European Commission Reinforces Need For Ban On Spam
The European Commission has called on its member states to introduce new rules to outlaw spam and has highlighted the need for more international co-operation in the fight against unsolicited commercial emails.
Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, Erkki Liikanen, said that new EU rules for a pan-European ban on spam were a priority and should be made into national legislation by October this year.
It is estimated that the increasing proliferation of spam caused EU business to lose almost £1.8 billion in productivity last year. The problem is growing rapidly and the EC predicts that spam will account for over 50% of global email traffic before the end of this summer.
Liikanen said: “Combating spam has become a matter for us all and has become one of the most significant issues facing the internet today. The EU member states, industry and consumers all have a role to play in the fight against spam both at the national and international level. We must act before users of emails or SMS stop using the internet or mobile services, or refrain from using it to the extent that they otherwise would.”
The EU was one of the first movers against spam and last July introduced a directive to outlaw unsolicited commercial emails across Europe. The initiative, due to become law this autumn, will only allow email marketing activity with prior consent and will cover SMS advertising and any other electronic messages received on any fixed or mobile terminal.
The legislation will focus on effective enforcement, notably through international co-operation, technical measures for countering spam and consumer awareness. The EC also emphasised that since much spam comes from outside the EU, international co-operation is a key element of it strategy.
Earlier this month the ASA stepped up its fight against spam with the launch of a new set of guidelines designed to help consumers reduce the amount of unsolicited commercial emails they receive (see ASA Launches New Initiative To Help Can Spam).
The Government also recently launched an initiative to crackdown on “the curse of the internet” and strengthen privacy rights for electronic communications (see Government To Crack Down On ‘Curse Of Internet’).
European Commission: www.europa.eu.int
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