E-mail would be treated according to the preference of each
Member State so that some Member States, such as Italy, will
require prior permission and others, including the UK, will
not.
The decision to adopt the proposal by a wafer-thin majority came
during the Committee’s debate on the wording of a proposed
Directive on Electronic Communications and Data Privacy.
Under the E-commerce Directive, which has already been
implemented into the laws of some Member States and is expected to
be implemented in the UK in the summer, any commercial
communications sent as text messages or as e-mails must clearly
identify themselves as such. However, in the UK, provided that a
business complies with Data Protection laws and its ISP’s terms and
conditions, sending such unsolicited communications to UK
recipients is legal.
CW360.com, the on-line edition of Computer Weekly, yesterday
quoted a spokesperson for lobbying group EuroISPA observing the
failure of the Committee to take into account the convergence of
technologies:
“Why should you need prior consent to send
an SMS message to someone’s mobile phone, but no prior consent to
send an e-mail to the same phone?”
The Federation Of European Direct Marketing (FEDMA) said on
Friday that it was pleased with the Committee’s decisions on the
proposed Directive. As reported on Friday on OUT-LAW.COM, the
Committee back-tracked on a more controversial proposal to regulate
the use of internet cookies.
FEDMA believes that “National Choice” is the correct approach to
e-mail spam, giving each Member State the right to choose between
opt-in and opt-out. “Going back to the national choice amendment
will give SMEs in the European Union a chance to develop their
business in the Internal Market, by establishing first contact with
the consumer via e-mail. This is vital for e-commerce to prosper in
the European Union", said Axel Tandberg of FEDMA.
The proposed Directive will be voted on in the plenary session
of the European Parliament
in May. There is no certainty that the Committee’s proposals will
become law – they differ significantly from the proposals of the
Council of Ministers.
