The Spam Act 2003

Upside.Digital have been working with the ACMA recently on educating both publishers and advertisers on what we see are key areas which publishers and advertisers do not have a clear understanding, and to set some guidelines around these sections.

The Spam Act 2003 regulates how commercial electronic messages can be sent in Australia. The Act was passed in 2003 as federal legislation by the Australian Parliament. Its aim is to set up regulations of commercial electronic messages (emails). It specifically restricts business to send spam, set regulations on how data can be gathered, and what needs to be contained in an email send. The Spam Act is enforced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). For any breach of this Act, the ACMA have the right to impose civil penalties and injunctions.

If you want to read the full Spam Act of 2003, it can be downloaded here.

If you rather prefer, Upside.Digital have published a series of articles where we give real life examples on how to implement the regulations in your online marketing activities. You can find the key elements of the act in the articles listed below:

• Consent – Section 16 – If you want to learn more about Consent and get to know the difference between express and inferred consent, you find all you need in Consent for email leads
• Identity – Section 17 – Identity – What are your obligations as an advertiser. If you’re an advertiser and want to find out more on what’s relevant for you and how, please go ahead and read Why Advertisers need to know section 17 of the Spam Act. If you are a publisher, this article, outlines your obligations: Why Publishers need to know section 17 of the Spam Act
• Unsubscribe – if you want to read more about what the Spam Act says about unsubscribes, go to our article Unsubscribe functionality in emails.

Our other articles include:

• What is a Solus email
• Consent For Email Leads
• Unsubscribe functionality