EU moves to outlaw spam

The European Commission wants to update its recent Data Protection Directive by outlawing spam, or unsolicited emails, from direct marketing companies.

Existing data protection laws already prevent direct marketers from using automated calling systems and faxes if individuals have opted out, but until now email has slipped through the legislative net.

Last week, the Commission held public hearings to seek industry input on how to unify the law regardless of what technology is used to communicate.

In the UK, for example, it is compulsory for direct marketers to consult the Telephone and Fax Preference Services for the names of those who do not wish to be contacted. The Email Preference Service, however, is voluntary.

The new legislation would prevent direct marketers from sending the emails unless users opt in.

According to Simon Hampton, AOL public affairs director, that's forcing email-based direct marketers to conform to a standard higher than that of the offline world.

He said: "Spamming is illegal today," and added that the EU's 1995 Data Protection Framework gives AOL the legal firepower it needs to prosecute spammers. "People aren't going to opt in. So the people who are calling for opt in are calling for a second legal hook that would kill off legitimate direct marketing," he told silicon.com.

Agnieszka Charkiewicz, a lawyer with Dibb Lupton Alsop, said the Commission faces difficulties in changing a law that has still not been implemented in all member states. All EU members were supposed to have implemented the Data Protection directive by last October, but many missed the target. The UK's data protection law came into force in March.

She said: "They are changing the law before we have seen the results. It raises the question of how we can create technology-free law when the changes are occurring so quickly."

Interested parties have until Friday 19 May to respond to the working document. The Commission intends to bring forward a draft directive in June. Send comments to infso-A1@cec.eu.int.