favour of gaining explicit consent from email users. Opt-in email marketing will
become the standard following the second reading of the EU Directive 2002/58/EC
and its subsequent adoption later this year. So in practical terms, what does it
mean when the Directive is adopted in the UK? In a nutshell, it boils down to a
couple of points: -
1. "?..it is justified to require that prior explicit consent of the recipients
is obtained before such communications are addressed to them." This could not be
clearer - opt-in is the only legitimate form of email marketing left available to
the direct marketing industry. Providing a simple opt-out mechanism will now no
longer be sufficient to ensure legitimacy.
2. "Within the context of an existing customer relationship, it is reasonable
to allow the use of electronic contact details for the offering of similar products
or services, but only by the same company that has obtained the electronic contact
details?.." This protects the use of email as a medium to existing customers. However
there is a word of caution in the Directive?. "When electronic contact details are
obtained, the customer should be informed about their further use for direct marketing
in a clear and distinct manner, and be given the opportunity to refuse such usage.
This opportunity should continue to be offered with each subsequent direct marketing
message"
3. Implementation of the Directive by each Member State is due by 31st October
2003, so time is running out for spammers.
4. Move quickly to gain opt-in status for your email address lists, and protect
yourself when renting email lists by ensuring that the status is only opt-in
As the implementation in the UK gets closer I will from time to time re-visit
this subject. To be kept abreast of what this legislation change means to you as
a direct marketer, go to our website and opt-in to receive our regular news updates.
http://www.ukmarketingmanagement.com
This document was downloaded from the Bonar Media "knowledge base" at: http://www.bonar.co.uk/
