Third of UK companies flout law on junk email

Published on Sunday 23 April 2006 00:16

A THIRD of British companies are breaking the UK's laws on junk email, according to a new study.

Research published by data and marketing specialists CDMS has revealed that 34% of UK companies are not complying with rules which lay down that they should only send marketing emails to computer users who have "opted in" and asked to receive them.

The Europe-wide legislation, which was incorporated into British law at the end of 2003, was intended to stem the tide of junk email, or spam, which floods the mail-boxes of millions of computer users and is regarded as one of the biggest problems of the digital age.

The rules lay down that companies may only send unsolicited sales messages via email to members of the public if they have actively opted in to receiving them. The legislation makes it clear that simply offering someone the opportunity to opt out of receiving unsolicited emails is not enough.

The CDMS study examined compliance amongst the top 200 companies across 13 main consumer business sectors. They were tested to see whether they consistently offered non-customers the opportunity actively to opt in to further marketing emails when their details were recorded as the result of a promotion or inquiry.

On average, according to the study, only 64% of companies studied complied with the new legislation, despite the law having been in operation for more than 18 months.

Ian Hubbard, CDMS director of data services, said: "Companies who have not complied are putting their carefully built brands at risk, by putting out the message to consumers that they apparently don't care about legislation designed to protect their prospective customers' privacy. This effectively puts them in the category of junk emailers. At the very least, these companies need to put processes in place to stop the rot."

A fortnight ago, Scotland on Sunday revealed that spam was beginning to impact on the booming world of internet phone services, which typically offer low-cost services by routing calls through broadband internet circuits.