The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 is passed today

The ‘Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007’ was passed in February 2007 and will come into effect on the 5th of September 2007. The Act defines spam as ‘unsolicited commercial electronic messages’.

The purposes of the Act are to:

* Prohibit unsolicited commercial electronic messages (spam) with a New Zealand link (i.e. messages sent to, from or within New Zealand)

* Require commercial electronic messages to include accurate information about the person who authorised the sending of the message and a functional unsubscribe facility to enable the recipient to instruct the sender that no further messages are to be sent to the recipient

* Prohibit address-harvesting software being used to create address lists for sending unsolicited commercial electronic messages

* Deter people from using information and communication technologies inappropriately.

The Act is also intended to encourage good direct marketing practice by:

* Requiring electronic messages to contain a functioning unsubscribe facility

* Ensuring electronic messages are sent only to customers who have consented to receiving it

* Restricting the use of address-harvesting software.

The Act covers email, instant messaging, SMS and MMS (text and image-based mobile phone messaging) of a commercial nature. It does not cover faxes, Internet pop-ups or voice telemarketing.

Source: Department of Internal Affairs [http://www.dia.govt.nz/]