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Electronic Messaging Compliance Unit launches e-news for industry

Welcome to the very first edition of Compliance M@tters from the Electronic Messaging Compliance Unit at the Department of Internal Affairs.

We will be publishing regular articles about our work and issues relating to spam (unsolicited commercial electronic messages) and scams.

We’d like to cover a range of topics to help you comply with New Zealand’s spam law - the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007, which covers email, fax, instant messaging, TXT/SMS and MMS (text and image-based mobile/smart phone messaging) of a commercial nature.

Please contact us at compliancematters@antispam.govt.nz or (04) 495 7200 if you have any questions, or suggestions about topics you would like us to cover.

Consider your reputation and compliance when sending electronic messages

Hands holding smartphone with laptop

Your reputation is everything when it comes to e-marketing.

One way to enhance this is by ensuring you comply with the law when it comes to sending out electronic messages.

We all receive spam

Most of us have received some kind of spam. Whether it‘s to our email inbox, mobile phone, or fax machine. At the very least it’s a nuisance. You probably looked at the sender information and the subject line, wondered how the sender got your details, and then deleted or thrown away the message.

Regardless of your reaction, spam takes up valuable time and money.

Consider the recipient

Before sending an electronic message, put yourself in the recipient’s shoes and think about how they will react to receiving it. Keep in mind, that the recipient may already be receiving a large amount of other messages, some of which are spam.

Merely thinking that a recipient would like to receive your message is not good enough.

Your reputation gone

If you send an electronic message to someone regarding your goods and services, and the recipient has not asked to receive it, you are breaking the law - and inadvertently portraying yourself and your company in a bad light.

Recipients may notify other people of your actions and you and your company’s reputation may be damaged as a result. 

If we, the Electronic Messaging Compliance Unit, receive a complaint that you sent an unsolicited commercial electronic message, you could receive a heavy fine. And worse for your reputation, the notification of an enforcement action against a person or company is published online.

What to do

  1. Make sure you have consent from the recipient before sending a message to them. Express consent is ideal, as the recipient has specifically requested to receive messages from you.  Keep a record of the request in case a complaint is lodged with us, so you can prove when and how the recipient subscribed. See section 9 of the Act.
     
  2. Consider how long you have had the recipient’s ‘express consent’, and how long it has been since you last sent them a message.  For example, if you have had written consent for a year or more and did not email the recipient in that time, and you decide to send them a message, you may have breached the Act.
     
  3. Ensure that there is clear and accurate information in the message identifying the sender, and how the sender can be readily contacted. See section 10 of the Act.
     
  4. You also need to include an unsubscribe facility. It must be free of charge and the recipient must be able to unsubscribe in the same manner in which the message was received (i.e. email – reply to the email or click a link that automates an unsubscribe; text message – reply STOP via text; and fax – send a fax back to unsubscribe. See section 11 of the Act.
     
  5. The Act prohibits address-harvesting software or a harvested-address list from being used in connection with sending unsolicited commercial electronic messages. See section 13 of the Act.